Message From Board Member:
Marie Bartolotta, Vice President
I have a dear friend whom I met when we worked together at Erie Community College. I knew she had served on the Board of Deaf Access Services (DAS) for many years. I admit I knew very little about what the organization did. One day, after I retired, I received a phone call from my friend asking me if I was willing to fill out the term of the Board Treasurer who had just resigned. She needed someone with a financial background to fill out the term since the agency was in the search process for a new director. No long term commitment was necessary. I accepted the challenge and, after almost six years, I am still on the Board.
As Treasurer of the Board, I chaired the Finance Committee. It was a new committee and difficult to recruit volunteers. It seems most people are intimidated by finances. It is really not that different from what you do at home. You have income and expenses and income has to be greater than expenses. If they are not, you have to make changes. What is different from home is that it's not your money so have to exercise what it called Due Diligence. Our due diligence involves tasks such as reviewing financial statements and audit recommendations, and developing policies to protect the agency's finances. This was the expertise I brought to Deaf Access Services.
As a hearing person, I had many misconceptions about what it means to be deaf. First, I learned that there is Deaf with an
uppercase D indicating who you are. Deafness is an identity, a community, and a culture. You can be deaf (medically) and not Deaf (culturally), or alternatively, considered Deaf (culturally) but not deaf (medically). An example would be a hearing child raised by Deaf parents.
Second, I always thought of deafness as a disability. The
Deaf community views Deafness as a difference in human experience rather than a disability or disease. Members of the Deaf Community also object to being labeled "impaired." They take pride in their Deaf identity. The pathological view, that something is wrong with them, is a big threat to the Deaf Community. When hearing parents find out their baby is deaf, their first response is to "fix it." More and more deaf babies are undergoing cochlear implants and are not encourage to learn American Sign Language, a cultural way of communicating.
Sign language is a beautiful and expressive language. I tried taking classes in American Sign Language. I was good at learning foreign languages in high school and college and attained a reasonable level in proficiency in Spanish and French. Someone told me that learning sign language was like learning any other language. I soon found that was not exactly true. The added physical component changed the equation. Being somewhat dyslexic, I found myself making signs backwards. I guess you could say I am "signing impaired."
I think educating the public about the Deaf Community is important and I applaud the efforts of Sharon L. Hanson, the current Director of DAS, in this area. I know we don't think of it as a primary function of the agency, but we need to do it to gain public support for all the other services we provide. |