(photo showing sculpture of the sign “relationship/connect”)
As my Crossroads readers know, this blog is my attempt to merge my identity as a Deaf person with my Pagan spirituality.
Some of my posts focus on Deaf issues, some of my posts focus on Pagan issues.
And some of them focus on both.
That merger of Deafhood and Paganism has its trials and tribulations. As I stated in a post I wrote a few years ago:
When I go into the Pagan Community, I am often the only Deaf person there…and understandably my perspectives on Paganism are going to be colored by my identity as a Deaf person – to the point where I have actually gotten accused by other Pagans of being “too Deaf” and trying to cram the whole Deafhood thing down everyone’s throat.
Then I move over to the Deaf Community, where I tend to view things from a Pagan perspective – after all, I have been a practicing Pagan for 25+ years and it is more than just a religion, it becomes my whole philosophy and lifestyle – and what happens? I get accused of being “too Pagan”…of trying to promote the Pagan religion, and cram Witchcraft down everyone’s throat. Or even worse, I get shunned by other Deaf folks, who view my beliefs as an indication of “devil worship.”
So what’s a Deaf Pagan like me supposed to do? Where do we fit in? How do we find our place in the world?
It’s not easy.
And it’s not made any easier by the lack of access that Deaf Pagans often have when they wish to attend Pagan events – presentations, rituals, workshops, conferences, gatherings and the like. Oftentimes interpreters are not provided for such events, and when we attempt to request such the response often is not positive. Various explanations are given for the lack of access: “we don’t provide that kind of service,” “we don’t have the funds to pay for interpreters,” “our event is staffed entirely by volunteers and it would not be appropriate for us to pay for someone to sign for you,” and last but not least – “you should be taking care of your own needs and bringing your own assistant to sign for you.”
I realize that most Pagan organizations know little if anything about the Deaf Community, and thus such responses are often the result of ignorance and misunderstanding.
Thus I have been thrust into the role of educator and advocate – teaching the Pagan Community about Deaf Culture while at the same time advocating for Equal Communication Access.
I accept this role willingly, but it does come with its challenges. Being an advocate means sticking your neck out and risking the not-so-pleasant response you might get from others.
To illustrate:
I am currently involved in an exchange of emails with a Pagan organization that puts on an annual event I wish to attend. In spite of my best efforts, they have been resistant to the idea of establishing interpreting services for such.
The most recent email I received from them left me quite concerned about their true understanding of the issues of which we were discussing.
Comments made by other Pagans related to this subject leads me to suspect that this organization is not alone in its lack of knowledge and comprehension of Deaf Culture, Equal Communication Access, Interpreting, Advocacy, the Americans with Disabilities Act, etc.
So I’ve decided to use this experience as an opportunity to educate the Pagan Community, and use Deaf Pagan Crossroads as the medium for doing so.
I have posted in its entirety the most recent communication which I have sent to this organization, sharing my thoughts and feelings in regards to the whole communication access issue.
I confess that this email was rather lengthy, so I have broken it down into five parts so you can read each issue in a separate post. I encourage you to read all five posts so that you can get the full picture and thus a better sense of where both parties are coming from.
Individual names as well as the name of the event and its hosting organization have been removed, and will not be shared. I see no point in such identification. Who, what and where is irrelevant. The point is to read it, to think about it, and to learn from it.
And perhaps even apply it to your own Pagan organization.
To begin reading this Pagan Deaf Accessibility Letter, please click on the below link to go to Part One. From there, you will be given links for the next part.
Part One:
http://deafpagancrossroads.com/2011/05/19/pagan-deaf-access-letter-part-one-clarifying-the-laws/
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
Ocean, thank you for sharing this. I’m often shocked by the response of many large events to any sort of accessibility question, but then again, I’m also far more educated on such things now than I was even 5 years ago, out of necessity – and back then, it wouldn’t even have occurred to me that there might be one deaf person, or one person in a wheel chair, or any number of other situations, who wanted to attend an event, or what to do if they asked.
