I came across a recent article that was published on vice.com which was written by a Deaf writer and professor Sara Novic. She talked about Trump's victory as president and the way it would affect the Deaf Community negatively, her article titled "why Deaf Community Fear President Trump". She was interviewed by DPAN reporter named Kriston Pumphrey. She explained in the video why she wrote the article. The DPAN reporter reached out to Sara to learn more about why she wrote this article. Here is the conversation that transpired between Sara and DPAN reporter:
Sara Novice: I wrote this article because we are in a new situation with trump that we have not faced in the past. Typically, when we have a new president we are to look at his previous political decisions to gain insight on potential future policies. However since trump has no experience in the political arena, we can only look at how he has conducted his business affairs, and his personal behavior. In his business, he has repeatedly violated the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and has been taken to court for multiple violations. This could mean trump places more value on money than including Deaf or disabled voices in his corporation. As for his personal conduct, we have seen reports of Trump mocking Marlee Matlin's voice or Deaf accent, and allegedly referred to her as retarded. that’s shockingly disrespectful. He also mocked other physically disabled newspaper reporter. This type of behavior makes it clear that Trump views Deaf or disabled people as less than others. Its incredibly doubtful that this type of opinion will change overnight once he takes Presidential office.
DPAN reporter: In a time when bullying has been a frequent topic of concern, this kind of behavior from someone who is about to be commander-in-chief warrants concern. we asked Sara what events have taken place since her article was published that further supports her claims that Trump is not good for the Deaf Community.
Sara Novic: Not much has changed in the last month sine i wrote this article. Trump still says that he wants to repeal the ACA r Affordable Care Act. This may cause many Deaf and disabled people to lose their insurance. People who rely on Medicaid for expensive medicine or medical equipment could lose that support. This can have a large impact on the Deaf and disabled community. Due to Trump's cabinet appointment for the Department of Education, it seems that education for Deaf and disabled people will not be a high priority. His appointee would want to reduce the funding for public and deaf schools and instead allocate that money to private schools, parochial schools or charter schools. If we look back at when funding has been reduced in the past, we see that Deaf schools are typically vulnerable to being closed. This is a far-reaching problem for Deaf students. At the same time, if the ADA becomes less powerful, then students from Deaf schools may be forced to join a mainstream environment where support will be harder to find. This means that Deaf students will have to fight harder for their rights and thats tough. We will have to see what things will obviously be changing when Trump officially becomes president on January 20th. I want the Deaf community to be prepared to continue fighting for our rights.
DPAN reporter: There are many Deaf people who support Trump and are looking forward to the change he is going to bring to our country. But how does this article apply to the Deaf community as a whole despite our various political beliefs?
Sara Novic: Just to clarify, the title of this article was created by an editor, and i think that it kind of misses the intent of what i was trying to say. Instead, i would like to share with others that during any nationwide political change, it doesn't matter who, i believe its important that Deaf community remain vigilant and be on the lookout for how exactly this will affect us.
DPAN reporter: Something we can all take from sara's article is to be more aware of how policy changes affect us as a community. With any new president, we need to stand up for our rights and make sure we don't regress with the progress we have made so far.
My message to the Deaf writer and Professor Sara Novice.
Dear Sara,
Please first of all, i want to say this is not a pro-Trump blog and you have the freedom to express your opinion which you have done in your article but i am only saying what i observed, though you claim the Deaf community is afraid of Trump's administration but i want to correct this claim. Not all Deaf people are afraid of Trump's administration. Some of Deaf people are great supporters of Trump and i see how some of them are supporting and voting for Trump during election. To say that Deaf community is afraid of Trump is funny.
You talked of how President elect Trump mocked a Disabled reporter, i am afraid you might have been following medias that are biased, i was like you until i found out that they were full of bias, and you see why Hillary was complaining against media when she lost to Trump. The media said Trump mocked a Disabled reporter but President-elect Donald Trump denied mocking a reporter for a physical disability in a series of tweets. For him to deny, he means well for Deaf community.
I think its too early to judge Trump's supporters, we should give him time and see the kind of president he is and also to see what kind of change he is going to bring to the country. Even with Obama's administration, we witnessed so many Deaf people complaining against discrimination. The president doesn’t have the power to change any law, its the congress.
We should know that with the incoming administration, Deaf community will not tolerate bullying at all. We might be viewed as a minority group; we will not be threatened at all, just as you said we Deaf community will remain vigilant and be on the lookout for how exactly this will affect us. Apart from that, we should continue to educate the society. We would get there.
Cheeta.
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