Dear Friends,
SUCCESS! These 2 photos end a long 3 year challenge to get the tenant
and homeowners to accept modifications.
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/cosaramp1.jpg
Http://www.deafadvocacy.com/cosaramp2.jpg
The biggest challenge was not getting the ramps. The biggest
challenge was to get the wheelchair bound tennant to accept the fact
that she has these rights to the ramp. She is from the Hispanic
community. She was afraid that making the access complaints would
hurt her ability to maintain tennancy, in laymans terms, she was
afraid of getting evicted for bringing up a complaint. And there is
very little education going on with regards to disability rights
within the Hispanic communities. That coupled with nearly
non-existant enforcement from the local housing advocates has made it
hard for us to bring swift resolution to this access barrier. Our 4
brochures in Spanish were the first steps in making the hispanic
communities become aware of the needs of people with disabilities.
There was a language barrier coupled with a strong culture going on in
the hispanic communities that made it difficult for us to educate the
hispanics in Santa Ana that the disabled have their rights under
Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. We had to go
very slow with this case and be as transparent as possible to make the
positive results.
It takes us a long time to help people and generate positive results
and that's why we need constant support from the community with
regards to our fundraising and education programs. We have about 40
cases in the Southland that need resolve and they require a lot of our
resources, money, time, and participation.
This is the first newsletter since the editor's pc has been upgraded
to a linux based operating system and it will take some learning and
some getting used to the differences from Windows based operating
systems. So far with a lot of patience, we are doing great adjusting
to the new computer and internet environment.
OCDAC Communications
-------------< INSIDE NEWS >
We are experimenting with a test program to teach young people sign
language. We have a pair of young twin actresses as our first
students. 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. Stater Brothers and Upromise's College Saver program
has partnered with us to offer the parents an almost painless way to
send their kids to college. They have sent us hundreds of the scan
tags for us to hand out to the parents. 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 >
Donald Galloway, advocate for hearing-impaired, dies
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050720/NEWS01/5\
07200319/1002/NEWS
Govt depts found guilty of discriminating against disabled staff
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=152720508&p=y5z7zyzy4
SCOTLAND DEAF RUGBY TO PLAY JAPAN
http://www.heavensgame.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=267&Itemid=\
47
TV stations fined, failed to inform hearing-impaired
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050809/NEWS01/50809015/10\
75
Hampton presses case for keeping state deaf, blind school
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-67979sy0aug16,0,1111620.stGovt
depts found guilty of discriminating against disabled
staffory?coll=dp-news-local-final
IBM helps Firefox reach the disabled
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2141187/ibm-helps-firefox-reach
Hearing impaired have new way of conversing by phone
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050719/BIZ02/507190331/100\
3/BIZ
Accommodation to cater for hearing-impaired
http://au.travel.yahoo.com/050731/3/kr3.html
Cochlear expected to book strong result
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Cochlear-expected-to-book-strong-result/2\
005/08/15/1123958000331.html?oneclick=true
Help at hand for hearing-impaired
http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/07/stories/2005080705390100.htm
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=152720508&p=y5z7zyzy4
Scott lets fingers do the talking
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_Ba\
sicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784458509&path=!sports!preps&s=1045855935451
Building community for deaf parents and their hearing kids
http://www.4hearingloss.com/archives/2005/08/building_commun.html
Teaching a deaf dog new tricks
http://www.insidebayarea.com/bayarealiving/ci_2940199
-------------< DEAF GRAPEVINE >
Sidekicks, the latest deaf-friendly communication device with a lot of
cool features is reportedly being hackable with stories of people like
Paris Hilton's own intimate sidekick pictures being hacked and
published in several website locations. Is your Sidekick safe?
-------------< 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.
-------------< ADVOCACY NEWS >
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Erin Casler
Public Relations & Resource Development Officer
[email protected]
(301) 589-3006 (TTY)
(301) 589-3797 (FAX)
ACTION ALERT - Support FCC Fines for Inaccessible Emergency Information.
ACTION ALERT: SILVER SPRING, MD—August 15, 2005—Last week the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) announced that two more TV stations
were being fined for not providing visual information during an
emergency. This time the two stations were in Florida and the
complaints were for incidents during Hurricane Charley last August.
Eight stations have now been fined during the past year, including 3
in San Diego (wildfire coverage) and 3 in Washington, DC area
(hurricane coverage).
The two Florida TV stations have mounted a campaign to encourage
people to write to the FCC and protest the fines against them.
