John wrote:
>Kate Kaul implied in her post, I really think access isn't taken seriously
>until those NOT affected speak up. We wheelchair-users are too few,
>isolated, and disempowered to get far on our own."
>
Kate also wrote:
> There's also a missing mode of critique; I
>encounter work in many disciplines, like queer theory, women's studies as
>well as philosophy, literature, etc., which needs to be informed by a
>disability perspective but isn't; people don't know what they're missing,
>as well as who they're missing.
I don't really like depending on 'allies' but I have to admit there's a
grain of truth in this. However, I think that the biggest barrier to access
remains cost, particularly at so-called 'informal' events, and I know for a
fact that I am not invited to some work-based events because 'there's no
money for communication support'. I don't know about the U.S., but in the
U.K. real-time captioning has to be booked by the day, or sometimes the
half-day and most SLIs have a minimum two-hour call out. I prefer to use
real-time captioning because its closer to my 'identity' but also because I
feel very strongly about 'making visible' the diversity amongst deaf
people. Most informal events are for one to one and a half hours at the
most. My experience is that if I leave it to allies, I usually get
a-friend-of-the-ally-who-happens-to-sign approach, or they simply don't
have the knowledge of what to ask for even (if I tell them). If I were to
go to all the informal work events I'm asked to, I'd spend all my time on
booking communication support and coping with the resulting admin, and I'd
never get any work done. Kate's comment about interdisciplinary work really
resonates. I do spend a lot of time being the only disabled person in the
academic events I go to for this reason, and I find that very stressful
because people make so many assumptions of the 'she's not deaf'/'Oh God,
she's deaf' variety and they forget that a lot of the 'real' exchange in
these events goes on informally. In other words, communication support is
never available in between formal sessions and in the evenings. Many of my
collaegues have given up going to mainstream events, and I have to say I'm
tempted to do the same - but I doubt if my conscience will let me.
Best wishes
Mairian
Mairian Corker
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Education and Social Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
Address for correspondence:
Deafsearch
111 Balfour Road
Highbury
London N5 2HE
U.K.
Minicom/TTY +44 [0]20 7359 8085
Fax +44 [0]870 0553967
Typetalk (voice) +44 [0]800 515152 (and ask for minicom/TTY number)
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"To understand what I am doing, you need a third eye"
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