A popular workshop this morning was Greg Hlibok’s workshop on the civil rights for the Deaf. He moderated a panel of deaf attorneys who expressed their opinions on whether our work on civil rights are completed. The panel unanimously agreed that we have a long way to go.
The American Disabilities Act [ADA] has tremendously improved access for the Deaf, but due to society and technological evolutions, there are still many gaps that the laws do not cover. Robert Mather, one of the panelists, remarked that the ADA was a catalyst for change, but we need more activism. Claudia Gordon, a fellow panelist, commented that employment for the Deaf was still a major issue, and we need more education and change of perceptions to really achieve the changes we want. ADA used to be powerful but unfortunately, the Supreme Court has watered down the law, and that tied into Robert Mather’s comment about needing more activism.
Michael Stein emphasized that technology was still a major issue today as well, which the ADA doesn’t cover adequately – especially the VRS industry. One of the panelists added that there were often no results on complaints, and while the Obama Administration was better than the previous administrations on enforcement, the legal system itself is not pushing enough to get things into action. It was clear to me that all agreed that basically in all aspects of the Deaf Community lives, there still needed to be improvement and changes made. They encouraged the audience to continue filing complaints, develop working relationships with the policy-makers, suggest solutions and recommendations so we can move forward to a better future for all.
Links:
[1] http://www.nad.org/users/jeannette-johnson
[2] http://www.nad.org/category/blog-categories/nad-conference
[3] http://deaf.disqus.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nad.org%2Fblogs%2Fjeannette-johnson%2Fworkshop-civil-rights-are-we-there-yet
