A First: Terp included in the White House Briefing

After dozens of briefings without interpreters, an ASL interpreter signed for a White House COVID briefing on Nov. 13. The National Association of the Deaf had won a federal lawsuit this summer requiring the White House to incorporate ASL into the briefings. Below is the video from that first briefing including an interpreter.

The signs for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

NPR takes a (brief) look at the discussion over what the signs for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should be here.

Picking Joe Biden’s Sign Name

image: Gage Skidmore

The deaf community is still trying to come to a consensus on what the sign name will be for President-elect Joe Biden. One references Biden’s signature Ray-Ban sunglasses. However, this option has been criticized for resembling the sign of the Crips gang. The LA Times quotes deaf activist and Compton ASL Club founder, Michael Agyin, as saying:

The deaf community tends to come together to create new signs when our society experiences changes. Just as a sign for the coronavirus came about, the same applies to the new president. One reason Biden’s sign name is tricky is that he has no strong visual characteristics that make him stand out. I mean, Biden has been around in politics for 47 years, and this is the first time he’s actually getting a sign name.

ASL influencer Nakia Smith has a strong opinion on this controversy.

View this post on Instagram

I signed what I signed

A post shared by My Hands Are Loud Enough (@itscharmay) on Nov 9, 2020 at 10:38am PST

Two Deaf Students talk about Voting For The First Time

Shayla Rochette and Austin Eaton were two of the new voters who cast ballots on election day. In the video below, senior Austin Eaton, who attends The Learning Center for the Deaf at the Marie Philip School in Massachusetts, talks about voting for the first time.

In the video below, senior Shayla Rochette, who attends The Learning Center for the Deaf at the Marie Philip School in Massachusetts, talks about voting for the first time. She voted early last week in her hometown of Worcester with her mother, who is also deaf.

Voting While Deaf

Rikki Poynter has contributed a column to Charlotte’s alternative newspaper about the struggles of voting while deaf. She writes:

As a deaf person, my voting experiences are different from hearing people’s. Add COVID-19 into the equation and things get even more complicated. Since this was my first time voting early, I had no idea what to expect ... I hoped I’d be able to get some sort of efficient accommodation when I arrived but, unfortunately, some things were a bit of a struggle.

Read the entire column here. 

Commissioner For Deaf in Mass. Fired

Steven Florio from WCVB-TV video

The Massachusetts Commissioner for the deaf is out of a job following his admission to wearing Ku Klux Klan and Nazi outfits while attending Gallaudet University. We told you back in July that Steven Florio was on paid leave while his fraternity activities were under investigation. The school suspended his fraternity, Kappa Gamma Fraternity, earlier this year. Florio disavowed the group but apparently, that wasn't enough for the governor's office. Here is a video report from CBS-Boston. Read more here. 

Deaf advocacy group says deaf voters not given enough access to vote

A Deaf advocacy group wants video remote interpretation services available at every early voting site in Texas. No Barriers Communications says deaf voters in Bexar County aren’t getting adequate access to voting. Only one location in the county has assistent for daef voters. KSAT-TV has a video report.

SignVote is helping to provide voter information in ASL

SignVote has been helping Deaf communities get to the polls since 2016. The nonpartisan organization started by the Communication Service for the Deaf provides voting information in social media suing ASL. WDVM-TV has a video report or read more information here.

How The Deaf Community Challenged The White House—And Won

Here is the backstory on why the Trump administration must now provide an ASL interpreter at all future coronavirus press briefings. Allison Norlian has the story here.

Watch the Presidential Debate in ASL

The first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden takes place this evening (Tues., Sept. 29) starting at 9 pm, Eastern at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is the moderator. Watch it live in ASL on the DPAN.tv Facebook page and the DPAN website.  DPAN stands for Deaf Professional Artists Network. It was founded by Sean Forbes and Joel Martin to support deaf and hard-of-hearing performers.

Judge: White House Must include Sign Language interpreters at Covid Briefings

The White House must provide sign language interpreters at briefings related to COVID-19, a federal judge has ruled. The Trump administration has the choice of either putting an interpreter physically near the speaker or by putting an interpreter, located elsewhere, within the frame. DC District Court Judge James Boasberg wrote: The National Association of the Deaf had sued on behalf of five deaf people. NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum said:

Sign language and accurate captioning are both essential and crucial to ensuring all deaf and hard of hearing people are well informed and are able to make better decisions on how to stay safe from the pandemic. The judge’s order sets a great precedent to achieve this goal of full accessibility.

The NAD has put out a news release with more info here.  

DC could soon get office for deaf and hard of hearing

There may soon be an office dedicated to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C. The D.C. Council voted unanimously to pass the “Office On Deaf and Hard of Hearing Establishment Amendment Act of 2019” yesterday. The bill would "create an office to advocate for legislation and policies that address the needs of the city’s deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing communities,” according to the DCist. The bill still needs the mayor to sign on off on it. Read more about the office here.

