{"id":16650,"date":"2021-02-01T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T17:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=157109"},"modified":"2021-02-01T17:26:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T17:26:00","slug":"smart-ass-cripple-speaking-up-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/01\/smart-ass-cripple-speaking-up-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Ass Cripple: Speaking Up for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On January 25, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced<\/a> that, henceforth, all Biden Administration press briefings would include an American Sign Language interpreter so deaf people can more easily know what\u2019s being said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President is committed to building an America that is more inclusive, more just, and more accessible for every American, including Americans with disabilities and their families,\u201d Psaki said.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s good that NAD sued the White House, even if only to uphold the principle that deaf people have the same right as anyone else to be exposed to twisted distortions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The National Association of the Deaf, in a statement<\/a> on its website, called it \u201ca great day for inclusion and access for the deaf and hard of hearing community.\u201d It said the group, known as NAD, had \u201cset the stage\u201d for that to happen when it filed a lawsuit<\/a> in federal court against the squatter who used to occupy the White House, because his administration\u2019s press briefings did not include sign language interpreters.<\/p>\n

In September, a federal judge ruled<\/a> in NAD\u2019s favor and ordered all these briefings to include an American Sign Language interpreter.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit mandated that the governors of all fifty states include ASL interpreters in their briefings. But the squatter wasn\u2019t the only one who had to be sued to make it happen. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has cultivated and cashed in big on his image as a pandemic hero, didn\u2019t have sign language interpreters until after NAD sued him<\/a> last spring.<\/p>\n

In a way, the exclusion of deaf people from the squatter\u2019s pandemic updates wasn\u2019t entirely to their detriment. I, for one, didn\u2019t hear any stories about deaf people drinking bleach (straight with no chaser) in an attempt to kill the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s good that NAD sued the White House, even if only to uphold the principle that deaf people have the same right as anyone else to be exposed to twisted distortions.<\/p>\n

I also think it\u2019s a shame that people who communicate via ASL didn\u2019t have access to all of the squatter\u2019s other press briefings, too. Again, they didn\u2019t miss out on much useful information, but they did miss out on a lot of absurdist theater. They didn\u2019t get to feel the full blast of the likes of Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders telling whopping tall tales and then, when challenged, throwing tantrums of feigned indignation.<\/p>\n

And while deaf people can now listen in on White House daily press briefings, some things will stay the same. White House press secretaries are dispatched to say what the President wants us to hear. They take a sworn oath to preserve and protect whatever the President says and does, so help them God<\/a>.   <\/p>\n

But, in the Biden Administration, there\u2019s at least a chance that what the current President says, unlike the squatter, will sometimes be compatible with the truth. Maybe now, in sticking up for the guy on top, the press secretaries won\u2019t have to go through such elaborate contortions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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