My Diary of Systemic Injustices topic is the Deaf community and the injustices they face. Before looking into this topic I knew that there were struggles faced by the Deaf community but I truly did not understand the depth of it until looking to elaborate on my original post. While watching the presidential debate, one thing I noticed was the lack thereof of an American Sign Language interpreter. This is an injustice to the hard of hearing and the deaf community. When something so important as a presidential debate is being aired on television, it is an opportunity for most to hear the candidates discuss their views and opinions on matters which then helps them make a decision on who they would like to vote for. Unfortunately, without an interpreter, the deaf community and people who are hard of hearing had to rely on closed captions to know what was being said. An article posted on “The Mighty” by Julia Metraux references the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and quotes that “15% of American adults have some trouble hearing”. This is a good portion of voters that weren’t taken into consideration. The article had a TikTok video embedded of Erin Rosenfeld discussing her frustrations about how problematic it is for the deaf community to not have had access to an ASL interpreter during the debate. She raises concerns that it is difficult to follow along when people are speaking over one another, which certainly occurred during the debate, that closed captioning is unreliable and severely delayed, making it nearly impossible to follow along with what is being said in real-time. I embedded a video interview she did with Inside Edition for anyone who would like more information. Erin uses her social media platform to bring awareness to the cause and has started a petition 9 months ago to make it mandatory to have ASL interpreters at presidential debates, https://www.change.org/p/cnn-asl-interpreters-at-presidential-debates?use_react=false.
Throughout history, the Death community has faced a multitude of injustices, some being forced sterilizations in 1927 (NPR, 2016), issues with gaining employment, furthering their education, not always having access to an interpreter in medical settings, and difficulties seeking mental health care. When I read about the injustices the Deaf community has faced it is very reminiscent of de Beauvoir’s “The second sex” where the idea of “the one and “the other” is explained. In our world today, hearing is the norm or “the one” and being deaf is seen as “the other”. People are assumed to be able to hear and due to this othering of the Deaf community, they lack the equal access they deserve. I am very glad that this issue was brought to light by many people posting on social media, although I hope we reach a point where deafness is not seen as “the other” but is taken into consideration on every occasion.
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sign_Language
Articles: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations