Deaf Gamers: Leveling the Playing Field

I'm a gamer. Have been since I was what, 3, playing with my Atari 2600. A huge fear of mine is as technology improves we're going to see more games using sound and becoming less accessible. The Apple App Store is destroying my fears! Every time there is a game without captioning, I contact the game designers through the app store.

Perfect example - Lunar Silver Star Story. This was a Playstation game released a while ago and is extremely old school (hey, so am I.) When they redesigned it for the iPad, I was disappointed. The game was famous for using anime cut scenes between events, and unfortunately the cut scenes had no captions. I contacted the game producers through the App Store, and a week or so ago they updated the app. Guess what? CAPTIONS!

What's cool is this seems to be extending beyond just the App Store. While the App Store lets us contact developers directly, the idea that 1) players contact developers and 2) games should have captions are spreading. DeafGamers.net reports that they contacted The Game Kitchen, who produced the browser-based game The Last Door, about the same issue. The Game Kitchen is a small game development group in Spain. And guess what? Before too long - The Last Door was updated with CAPTIONS!

My fears are still there for platform games. I think it's a lot harder to contact Square Enix or any of the big companies and inform them they don't have captions as part of their console games. What's cool about the App Store and the smaller game companies we're seeing is just how much more responsive they are.

Now the big problem. I have a cool game. It has captions. When will I have time to play it? Back to work....

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission fights for Deaf people

How many have experienced being needed for a job but once you get there, not feeling wanted? Homeyra Kazerounian is a Deaf woman who was hired as an instructional aide. The Sacramento Bee reports she worked in a social services agency that helps people become employed and independent. When she was transferred to a different part of her facility, they took away her interpreters and access.

We all know why such agencies hire Deaf people.

• Deaf employee? We satisfy our quotas!
• Deaf employee working with Deaf consumers? Save money! Less interpreters! (If they just had nonsigning hearing staff, they'd have to hire interpreters for individual sessions.)
• Deaf employee working with Deaf consumers? Better results!

It's much cheaper for them to hire a signing Deaf person to work with Deaf consumers than to hire dozens of interpreters for individual and group sessions. Deaf consumers who work with Deaf employees tend to have much better outcomes–jobs, etc. Plus, Deaf employees tend to notice Deaf consumers and their problems more. They're less likely to reduce Deaf people's problems to just being Deaf. "Oh, you can't pay bills? Deaf people! Oh, you can't show up on time? Deaf people!" We know that Deaf people have socioeconomic problems on top of everything else. Outcomes therefore improve when you hire Deaf.

I'd like to take a moment to salute Kazerounian. She's a beautiful person who gives to others, and is now being oppressed by nothing less than hypocrisy. Glad to hear EEOC is fighting for her.

Reframing alert: Sign Language Illiteracy

Fascinating article about Deaf people in Masaka in Uganda. Article blames lack of sign language literacy on the problems of local Deaf people:

Masaka district rehabilitation officer, Michael Miiro said that most deaf people in the area have not had the chance of being taught sign language in school. 

“We have schools teaching sign language, but in Masaka, there are only three which do so at primary level. There is none at secondary level,” he said.

I love this way of rephrasing it. It's interesting that there are few schools even in 2013 which actually teach and require ASL in a K-12 curriculum. Are American students growing up sign language illiterate?

Also of interest this week: an article by the Wall Street Journal looking at how disabled groups are fighting the rights of disabled consumers–to have equal independency on the Internet. Article mentions the National Association of the Deaf and its battle with Netflix. I'd love to see more partnership between the NAD and these groups to continue advocating for equal access for all. 

Their names were Marc and Eddy.

In Brussels on December 14th, two deaf men were euthanized. They were real people who were sick with spinal problems, heart issues, glaucoma. They were deaf and yes, becoming blind. Being real, their situation's complex. We should be concerned and talking about this-yes. But let's not turn them into simplified poster children. From the UK Telegraph, eight hours ago:  

Neighbours and friends in the village of Putte said that the twins had to overcome strong resistance from their elderly parents to their demands for a mercy killing.

The twins were going against the national grain here. This wasn't something supported by their family or many doctors. They had to fight for support for their decision: 

...their local hospital refused to end their lives by lethal injection because doctors there did not accept that the twins were suffering unbearable pain, the criteria for legal euthanasia under Belgian law.

"There is a law but that is clearly open to various interpretations. If any blind or deaf are allowed to euthanise, we are far from home. I do not think this was what the legislation meant by 'unbearable suffering'," doctors at the first hospital said.

Note the phrase 'far from home.' That can be interpreted as 'far away from what was intended.' This was not the point of the law, to euthanize deafblind people. So I'm wondering what else is going on? 

Eventually the two brothers found doctors at Brussels University Hospital in Jette who accepted their argument that they were unable to bear the thought of not being able to see each other again.

Marc and Eddy were signers and did not likely have bad images of deafblind people. Their brother certainly did not. As the Telegraph reports:

Dirk Verbessem, the older brother of Marc and Eddy, had defended the decision of his brothers to die.

"Many will wonder why my brothers have opted for euthanasia because there are plenty of deaf and blind that have a 'normal' life," he said. "But my brothers trudged from one disease to another. They were really worn out."

Whoa! Blind and Deaf are categorised here as normal. Two things are targeted by the third brother as the true cause of Marc and Eddy's wish for an ending: diseases and psychic trauma as a result of these diseases. In this light, the glaucoma and blindness looks slightly different: it looks like the last straw. The one that broke the proverbial camel's back. And I wonder if there's other things we don't know about.

Mr. Verbessem said his twin brothers were going blind with glaucoma and that Eddy had a deformed spine and had recently undergone heart surgery.

I agree with having the right to euthanasia. Do I agree with *this* euthanasia? No. Well, not yet. Personally, I'm concerned about the psychological state of Marc and Eddy at the time they made the decision. I also note they were in their 40's–when men typically have a period of stress and self-assessment known as the mid-life crisis. I know people who've dealt with worse pain and wanted life: but this isn't a competition and numbers are the wrong way, I think, to look at it. And so is 'these deaf men... found out they were becoming blind and wanted to die.' The ... hides a lot. But ... doesn't look good in the news. 

To me, their obsession with dying was significant. Here's what I wonder:

-What counseling support and treatment did Marc and Eddy have? 

-Was it in their primary language?

-How long a period did it last? 

-Were their doctors apprised and informed of it?

I do know that local organizations for blindness like Ligue Braille were "surprised at the case." I worry that these guys were going through depression which led to obsession–something I've seen myself–and well, we don't know. Even in the US, Deaf people often struggle accessing psychological care. And sometimes that care can not be satisfactory or helpful for those who need it because of cultural and linguistic differences that complicate communication. I think counselling should have been part of this process. I'm not seeing any discussion of that in any of the articles.

I see people are saying right now How terrible, what a poor decision! If only they knew it was OK to be deafblind they wouldn't have made that decision! I think the story is showing a lot more dimensions than that. I want to give Marc and Eddy credit for being aware, from their lives and community, that being deafblind is a different state of existence, and not bad. I feel they definitely had a mountain fall on them and could only handle so much. I wonder how much support they had dealing with it. The media is focusing on the deafness and blindness. There's so much more here. There's Marc and Eddy. Some of the articles I've seen haven't even mentioned their names.

Note: The Limping Chicken also discussed this issue. 

Advice for Deaf People About To Spend Time With Hearing Family for the Holidays

Enjoy it. I mean: make it happen. Don't sit around sighing about Communication Difficulties or Why You Can't Have A Good Time. Doing this will guarantee you don't have a good time-and it will be your own fault. Remember most people are waiting for someone to show them how to treat a deaf person and most people forget easily without daily practice. They're waiting for you to take the lead, and when you don't they will try because they don't want you to feel left out, and because you're already thinking Communication Difficulties and Why Can't I Have A Good Time you'll inevitably take offense. You'll interpret their clumsy overtures as some sort of justification for your spiral of obsession. Don't go there. It's a trap. Make it happen. Lead. Have a good time.

I spoke with someone recently who cried out that Deaf people are special because they have no access to sound! So you can't compare them with other bilinguals because we can't hear! If hearing people communicated only with sound this would be the depressing case. It's not. They also use facial expressions, interpretive dance, colors, body language, gesture. Just like we do. We can access each and every one of those things. We can't access one thing clearly-spoken language! We put too much stress on the thing we can't access, sometimes. Well, this is the holiday season. They will be drunk and slurring their words, or comatose with food. That's what hearing people do, because they hear many horrible things over the year and need to drink to drown out the pain of memory. I, for example, have never had to subject myself to Justin Bieber or the fiasco of Autotune. Instead I bring sharp analysis of all those other items-expressions to color to gesture-and I can transcend alcohol-laced attempts at communication. Always look for the benefit in any situation.