The FCC needs to hear from us about how much we appreciate these fines
and their enforcement of the regulations!
Please write, even if it's only a very short e-mail of your
appreciation, and send your e-mail to:
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin: [email protected] Enforcement Bureau,
Acting Chief Kris Monteith: [email protected]
Below you will find an article from the website of WBBH, one of the
Florida stations. A similar article is on the website of WZVN, the
other Florida station. Note that while the FCC only cited three
segments of news that did not have visual information, these were no
doubt only a few of the segments that did not have important visual
information.
To have the FCC criticized and targeted by a campaign that minimizes
the importance of having this information available to us, in my view,
sends the message that these TV stations also feel our lives and
safety are not important. We are very fortunate that the FCC disagrees.
-- Cheryl Heppner, ALDA Advocacy Chair
Feds fine NBC2/ABC7 $48,000 for Charley coverage NBC2 News Posted on
Tuesday, August 09, 200 by WBBH-TV
FORT MYERS — Thousands of Southwest Florida residents relied on NBC2
and ABC7 to keep them safe and informed as Hurricane Charley struck
last year. But on Tuesday, federal regulators ruled our broadcast of
the emergency wasn't good enough – and they fined the stations a total
of $48,000.
Officials with the Federal Communications Commission decided that on
three instances, picked from more than eight days of continuous
coverage surrounding the storm, the NBC2/ABC7 broadcast did not do
enough to inform hearing-impaired viewers.
The revised Communications Act of 1934 and FCC rules, require that
emergency information spoken during a broadcast be provided in text,
be it closed-captioning, an information scroll at the bottom of the
screen, or in some other readable format.
In its ruling, the FCC determined that while NBC2 and ABC7 were
covering the storm, three pieces of information were not conveyed in
that text
format.
The items related to pieces of the August 13th broadcast include:
- At 1:58 p.m., the closure of the Sanibel Causeway and possible
dangers of trying to cross it once closed.
- At 2:21 p.m., a mandatory evacuation notice for Glades County
residents living in manufactured homes and low-lying areas.
- At 2:26 p.m., a request from Charlotte County emergency managers
asking residents not to try to evacuate, instead to take shelter.
Read the full ruling by the FCC here:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-2258A1.pdf
The fines were levied against Waterman Broadcasting, owner of NBC2,
and Montclair Communications, owner of ABC7.
"I am extremely proud of the actions of our news department and our
service to the community during hurricane Charley – including our
service to the hearing impaired community. The ruling was handed down
just a few hours ago and it's going to take us a day or two to analyze
what the commission is saying and to respond. We have 30 days to
formally respond to today's ruling," said Waterman Broadcasting
executive vice president Steve Pontius.
This is not the first such fine for issues involving broadcasts for
the hearing-impaired.
In February, the FCC fined three San Diego stations for their
broadcasts of fire storms on October 26-27, 2003.
KFMB and KGTV were fined $20,000 each, for 11 and 12 alleged
violations, respectively. KUSI was issued a $25,000 fine for 22
alleged violations.
In May, three Washington-area stations received fines totaling $40,000
for hearing-impaired broadcast violations regarding a line of severe
thunderstorms and tornadoes moving through the area.
Contact email addresses for the FCC and members of the agency's
Enforcement Bureau, which ruled on the fine, are listed below.
Contact the FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html
Enforcement Bureau
Kris Monteith, Acting Chief [email protected]
Linda B. Blair, Deputy Chief [email protected]
Mary Beth Richards, Deputy Chief [email protected]
Christopher Olsen, Deputy Chief [email protected]
Michael Carowitz, Acting Chief of Staff/Associate Chief
[email protected]
Lisa M. Fowlkes, Assistant Chief [email protected]
George R. Dillon, Assistant Chief [email protected]
About TDI
TDI is a non-profit advocacy organization that promotes equal access
to telecommunications and media for individuals who are deaf, late
deafened, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind. Since 1968, TDI has
successfully advocated for federal legislation such as the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Americans with Disabilities Act
and the Television Decoder Act, both of 1990, as well as other
legislation and policies mandating greater access to wireless
technology, emergency preparedness, captioning as well as other
telecommunication and media technologies. In between its biennial
conferences, TDI publishes annually, a National Directory & Resource
Guide, commonly known as The
Blue Book, a popular resource book for people with hearing loss, as
well as The GA-SK quarterly news magazine. For more information about
TDI, go to www.tdi-online.org
-------------< 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
really being filled now as there is a limit of 8 students per class
for better quality of education and sign language training.