But….ASL and spoken English are about equal in terms of communication with my young son, and while we’re not nearly fluent, there was a point where we thought he might not speak at all, and fluency was going to have to be something we figured out. I’ve carried 100 lbs of medical gear to keep him breathing, and learned how challenging it can be to get even a child-sized wheelchair in and out of most places.
We haven’t even talked about taking him to Pagan events for more than a brief visit, because we just couldn’t see how to make it work with all those challenges. And I can’t imagine to think whaat my response would be if an event told us the things you’ve been told
I hope that you are able to come to some working arrangement with them without it having to be you bringing your own interpreter. It really isn’t as hard as they’re making it out to be.
Thank you for your kind words and your support. It means a great deal to me.
Yes, it is a sad but true fact that we’ve still a ways to go in regards to access. As I like to say when I am giving presentations:
“Deafness is my disability, Society is my handicap.”
I’m not handicapped by my deafness – I can do many of the same things as hearing folks do. The barriers have little to do with my lack of hearing…they have to do with people’s lack of understanding.
It’s all about attitudes.
I hope the day comes when your son can attend a Pagan event, will have full access to it, and be warmly welcomed by all.
Just found your blog and I wanted to let you know how appalled I am after reading just the first part of your email. I am not deaf but do have acquaintances who are and my daughter is currently an ASL interpreter for a middle school student in the Los Angeles school district so I do hear a little about the challenges those in the deaf community face.
Kudos to you for being willing to fight this battle. And thank you for sharing it with the blogging community. I wish you much success in your fight. Brightest of blessings to you!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, dragonfae.
Sadly it’s a battle that I fight day in, day out…and not just with Pagan organizations. The harsh reality is that most places do not want to go thru the trouble of making themselves accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing – or to be more precise, they don’t want to pay for it. They see it as an expense they can’t afford or shouldn’t have to pay.
The common belief is that “well, it’s not my problem so I shouldn’t have to deal with it…you need to bring somebody to sign for you.” It’s the common view that sees interpreters as “personal assistants”…little more than human wheelchairs.
It gets old pretty quick. But what’s the alternative?
Thanks again for your kind words.
With all due respect, I don’t think this Pagan organization knows what it’s talking about.
And it picked the wrong person to play hardball with.
In the process of trying to make you look like a fool, they come across looking pretty darn foolish themselves.
Granted – if you haven’t had much exposure to the Deaf Community, you’re probably not going to understand much about how it thinks, feels, and acts…nor about the issues that are so important to them.
But that’s all the more reason why one should keep his/her mouth shut, listen and learn.
Quit trying to make comparisons that don’t apply. Quit trying to pretend you understand when you really don’t. Quit trying to come up with elaborate excuses to justify poor decisions. Quit trying to spoonfeed a bunch of pitiful pap to people who know better than to swallow it.
Stop it, folks.
Yes…building a community means that we all have to work together in a spirit of cooperation and respect in order to make things happen.
But it also means that we acknowledge and accept responsibility for our own tasks and quit trying to pass the buck to someone else.
Osh isn’t trying to be demanding, she isn’t trying to be damaging…she’s just trying to be what everyone within this community should be – an equal partner.
And for her, being an equal partner means having equal access to communication, to information, to opportunity. She’s not asking for special favors here. She’s just asking that we even the playing board a bit.
Sure…this correspondence is a nicely written bit of flowery prose. I suspect it was intended that way, in hopes that Osh wouldn’t see it for what it truly is – just a condescending letter attempting to make her feel guilty for even daring to speak up in the first place.
Doesn’t make it smell any better.
I don’t think I could have said it any better, Hawk.
Yeah it surprised me…it doesnt make sense. Everywhere, anytiime, we have to educate public about deaf. Deaf is miniority. In my hometown, there is a deaf and hard of hearing services, it has interpreter services they can educate, explain to hearing about why deaf and hearing need an interpreter….not just deaf people…hearing people need an interpreter so we share the needs…50/50 percent. I often remind hearing that the interpreting service is for both deaf and hearing.