When there was a big uprising at Gallaudet University because Deaf students wanted a Deaf President ('Deaf President Now!' was their slogan), we printed editorials in support of their efforts, held a large rally with great media coverage, and made the issue very public. It was a bit of a rocky start to our relationship, but over the years, the Deaf community has strongly supported STIC and our mission. We changed our logo to incorporate the 'I Love You' sign and kept it for many years. Well, you could say that a bulb went off, that I saw the light, so to speak. Deaf people think you only work with people who use wheelchairs.' Note here that I’m totally blind and the logo was about as far from my thinking as we could get. We're the only local agency that works with the Deaf.'įinally, in a rather heated exchange between a Deaf man and myself, he said, 'Your logo doesn’t speak to Deaf people.' I'd respond, 'But we have the relay, interpreter services, a Deaf Peer Counselor. I would get comments like, 'You don't serve the Deaf', 'You don't reach out to the Deaf', etc. Now, the internet and video phones for the Deaf tremendously expand their communication options and create a more level playing field for them.ĭuring our early years there seemed to be constant friction between STIC and the Deaf community and no matter how much I tried, I could never figure out why. We are fortunate to have a good reliable relay service in place, though nothing can replace the direct communication between two individuals with TTYs. So we became strong advocates for a statewide relay service, and were involved in its initial planning. It was a much-used service but we could never raise the funds to make it all the community needed. While we were never able to go 24/7 we did get grants to expand a bit to run about 13 hours a day. More hours of service was the first request. We established a Deaf Advisory Committee to tell us how the relay was working and to provide input on changes or improvements we could make. After much wrangling with the other agency, we began to run the service. Armed with this petition, we were able to convince our funding source that it wasn’t a duplication for us to provide the service, since we did try to resolve the problems and the Deaf community still wanted us to be the provider. The Deaf community circulated a petition urging us to take the service over because it wasn't currently meeting their needs. I said I couldn't 'just take it over', and we weren’t allowed to create a duplicate service, but we could try to negotiate with the agency to resolve the issues. The first big issue to arise was that the Deaf community wanted STIC to take over the TTY relay service then operated by another local agency. And guess what, Deaf people did call and they called a lot. When STIC opened in 1983, we made sure events were interpreted, and that we had at least two TTYs. Of course, a motion was quickly made to recommend that all centers purchase TTYs. I said, 'Well, then don't we have to have a TTY to be accessible to Deaf people? You wouldn't question having a ramp (which is far more expensive) or Braille materials would you?' A stunned silence ensued. I said, 'I know this is my first meeting and maybe I don't understand the IL Philosophy to the fullest extent, but don't centers serve people of all ages and disabilities?' A chorus of yeses immediately followed. I listened for a while, thinking that maybe I shouldn't spout off at the first meeting, but by the time 45 minutes had passed with people saying, 'but they are so expensive' (only about $250), 'they are so hard to use' (not true at all), and my very favorite, 'But no Deaf people call us anyway', I'd lost patience. Now you must know that the Council was comprised of representatives from CILs, among others. I thought it would look good on a resume though so I agreed to serve.Īt my very first meeting, a lengthy debate took place discussing whether or not Centers for Independent Living (CILs) should have TTYs to communicate with the Deaf. It's a very impressive name for a group that occasionally gave advice that was usually ignored. Long before I became Executive Director of STIC, in fact several years before STIC was even a dream, Frank Pennisi and I were members of the NYS Commissioner of Education's Advisory Council on Independent Living.

In this look back over the last 25 years, I wanted to focus on the Deaf community, and our mutual growth and awareness.

Imagecast voting machine sucks