DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, February 22, 2012
-- A hearing employee insulting the deaf, not fired
Tom Petry, not deaf, is the technology director of the Collier County school district in Florida. He insulted his deaf employee, mocked racial groups, accused of bad behavior and mismanaged department finances, etc. A disciplinary hearing took place with 200 pages of evidence. Yet, the school superintendent did not fire him!
-- A deaf female jockey in a future Kentucky Derby race?
Neiba Ponce, 23, a deaf woman from Kennewick, Washington, is now a horse racing jockey. She is practices with horses at a training track. The local NBC Right Now ran a short program of her. Kentucky Derby? It is a big dream of all jockeys. We hope she will become a successful jockey and deaf bettors winning money on her horses!
-- ASL person cannot run for election in a small town
San Luis, Arizona has 15,000 people and is near the Mexican border. This town passed a law 120 years ago that candidates in town elections must be fluent in English. Last week a hearing Spanish-speaking woman was told she cannot run for public office in San Luis. Same thing with ASL person; if his English is bad, he cannot run for public office in same town!
-- National Theatre of the Deaf in danger of going broke
The NTD, founded in 1967, is the nation's oldest continuing deaf theater. It survived past financial problems, but today may be the worst. NTD, in Connecticut, is funded by the state. Connecticut is broke, and has cut funding for many groups. NTD was supposed to get $151,000 but may be zero dollars. Everyone was surprised about zero dollars. But there is hope; theater and cultural groups are screaming mad. The state then said their budget cutbacks are not really cutbacks at all. Confusing? Yes!
-- Obama praises a successful deaf person
President Obama, on his web site, praised a deaf person who was a success in life despite not being well known in the national Deaf Community. At age of 16, he competed in the Deaflympics; after graduation from deaf school, he worked in a factory assembly line. And he helped establish an agency serving the deaf in the area. And he is encouraging the deaf to go out and vote. His children have become successes. Who is that person? Go to: http://www.barackobama.com/news/entry/organizing-against-all-odds-abram-p/