Deaf Woman files complaint against political group over terp

Mary Harman says she signed up for to attend a "She Should Run" event but denied her request for a sign language interpreter. "She Should Run" is a women's political organization that encorages women to run for political office. Harman has filed a complaint with the Office of Human Rights in Washington, DC. Read the details of the controversy from BuzzFeedNews.

View this post on Instagram

Businesses and organizations, STOP violating the ADA and understand your legal obligations. Stop forcing people with disabilities to explain the law to you and fight for their basic human rights to be enforced. ****PLEASE SHARE **** TRANSCRIPT: @sheshouldrun, which claims to work to get more women from ALL backgrounds to run for office, refused to provide an ASL interpreter for a public live webinar despite repeated requests. I explained to them several times that it was unlawful discrimination to refuse to provide a reasonable accommodation, but they continued denying my request. They said that they were “unable to provide an ASL interpreter,” but would try to provide live captioning. I emphasized that I needed an ASL interpreter for the webinar, as this is how I normally access conferences and webinars. When I told them I would have to file a complaint against them on the basis of discrimination with the Office for Civil Rights in D.C., they ignored me. To add insult to injury, the captioning was inaccurate and severely lagged to the point I had to leave the webinar. How can an organization claim to be for all women if they exclude women with disabilities, which make up a significant percentage of the population? Guess I’ll have to file a complaint so that other deaf/hard of hearing women won’t be subjected to such blatant discrimination by @sheshouldrun in the future. It’s 2020. Stop violating the ADA and understand your legal obligations. Stop having to make people with disabilities explain the law to you and fight for their basic rights to be enforced. [Video Description]: Mary is signing as she sits on a gray chair in front of wooden soft white blinds. She is wearing a black short-sleeved shirt with her hair tied back in a low bun, a few pieces of hair framing her face. Captioning by @angelamariaotg UPDATE - 8/15/20 - after private and public efforts to resolve the discriminatory issue failed, I filed a formal complaint against She Should Run for discrimination on the basis of disability with the D.C. Office of Human Rights.

A post shared by Mary Harman Whited (@maryharman) on Aug 14, 2020 at 11:34am PDT

Judge: White House may have to include interpreters at coronavirus briefings

The White House may have to provide ASL interpretation at its televised news briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge has ruled. The National Association of the Deaf filed a lawsuit over the issue on behalf of five deaf people. A hearing next Thursday will deal with the issue of how to implement the order. 

The US government had argued that ASL interpretation isn't needed because there is closed captioning on livestreams of the updates and videos of past briefings with transcripts of the briefings. In his ruling Judge James Boasberg wrote: 

Closed captioning and transcripts may constitute a reasonable accommodation under some circumstances, but not here. As another court explained in rejecting a state government’s similar arguments, these “accommodations — however well-intentioned — simply do not provide ‘meaningful access in the circumstances [presented] here.’ 

You can read the judges ruling here.

Mask project for deaf community in Boston

Boston Lyric Opera is working with its costume shop partner, CostumeWorks, to producer clear-front face masks for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The effort is getting funding from the city of Boston. More than 1,800 masks will be made and donated or sold at a discount. Read more about it in the Boston Herald here.

White House responds to lawsuit calling for terps at briefings

The White House is rejecting calls for it to provide on-screen ASL interpretation of its COVID-19 briefings. The National Association of the Deaf filed a lawsuit over interpreters and Justice Department lawyers responded with claims that basically say, it is just too inconvenient to includes interpreters—the briefing room is small, it is hard to move the podium, maybe the television networks wouldn't include the interpreters in the screenshot, etc. Read more on the legal wranglings from DC radio WTOP here. 

Kansas deaf community pushes for access

The pandemic has made it all the more apparent that the deaf community often lack access to information, education amid pandemic. The Emporia Gazette takes a look at this struggle in Kansas here.

Deaf community in Calif wants terps to remain independent

There's a bill in the California legislature that could have a big impact on sign language interpreters in the state. KFSN-TV in Fresno has a video report or you can read the story here.

Judge: Cuomo briefings must be more accessible to deaf

Disability Rights New York has gotten a preliminary injunction against the governor of New York over his failure to broadcast a sign language interpreter during his daily Covid press briefings. Last night, a Manhattan federal judge, Valerie Caproni, ordered New York Governor Cuomo to include an interpreter in the state-provided TV signal of his briefings. The governor's lawyers had argued there was no need of having an interpreter share the screen because of captioning and a separate a dedicated internet stream. But Disability Rights New York has pointed out that the captioning often contain errors while the separate feed is available only in broadband service. Read more from Buffalo News here.

White House urged to use Terps at Briefings

The National Association of the Deaf and the National Council on Disability have sent letters urging the White House coronavirus task force to use ASL interpreters during its daily briefings. The White House did not provide a comment to CNN on whether it had received the letters or whether it would consider using an interpreter. Read the full story here.