There are situations that make us feel alone. We decide if those situations make us lonely. We can transcend them by transcending the feeling. Modern pagans believe our lives are quantum tunnels, maybe, carved by the fire of living, like a spark gliding along the starter to a stick of dynamite. When we die we wander these tunnels, reliving the path we once took. The path we make can be full of happiness-or paranoia. It's your book. You choose, to some extent, what kind of character you're writing. Yes, audism happens, and probably blatantly, or even drunkenly. The elderly aunt will yell at you embarrassingly. The black-sheep cousin will make disturbing comments about you and your friends doing the 'hand-flapping thing.' During the holidays, sometimes it's best to take the offending gentleman's moustache gently off your hearing aid and say "Elementary Martini, Grandpa?" Decide whether this is an opportunity for people to see you lose your stack, or to see your face smiling and winking as you lead the uncouth unfortunate to the minibar.

After all, you can always facebook them a link to better manners later on.

Happy Yuletide.

GET OUT THE DEAF VOTE!: Voting While Deaf

As I reflect on Election Day, I think about my experiences at polling booths. The NAD has a helpful website with explanations about and directions for Deaf voters–but nothing in ASL. And sadly, the promise of DeafVote never materialized, although the info that was originally posted is still there. Do Deaf people experience problems voting at the polls? Have they been stopped at the polls because of communication breakdowns? Are there Deaf people who've had bad experiences and given up on participating in Democracy? What about Deaf-Blind folks? What happens when you're asked for ID? In a country where we can be stopped at the airport and forced to ride in a wheelchair because it's somehow appropriate for Deaf people–are we lucky enough for everyone to participate unilaterally?

Obama has a ton of Deaf support. Here's a POWERFUL video from Abram Powell describing his life and voting experiences (ASL and English):


Does Romney have any Deaf supporter videos? Here's a video from amazing blogger Amy Cohen Efron describing voting experiences from a few years ago and some decisions she had to make:


Finally, since I live in MD, where Question 6 will decide if Gay and Lesbian couples will have equal rights to the rest of America, here's a video from a cool straight guy in Minnesota. In MN, you had to vote NO to stop a ban, here, in MD, you need to vote YES! to let a civil rights law pass:


GET OUT THE DEAF VOTE!

When Saturday Night Live makes fun of your language...

SNL has made fun of everything American–from Tim Tebow's personal relationship with Jesus to Sarah Palin's moose-shooting skills–and now they make fun of Deaf Americans and Deaf ASL. To me it means you're one of the boys, that we're finally part of the American consciousness. When do you know you're accepted by a group? When they tease you. Marlee Maitlin is frustrated at the signing– and she probably has reason; we've all been at that event where the host waggles his fingers around lamely and thinks he's funny.

But this is different. SNL is a show dedicated to mocking everything weird, from Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor playing racist word association games to Sinead O'Connor tearing down the Pope. This is an important part of being American: we can't take ourselves too seriously. Here's the video:



I laughed (well, snorted.) Many did–and when people laugh at you, you develop a connection. Everyone who laughed at this is going to remember, for example, that ASL interpreters exist (yes, this is still not universal knowledge.) So I'm not going to complain much. I enjoy being part of the national consciousness. Except for one tiny thing.

Don't you think it was classless for SNL to make fun of an interpreter who was sharing disaster preparedness information?

And don't you wish we saw more interpreters on TV–or, you know, actual Deaf people signing–more than just when there's the occasional hurricane and serial killer on Law and Order? Maybe if we had more positive views of ASL-using Americans on TV, we wouldn't be bothered by this at all.

Crushable.com did its own breakdown of what was funny–and what wasn't–about the ASL parody (noting it was followed up by a Spanish parody, and giving Marlee's views the credit they deserve.)

P.S. SNL: Can we have a skit where the ASL interpreter is actually making fun of Bloomberg? Subtitle: Old White Man didn't have time to write speech, is reading from Hallmark card–and still lying!

Fun List: Top Ten Shocking Moments on SNL!

UPDATE: Tons more videos and opinions from DeafYouVideo–most of them against the skit.