Please visit our iGive store http://www.igive.com/ocdac
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 >
"More and more of us folks that can hear will take ASL, That will be a
benefit both to individuals learning to communicate in ASL and to
members of the deaf community that will have more of their hearing
peers that can communicate with them." Barbara Garrison,
superintendent of the Missouri School for the Deaf on law requiring
college to accept ASL for foreign language credit.
-------------< COMMUNITY BULLHORN >
PRESS RELEASE – August 11, 2005
From: www.deafsportlawsuit.com
CISS/DEAFLYMPICS OMBUDSMAN ATTENDS U.N. CONVENTION ON DISABLED PEOPLE
By RAFAEL PINKHASOV PINCHAS, CISS/Deaflympics Ombudsman
PRESS RELEASE – August 11, 2005
From: www.deafsportlawsuit.com
CISS/DEAFLYMPICS OMBUDSMAN ATTENDS U.N. CONVENTION ON DISABLED PEOPLE
By RAFAEL PINKHASOV PINCHAS, CISS/Deaflympics Ombudsman
New York, USA – This week the United Nations at its Main Headquarters
premises in this city is hosting a major international event called Ad
Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention
on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with
Disabilities.
The Convention is attracting a record number of attendees – over 500
persons from nearly 190 nations.
This Ombudsman, along with Convention attendees such as Liisa
Kauppinen , the President –Emerita of the World Federation of the
Deaf, Carol-lee Aquiline, the former Secretary General of the World
Federation of the Deaf, leaders of the deaf associations in the
Russian Federation, Chile, Korea, Guinea and others, are witnessing
the proceedings of the Convention, in which 25 various drafted
Articles are brought up and debated.
Among the Convention participants are also listed many
non-governmental international and national sports organizations that
serve the disabled, including the International Paralympic Committee
( there is not any representative of the CISS/Deaflympics in
attendance at this important international event ).
Of the proposed 25 Articles at the Convention, one – Draft Article
Number 24 – is being dealt with the issue of physical education and
sports among the disabled people, including deaf.
Draft Article Number 24, among the other things, includes three key
proposals such as,
States Parties recognize the right of all persons with disabilities 1)
"to have the opportunity to participate in all sporting activities of
their choice at local, regional, national and international levels,"
2) "to receive on an equal basis to other people, including deaf,
instruction, training and resources for pursuit of all sporting
activities," and 3) "to ensure equitable access to government and
private funding for persons with disabilities to facilitate full
participation in sporting, recreational and leisure activities and
organization."
The Convention will end its work tomorrow, August 12.
*************************
DEAFLYMPICS ARCHIVES DATABASE: 985 ERRORS AND INACCURACIES
By RAFAEL PINKHASOV PINCHAS, CISS/DEAFLYMPICS OMBUDSMAN
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 Deaflympics Archives Database (
"database" ), 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
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 on how and why the 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 – albeit, very mistakenly - informs 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 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 this 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 individual
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 history of the worldwide deaf
sports movement?
In retrospect, this is the third known time when in this new,
civilized and modern 21st century world the CISS/Deaflympics has
appropriately been unable to 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 the 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
publishing of such a database in the irresponsible and unprofessional
manner via he 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 and in what manner
the ongoing database project will 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 fulltime 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 deaf@... 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 >
Mark Your Calendars for the Deaf Asia Festival 2005 at San Francisco, CA.
*** Everyone is welcome! FREE Admission! ***
WHEN: Saturday, October 1, 2005
WHERE: Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
1850 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94115-3220
TIME: 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Event will begin with activities as it follows:
Social-Gatherings!
Vendor/Exhibit:
Deaf Technology
Cultural Arts
Novelties/Gifts and MoreŠ
MATA Film Show Previews:
Deaf-made films, from Asia and International.
Conference:
Beyond the ASL world
Defining deaf's tomorrow technology
AFTER FESTIVAL HOURS, MATA Film Show will start at 7:00 pm (1 1/2 hours
movie show): Beyond the World (from Italy) and Keychain.
Find more about MATA.TV - http://www.mata.tv (click MATA TV).
We hope that you will join us for this marvelous event. For your
convenience, please visit our web site at
http://www.deafasia.org/daf/dafest05sf.html
or email: [email protected] for more details.
Thank you.
DAF Media Group
-------------< 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 brThe Convention is attracting a record number of attendees – over
500 persons from nearly 190 ighter 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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