We have seen so many physical and verbal abuse reports from the Deaf people all over the country. Majority of the abuse is related to lack of communication. Most law enforcement personnel have no patience in communicating with the Deaf ,even, writing down on paper, also hand gestures.
Ricky Taylor (ridorlive.com) has expressed his lack of trust for law enforcement officers. Taylor's reasons are valid and we have seen too many Rodney King scenarios against the Deaf people in general.
At the deafdc.com there is also a discussion related to law enforcement issues and one prominent writer has expressed his concerns and fears in case he gets pulled over by a law enforcement officer. One little misunderstanding will be impossible to rectify because dead people cannot talk.
A lot of police officers have killed Deaf people in the United States even most of them knew they were Deaf. Law enforcement officers assume that signing to them is a threat and they get into fight and flee mode. They have little or no training on how to communicate using gestures or sign language.
I noticed fear has been emerging because of historical facts law enforcement personnel all over the country are being shown with videos of them beating up on unarmed civilians. Most law enforcement officers that have been charged with brutality remains employed within the law enforcement sectors.
It appears that most law enforcement officers only have high school education and passed the law enforcement training academy. This is scary because the less educated law enforcement officer are most likely to use violence to use their anger to control unarmed civilians. The motto, “To Protect and to Serve” no longer applies to the majority of Deaf people in the United States.
Deaf people cannot trust the police when they needed help and fears instead they will summon a hearing person so they can call for help. Hearing person speaks the same language as the law enforcement people do. Deaf people communicate through American Sign Language. What I do not understand is why, “cops are afraid of sign language?”
What needs to be done now is to get, “The National Association of the Deaf, (NAD)” to host a press conference outside of NAD building and explain to the nation this police brutality has gone too far and suggest that NAD work with the national law enforcement organizations to find solutions to this ongoing nationwide problem.
They need to add training for new law enforcement recruits on how to communicate and deal with Deaf and hard of hearing people.
This is a serious topic and I think NAD should consider doing a press conference as this is a Deaf Awareness month also a good time to spread the message.
