Dear Friends,
WHEW! What a 3 week trip! The biggest Deaf Awareness Education
project at the county fair was a loud guacamole or 'Guaca-Doodle!' of
deaf and disability resources for the deaf and hearing communities.
Next year with the fair theme involving flowers, we will be blooming
into new frontiers and educating people the colorful petals of deaf
advocacy and showing the communities the exotic flowers of the Orange
County Deaf Advocacy Center.
Just as we were closing the fair booth on Sunday night till Monday
afternoon, I was receiving congratulatory messages on my Sidekick
communication device from over 40 people for running a successful
deaf education awareness project at the Orange County Fair. We're
now all tired. We are taking our vacations now until the middle of
August. There will be no newsletter next week as I intend to explore
and enjoy the great outdoors, or, you can say 'stopping and smelling
the roses' for another great year of community advocacy.
We got more invites. This one to teach sign language to a Girl Scout
troop, another health fair, and a senior citizen event in South
Orange County. More invites will soon follow as people go through
their sacks of fair goodies and information in their homes and read
our material. Our newsletter membership is already growing pretty
fast and we welcome all the new members to this newsletter.
The Federal Communications Commission has published a notice of
proposed rulemaking in the matter of Closed Captioning of Video
Programming. We intend to file comments on behalf of the deaf
community. Richard Roehm has already been contacting community
members with this issues and has received a number of suggestons on
how to improve captioning. Our focus will be on next generation
televisions like plasma and liquid crystal displays, webcast videos,
and making captioning readable by people with low vision.
OCDAC Communications
-------------< INSIDE NEWS >
This coming Saturday we have an educational booth at a health fair in
Buena Park. We are ready for that. If you want to help us out with
that, please let Beth Koenig know about it.
We need to develop a program to teach young people sign language.
There has been a reasonable number of requests for youth sign
language classes at the OC Fair booth. We intend to meet this need
as soon as possible. Our plan is for a weekly sign class on Saturday
mornings from 10 am to 11:30 am either at our classroom or on a park
near University High school.
We still need a volunteer coordinator who will help us keep in touch
with volunteers and to contact them and make sure they are given the
opportunities to participate in our activities. Our volunteer list
has grown dramatically during the fair. We really need help managing
them.
Our Festival of Children education booth preparation has already
begun. This event is in September and was attended by 2 million
people last year. A lot of the materials for this event has already
arrived at our office. We will have booths each weekend of September
at the festival. We need plenty of volunteers for this one too.
We need to start a committee for our Tiller Days Festival, our 2nd
largest fundraising event of the year. Tiller Days is in October and
in Tustin, California. Also we have decided to elimninate our Rose
parade fundraiser and replace it with a bigger times square like
event at the Orange County Fairgrounds. We also need committees for
the Pirate's festival, Silverado Festival, and Winter Festval
fundraisers as well. Were going to be starting our nightly
fundraising activities at the bowling centers soon to help us raise
funds for the expenses of the bigger fundraising operations. We have
some new products that hold good promise in our fundraising.
We also started on our Deaf festival awareness booth planning that's
taking place in Van Nuys this coming September.
We have also started on our Deaf Expo (Mata.tv) planning for the
event in November in Long Beach. It might be a hybrid fundraising
and educational booth.
-------------< OUTSIDE NEWS >
Will there be a little town on the prairie for deaf people?
http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=68ad7be3-b7c7-491a-bf25-
f87edb6be007
Attorney: Disabilities Act needs improving
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20050731/APN/507310695
Deaf couple face difficult custody case
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050802-
07151200-bc-us-adoption.xml
What if whole town was built for the deaf?
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-deaf31.html
Disabilities Act helped - but not enough
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?
qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0MDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY3MzIzODcme
XJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2
Financial adviser helps deaf manage their money
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2005/08/01/focus10.html?
from_rss=1
Disabilities law's reach falls short
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?
id=1&display=rednews/2005/07/31/build/business/75-disabilities-law.inc
Facility for disabled children planned
http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/local/story/11015324p-11776936c.html
Online bid to help get disabled back to work
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1714102005
Why disabled children were tied up by Teresa staff
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?
Article=118454&Sn=WORL&IssueID=28135
Study finds disabled lack film, TV roles
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050802/1041624.asp
Couples fight over boy born to deaf parents
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/08/01/local/doc42ed7a42ae7a63
29719072.txt
Illinois Residents Sue State for Violating Americans with
Disabilities Act, Failing to Provide Community Services
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?
ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050728005107&newsLang=en
-------------< DEAF GRAPEVINE >
Sorenson Media has won a cute little phyrric victory in the long
battle of the Video Relay Services (VRS). They defeated Hands On
Video Relay Services (HOVRS) lawsuit allegeing theft of business
plans. However the editor of this newesletter was able to steal
their victory by getting a copy of their press release and publish it
on www.alldeaf.com a day before the company released it. That itself
sends a strong message to the Sorenson company that they're no longer
a beehive but a mole infested block of swiss cheese. My posting of
their press release included a strong commentary.
"Remember Sorenson is a hearie company that wants to buy into the
deaf community with fat $5,250,000+ donations and exploit the naive
deafies and profit from it. HOVRS is a deaf company and has employed
people including respected leaders from the deaf communities.
We need to support the deaf communities. We need to send a message to
the hearies that we're not to be bought with big fat checks and be
exploited!"
-------------< BULLETIN >
This month, we will be helping a deaf client pursue a possible multi-
million dollar case against the City of San Diego, their police
department, and the San Diego courts for permitting an orchestration
of communication barriers that prevented the client from having any
say in the police situation and preventing the client from having
it's day in court. This will be one of our key cases. Title II of
the Americans with Disabilities Act didnt seem to exist through the
eyes of the City of San Diego, their police department, and the
courts down there. We intend to use litigation to make Title II very
visible to them.
-------------------------
ATTENTION DEAF PEOPLE WHO HAVE MYSTERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE DISNEY
COMPANY.
We are looking for DEAF People and others who have problems with the
Disney Company:
--apply, and no call back?
--apply, but no interview because deaf/ interpreter issue?
--apply, interview, but no interpreter or captions?
--got job, but then no interpreter for staff meetings?
--you feel punished because after being hired you're excluded from
training's, staff meetings, or other staff events?
(1) NEED YOUR NAME AND (2) ADDRESS (3) and E-mail (4) explanation of
your problem with The Disney Company.
We work with Morse Mehrban who is a rising star in the field of
disability access litigation. Morse needs to know about this no later
than September 4, 2005. Please email [email protected] and
please use 'Disney Problems' in the subject line.
-------------< ADVOCACY NEWS >
Disability rights beyond captions, curb cuts Sunday, July 31, 2005
By MARY JOHNSON - THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
The landscape of our nation is changing so subtly that we may not
notice. Sidewalks have ramps cut into curbs at corners. The new
McDonald's has wide spaces between its tables. Some rows in the new
movie theater have a
few seats missing at the ends.
More than the landscape has changed. The bartender switches the TV
to "mute" when it gets too noisy in the bar, and we follow the news
stories with the type scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, 15 years old this month, has
changed the face of America, moving us toward a more "accessible,"
livable society.
The call for captions came from advocates for the deaf, who pressured
Congress to require them for most TV programs, and to require TVs to
come equipped with caption decoders. Today, captions benefit bar
patrons,
immigrants learning English and youngsters learning to read, as well
as deaf people. We're all grateful for an elevator from the subway up
to the street.
People who are blind, or deaf, or who use wheelchairs have done a lot
to change our society and our environment - and the changes intended
to open society for them have had a spin-off benefit for all of us.
Their ideas and their insistence on being included are building a
more accommodating landscape, a more easily navigated environment, a
more welcoming society for us all. Yet pundits complain that "the
disabled lobby" is nothing more than a special-interest group that
yells for all buildings to have wheelchair ramps; that insists on
more accessible restrooms; that demands TV captioning - regulations
that require accommodations for "the disabled."
The Americans with Disabilities Act presents a set of new ideas for
people, and most people - including judges - still do not know what
to do with these ideas. The real purpose of protection from
disability
discrimination is not to identify a particular group of individuals
who are entitled to some kind of special treatment; it is to provide
equal opportunities for all of us. To understand the promise of
disability
rights, we must first "come to grips with the underlying realities of
human abilities and disabilities," as the law's original design put
it. Disability is simply a natural part of human lives; sooner or
later it
will touch most of us.
Is dismissing a worker who can't lift her hands above her head -
rather than modifying the equipment so that she can reach it -
reasonable? Is it a form of discrimination based on disability? Is
running a non-ergonomic
factory a kind of disability discrimination? Is it reasonable if a
company tells a worker he can take a break only every three hours
when he needs to lie down for a few minutes every hour or so - and
can show that
the brief rest does not decrease his work output?
