Originally appeared in Silent News, July 2001.

A recent fall has shaken up the Alabama School for the Deaf’s community. Don Hackney, a long-time coach and athletic director at ASD, suffered spinal injuries due to a 10-feet fall while trimming a tree. Currently at a spinal injury center, Hackney suffered a broken back, a compressed spine, bruised lungs, and a broken shoulder in the accident, in addition to cracking his 11th vertebra.

“It was definitely a shocker for me and I still am shocked. After knowing Hackney for 26 years – all of his years here – as a player for him for four years and as a coach for eight years, I find it hard to believe and accept,” said Bill Estes, girls’ basketball coach.

Hackney started his coaching career at the Kentucky School for the Deaf, then moved to the athletic program at ASD. He has quickly become one of the winningest prep athletics coaches in Alabama, most recently bringing his basketball team to Birmingham’s Final Four with a 32-2 record in 1996 and again in 1997 to the semi-finals with a 31-2 record.

Silent News named him national coach of the year four times, and he received many other honors on a local and statewide level. Hackney is also a marathon runner, and jogged 10 miles daily before the accident.

His supporters, however, are confident he will recover quickly. “I remember my most depressing loss to Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf girl’s team last year in Morganton, N.C., by one point. I thought we had the game till the waning seconds and I was totally crushed,” Estes said. “He came to me and said that it was a tough loss, but you have to keep your head up. He also said that I would have a new life tomorrow and life moves on. With the successful surgery he had recently, I have a strong feeling that he will overcome like he usually does.”

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

A little boy surprised by a kiss from a little girl. A woman signing “eat” to a white cat. Kids talking at lunch at school.

All these photographs appear in the much-awaited release of ONE DAY: Our View. Missy Keast, the creator of the project, says, “ONE DAY: Our View combines history and photography to document the deaf culture around the world in a single 24-hour period on May 1, 1997. This unique project consists of more than ten thousand pictures by over 300 amateur and professional photographers from five continents and thirty countries.”

This results in a unique thread of photographs. “The vision and observation skills of the deaf are highly developed, as they rely primarily on sight for communication, and the creative effort of ONE DAY showcases their unique perspectives,” Keast adds. “Through a wide-ranging array of photos, the book emphasizes the common threads that bind deaf people together, from Ethiopian schoolchildren to revered Australian nonagenarians, and gives a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the deaf worldwide.”

Keast had difficulty finding a publisher that would print the book. “I finally found an independent publisher who truly believed in my work and they know that my book is going to be very unique one,” she says. Many publishers mistakenly thought the deaf and hard of hearing market was small and did not see the financial worth. Keast says in an e-mail, “They were surprised when I said there are 28 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. Amazing!”

With the publication of the book finally underway, Keast is hoping this book will bring a simple message: that the deaf community is global, unique and has an innate unity. Her goal of making this book available is “to open the eyes of the world. It is a very powerful book because it is of a global-deaf community, which is rare because not many books have the global information or community in the photography book. Only newspapers try to have that every morning to touch the base of each important highlight of other countries: unfortunate wars or bad news. My book is not going to carry any bad news, only good and powerful information.”

Keast is a Los Angeles resident who is currently working on a one-woman show and does storytelling mainly at schools for deaf and hard of hearing children. She also says that she hopes to make an impact on these children with this book, in making them see that they are not the only deaf children in the whole world.

This book provides a powerful narration through pictures. As Keast says, “Take a look through the camera lens at this spellbinding view of our lives, through our eyes.”

ONE DAY is available for purchase from DeafBuy at www.deafbuy.com. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be directed towards the World Federation of the Deaf, headquartered in Finland.

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

Just months after promising to have construction start in January 2001, Wyndholme Village has filed bankruptcy, and construction plans have completely fallen through. The property on which Wyndholme was to be built was bought by Stuart C. Fisher for $4.6 million at a recent auction.

Fisher, who had $2.4 million invested in the bankrupt property, said he wanted to protect his money already tied up in the 46-acre project.

Last November, Silent News reported that Jim Lancelotta, managing member and developer of Wyndholme Village, had come to an agreement with creditors regarding construction of the community. Lancelotta attributed the troubles to a troubled lender who is currently incarcerated for financial improprieties. Scott Macdonald, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Wyndholme, also said that Lancelotta was “sure” that Wyndholme Village was going to be a reality.

