Folks, I've had quite a journey since I started this blog.  I've had spirited debates, heated moments, and moments of enlightenment, as well as despair.  The deaf community, like any other community, is one great big diverse melting pot of opinions, ideas, etc.

But, I'm moving on to other things.  I no longer work for Hamilton Relay.  I've had a great ride, enjoyed meeting the people that I did, and the co-workers that I shared laughs along the way with.  Like they say "We done good, didn't we?".

I will begin wrapping up my writings on this blog soon.  I'm compiling a lot of information and writings, and hope to eventually finish a book, among other things.  Soon, I will close the blog, but will never stop fighting for what I can in the deaf world.  So join me over the next few weeks as I try to summarize where we are as a deaf community on many issues that I've brought up over the time of this blog.

Thanks,
ThumpaFlash

This isn't really deaf-related.....But, in a sense, it is..

Sparky Anderson, former manager of the Cincinnati Reds, has gone to that great dugout in the skies....No rainouts in his future, just sunny, cloudless days with blue skies.  You see, for me, he was THE epitome of what a baseball manager should be.  Make no mistake, I love football, follow basketball (college and high school), but baseball was, and still is, my true love.  My childhood coincided with the glory days of "The Big Red Machine".  Sparky, Don Gullet, Pete Rose, Davey Concepcion, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan,  George Foster, and so forth.  It was a true modern day "Murderer's Row" that few teams wanted to face.  I played baseball too, having those childhood dreams of taking the mound for my Reds team. 

I had the pleasure of meeting this great man one day when they were playing the Atlanta Braves, he graciously signed my program before the game.  Just another day at the ballpark.  But, as I turned to leave, he noticed my hearing aid, the following exchange is forever embedded in my mind:

Sparky:  "Hey kid, that a hearing aid there?"

Me:  "Yes sir"

Sparky:  "Sometimes I wish I had onna them there things so I could turn the sound down when the players start griping"

Me:  "You can wear mine, but then I can't hear you"

Sparky:  "Kid, it might be better if you don't hear what I say sometimes" (big grin)

I stayed on cloud 9 the rest of the game (we won).  Sparky could care less that I wore a hearing aid, he was just enjoying chatting with a fan.  He gave me a memory I will cherish forever (along with that baseball signed by the entire World Series team from 1976).  Fast forward a few years later, and I stood in line waiting for him to sign his book that I had purchased.  When I got up to him, I told him my name for him to personalize it.  While he was signing, I mentioned the exchange from a few years prior.  He stopped writing, looked up, and said "I hope you didn't hear the words during the argument with the umpire in the 4th inning" and gave me a big grin.  Amazing, he remembered having an argument in the 4th inning several years after it happened!  Total class act, perfect gentleman.  I have few true baseball heroes, but I just lost one this week, and so did the grand old game.

RIP, Sparky...I'll remember you forever...Here's my favorite picture of you, you seem to be gazing into the future to see those 3 World Series titles you would win, with blue skies and just a few clouds.  Godspeed and keep the wind at your back, sir.

Folks:

Several people have asked, and I'm now ready to tell...My new job is as State Outreach Coordinator for Kentucky Relay Service!  I will be traveling the state training, educating, and helping raise awareness about all the different telecommunication options available for the deaf, hard of hearing, and those with speech impediments throughout Kentucky!  I very much look forward to getting to travel the state and meeting many of you.  It is a challenging career change, having spent the past 17 years in some form of security, loss prevention, and investigations, but my management skills I believe will allow me to approach businesses and speak THEIR language and help them understand more about communicating with those in the hearing loss community.  The more they know, the more open they can be to change...And for their customers and employees, as well as potential business partners, this can be a win-win for all involved.  I have plenty of thoughts about new avenues to pursue in outreach in this beautiful state, and can't wait for the opportunity to get moving on those thoughts.

Eddie

Folks:

What appears to be a wonderfully planned event is taking place THIS Saturday in downtown Cincinnati at Fountain Square Park.  D-PAN will be performing, as well as many other notable Deaf artists and entertainers.  Take a few minutes and check out the ASL-OINK website at the link below for more information.  If you are in the area, this sounds like the place to be Saturday!  Sadly, I won't be there, my son has a football game, but I sure wish I could go!


http://www.asl-oink.com/events/silent-takeover-fountain-square

Eddie

Folks:

I have some exciting news!  I have been offered and have accepted a new job!  I can't share the details just yet, as I have to give my new company a chance to announce it.  But let it be sufficient to say that it involves me becoming totally immersed in the deaf and hard of hearing communities on an everyday basis.  I'm SO looking forward to starting back to work in October.