These are the kinds of disability-rights questions we should be
talking about in society. But public discussion has still not gotten
around to the new ideas that underpin the disability-rights vision.
Mary Johnson covered the disability-rights movement for over two
decades for The Disability Rag magazine.
-------------< ANNOUNCEMENTS >
COME TO OUR MEETUPS! The Orange County American Sign Language Meetup
Group - http://asl.meetup.com/37/ - meets each 3rd Wednesdays of the
month. The Orange County Deaf & Hearing Impaired Meetup Group -
http://deaf.meetup.com/38/ - meets each 1st Saturdays of the month.
Our new ASL class start in the third week of August and the slots are
being filled now as there is a limit of 8 students per class for
better quality of education.
Please visit our iGive store http://www.igive.com/ocdac
The Orange County American Sign Language Meetup Group -
http://asl.meetup.com/37/ - meets each 3rd Wednesdays of the month.
The Orange County Deaf & Hearing Impaired Meetup Group -
http://deaf.meetup.com/38/ - meets each 1st Saturdays of the month.
Please visit our bookstore that has related books and different kinds
of assistive living devices at http://store.deafadvocacy.org
If you shop at Albertsons and have a community partners card, please
consider adding your card to our list of supporters. You can now
download and print our Albertsons Community Partners signup forms at
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/AlbertsonsSignup.pdf and have your
friends, neighbors, associates, and relatives sign up as supporters
and then mail it to the address on the form. Our goal is 25,000
supporters who shop at Albertsons. And when you shop at Albertsons,
please dont forget to use the community partners card.
We recycle used cell phones, empty printer and toner cartridges. If
you have any of these to unload from your hands, please send or drop
them at our agency at 2960 Main Street, A100, Irvine, California 92614
-------------< DEAF QUOTES >
"When I grew up, I never saw a deaf mayor, a deaf garbage man or a
deaf barber," he says. "I knew that I was different. I knew the kind
of message society was sending to me was, 'You don't fit here."'
Marvin Miller.
[ Editor: Wait a minute Marvin! We had a deaf mayor already in
Michigan, theres lots of deaf workers in the waste management
industry, and plenty deaf barbers too. I had my haircut done
yesterday by a deaf barber in the city of Orange.]
-------------< COMMUNITY BULLHORN >
PRESS RELEASE – AUGUST 1, 2005
From: www.deafsportlawsuit.com
DEAFLYMPICS ARCHIVES DATABASE PROJECT: 985 ERRORS AND INACCURACIES
By RAFAEL PINKHASOV PINCHAS, CISS/DEAFLYMPICS OMBUDSMAN
SUMMARIES
* 985 ( ! ) INCONSISTENCIES IN GAMES DATABASE PROJECT
* 1924 GAMES STATISTICS: 159 ATHLETES/10 COUNTRIES VS. 133
ATHLETES/9 COUNTRIES
* An 8 YEAR-OLD COMPETITOR AT 1963 WINTER GAMES?
* NO YEAR OF BIRTH DATA ON SPORTS ANARCHIST'S OLDEST SISTER
* 1987 CISS GOLD MEDAL AWARDEE, 1994 GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY HONORARY
DOCTORATE DEGREE RECIPIENT AND 1995 OLYMPIC ORDER HOLDER IS IN CHARGE
OF GAMES DATABASE PROJECT
New York, USA – A number of readers have in the last three weeks
contacted this website by asking questions on whether the many facts
reported in the CISS/Deaflympics website were reliable and accurate
ones.
The CISS/Deaflympics website has recently launched its long-awaited
and much-needed project called the Games Database Project ( "database
project" ), which lists the names of all participants ( including
their years of birth ) at the Deaflympic Summer Games since 1924 and
Deaflympic Winter Games since 1949
www.deaflympics.com/update/enews/index.asp?ID=626
Upon thorough review of this interesting and still unfinished
database project, it is the opinion of this Ombudsman that this
historically important project is being immensely mishandled by those
who are entrusted in working and implementing with it!
Too many errors, inaccuracies, disputable facts and omissions have
already been committed with the database project!
To get a basic idea and explanation how and why the database project
is being mishandled, there are, on a random basis, five examples
which demonstrate incompetence, imprudence and backward job
performance of those persons who are involved with the project work.
Example Number 1.
The 1st Deaflympic Summer Games, 1924, Paris, France.
