[nfb-db] Deaf-Blind Culture

[Catherine Miller]

Fellow Deaf-Blind Federationists:

I am excited to see this board being put to its intended use.  Indeed there
is a world of accommodation to be learned about and utilized for people who
are deaf-blind.  Much of it can be funded by your State VR agencies.

My state, Louisiana, has the second largest population of deaf-blind people
in the world.  People who are culturally Deaf (those who were born into the
community that communicates using ASL) have learned, in a very natural and
effective way, to sign tactually with their Deaf brothers and sisters who
are also blind.

Members of he Deaf-blind community in Louisiana have taught me to speak and
listen using ASL communicated tactually, and I will be forever in their
debt.

We are entitled to communication in a language we can understand.  VR pays
for sign language interpreters for the Deaf.  VR needs also to pay for
tactile language interpretation for the deaf-blind.  It has done so in cases
where the service was available and the VR counselor was inowledgeable
enough to use it.

As blind people, we are entitled to adjustment training, such as that
provided by Louisiana Center for the Blind(LCB), which teaches white cane
mobility and braille, etc.  As deaf-blind people, we are entitled to
adjustment training such as that provided by Louisiana Career Development
Center for the Deaf and Deaf-Blind (LCDC), which teaches ASL communicated
tactually and other skills of blindness.  HKNC stands for Helen Keller
National Center, which also teaches skills of deaf-blindness.  All three of
these facilities accept VR funding.

At LCDC all my teachers were Deaf.  They taught me patiently, lovingly, and
effectively, with total respect for my blindness.  They also introduced me
to the concept that I am entitled to an SSP (Support Service Provider) if I
need one.  An SSP is a professional who is trained as a deaf-blind
interpreter and as a sighted guide.

As blind folks, we are taught independence.  Once we go through blindness
skills training, our insistence on independence becomes a source of pride,
tied up with our self-esteem.  But the skills of blindness are based on our
ability to hear, and to hear well.  When we receive training in the skills
of blindness, our hearing loss becomes the kiss of death.  It doesn't have
to be that way.

I urge you, if you haven't already done so, to search the web for the
American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB).  Follow it on Facebook.  Join
the organization, and attend its conferences.  This group will be the
catalyst to ultimately obtain the resources necessary for every state to
have an SSP program.

In South Louisiana, the Deaf-blind community (capital D meaning the
community that is culturally Deaf) is large and vibrant.  We have SSPs to
help us when the skills of blindness simply aren't enough.  They have
allowed me to enter their community, even though I did not grow up in the
Deaf culture.  I learned ASL from LCDC and began to communicate with them.
They are curious about the NFB.  We have mastered the white cane.  We own
the Truth About Blindness, the blindness philosophy, that they need to
become whole with their blindness.  Perhaps in the Deaf culture, blindness
is the kiss of death.  The Deaf and the blind have been at opposite ends of
the disability spectrum, if you will.  But SSPs have made it possible for us
to learn from one another.  It's time to take advantage of the opportunity
to turn our weakness into the source of our strength.

By all means, we should make use of technology such as the deaf-blind
communicator.  We should obtain blindness skills training.  But as blind
people who are also hearing impaired or deaf, we need to go a step farther.
It is imperative that we get to know people who are culturally Deaf and also
blind or visually impaired, and learn from their experience.  There are
organizations everywhere; but they are only recently becoming active.
Deaf-blindness will isolate a person more than any other condition
imaginable, unless we take action and find the solutions that are available
to us.  Unlike VR, we don't know the meaning of the word "can't", so don't
expect VR to find those resources for you.  But demand that they provide the
support you need to find them.  Your VR counselor probably has very little
knowledge of deaf-blindness, and certainly much less than you do.

God bless you, RJ and Amanda, and thank you so much for brining this topic
to our attention.

Cathy Guillory Miller
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