What Do MAGA have Against Sign Language?

 

Charlie Kirk called out by US National Association of the Deaf as sign language controversy escalates https://t.co/L5dW9CSvqV #deaf #interpreters #ASL #signlanguage

— Deaf News Today (@DeafNewsToday) January 12, 2025

I see Chris Rufo has also decided he needs to be mad about sign language interpreters, too.  Deaf people deserve to have access to information in a way that is immediate and relatable to them. It actually doesn't distract anyone--mostly. If you are distracted, maybe this is a cognitive problem about YOURSELF you need to get addressed. 

But as a person who finds aural processing a little more difficult in my older years who uses CC for tv--it sucks and is not reliable. I can hear, but I am aware it is not always adequate for people who can't. Also, CC is absolutely not great at all for someone who might be deaf or hard of hearing and also has an issue with reading facility, like dyslexia. 

Sign language is far more accessible and relatable for some people, and why not? So where's the problem?

I'm a history person, so to me, when I see people denigrate accessibility for disabled people, I think maybe this means a culture that will denigrate actual disabled people and their lives, as well. Like my arthritic dad or my mom with glaucoma and macular degeneration. 

When people are culturally throwing out options for disabled people to access information or participation in society, or especially in democracy, I see them as thinking of certain people as disposable. 

My family is not disposable. Not my immediate family, and not my extended family which includes deaf and non-verbal or reading disordered people.  People who want to make an issue of accessibility demonstrate a sociopathy towards vulnerable people. There is something very wrong, there. 

This is not an "issue" sane people would wrap themselves up in.