The database reports that these Games attracted a total of 159
athletes from 10 countries.
These figures, however, are incorrect and inflated ones.
How and where did a person in charge of this database project get
such statistics?
According to the first and official 1924-1934 CISS Book published in
the German language ( luckily, this Ombudsman owns an original of
this book ), the facts are these: there were, instead, 133
competitors coming from 9 countries.
Example Number 2.
The 1st Deaflympic Winter Games, 1949, Seefeld, Austria.
The database informs – albeit, very mistakenly - that there were 38
participants from 6 countries at these inaugural Winter Games.
On March 12, 1995 in Helsinki, Finland, this Ombudsman had his
lengthy interview with Mr. Antoine Dresse, one of the two founders of
the CISS/Deaflympics as well as a first-hand witness of the 1949
Games, who had accurately confirmed that there were 33 participants
from 5 countries at the 1949 Games.
Example Number 3.
The 7th Deaflympic Summer Games, 1953, Brussels, Belgium.
The USA fielded its 8-member basketball team to these Games. And
there were no such players on its team roster whose surnames were
spelled such as GNDERDONCK ( his first name is Benjamin and year of
birth is listed as 1933 ) and VAN SPANHEREN ( William, 1933 ).
Was it difficult for the USA-based CISS/Deaflympics Home Office to
double check and verify the accuracy of the questionable surname
spellings of these 2 participants from the USA by contacting either
the USA Deaf Sports Federation ( USADSF ) or the USA Deaf Basketball
organization ( USADB ), was not it?
Example Number 4.
The 5th Deaflympic Winter Games. 1963, Are, Sweden.
The database has a disputable item, that is, a participant from
Norway – Geir Arne OLSEN - lists his year of birth such as 1955.
Is it a misprint?
If not, then, by the year of 1963 that athlete would have
approximately been aged 8.
Did the CISS/Deaflympics in 1963 allow that 8 year-old minor from
Norway to compete against the mighty and much older athletes in the
skiing events of the Games?
Example Number 5. The 11th Deaflympic Summer Games, 1969, Belgrade,
Yugoslavia .
The USA sent an impressive 122-member delegation to the Games.
According to the database project report, among the participants the
name of Paula Jean Ammons is also listed.
However, what is being omitted is that there is no mentioned date of
her birth.
Why?
The fact is that Paula Jean Ammons is an oldest sister of Donalda
Ammons, the current illegitimately-elected President of the
CISS/Deaflympics and anarchist.
Was not it possible to ask her, a prominent occupant of the
CISS/Deaflympics Home office in Frederick, Maryland, USA – on a
moment's notice - about her sister's date of birth before releasing
the data to the worldwide website audience?
Overall, although the database project is not fully completed yet,
this Ombudsman has already spotted an aggregate record of over nine
hundred eighty five ( 985 ) inconsistencies!
Interestingly, everywhere in the database project a disclaimer is
mentioned.
Does it mean that this project is being handled by an insecure,
inexperienced, amateurish, unknowledgeable, untalented and
irresponsible team of researchers and historians?
How, why and what kind of criteria has the present CISS/Deaflympics
Executive Committee utilized in order to select a certain person to
be in charge of this very important and historical database project?
Furthermore, does this ongoing project – based on inaccuracy,
carelessness, mess and embarrassment – is being done in the best
interests of past, present and future of the worldwide deaf sports
movement?
In retrospect, this is the third known case when in this new,
civilized and modern 21st century world the CISS/Deaflympics has been
unable to appropriately cope with the major job project in the area
of media/website publishing.
In 2001, the CISS/Deaflympics published its glossy 196-paged CISS
2001 REVIEW book, in which 202 mistakes were spotted in its book pages
www.deafsportlawsuit.com/update4.html
A year later, in 2002, the CISS/Deaflympics was in charge of
releasing an official Games Results book of the 19th Deaflympic
Summer Games, in which over 556 errors and inaccuracies were made in
the book
www.deafsportlawsuit.com/update9.html
In spite of the two huge fiascos in 2001 and 2002, in which a
substantial amount of finances was spent - and thrown away - in
publishing the two errors-prepared books, the still anarchically-
managed CISS/Deaflympics administration has not apparently yet
learned any lesson on how to deal with the media/website job project
properly and professionally.
In conclusion, it is an eloquent opinion of this Ombudsman that, like
the two books in 2001 and 2002, publishing a database in the
irresponsible and unprofessional manner via the worldwide website
system is disservice and disrespect to our 81 year-old
CISS/Deaflympics organization in particular and insult and
degradation to our rich and proud deaf sports world heritage in
general!