Wyndholme had 28 signed contracts of individuals ready to move into their units by November, and did not actively try to sell any units since February 2000.

Wyndholme Village’s website posts a May 2 news article written by Alison Klein of the Baltimore Sun, stating that Fisher wanted to use the property for a similar project. Earlier, it was reported that Fisher had no plans to continue the Wyndholme Village project.

Wyndholme did not return phone or e-mail inquires made by Silent News.

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

Representatives of various deaf and hard of hearing communities have recently achieved a victory in their battle with senators over amendments to Oregon’s HB2105. HB2105, which proposes to extend the sunset date for telecommunication assistance programs for disabled and low-income Oregonians to January 1, 2010, was filed upon the request of Gov. John Kitzhaber preceding the legislative session. Two amendments threatened to cap the funding and cut one of the programs.

The telecommunication assistance program, coordinated by the Public Utility Commission (PUC), consists of three programs: the relay service, assistive telecommunication devices loaner distribution to Oregonians who are disabled and unable to access standard phones, and telephone assistance for low-income citizens. Funds for the three programs are collected through a monthly surcharge on each telephone line. While the maximum allowance is 35 cents per line, the current surcharge is 10 cents.

Damara Goff Paris, who heads the PUC program, said, “At the [Senate Business, Labor and Economic Development sub-committee] hearing, Sen. Mae Yih proposed HB2105-1, which amended the bill to reduce the statutory authority to collect a surcharge on each telephone line in Oregon from 35 cents to 7 cents, called for a task force to study moving the equipment distribution program to Senior and Disabled Services Division (SDSD) and eliminating the Oregon support for the telephone subsidy program. The chair of the subcommittee, Sen. Roger Beyer, later submitted subsequent amendments that increased the cap to 13 cents, but shortened the sunset to 2004.”

A press release from the Oregon Association of the Deaf, which was in favor of HB2105 but not Yih’s or Beyer’s amendments, said, “PUC has effectively and successfully managed to oversee the three programs at 10 cents per line access, which is below the current cap of 35 cents. However, there are some [Federal Communications Commission] mandates rulings such as cost recovery for 711, which may increase the rate per minute. Once [Oregon Telecommunication Relay Service] complies with all of the FCC rulings, the surcharge rate will most likely increase. Also there is a need for a safety net in event of any future FCC mandates rulings in the next 2 years.”

Paris also pointed out that if the amendments had passed, then more than likely there would not have been enough money to cover the subsidy program by the middle of the next biennium. “In the past four months alone, there has been an 8% increase in OTAP recipients, which exceeds our projections.”

After several months of consumer rallying, phone calls and letters to senators on the subcommittee, the decision to pass HB2105 without the crippling amendments was made on May 11, 2001, with a four-to-one vote for a recommendation to pass the bill with only a minor amendment (to clarify that the surcharge collected on wireless instruments must be made only if the primary use is in Oregon) to the Senate floor for approval by the Senate. Sen. Corcoran was cited as one of the major reasons the bill passed without the additional amendments. Corcoran, who publicly admonished Beyer and Yih on the lack of merit for their amendments, states, “I am a strong supporter of the unamended bill.”

While a major hurdle was overcome, the slightly amended bill must still pass the Senate and go back to the original House committee that passed the bill last February. Paris remains optimistic, however. “It was amazing to see so many consumers rally for the program. The end result proves that if the consumer voice is loud and persistent enough, anything can be accomplished.”

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

This month, I’m going to write about how things work at Silent News. This, hopefully, will offer you, the reader, a better idea of how the newspaper is operated, and help clear up some misconceptions.

We are located in an office park in Mount Laurel, N.J., about 10 minutes from the city of Philadelphia. We do not have any printing facilities in our building; rather, we send CDs with the issues to printers. Many students and visitors who come to our offices are shocked at either how big the offices are, or how small they are. I guess it’s all a matter of perception.

Our staff is small. We have less than 10 employees who work here in the office, and then many employees who work from home, such as our sports editor, marketing person, web designer/layout editor, and even myself. All of the employees, including me, directly report to our executive director, Adele Wiggins. I oversee the writers, photographers, and columnists who contribute to this newspaper. We do not have an advisory board yet, though I am working on getting one re-established – watch for announcements in upcoming issues of Silent News.

With that background in mind, here are some frequently asked questions, and answers.

I’ve got an idea for a story, or I’d like to send in a story for publication. What do I do?

Send an e-mail to our editor at editor@silentnews.com, and you will be contacted with further instructions and/or information.

I send in clippings, stories, or press releases. Yet I don’t see them printed. Why?

We get hundreds of these at the newspaper. If we printed them all, our newspaper would become 80 pages long and your subscription rates would double! Seriously, we wish we could reprint and print all the submissions we can. However, because we get so many, we must decide which is of highest priority or highest interest to our international audience. However, we ask that you continue to send the clippings, stories and/or releases to us. These clippings are how we find story ideas, people, and news.

When I send something in, I sometimes don’t see it printed until a month or two later. What’s the deal with this?

We print issues a month before the “real” month. For instance, we dropped off the June issue at the printer on May 17. Because of this, I accept stories up to three days prior to the drop-off date. My writers have a deadline of seven days before the printer date, so that we have that time to edit and fact-check. We often start working on the next issue two months prior; for example, we started working on the June issue in mid-April. To help you get a better idea of our schedule, we tend to go to the printer every third Wednesday of the month.

I’d like to share a wedding, a birth or an obituary. What do I do?

Our Milestones section, where all weddings, engagements, births and deaths are announced, is free of charge to subscribers. All photographs will be returned upon request (we prefer to have actual photographs than e-mailed photographs).

I have an old story or issue I’d like to look up. Where can I go to find archived issues?

We do not have our issues archived yet. If you would like to look for an old story, please contact us and we will look for the story. Please understand that when we say “look for the story,” we mean literally look for the story. We have copies of every issue dating back to 1969 in a storage room in the back, so we will go into that room and sit and thumb through old issues to find your story.

We are working on archiving issues on CD in .pdf format for our website, and hope to have this completed sometime in 2001. We also have issues on microfiche from 1969 to 1994. However, we are now exploring options of how to better archive and organize our stories. If you’ve got suggestions, or resources, let us know.

I’d like to order back issues or reprint a story. How?

To order back issues, contact us and we will give you rates. To reprint a story, you should e-mail us at editor@silentnews.com and request permission to reprint. Be sure to include where the story will be reprinted, and why. The editor will then send you the wording of how to list the permission, and/or approval of your request. You may also call us at (856) 802-1978 TTY.

I sometimes am frustrated with the late arrival of issues. Why does this happen?

The mailing house at the printer handles all our mailing. Our circulation manager e-mails a list of addresses and names to the mailing house in advance, then the mailing house takes care of the labeling, mailing, and postage. If you experience problems, be sure to check with your post office first. If you do not get your issue by the 15th of that month (i.e. June 15th), let us know.

We take our mailing very seriously; in fact, we changed our printer this month due to the poor mailing service of our previous mailing service – we received a huge pile of issues returned to us, because the labels had fallen off! We were upset, because we had specifically asked for ink-printed addresses, rather than label-printed addresses. For this reason alone, we decided to switch printers. We want to provide  readers with the best service possible.

I want to become a writer for Silent News. How can I?

Contact our editor at editor@silentnews.com, and you will be sent a copy of the Silent News writer guidelines. The guidelines describe our policies, how to write for us, and other important information. We are currently looking for writers of all walks of life, but especially need those who are hard of hearing, late-deafened, and of color. We also need writers from the southeast region and the Midwest, but again, we need as many writers as we can get.

Why are there so many advertisements in Silent News?

Actually, our newspaper is very ‘normal’ for advertisements. A general rule of thumb is to have 60% stories and 40% advertisements in the newspaper business. As is true for any magazine, newspaper, or newsletter, advertisements help pay for the running of our newspaper. With that, it’s important to have more people subscribe. With more subscriptions, we have less of a need for advertisements. So get your friends, family and coworkers to subscribe!

Our organization is holding a conference/event. I’d like to have Silent News sponsor it, or place an ad in our program book.

Contact our marketing representative at marketing@silentnews.com. We often are unable to provide sponsorship, because we are a very small organization with very limited resources. However, we are open to suggestions, and usually provide sponsorship in different methods.

I’d like to have someone from Silent News to come and give a presentation or workshop. Is this possible?

Absolutely! Contact either the executive director, Adele Wiggins, at adele@silentnews.com or the editor at editor@silentnews.com. We may also be contacted at (856) 802-1978 TTY or (856) 802-1977 voice.

