WATCH [CC] - Deaf people rally for equality in Anchorage, Alaska.
ANCHORAGE, AK -- Alaska Dispatch News: A loosely organized group of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people hosted an town hall rally of sorts on the Parkstrip Wednesday. It was part of the nation-wide Deaf Grassroots Movement.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Anchorage, instead Juneau, Alaska.
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Rallies were held in dozens of states on May 4, 2016 to bring awareness that the Deaf community largely feels discriminated against. The three main areas of emphasis include access to interpreters, equal educational opportunities and job equality. Watch this video to understand some of the complaints the Anchorage Deaf community has.
WATCH [CC] - Deaf News: Livestream pre-recorded of the Deaf Grassroots Movement nationwide rally at 50 State Capitols across the United States.
WASHINGTON DC -- May 4, 2016, Wednesday, all 50 state capitols rallies for Deaf Rights. The Deaf Grassroots Movement aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states of the United States.
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The Deaf Grassroots Movement (#DGM) are purpose to unity all together like a grassroots. We will fight for our educations, job opportunities, and communications access and word of disability. All of these will must to change and it is 2016. We have been waiting for this long time to get our equal rights. It is time to spread the words and get all together to fight for our equal rights in all 50 states.
Deaf Grassroots Movement Rally (LIVE Coverage) from the i Deaf News.
We're still facing inequality access of opportunities as hearing people does. We will not fight as individuals. We will fight as a team to make a change. Deaf Grassroots Movement - Nationwide Rally on Wednesday, May 4, 2016.
The Deaf Grassroots Movement is an organization that pushes for Deaf rights, such as an end to discrimination in jobs and education and to provide equal access for all.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Hartford, Connecticut.
"And it's time today that we come here and spread the word and teach everybody that we have to improve language improve language for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind children," said one of the activists at the rally, Patty Wilson, of Newington.
One of the biggest issues that the activists were fighting for was access to education in American Sign Language for Deaf children.
While many Deaf children are pushed into mainstream education, there are some options for children who live close enough to enjoy them. In fact, the oldest permanent school for the Deaf in the United States the American School for the Deaf is right in West Hartford and has been operational since 1817. However, there are only just over 100 schools for the Deaf across the entire country, and only one fully Deaf college (Gallaudet University), greatly limiting access.
NOTE: Deaf with a capital "D" represents those with hearing loss who utilize sign language and are immersed in the Deaf community. Deaf with a lower case "d" is the medical term for those with hearing loss.
Deaf News: Demonstrators rally for Deaf rights at ND State Capitol.
BISMARCK, ND -- The Deaf Grassroots Movement took to the steps of the state capitol to raise awareness about issues that Deaf people face.
DGM leaders want to promote American Sign Language opportunities for children so that they can communicate easier as they grow up.
Too often, they say, rural parents don't know about ASL.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Bismarck, North Dakota.
The marchers also say job opportunities are scarce for Deaf people. Because of this, 72 percent of Deaf people are unemployed in the U.S.
"Let's work together for the best of Deaf people. We really just work together for the benefit of Deaf people. We just need to learn from each other," says Michele Rolewitz, Deaf Grassroots Movement.
Deaf News: Deaf protestors say its time to fight inequality, discrimination and oppression by the hearing in the state of Florida.
TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Tallahassee Democrat: Nearly 30 members of the Deaf Grassroots Movement rallied Wednesday at the Old Capitol. It was part of a nationwide demonstration at all 50 state capitals to call for better education, more job opportunities and acceptance by society in the Untied States.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Tallahassee, Florida.
Occasionally cars passing by on Monroe Street would honk their horns in support, but there was no reaction from the protestors. They were a quiet bunch but fingers started flying, eyes grew wide and faces filled with expressions when word spread a reporter was in their midst.
“So I can’t hear,” Bob Webb of Tallahassee signaled to a man carrying a notebook. “I have a brain. I have a heart.”
The Deaf Grassroots Movement formed in September after a protest at the White House in Washington, D.C. The group says education opportunities for Deaf children are abysmal when compared to those of children who can hear.
The activists planned the 50-state rally to raise awareness of their plight and to issue a call to action to the Deaf community and its allies to fight inequality, discrimination and the oppression Deaf people face.
