I'm joining a large group of community that is rallying against Indiana HB 1367. This bill; if passed, will remove outreach program at Indiana School for the Deaf. It's possible that the other states are watching to see if the bill is worth saving money by removing outreach program at other schools for the deaf. We need your help to prevent this from happening. I excerpted this video in ASL Version and English Version from The Deaf Edge Blog: An Open Letter to the Indiana Goverment
Please take your time to watch it in ASL version or read it in English version. Please spread the word! Thank you so much!
Dear Indiana Legislators:
As a Deaf Community activist, with a degree in Public Administration, I am writing to you to strongly state my opposition to House Bill 1367, and am asking you to oppose this as well.
HB 1367 seeks to remove the outreach center from the Indiana School of the Deaf , but there is no rationale of any kind for this bill. There is no financial incentive to make this kind of change, and in all likelihood, would incur an increase in government spending in a time where there needs to be less spending.
Furthermore, there is zero evidence that the deaf outreach center has been failing parents and children of Indiana. No cost/benefit analysis has been done to justify this proposal. Nor has any evidence based, independent research been done, to justify this proposal.
Indeed, by all accounts, the outreach center is serving the population of Indiana very well, and already involves all of the stakeholders – which this bill does not have a provision for.
It is also deeply troubling to me that this bill is being rushed through without any transparency or serious analysis on the justifications for this bill. This directly contravenes the fundamental principles of democratic governance.
I strongly urge you to stand for transparency, enfranchisement of all Indiana citizens, and democratic governance by voting against HB 1367.
Respectfully yours,
Jeannette Johnson
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If you have not yet, please send in emails to the Indiana Legislators stating your opposition to HB 1367. Here is the link to their email addresses: http://www.in.gov/cgi-bin/legislative/contact/contact.pl
It is imperative that the national Deaf Community take action on this and support the Indiana Deaf Community in this time of crisis. I realize that many of us are exhausted – but we have nothing to lose by sending in emails opposing this bill. Take a stand and demand that you and your fellow deaf peers be treated as citizens of this country. Because we are. We are not second class citizens, nor children of a lesser god.
Take a stand. We have nothing to lose.
Here is my only question….can ISD provide UNBIASED services and support for ALL deaf and hard of hearing kids in Indiana, regardless of their communication language or mode? Do they provide free AVT as well as ASL? Do they teach families Cued speech if that is their choice? The law requires that someone provide an appropriate (and FREE) education for ALL deaf kids, not just those who use ASL. Is ISD meeting the needs of those kids too?
ReplyDeleteHi Miss Kat's Parents,
ReplyDeleteOf course. If you ask for it, they will provide. And remember if you support Indiana HB 1367, it will remove these professionals that you are asking for. You are sending a message to your child that your child can never be an educator or administrator. Best approach is for you all to work with your child's future peer and have a dialogue in how to improve the outreach.
I don't think it will remove these professionals, it will simply MOVE where they are located.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with ISD having to serve all Deaf students, is that they don't have the experience to help oral kids. They are focused on ASL/English, which is fine, but if you don't have the ability to serve ALL the students, in all languages, for free, then it needs to be addressed.
Move them to where? Spend more money that the State doesn't have the money to spend on a new center then cut funds from other areas of Education such as Art Classes and/or some of P.E courses? And "they don't have the experience to help oral kids" is a false statement. I was enrolled in oral school when I was younger, then went to mainstreamed school until at Junior that I wanted to be transferred to Riverside School for the Deaf. I still had Speech/Audio Therapist all the way until I graduated.
ReplyDeleteAnd other deaf programs in school that are funded by the State around Indiana doesn't provide or have the ability to serve all the students in any communication methods. Some have rejected ASL/English and use other communication methods such as SEE, PSE, Cued Speech and/or Oral. Yet the law require them to provide equal access to any communication methods. And they have their own outreach programs or Parents/Teacher Outreach programs.
They don't need to be relocated.
The point is that the outreach SHOULD be providing information and services to ALL communication modes. They aren't and they can't. They are part of ISD, which is, by definition, biased. They use and only support ASL/English. If you want other services, you have to go somewhere else. They need one place that can provide unbiased information and services to families.
ReplyDeleteYour valid point should apply to all deaf programs at schools in Indiana; regardless. ISD isn't biased. They offer many communication choices to their PTO (Parents/Teachers Outreach) and they often mention in their IEP meeting. I don't know where you got the information that they only provide ASL/English. They have bi-language/bicultural programs but its often parents' decisions which communication methods are the best for them.
ReplyDeleteHearing professionals should work with deaf people, not against deaf people.
Give me information where you saw that they can't provide information and services to all communication modes.
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ReplyDelete