Now, after reading this commentary, let's see how soon the certain
corrections will be made and in what manner the ongoing database
project will eventually be completed.
Let's also see what kind of legacy the self-appointed person in
charge of the database project – Mr. Jerald Jordan - will leave to
our future generations.
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY JOB OPPORTUNITIES >
2 deaf or hard of hearing mortgage consultants needed for a
Riverside, California mortgage company.
1 full time temporary (90 days) interpreting position for a Los
Angeles drug rehabilitation center.
5 deaf or hard of hearing students needed at a store in Irvine for
work experience credit.
All candidates interested in any of the job opportunities are
required to apply for our job placement services. Our intake form is
at Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/intake.htm
-------------< DEAF FRIENDLY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES >
Become an owner of a _________.WS website for only $10 a month! All
_________.WS owners automatically become .WS website resellers and it
comes with an automatic selling program and all you have to do is
lead people to your .WS reseller website. The WS stands
for 'website'! Link has video of the program in American Sign
Language and is a excellent self-sufficiency opportunity for people
who want to be on the top of the .WS cyber real estate market.
Hearing people can participate as the reseller link also has a video
for them. Begin your journey toward self-sufficiency by sending a
blank email to [email protected] and it will auto-reply back to you
with information about this fantastic program. And you will get
another email message a few days later with the full explanation of
the program.
-------------< LETTERS >
Hi there:
Thank you for this nice newsletter it has given me more insight to
Deaf and disabled peoples everyday struggles with most basic needs of
a human being. God Bless you for your efforts and let me know ways I
can help out.
Lori
#############
Long Beach, CA - November 5, 2005
The upcoming Mata Expo 2005 for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing to be
held November 5, 2005, mirrors society's increased awareness of Deaf
people's needs.
Mata' means 'See you later or again" in japanese language and "Eyes"
in tagalog language.
Mata is a symbolic word "visual concept" in the Deaf-related world.
Mata Expo is more than just a trade show. It is an opportunity for
companies, organizations, and individuals with talents to show off
their deaf / hard of hearing products to thousands of people at once
and make
announcements about new products and services.
It is also a showcase for deaf performing artists in various media
types (deaf films, deaf celebrities and cultural arts presented from
US nationwide and International).
A paramount emphasis will be on the changes and progress made in
quality of life for Deaf and hard-of -hearing American consumers.
Part of the show's focus will be a celebration of society's
increasing awareness of the needs of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Included will be a detailed look at the recent legislation passed and
written into laws that positively impact the quality of life for the
Deaf and hard-of-hearing.
American Sign Language, the fourth-most used language in the US, can
now be used in many high schools, colleges and universities for
foreign language credit.
Open to the public, the show targets not only Deaf people but also
their employers, friends and family, government and nonprofit
organizations as well as students enrolled in sign language and Deaf
culture classes.
More details, please visit our website: http://www.mata.tv
Mata Expo 2005
Where: Long Beach Convention Center
300 E. Ocean Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90802
Promenade Ballroom- Room 104
Time: 9:00am-6pm
Admission: $5.00-early bird $10.00-at door
Ticket online available at http://www.mata.tv
Any questions?
Feel free to contact us.
[email protected]
-------------< EPILOG >
If you wish to contribute to this newsletter, feel free to send in
news, stories, and opinions relating to the disability community.
Your support for this effort to move the disability community forward
will be greatly appreciated. We will continue to aggressively
pursue justice, fairness, and equality for the disability community
as it has been doing since November 1996. We have chosen that
EDUCATION is the best way accomplish this objective.
Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center is a community based organization
that puts people with disabilities first in their advocacy for equal
opportunities in safety, health, and productive living.
The Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center provides services for disabled
individuals and their families in our community who need help in
navigating the social services maze go without proper food, shelter,
and essential medical care every day due to a variety of factors
including low wages, job loss, injuries, illness, age, domestic
violence, or divorce. While all of us are susceptible to hard times,
disabled individuals are at the most risk. With the generous support
of people like you, we are able to help many of these families and
individuals not only to meet essential daily needs, but to work
toward a brighter future with programs in job training, education,
counseling, elderly assistance, and temporary housing.
Feel free to forward this email message to any one and any of your
personal mailing lists so we can get the important messages out far
and wide and encourage them to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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