Webb indicated that the Americans with Disabilities Act was a good thing but needed to be amended to include services geared toward the Deaf.
The group protesting in Tallahassee ranged in age from a middle-school student, who carried a sign saying “Please Invest in My Education,” to an elderly man with a long gray ponytail and ZZ Top-like beard.
Other signs proclaimed sign language as a birthright language, explained that hearing doesn’t make you a better person and listed how the hearing discriminate against the Deaf.
Webb explained the Deaf community feels the state is failing to provide them an equal opportunity in education, employment and in pursuing the American dream.
When asked what he wanted, Webb took to pen and paper from and wrote,
Stop discriminating against us in employment.
Audioism hurts us because they want us to be like hearing people.
Give us fair access, like all other communities.
“Don’t limit me,” Webb signaled. “So I can’t hear. So what?”
Deaf News - Deaf community holds rally at the Idaho State House.
BOISE, ID -- Several members of the Deaf community gathered Wednesday afternoon in front of the Statehouse to raise awareness of the issues they say they're facing here in Idaho. It was one of 50 rallies hosted by the Deaf Grassroots Movement, taking place simultaneously in all 50 states.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Boise, Idaho.
"One of the biggest problems is their limiting or ability to communicate," said presenter David G. Wilder.
They want to educate others on what can be done to make their lives better.
"We got a lot of issues that we are faced with," said Alan Wilder of the Idaho Association of the Deaf. "The American with Disabilities Act that was set up a long time ago, but it's not quite sufficient enough, enough where as Deaf people are still fighting everyday to receive interpreters or get equal access to information."
Organizers say that quality education, jobs and healthcare just aren't available to many Deaf people in the state. Because, they say, they don't have access to qualified sign language interpreters.
"In smaller communities it's not very well set up, but you know in hospitals they usually have that, but if you go to doctor's office or counseling services, they don't have those services," said Alan Wilder.
And while these people are all too familiar with the challenges they face every day. They say no one else will talk about them without them.
Alan Wilder said the Idaho Association of the Deaf plans to push for stronger and clearer laws surrounding Deaf interpreters in Idaho in 2017. Copyright 2016 KTVB.
Deaf News: Deaf Grassroots Movement supporters rally at the Rhode Island State House.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence Journal: About 80 people, most of them Deaf and wearing bright green T-shirts that illustrated the sign language for "equality," followed by the word "now!" rallied at the State House on Wednesday.
The rally was one of 50 all-day rallies taking place around the country in the Deaf Grassroots Movement.
Some of those wearing the green shirts, which listed the movement's five goals on the back - education, jobs, language rights, equal accessibility and communication access were supporters of a Deaf person, and some in their own matching black T-shirts were members of an interpreters group.
Governor Raimondo's outreach manager, David Allard, listened to the spoken interpretation as each speaker signed to the group. When Allard spoke, a sign-language interpreter stood beside him to sign his statement that the governor is committed to creating opportunities for all Rhode Islanders.
Jill DeCosta, 53, of Smithfield, was one of the organizers and spoke of feeling invisible at her job in the Rhode Island Family Court because she is excluded from meetings and conferences for lack of an interpreter.
She said that nationwide, 72 percent of Deaf people are unemployed, and that in Rhode Island, the Office of Rehabilitation Services has had a Deaf services position go unfilled for months.
Instead of clapping, the Deaf-Friendly crowd applauded each speaker by fluttering their hands in the air.
Charley Thorn, 32, of Chepachet, who is Deaf and who works as an interpreter for the Deaf, repeated each speaker's sign language directly to a woman who who is Deaf as well as legally blind.
He said later, through an interpreter, that he appreciated the chance to let "our voice be heard."
"All we want to do is have equality with communication," he said.
Doctor's offices and hospitals often do not provide an interpreter for a Deaf person, attendees said, nor are interpreters provided for a Deaf applicant at a job interview. In both cases, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that an interpreter be provided.
Rhode Island doesn't have enough interpreters and lacks an interpreter training program, said Steven Florio, executive director of the R.I. Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Deaf News: Deaf, blind encounter higher barriers to addiction treatment at the Massachusetts State House.
BOSTON, MA -- Marie Hoffmeister said she has been searching for weeks for a detox unit or substance abuse treatment facility that will help her overcome addiction and become sober. But there’s been one major roadblock in her attempts to seek help: Hoffmeister is Deaf-Blind.