Got more questions? E-mail or call us!

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

Yet another retailer is facing a lawsuit claiming discrimination. This time it’s Wal-Mart facing the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in the case of Ruthie Gilmore, a deaf woman from Circleville, Ohio.

John Sargent, supervisory trial attorney for EEOC, said, “Ruthie Gilmore filed a charge with the EEOC in 1996 complaining that she was denied an accommodation in the form of a qualified interpreter for meetings at work after she was hired in that year.”

The EEOC investigated the complaint, and found that indeed discrimination existed. “The EEOC and Wal-Mart attempted to conciliate the charge and that was unsuccessful. The file was referred to the EEOC Commissioner in Washington for further review, and they authorized litigation,” Sargent said.

Todd Higgins, a community service advocate for the Deaf Services Center in Worthington working with Gilmore, said in an e-mail, “Ms. Gilmore has repeatedly requested the services of a ‘qualified’ sign language interpreter for departmental meetings, one-on-one meetings with her supervisors, and staff-development sessions, but the management will not furnish her with such services, as they have deemed written notes to be adequate for Ms. Gilmore and other Deaf and hard of hearing employees.”

Other deaf employees and Gilmore were given outlines of general meeting proceedings, but felt the outlines were inadequate in terms of including new information or details discussed at meetings. Gilmore also claims that on several occasions, hearing children and hard of hearing spouses of the deaf employees were utilized as interpreters”for interactions with administration. “From time to time, a hard of hearing employee was also utilized as a ‘signer,’ but given his inability to hear ‘every’ word that was being uttered, he could not effectively serve as an interpreter,” wrote Higgins.

Gilmore, who graduated from the Ohio School for the Deaf and uses American Sign Language as her mode of communication, is employed as a packer at a distribution center, though she is currently on disability leave.

The Wal-Mart Distribution Center did not return phone or e-mail inquiries for comment. There are several other lawsuits against Wal-Mart filed by deaf individuals, including one in Utah.

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or distributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

While it’s true that a high percentage of deaf and hard of hearing employees work for the government, it’s not always true that they have the networking and training opportunities that hearing federal workers have. The National Training Conference (NTC) is held biannually to provide deaf government workers with such opportunities.

“The well-organized workshops provided vital information to deaf and hard of hearing government workers not always available in the workplace. The conference was a breath of fresh air to federal workers such as myself who often work in isolation,” said Betty Dodds, who works at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This year’s NTC was sponsored by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing In Government (DHHIG) organization. The conference, held at the National Institute of Health in Bethedsa, Md., on April 9-11 had over 500 registrants, in addition to exhibitors, job seekers, presenters, and agency representatives. DHHIG Executive Director Robert Dwier said, “The NTC is a three-day conference and focuses on issues related to employment, advancement, retention and the culture of government employees who are deaf or hard of hearing. It provides an opportunity to hear from nationally recognized speakers and trainers about current realities, future trends, and the assessment of and the use of information technology.” The NTC was first hosted by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1994, held at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

The conference, chaired by Shelly Franks and Tina Joyner, focused on changes and trends in the workplace. Workshops were well- planned and diversified. Topics included self-empowerment, human resources, gender issues, employer-employee relationships, addiction and co-dependency, cultural issues and many others. There were even self-defense workshops and image consulting.

Dunbar, who was one of the first members of DHHIG, said he would like to see more people become aware of the NTC. “In the past, participants have come from as far away as Hawaii and we have had inquiries from Europe and Canada.” He also mentioned that there was an increase in diversity among attendees of the conference. “During the 2001 NTC, we had deaf, hard of hearing and late-deafened adults. We also had hearing people come to this conference…because of the training opportunities, plus the fact that [real-time captioning] and voice interpreting were provided.”

Dodds, who is slowly losing her hearing and is hard of hearing, agreed, saying, “The conference provided assistive listening devices and many captioned workshops, enabling my full participation.”

The DHHIG was formed in 1998, and currently has more than 1,000 members.

For more information on DHHIG or NTC, visit their website at www.dhhig.org

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, June 2001.

There were four deaf survivors of the Holocaust present at the “Remembering Deaf Persons in the Holocaust” forum, held in New York City on April 26. Coordinated by Dr. Oscar Cohen, the retiring superintendent of the Lexington School for the Deaf, the standing-room-only forum of over 300 attendees was filled with hope, remembrance and inspiration.

