National Association of the Deaf v. Donald J. Trump

Sources:
www.nad.org/20...
www.nad.org/wp...
casetext.com/c...
rid.org/rid-po...
www.nad.org/20...
Visual description: white woman with light brown curls in the back signing in American Sign Language. Various plants and a fireplace in the background.
Transcript:
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed a lawsuit against former President Trump and White House. All Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans did not have any access to “critical, potentially life-saving information presented by our nation’s political and science leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic because they refused to provide American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. They filed on August 1, 2020 and all 50 states provided either live or in-frame ASL interpretation. The leaders from around the world have also provided sign language interpretation during the pandemic except for former President Trump. Various organizations and entities also asked the White House to provide ASL interpretation during its public COVID-19 related briefings. Additionally, 34 United States Senators made a similar request. The White House chose to ignore numerous requests and excluded Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans and they broke the federal law. NAD also cited a case, “Martinez v. Cuomo”, in their legal document. NAD quoted, “[w]ithout immediate implementation of an in-frame ASL interpreter, Plaintiffs and other similarly situated deaf New Yorkers will continue to be denied timely access to critical information, leaving them less able to comply with current orders and advice, less able to prepare for the future, and more anxious about current conditions and the future.” NAD also mentioned, “There are at least 48 million DHH persons in the United States. For many of these DHH individuals, ASL is their primary language, and for many such persons, English is, at best, a second language. Indeed, many DHH persons know virtually no English.” NAD has concerns about those who are fluent in ASL may not understand closed captions. NAD emphasized, “Tone is also often lost in written captions. By contrast, an interpreter is able to convey tone and context of a message through facial expressions, sign choice, and demeanor.” The White House violated the Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act and First Amendment of the Constitution. The First Amendment protects the freedom of speech however it also means “where one enjoys a right to speak, others hold a ‘reciprocal right to receive’ that speech.” NAD pointed out that to marginalize or to discriminate the Deaf and Hard of Hearing serves no legitimate need. A Judge ordered the White House to start providing ASL interpreters by October 1st and they finally complied on November 13th. Also, the former administration filed an appeal against the ruling and it is now pending. However, the current administration recently announced that they will use ASL interpreters for all of their press briefings. Recently, NAD made a statement that their “efforts are limited to the lawsuit and we are not communicating directly with the White House on the issues related to the ASL interpreters at the White House.” They will not assist them with the quality of the ASL interpreters. Their focus is currently limited to resolving the lawsuit.
Takeaways
We have to take time to appreciate and thank NAD and their partners for their hard work. However, NAD did not take the opportunity to emphasize the importance of using Deaf interpreters during the press briefings. I wish NAD followed the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID)’s strong stance on using Deaf interpreters. For example, the RID stated, “...fully endorses that Deaf interpreters are the best to provide this critical information to the masses” because “CDI can meet the diverse needs linguistically of a broad array of the Deaf community.”

[@stephanielagrimas5759]

Donald Trump was not responsible for the interpreter, but his team of leaders responsible for get interpret

[@aleklifechannel1212]

Thank you for explaining in ASL making it easier to understand!

[@joseyduran2513]

Hello Mrs. Interpreter ( ha LOL) my name is Josey, i am Deaf from Colorado USA ... awww I love to watch your interpreter real beautiful from President white house GOV..... you doing good jobs and keep busy with president white house GOV everything.. i wanted say Thank you for set interpreter for Deaf USA people can watch you with interpreter.. keep counties for new year 2022......real Amazing!!! Hope you have good Happy New Year 2022 be safely !!!! i keeping watch president white house daily time i always and Mrs. Pskai (secretary office) too.... Josey

[@ritajoscarcella1272]

Thank You!

[@chamarystigers8731]

You are right I am deaf

[@Ed-iv1ct]

Thank you for details keep up

[@robertalcala1385]

Great job !

[@waynebarth8029]

Not true dont blame trump. Reagan, bush, Clinton,bush,Obama and biden wont let interpreter

[@artherr2843]

Agree 100% with your comments!

[@bobbybartel]

We are blaming Donald Trump because he unfit the White House, and we don't trust him at all, so we're still voting for Blue Kamala Harris and Tim Walz all the way .....

[@titanbum7365]

Gimme a break. Trump is out of office and a citizen now. Suing him is just so immature! If you were going to sue him you had 4 years to do it. Too late so grow up!

[@tiggerlady2352]

Hi, Do you remember me Tami from training class in Denver, Colorado I sent you Facebook message yesterday morning. If you can check it out. Thank you. I watched your videos in this KZbin. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing your videos 😊👍🏻

[@MikeAGarza]

I'm deaf too and 🖕NAD !!! I support Trump!!!

[@artherr2843]

Hey Stecker, why not you mention other presidents that did not bother to use interpreters. Is it your hatred toward Trump?🤔