“I’ve struggled and fought for weeks and weeks, and they said, ‘Well we can’t serve you, we can’t find interpreters for you, you won’t have communication access,’ and it’s been extremely frustrating,” Hoffmeister told the News Service through an interpreter. “It’s time to change, it has to be time to change. People want to come back from this, but they can’t. There’s nowhere for them to go because there’s no communication access.”
Hoffmeister was among hundreds of people who gathered on Boston Common on Wednesday to raise awareness and increase political pressure to address the needs of Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing individuals. Wednesday’s event, sponsored by the Deaf Grassroots Movement of Massachusetts, is part of a national effort to bring attention to issues in the Deaf community.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Boston, Massachusetts.
Hoffmeister said she’s been working with Tabatha Patrican, a Deaf woman who has been in recovery for more than a year, to try to find a treatment facility that can meet her needs.
“For three weeks we’ve gone through interviews, the paperwork process, what if she died tomorrow? The state would be responsible for her death if that were to happen,” Patrican said through an interpreter. “We need to have money provided for halfway houses, for trainers, for interpreters. They need to understand we’re at risk, we’re in danger, we need support, we need guidelines for this.”
“We have partnered with the Department of Public Health to bolster our efforts for opioid-related supports and will continue to work to make sure there is equal access … for every individual who is seeking treatment,” Aurora Wilber, spokesperson for MCDHH, said in a statement. “We are also pursuing initiatives in five key areas aimed at improving coordination of treatment, increasing technology to aid in communication, education and training programs in response to our population’s needs.”
During fiscal 2015, MCDHH provided 6,389 hours of ASL interpreting and CART services in substance abuse settings in response to 3,427 service requests, the commission said. The commission is also implementing a program to train Deaf peer supports to use Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal drug.
Patrican said detox centers have told her they don’t accept Deaf or Deaf-Blind patients and even walking into facilities asking for help has not worked. When an addict is ready to get help, Patrican said, it’s imperative that treatment starts quickly, before the addict could change their mind and continue to use.
“Hearing people can walk in and immediately have services, but for Deaf people there is always a delay,” Patrican said. “I’ve lost two Deaf people from drugs. And they died because there was no treatment available to them.”
Eveleen Cunningham, a licensed alcohol and substance abuse counselor who has been in recovery for more than 30 years, said there is a high rate of relapse among Deaf individuals in recovery because they don’t have complete access to the same kinds of treatment and support programs that hearing individuals have.
Despite Beacon Hill’s laser-like focus on the opioid epidemic, Cunningham said the Deaf community has largely been forgotten because “there isn’t enough advocacy to increase services and there isn’t a focus on addressing Deaf services for people who are in recovery.”
“Gov. (Charlie) Baker has funded a lot for opioid treatment and addiction recovery, but nothing specifically for Deaf individuals that would be available around the clock,” Cunningham said through an interpreter. “We need funding, we need treatment options that focus on the continuum of services for substance abuse, including 12-step programs adapted for Deaf individuals so they can understand and access it.”
In the mid-1980s, Cunningham, who is Deaf, sought help for her own addiction. She said she had to fight to get into a treatment program and then had to teach the counselors there some rudimentary sign language so they could work with her. Since then, she has worked with and mentored deaf individuals starting their own recovery.
“The system has improved a little bit since my time, but not significantly,” Cunningham said. “There’s all kinds of treatment centers in Massachusetts, but if a Deaf person shows up when they’re ready to accept treatment, it’s never available on demand like it is for hearing individuals.” Copyright 2016 State House News Service.
Deaf News: Maine residents rally to raise awareness of Deaf issues at the Maine State Capitol.
AUGUSTA, ME - More than 100 Mainers who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or both Deaf and Blind, converged on Augusta today as part of a national civil rights rally that took place at more than 45 state capitols.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Augusta, Maine.
Curt Barsness, of Ellsworth, said the aim of the rally is to raise awareness of problems facing the Deaf community, which he said show no signs of improving.
Some of the issues concerning the group include the disappearance of American Sign Language as the language of instruction for Deaf children, denial of employment opportunities, discrimination in the workplace, lack of access to public services or appropriate accommodations in hospitals and doctors' offices.
