Just because YOU don’t see the pervasive discrimination we experience, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!
Just because WE can’t hear, doesn’t make us any less capable. You don’t get to decide what is in OUR best interest!
Just because many of us are disempowered into silence, doesn’t mean you can discriminate against us freely!
Check out this video of my little one using baby sign 🙂 He has been signing for booby since about 5 months old. It started with squeezing my finger or boob and progressed to making fists, and then finally to the opening and closing repeatedly of his fist to...
So my sister in law came across a deaf blog ranting about some dude from The Voice, Andy Dexterity doing Auslan when he is not deaf. There was a lot of anger about cultural appropriation and comments about Andy signing badly. It prompted my interest because obvious...
https://youtu.be/qFcFpWzIQNk First, this is an excellent and well done video, everybody needs to watch it! I'd like to touch on my first experience of this video as it completely slammed me. It was used as an educational tool in a support coordination course I was...
People keep calling my phone and I've finally worked it out! Deaf people can't possibly own phones, and this must be common knowledge! Of course!! This totally explains why there will be difficulty explaining to a caller why the deaf phone owner cannot come to the...
No really. I've removed names for privacy as this isn't about any of these individuals personally, but rather the social/cultural context of this discourse. Here are the highlights for those of you without the ability to see the image posted below: "I wonder how...
When the idea for this blog came about at the beginning of 2019, I did not realise how my commitment to The Year of the Squeaky Wheel would shape and influence where my energy went for 2019.
Here’s an excerpt:
I am upset and angry. Nobody likes being confronted with something they cannot change, and I am no different. I cannot change my deafness. I can’t change the problems associated with the impact of this deafness on my life. But… I can do something about discrimination against me because in this day and age, it is against the law to discriminate against someone because of their disability.
I can stop internalising these words I heard as a child. It is NOT playing the “deaf card” to stand up against discrimination. This view is merely another construct of discrimination, designed to silence me from calling people out on their discrimination.
Read the rest at 2019: The Year of the Squeaky Wheel
I have stayed true to this for 2019. I have filed my complaints in a folder and have picked the most important ones to kick up the ladder because such discrimination will also impact other deaf people.
2019 was huge for me. I juggled more balls than a professional juggler could manage, and also made so many changes to my life. When I started this blog I did not realise the degree of discrimination and barriers I would have to contend with. Being mindful of my deafness and of how others treated me has been an eye opener.
It has meant I haven’t really had much time to contribute to blogging as I would have liked. Now that 2020 is here, things are not looking up thanks to more of the same from NDIS. But I will go on. One foot in front of the other, one squeaky wheel after the next.
So long, and thanks for all the fish in 2019!
Yours truly,
– deaf in Society
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