But..... that also means that I will have to cut back on my blogging here... To avoid conflicts of interest, my blog postings from here on out will be mostly of an informational nature.  When there are events for the deaf and hard of hearing in Kentucky and across the nation, I will attempt to post them on here in a timely manner. 

This has led me to reflect upon what I have learned over the past almost 5 months without employment..I've learned that there is still a lot left to be accomplished for the deaf and hard of hearing communities in terms of searching for jobs, going through interview processes, and so forth.  It has also allowed me to step back and reflect upon how much of my family life I have missed over the years while working.  I've enjoyed attending their ballgames, spending lots of time working with my son on his football skills, and so on.  Life has slowed down a little for me, and for that, I'm grateful. 

I will leave the blog open, but could go a while between responses should you post a comment.

Eddie

Folks:

As I continue to meander along the employment search highway, I've noticed a disturbing trend...One that I thought had begun to turn a corner, but now am not so sure of.  I'm not unrealistic, I know what the job market is like; it is a rough and tumble world right now just waiting to chew up and spit out job-seekers of ALL types right now.

However, as a professional with 17 years of relevant experience in my chosen field, with 2 degrees and numerous accomplishments under my belt, with a fairly extensive network of colleagues and contacts, I have landed exactly TWO in-person interviews and ONE phone interview in two plus months of searching, and NONE of those resulted in a call-back or even a courtesy email in reply to my follow up emails.  For someone who has been employed continously since 1986, and have been a hiring manager myself, this was shocking.  In my years of interviewing and hiring, I NEVER failed to respond to a follow up inquiry from a job-seeker, irregardless of whether or not I intended to make an offer.  I ALWAYS attempted to interview and consider ALL candidates irregardless of race, gender, disability, etc.  I have hired women, minorities, and at least one person with a disability.  I think, if they were asked, every single one of them would say I was fair, if nothing else.  For me, the ability of the person to do the job, with or without accommodation, was and always will be, the primary consideration.  I could care less about the other stuff as long as they were the best person for the job, PERIOD.

A little background for you.  After the first month of fruitless job search, I decided to initiate a little test to identify what may be the reason for the lack of interest.  I sought out 10 job opportunities, all with the same basic qualifications/requirements, and ALL of which I met at least the minimum requirements.  For 5 of those jobs (group 1), I submitted my initial resume, which listed my VP (videophone) number, and also in my achievements/interests section, listed some of the advocacy work I have done for the deaf and hard of hearing.  For the other 5 jobs (group 2), I submitted the same resume, but without my VP number or any of my advocacy work listed.

The results?  From group 1, I received ZERO interest.  NO emails, no phone calls, NOTHING. NADA.  From group 2, I received 3 contacts.  All of them led to at least an interview, but nothing further, despite my follow up contact with the interviewers.

Now, you tell me what that sounds like?  I truly hope Obama's profession to make the federal government a role model of hiring those with disabilities takes root.  I disagree with the man's politics, but applaud him if there is REAL effort made to educate the workforce employers about the benefits of hiring those with a disability.  I DO NOT WANT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO GROW BIGGER necessarily, BUT I would like to see attitudes changed, with employers taking applicants with a disability seriously.  Needless to say, I do NOT send out my initial resume anymore, just the revised one with my home phone number listed instead of my VP number, and no advocacy work listed either.

But for now, while the ADA may have opened doors in housing, public accommodation, and other various and sundry areas of everyday living, it appears that change in employment attitudes is still the deaf Atlantis: a mythical paradise not yet found.  That's a shame.  So much talent goes unused or unrecognized because of small-minded and ignorant people who can't see the forest for the trees. Isn't 20 years long enough for employers to have learned from the ADA by now?