The rally was part of the national Deaf Grassroots Movement that Barsness said is working to support participants' efforts to access opportunities in education, employment and linguistics.
Deaf News: Advocates hold 'Deaf Protest' at the Nebraska State Capitol.
LINCOLN, NE -- Dozens of people rallied in front of the Nebraska State Capitol on Wednesday to send a loud message to stop discrimination toward Deaf people.
Members of the Deaf Grassroots Movement said hearing impaired are treated unfairly in the classroom, the workplace and in public buildings.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Lincoln, Nebraska.
There has been no School for the Deaf in Nebraska, since it closed nearly 20 years ago and advocates said many students don't have the proper services and support in their schools.
Those at the rally said employers pass over Deaf applicants because of a false fear of the accommodations that have to be met.
Those who are hearing impaired said there are a number of phone apps and new technology that make communication with the Deaf much easier.
The group also said many businesses and public buildings give audio information only including flight changes at an airport, which are announced over the public-address system.
The group said it wants to tell Nebraskans not to be scared to talk to Deaf people and to include them in society.
Deaf News: Deaf Grassroots Movement rallies at the Oklahoma Capitol.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Nearly 200 people marched at the Oklahoma State Capitol in support of expanded services for the Deaf community.
Participants from Oklahoma's Deaf Grassroots Movement joined a national effort on Wednesday to demonstrate the needs of the Deaf in education, employment and access to communication.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Deaf Grassroots Movement spokesman Chris Reagle says unemployment rates are particularly high for the Deaf and that they often face discrimination in the workplace and barriers in education. Reagle says one of the goals nationally is to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act to include services geared toward the Deaf.
In Oklahoma, Reagle says the group is pushing specifically for more Deaf interpreters to help children in public schools.
Deaf News: Deaf Grassroots Movement at the Alabama State Capitol.
MONTGOMERY, AL -- WVTM13: In a day and age when communication seems to be getting easier with the increase in modern technology, there are still communication barriers for some citizens. The Deaf Grassroots Movement or DGM wants to break down those communication barriers.
The rally has been full swing since 9 a.m. today in Montgomery to bring awareness to issues like communication, education, jobs and equal access in the Deaf community.
“The Deaf community has been 'asleep' and has accepted the status quo," representatives from the DGM said.
The DGM aims to fight for the rights of the Deaf and future generations in the Deaf community in all 50 states. On Wednesday all 50 state capitols will have a rally for Deaf Rights, including Montgomery, Alabama.
"We've not been sleeping and accepting this, we've been oppressed. Hearing people have enormous control over the lives of Deaf people," said Susan Motylinski Lambert, one of the activists representing central Alabama at the rally in Montgomery.
They hope to serve as the new watchdog and backbone for the Deaf community. They want to provide state support to a diverse number of people within the Deaf community: From the educated to those who are stricken into poverty status due to the issues the DGM is fighting to address.
Deaf Grassroots Movement Rally: Join one of 50 US States - National Deaf Rally on May 4, 2016. Lets write our moment into Deaf World History!
Deaf Grassroots Movement (DGM) are purpose to unity all together like a grassroots. We will fight for our educations, job opportunities, and communications access and word of disability. All of these will must to change and it is 2016. We have been waiting for this long time to get our equal rights. It is time to spread the words and get all together to fight for our equal rights.
We're still facing inequality access of opportunities as hearing people does. We will not fight as individuals. We will fight as a team to make a change. Deaf Grassroots Movement - National Rally will be on May 4, 2016.
The mission of the National Deaf Rally is to invite Deaf civil rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action and to demonstrate on a special day the needs of our community over education, employment, and communications access. We activists choose this day of rally to call for an end to discrimination in the workplace, removal of barriers in education, and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act laws in regards to on-site interpreting and captions in the media at public places. Our goal is to promote equality for all, with the quality of life improved for us. We want this day to make the most powerful impact possible on our nation, that would last long, and influence our legislators to pass laws and amendments that would benefit us on the whole as a society.
The impact we are seeking to make would not only be on legislators but would alter the perceptions of other entities such as law enforcement at all levels, services, and private sectors in our society towards Deaf people in a positive way, to effect changes that are necessary in order for us to lead productive lives, that will provide opportunities for us we seek, that will put us on the same level as other hearing citizens. National Rally will be on May 4, 2016.
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