I think the only reason I might march is to learn and educate those who do not understand how they are discriminating and not offering equal rights. Example: I’m white and was taught not to discriminate against black people. When I became an adult I started hearing my parents use words that I don’t remember hearing them say growing up and would tell them not to use certian words that are not acceptable or politically correct anymore to describe people with black skin. This is a basic reference, but you get the idea… If no one tells them, how will they know?

There are other more important situations that need to be addresses such as the need for qualified interpreters. I understand that many interpreters have been laid off due to the ressesion and because they don’t meet the new requirements mandated by the state of Texas. This is good and bad. Good that the bar for excellent interpreters has been raised, yet unfortunate that there is a big demand in that field. I think one problem is bugeting… how will the state,city and counties make adjustments to either hire interpreters to be on call… or will they start requireing that there be several police on duty that are qualified to interpret. I’m curious how they meet the need for Spanish speaking citizens needing a Spanish speaking police or interpreter.

If I’m not able to march that day, how can I support the cause as a concerned hearing citizen?

I do know City of Housto/Houston Police Department has been trying to improve relationships with the Deaf Community such as Officer James Sobota. He holds monthly classes to address certain issues such as public safety, et cetera with ASL interpreters/CART provided to the Deaf Community. I receive his monthly announcements. He is always open to receiving feedback from the Deaf community on how to improve certain issues with the HPD or City of Houston.

I think we can take a mature, professional approach by educating public entities on certain issues rather than leading a Big “D”-Gally style protest. (When I say Big “D”, I’m referring to Deaf Power or Pride, whatever). How we approach the situation WILL be observed by the Media. Whatever the Media says will influence our image as a deaf community. So I hope the leaders take a careful approach by posting all the information on the blog to explain their position and be able to justify their reasons for a protest that can potentially stir up the pot. Either it’ll be successful or it’ll go bust and we’ll end up looking like a bunch of attention-craving deafies.

However, I have good faith those Houston Rights leaders will do whatever it takes to address certain issues and make their voices be heard. Good luck to those who are participating in the protest!

Since I was not aware of the protest being taken place until last night when I received an email from the co-founder. The very first thing I thought is, why have I not heard about it, why was I not aware of any meeting taking place, and what are the strategies in this protest in order to achieve something? I came to a realization that this protest will fail utterly but at the same time, I applaud the founder and co-founder for bringing the issue to light. As a leader, you cannot think that you can bring one side solution to the problem such as having the Deaf community to protest and expect the Hearing community to come to the table and find to a solution. If you look at the Deaf President Now protest..it achieved a remarkable result because the leader had a meeting few months before the protest took place, they came up with a plan on what should be done and made a proposal it to the Board Members of Gallaudet Unversity, and they made sure that EVERY student was aware of the issue. When the Board Member refuse to compromise to the demands of the DPN the protest took place and the world took notice. The leaders knew what had to be done and they did it spectacularly.

Now, compare that to the recent protest that took place at Gallaudet about having the right President for Gallaudet University and it was full of chaos and everyone got mixed message of what was going on. Why? They failed to meet with the student body, they did not have a proposal of how to select a President (all they complained was that students were excluded but not how the procedure is to take place in voting), there were too many leaders and some protesters resort to verbal abuse that lead to a resignation to one of our beloved Board Member that is highly respected in the Deaf community. The biggest problem of that protest was the mix message and many people thought it was the issue of “Are you DEAF enough?” It created a firestorm among the Deaf community and the leader of the protest was scrambling to try to correct the message and it failed.

Basically, this recent protest is a good example Billy’s message….”Together we stand, divide we fall.”

The lesson to learn from this is…”You can pick your battles, but the battle does not always come with a result in your favor. In order to make it a favorable result, you must have a achievable/divine plan.”

All I am asking is for the founder and co-founder to hold off the protest and go back to the “drawing” board and come up with a better plan with invitation that extends to everyone in the community so there can be a more democratic debate on this issue.

On a note, I would like to say that it is ironic that this protest that is taking place is creating a firestorm and division among those in the Deaf community which would lead to more people showing up at the next meeting. So here is a proposal for the founder and co-founder, why don’t you contact one of us (contributor of DPHHH artlcles) and provide us a time, place, date of this meeting so we can all show up and have a debate that provides a democratic ideas and solutions?

Thank you,
Bradley Porche

I think that it is only fair to us that the nature of meeting is wide open to everyone and that the details become available. Also, it is not enough to say that we are protesting because of poor service to the deaf/HOH community. I need precdent. I need information. One blog post is not enough.

And to start off a blog with a planned protest for the first post does really reflect well on how thought out this has been.