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- Path: sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!ames!olivea!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!26.0!John.Linko
- From: John.Linko@p0.f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org (John Linko)
- Newsgroups: misc.handicap
- Subject: Defining the upper case D
- Message-ID: <25726@handicap.news>
- Date: 18 Nov 92 21:25:36 GMT
- Sender: news@bunker.shel.isc-br.com
- Reply-To: John.Linko@p0.f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org
- Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/26.0 - SoundingBoard, Pittsburgh PA
- Lines: 34
- Approved: wtm@hnews.fidonet.org
- X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference
- Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com
-
- Index Number: 25726
-
- [This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
-
- At the fall conference of the Pa. chapter of AGBell, an organization
- called "Creative Access" distributed a flyer encouraging interested
- persons contact their group regarding an initiative to encourage
- movie theaters to open-caption first run films.
-
- Creative Access is "an organization created to assure visibility,
- accessibility, opportunity, and inclusion of Deaf* people in arts
- and culture". They can be reached at 2014 Fitzwater Street,
- Philadelphia PA 19146, or at 215-735-5851 TDD/Voice.
-
- The greatest thing about the flyer, however, was a three-sentence
- explanation for their use of the upper case D in "Deaf". It goes
- like this:
-
- "Use of upper case "D" signifies membership in a unique minority
- culture reflected by its own language and rich history. At no time
- and in no way does this imply exclusion of any group. All events
- and programs welcome deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people of
- all ethnic and racial backgrounds. Knowledge of sign language is
- never a requirement for enjoyment and participation."
-
- In short, one does not have to belong to a string band to enjoy
- watching the Mummers' Parade. A culture is inclusionary, not
- exclusionary. Folks like Harlan Lane and James Womack should
- pay more attention to this kind of thinking. We would all get
- along better. JL
-
- --
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