Save Our Deaf Schools

Thursday, February 21, 2013 Julian Bond speech at Gallaudet University: “From Civil Rights to Human Rights” PDF Version Transcript: JULIAN BOND: Thank you for inviting me here. My first involvement with disability rights came in April 1977, when Section 504, the regulations implementing the American Rehabilitation Act, were pending, waiting to be signed into law. Without 504, there might well be no Americans with Disabilities Act that finally put disabilities on a par with gender and race in the pantheon of federal civil rights laws. I joined a protest in San Francisco, part of a nationwide demonstration at the Health, Education and Welfare offices, now called “Health and Human Services.” We were there to insist strong regulations be adopted. Section 504 would force hospitals, universities — any place that got federal money — to remove obstacles to services and would provide access to public transportation and public places for persons with disabilities. It was the first ci

 Wednesday, February 6, 2013 A special message from Jerry Covell: 25 Years After DPN, Deaf STILL CAN’T? Jerry Covell Next month, I will be participating in a 25th anniversary celebration of the Deaf President Now protest at Gallaudet University where I was one of the student leaders who protested against the Board of Trustees to prove to the world that a qualified deaf person can become a president of Gallaudet University and that “deaf people can do anything but hear”. Yet, a few weeks ago a deplorable incident occurred at a school for the deaf... Now we are basically being told “deaf people cannot do anything”. Such oppression and bigotry actually happened at the Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD), committed by a hearing principal and certain hearing co-workers on January 17, 2013. It is just unbelievable that this oppression is still happening in this day and age. A bit of history is necessary to understand why it happened. It all started last summer when a certain group of hearing