Folks:

A hearty congratulations to the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, which announced at this year's NAD conference in Philidelphia, Pa., that Kentucky will be hosting the 2012 NAD conference!  I'm sure more details will follow soon, although it was noted that the conference will be held in conjunction with the very successful DeaFestival held biennially in Kentucky.  You can read the summary of the 2010 opening night ceremony events here: http://www.nad.org/blogs/tayler-mayer/nad-50th-biennial-conference-opening-ceremony

The mention of the Kentucky announcement can be found in the 4th paragraph down.  Time to put our thinking caps on and help make the 51st conference as memorable as I am sure the 50th was for the Philly attendees.  I look forward to getting to attend my first NAD conference finally, and hope to see many of my friends from the Gallaudet days there.  Maybe by thern, Kentucky will be even more accessible in terms of movie theaters, etc. than we are now.  Louisville is a vibrant and deaf-aware community with lots of things to do.  As a former resident of that city (twice!), I believe conference attendees will be pleased.

As I learn more details, I will share (what I can, anyway) here on this blog.  Now, let's have a very successful 2010 Kentucky DeaFestival in Horse Cave, Ky!!!!!!!

Eddie

Wednesday night, July 7th, 2010, marked a turning point in access to theaters for the deaf and hard of hearing in Eastern Kentucky.  The Riverfill 10 Theater in Pikeville, Ky. had it's first showing of a captioned movie specifically catered towards increasing access for the deaf and hard of hearing, EVER.  The movie was the 2010 version of Karate Kid.  Turnout was NOT huge, but it was a decent showing, and based on the reaction from both management and the attendees, I expect word to spread like wildfire and continue to grow the audience.

A few points about it come to mind:

1)  Several attendees had NEVER attended a movie at the theater, and therefore were not sure of the difference between Open Captions (OC) and Rear Window Captions (RWC).  The Pikeville theater offers OC.  While this is the preferred presentation modality of most of the deaf community, it does pose some issues in regards to amount of showings.  RWC allows for the deaf or hard of hearing to attend ANY showing of a movie, whereas OC is a set showing due to the words being on the screen.  Pros and cons both ways, and I have to say I personally prefer OC, just am concerned about attendance due to the more limited showings. 

2)  Theater management, at present, will have a minimum of one showing a week, on Wednesdays, around 7 pm.  When possible, they will also offer a matinee showing as well during the week, and have already set the movie "Grown Ups" for a 4:30 matinee on Tuesday, July 13th, and a 7 pm showing on Wednesday, July 14th.  This is good, and hopefully, based on discussions I had with them, they will consider showings on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays based on attendance.  I'm most concerned right now about the Wednesday showings at 7 p.m. due to many churches having services on this night, but summertime does increase the potential for attendance.  As we move closer to school going back into session locally, they will need to consider more weekend showings to ensure participation, particularly during matinee times.

3)  The management was FANTASTIC in taking the time to speak and answer questions to ensure that everyone had a good experience at the first showing.  The movie got off to a little bit of a late start due to a television interview of a certain someone *oops*, but otherwise went off without a hitch.  This management bunch was great, and I am appreciative of their efforts to make this a success.  Kudos to you all.

Now...everyone that attended was happy.  Management appeared to be very happy.... So, where do we go from here?  Well, WE have to attend the movies.  A Deaf "social night" is a potential draw to help build a steady flow of customers for this.  But WE have to show our appreciation by actually attending these movies. I can not say it any more plainly than that.  If the theater isn't making money from this, there is no incentive to them to continue it, so GO TO THE MOVIES and say "Thank You" for offering this service.  It's the least we can do now.  I will continue to advocate for increased access state-wide, hopefully other theaters will see the positive publicity (see links below) and benefits of increased customer traffic and implement this access on their own without legislation.  We can be a model for the rest of the state, and I believe we will be.

One other thing...I keep hearing reporters and so forth credit ME with this, and like I told one of them, it is not ALL ME.  I happen to be the biggest "mouth" of the bunch, I guess.  But many other people have also joined in to lead on this issue.  Those fine folks at the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (led by Virginia Moore), who sent 2 representatives to the first showing all the way from Frankfort (almost 8 hours roundtrip drive) have been particularly supportative of this.  They created a Captioned Movie Access study group, sent out an email blitz about this showing, arranged for all the wonderful interpreting and CART at the State House committee hearing on the bill, interviewed with NPR afterwards, and helped arrange MANY meetings with different state senators and state representatives to garner support for the bill.  They have been TIRELESS and DEVOTED to the issue, and we owe them all a big "Thank YOU" for their efforts.

