***News Release *** March 5, 2014 *** News Release *** IAND Sentimental Series on the Upcoming National Deaf History Month History Speaks Part 1 of 2 Bias Against Oneself As written in Puerto Rico on April 15, 2009 Bias Against Oneself When I read the article from the Baltimore Sun by Marc Maurer titled “Bias against Blind Book Lovers” (chicagotribune/topic/bal-op.blind14apr14,0,2482195.story) I was struck by his opening line primarily because I had used something similar in an appeal to members of our organization just the other day. There are important parallels between his article, my letter, and the full circle that leads back to us all. Part of that letter I wrote is as follows: “One of the things I like to do is to read, and it is a remarkable ability and a remarkable privilege. If you have a broad range of materials to read then you should be reminded of these remarkable facts. The ability to read and write and the existence of Libraries are all too often taken for granted. I know I do this, even without meaning to. The attached article from the Wall Street Journal on the Taliban in the Swat Valley of Pakistan (wsj/article/SB123963706622913745.html) is included here as a stark reminder of these two things: 1) that language, reading, and writing are remarkable things, and that 2) they are a privilege. The funny thing is not “funny” but rather a sobering fact; you dont have to be under the Taliban in the Swat Valley to lose the privilege to read and write. All over the world and even in our own amazing country there are people who, for one reason or another, voluntary or involuntary, do not have the privilege, the ability, or the consciousness of the remarkable value of reading and writing.” The third paragraph that I wrote in my letter is exemplified now by Mr. Maurers article where the “privilege” is involuntary. I couldnt have said it better myself, or illustrated it better myself how our great country has these self-defeating tendencies. These self-defeating tendencies are things I have experienced firsthand as a deaf individual, and I am not just talking about on-the-job discrimination where my inability to hear has been used against me unfathomable times. I am talking about, for example, watching CNN news. The advent of captioning has been a godsend to deaf people and we are eternally thankful for this technology. The matter is that we have a similar problem with the copyright issue where apparently the matter of royalties gets in the way of the distribution of information. In the case of CNN news, have you ever watched “Larry King Live” at 9pm? What about the rerun at 12 midnight? Its the same show, right? I have to ask the question because the rerun at midnight does not have captioning. Imagine during these reruns that they cut off the sound because the sound technicians werent getting paid a second time! As I have said before I am all for the technical advancement of our species because technology is breaking down barriers for people the world over, but this microscopic hair-splitting by the Authors Guild and others is patently absurd. Technology, quite literally, means the sum of knowledge and for a certain group of people to claim special ownership of that knowledge is an insult to the rest of us. People who write, who perform, who compose songs, or any some such do so because they are motivated to share... let us not forget this. Yet the point that brings us a full circle is one that we are trying to emphasize in our organization; this is not an “us versus them” issue because handicaps are indiscriminate. People forget that that you can become deaf, blind, or paralyzed any number of ways at any moment in time. My existence is proof positive; I became deaf overnight, a virus flu attacked my auditory nerves and made me profoundly deaf. That is nothing when you think of someone paralyzed in an instant in an automobile accident, that is nothing when you think of our war veterans who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan in record numbers deaf, blind, missing arms and legs. Our motto is neutral and all encompassing: “Libraries, museums, and education are springboards of creative knowledge and human advancement”. It is most important that we do not deny anyone. Alec C. McFarlane President; DLF:PR Deaf Library Friends: Puerto Rico alec.mcfarlane@gmail,com Word Count: 704 Words, 4,174 Characters Now, for those of you who have gotten this far... check out the Testimony before the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee Hearing in Annapolis on February 21st, 2014. (And as posted within this site). Word Count: 485 Words, 2, 848 Characters Share and Like for Critical Review!
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:34:00 +0000
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