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August 11, 2008
To: Deaf America
From: Carol Finkle, one Hearing mother/grandmother in the heart of an invisible "mixed" American family; how, 'invisible'?: we are a Deaf-Hearing family.
Note: It is funny (interesting, strange, even painful, actually) that we have in fact been a "mixed" family for forty years, but it is only in the past twelve months that anyone has called us that, 'mixed', upon observing us; "ahhh, you're a "mixed" family now", they exclaim. "Why 'now' and not 'before'"?, you may ask. Because, (I will tell you why); it is because my son and daughter-in-law have adopted two Deaf toddlers in the past fifteen months, and they both happen to be children 'of color'; our little Hispanic angel from Colombia, and her equally precious baby brother who hails from India. So the story goes on and as always, I think to myself, "Hmmm, we've ALWAYS been a 'mixed' family, a Deaf and Hearing family; it's just that you can't SEE "D e a f", and so, sad to say, every society in the world treats this invisible "seeing' culture' just that way, by ignoring their existence, marginalizing them socially, economically and politically. Question: Do the candidates even have sign language interpreters with them during their campaigns as a matter of course? Do the candidates even realize the Deaf American vote could be the last untapped "swing vote"? I doubt it, but should they? Absolutely! But, also sad to say, all my rantings of the past ten months to that affect have fallen on deaf ears (pun totally intended)! Seriously though, there are millions of uninformed Deaf voters because no one counts them as a minority (American) minority voting bloc, but, alas nobody 'listens'; nobody hears me...because nobody 'gets it'. |