State Senator Ray Jones and State Representative Leslie Combs have been tireless as well, in their support 2 years in a row of introducing a bill to make this kind of access mandatory across the state.  They have given supportative interviews, precious and welcome advice and guidance along the way, and personal support for which I am ever grateful.  Thank You, Ray and Leslie.  Take a bow.

For further review of the different (and wonderfully large amount) of media coverage, see the below links.

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/98009304.html  (video with story not captioned, but story is verbatim of what is on video)

http://www.medicalleader.org/pdf/june_25_2010_b.pdf  (LARGE PDF file. Give it time to load)

http://www.floydcountytimes.com/view/full_story/8656398/article-Theater-offers-movies-for-the-hearing-impaired?instance=secondary_news_left_column

Eddie

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 will go down as the date of the first captioned movie showing in Pikeville's history for the deaf and hard of hearing.  The Riverfill 10 Theater will be showing The Karate Kid (2010) in open caption format utilizing their new DTS system.  It looks to be a pretty well-attended affair, based on early acknowledgements from people, I'm hoping that holds up, because the local television station is supposed to be covering it as well.

If you live close by, or are in the area of Pikeville/Pike County, Ky., come on down and watch the movie with us, bring the kids as well.  The showing is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the date again is Wednesday, July 7th.  Hope to see you there!!!!  I will post updates afterwards of any media coverage, etc. right here on my blog site.

Eddie

Folks:

As many of you readers of my blog know, I've been actively campaigning for greater access to captioned movies throughout Kentucky for the past 2 years.  Today, I have some good news... My local theater has relented and now has a DTS system capable of showing Open Captioned movies!  Over the course of the next week or two, they will be installing it and have asked me to help spread the word.

No details yet on when the first captioned movie will be shown, or what movie it will be, etc.  But they are coming, and this area of Kentucky will finally have access.  The great thing about the DTS system is not only that it shows OC movies, but it also has the capability to show Descriptive Audio (DA) movies for those with visual difficulties as well.  A BIG thumbs up to the local theater for coming into the 21st century...

But now the cautionary words... This will NOT be a success without YOUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION.  The movies in Pikeville are very reasonably priced, much cheaper than the average bigger cities.  There will be challenges as we move forward in ensuring that movies are shown when we can actually get to them, etc., but I will be fighting for that.  I need for YOU to come to the movies!  Bring your friends, deaf or not, so they can see what we've been missing, and what we finally have.  Full houses are the best way to show our appreciation not only for finally having access, but to allow them to more quickly recuperate their costs of investment and be a model success story for other theaters to follow.  Make no bones about it, one of my main arguments has been that a new source of people coming to the movies can help grow their revenue stream and make it worth their time, and that can only happen by YOU coming to the movies.  Help explain that this is NOT going to be on every movie all the time, so that those hearing people who may be unfamiliar are not scared away, but rather, that there will be specific showings that are captioned.  When you come, THANK THEM for their efforts and let them know it is appreciated.  As I've said in the past, I realize they are in business to make money, and if it is not profitable, they will stop showing them, potentially.  It would be a shame, after all these years of bemoaning our lack of access, if we were to lose it due to lack of participation.

Pikeville has long advertised itself as "The City That Moves Mountains", and we have..We have moved a VERY large mountain for those of us who have a hearing loss.  Deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired, those for whom English is a second language, those with Cochlear Implants, and so forth and so on now all will be able to enjoy a movie.  No longer will we have to lean over and whisper or sign "What did they say?" or "I missed it because the sound is too loud", etc.

There have been many people involved in making this happen. Some who do not wish to be recognized publicly or by name (you know who you are), and to all of them, I say "Thank You".  For your support, for your friendship, for your understanding.  This is by no means the end of a road, but rather the beginning... For there are still people in other areas of the state and nation without access, and I won't stop till they ALL have reasonable access, in some shape or form.  I will never advocate solely for one form of access over the other, I simply want ACCESS for all, period.

Now...to steal a line... "See you at the movies!"

Eddie