The forum opened with John Schuchman, a professor of history at Gallaudet University and author of two books, describing the history of how deaf Jews were treated in Nazi Germany. Schuchman, who is a child of deaf adults, showed various photographs, including one of a deaf school in Berlin that some of the survivors in attendance at the forum had been schooled at, and one of groups of Jews that were supportive of the Nazi movement.

After Schuchman’s detailed and moving account of the historical perspective of Berlin Jews, Rabbi Irving Greenberg, president of Jewish Life Network and chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, spoke about ethnical and moral implications of dehumanizing or diminishing any group of people. Rabbi Greenberg, who is hearing, likened the struggles of deaf people to the struggles of Jewish dignity and said that nobody deserved to have their dignity undermined, regardless of who they were.

Upon the conclusion of the inspirational speech by Rabbi Greenberg, the student body president of Lexington, Jason Wagner, thanked the survivors for their presence. “We will remember,” he said, inviting Lexington students and the survivors to come together to light candles in remembrance of the Holocaust. After the inspiring speeches, attendees were treated to refreshments and social time.

According to Cohen, Lexington’s ties to the Jewish community began in the 1860s, when Isaac and Hannah Rosenfeld, a German Jewish family, established the school for their deaf daughter Carrie.

Copyrighted material. This article may not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, May 2001.

Located so close to such famed civil rights events such as Deaf President Now and the passage of Americans with Disabilities Act, one would think that the state of Maryland would be a leader in achieving a program that promotes a high level of awareness about deaf and hard of hearing issues.

Think again. Maryland is one of the remaining states that does not have a commission or office serving deaf and hard of hearing people. This is almost a cruel twist of irony, considering how close to Washington, D.C. and Gallaudet University Maryland is.

The Maryland Association of the Deaf (MDAD) has been working closely with Maryland deaf residents and advocates for the passage of Senate Bill 407/House Bill 1187, which proposes the establishment of an Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ODHH). SB 407 passed unanimously on March 9 in the Senate, 45-0, and passed again in the House on March 29, 126-5.

MDAD President Astrid Goodstein said, “Both SB 407 and its companion bill HB 1187 have cleared both chambers – the Senate and the House – with some amendments to strengthen the bill. The amendments include the addition of an advisory council including members of different state departments and agencies and the Maryland School for the Deaf. I think this amendment is excellent as it ensures representation from the state agencies and better collaboration, networking and ‘partnering’ among them.”

The state of Maryland has made recommendations and performed several state-commissioned studies on this possibility, dating as far back as 1966. In 1979, the governor’s office recommended the establishment of an office after a study showed that issues were routinely ignored by the state. A document presented to the current governor’s office by Goodstein on behalf of MDAD stated, “It is astonishing to see that in the year 2000 the state of Maryland has yet to address numerous issues which were identified more than thirty years ago.”

Bea Rodgers of the Governor’s Office of Individuals with Disabilities (OID) said, “While we are not in a position to speak to why previous administrations have chosen not to establish a separate office, we believe this was not needed at the current time. Many of the states to which Maryland was being compared has service provisions as one of their key functions, resulting in annual budgets from $1 million to over $6 million. Offices in the Executive Branch of Maryland state government are traditionally not service providers. In most instances, service provision is best provided at the local level, closest to where the customer is.”

Delegate James Hubbard’s office disagreed, saying, “The proposed office to serve people who are hard of hearing or deaf is a very worthwhile endeavor. Currently, more than 60% of the people who contact the Governor’s OID for assistance are hard of hearing/deaf.”

A rally was held on March 2 in Annapolis, with signs proclaiming, “ODHH NOW!” Goodstein said, “[Fred Weiner, the master of ceremonies], brought a doughnut and showed it to the crowd. In his analogy, in the hole of the doughnut is Maryland surrounded by its neighboring states that have a central office or commission for the deaf and hard of hearing.”

This is reminiscent of Illinois’ many years of struggle to establish a commission. After a long battle, Illinois – which was also surrounded by states that already had a commission – passed a bill in 1997. The Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission (IDHHC) opened its doors on Nov. 1, 1998, with Gerald Covell at its helm as director.

“I think it is great that Maryland [may have] one, but I am concerned as to its establishment and being assigned to the governor’s office as opposed to being an independent executive agency,” said Covell.

The rally brought appearances from Sen. Thomas Bromwell and Sen. Timothy Fergusen,  both  sponsors of SB 407. Bromwell is also chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

The only opposition comes from the Office of Individuals with Disabilities. OID’s Rodgers said “[We] have taken a position in opposition to both SB 407 and HB 1187 as being duplicative of the functions that it is currently mandated to handle.”

Rodgers continued, “We are concerned that a separate office for those who are deaf and hard of hearing will set a precedent that may result in the proliferation of other single-focused offices thereby undermining the overall need for coordination of the resources, services and expertise currently available. In addition, we are concerned that many of the problems…are service-related problems and will not be effectively addressed by the legislation as written and as a result of the accompanying fiscal note which does not provide for any service funding.” Rodgers also noted that OPD is defining services broadly to include interpreting services funding.

This poses a concern for Covell, who sent a letter of support to MDAD. “The way IDHHC is established now, we are 100 percent independent and accountable to the governor and legislators. We have more flexibility and the commission can decide what direction to go without anyone telling us one way or the other. If we are to be assigned to an agency we become part of their overall agency mission and budget with little independence,” he said.

Covell cited the Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD) as an example of how being part of an office can affect crucial decisions. “It is similar to ISD right now as they are assigned to the Department of Human Services [in Illinois] and the school has to struggle for their budget requests which is part of the bigger budget proposed by DHS,” states Covell. “Suppose DHS is requested to cut their budget by, let’s say six percent. Who gets the cuts? Programs such as ISD.”

Several community advocates testified in support of the bill on March 12. Wendy Cheng represented the Association of Late-Deafened Adults. Cheng, who lost her hearing in 1996, said, “In terms of information dissemination and referral, the existing OID does not provide quality, up-to-date information of interest to late-deafened individuals.” Cheng cited the example of her visiting the OID webpage in search of information about captioned live theatre in Maryland, which led her to another page for the Arts Access page. There was no TTY number listed, and the voice number had been disconnected when Cheng called via the relay service.

“In contrast, both Massachusetts and Virginia provide fact sheets for individuals dealing with various aspects of late-deafness,” Cheng said.

In addition, Cheng emphasized the importance of first impressions for people who may be calling the OID for initial information. “Also, the very experience of just requesting for information to OID was extremely painful. The person who answered my TTY call typed at the rate of 10 words per hour, and could not answer my question of whether OID had any information to help individuals adjust to late-deafness.”

She went on to say, “My understanding is that the receptionist is developmentally disabled, but quality customer service was compromised by having him placed in a position where the first impression can make or break a potential relationship between the late-deafened consumer and the state government.”

Three TTY calls made by Silent News to the OID resulted in hang-ups or slowly typed responses stating that the appropriate person was not available.

Delegate Joan Pitkin, one of the co-sponsors of HB 1187, said, “It is my view that Maryland is lagging behind other states in addressing the unique barriers presented to deaf and hard of hearing citizens, and the current structure of the Governor’s Office on Individuals with Disabilities does not adequately serve them – and [the OID] indeed has been historically focused on other disabilities which have received priority in attention and funding.”

Pitkin also referred to the deaf and hard of hearing community’s need for communication access rather than physical access. “They need inclusion, but on pertinent and logical terms to their type of disability,” she said.

Del. Hubbard added, “If thegovernor is creating an office for Smart Growth to protect land, he needs to create this office to protect the hard of hearing and deaf community – they are people.”

Pitkin agreed with Hubbard. “I will argue strongly to the governor that if he can find funding for a new Office of Smart Growth and a new Office of Women’s Health (a bill which did not even enjoy support from most of the women legislator – it was referred to committee and did not survive the legislative process), he can certainly find the funds to pay the start-up costs for this much needed office.”

In an e-mail response from the governor’s office, a staffer said when asked if the governor would sign the bill, “Governor Glendening is currently reviewing more than 1,000 new bills passed during the 2001 legislative session and will most likely sign most of the legislation. If upon careful review of the bill creating [the office] there are no unexpected issues with the legislation he is expected to sign the bill into law.”

Maryland has over 575,000 deaf and hard of hearing citizens. More information about MDAD and the bill may be found at www.mdad.org.

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.