Deaf Culture Today

“People with disabilities can do anything!”

ROBB DOOLING

ROBB DOOLING ran for Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC), representing his neighborhood of NoMa and Old City in Washington, D.C. in 2018 and won with 95% of the vote. He took office on January 2, 2019, but he resigned in April due to moving outside the area.

Where are you from and what is your background?

DOOLING: I grew up in Nebraska, studied Computer Science at Rochester Institute of Technology, and moved to Washington, DC in 2014 for a software engineering job. In 2017 and 2018, I moved away from programming and got into writing, editing, and local politics.

FOLENDORF: I am from Angels Camp, California.

MCDEVITT: I’m originally from Northern New Jersey. I graduated from Gallaudet University in 1996 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and moved to Pennsylvania shortly after.

What is your occupation?

DOOLING: I’m an editor at the U.S. Department of State.

FOLENDORF: I am currently employed with the United States Forest Service and I am also a Councilmember for the City of Angels Camp in California.

MCDEVITT: I’m an Executive Director for the Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre (DHCC) in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Who inspired you to work this field?

DOOLING: For editing, my father inspired me to keep looking for my dream job even when I was unhappy as a programmer. My father was a novelist who wrote books outside of his day job and eventually he succeeded enough to be able to write full time. I enjoy my current editor job. For local politics, my urbanist friends inspired me to advocate for better walkability in DC. After moving to DC, I fell in love with public transportation, biking, and other efficient modes of moving people through cities, and going to protests with these friends inspired me to do even more to make DC one of the best cities in the world.

MCDEVITT: I had a great experience as a volunteer firefighter which led me to a full-time career at NAD’s partner in advocacy, TDI, managing their disaster and emergency preparedness training programs. After those grants ended, I went to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency at their headquarters focusing on the issue of communication and disabilities. I left that to become DHCC’s Executive Director.

What made you decide to run for office?

DOOLING: I attended my neighborhood commission meetings and then realized I could bring more affordable housing and walkability to DC if I ran for the neighborhood commission and used the seat to focus on these issues.

FOLENDORF: I ran for city council because I believed that there needs to be more voices at the table to represent the entire community. During my second campaign for the city council in 2018, I kept that same platform along with the need to do better working with our community partners to build a better future and accomplish goals together. I am

AMANDA FOLENDORF is the mayor of Angels Camp, California in the Calaveras County district. She ran two campaigns – in 2014 and 2018 – and is currently running again against the incumbent for District 4 Calaveras County Supervisor in the election on March 3, 2020.

“I kept that same platform along with the need to do better working with our community partners to build a better future and accomplish goals together.”

AMANDA FOLENDORF

running on the same platform as County Supervisor during this current election. I believe that the district needs someone that is going to listen to them and advocate for their issues at the Board of Supervisors. I am currently running against the incumbent for District 4 Calaveras County Supervisor.

MCDEVITT: Quite simply, it was intended to be a constructive response to the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency. I know I couldn’t spend the next several years fuming about it. So, I decided to run for office. There were a lot of conversations between myself and the Democratic party folks locally about what to run for. Because of my background in emergency management and as a volunteer firefighter, it was decided that Mayor was best.

What was your experience like running a campaign?

DOOLING: It was challenging running for elected office as a Deaf person, but I am forever grateful to the Facebook group “Pro Bono ASL Interpreters (DC/MD/VA)” where interpreters volunteered to help my hearing neighbors communicate when I went door-to-door campaigning. I also spent a long-time developing a relationship with the former neighborhood commissioner where I helped her on various neighborhood issues. When I told her I wanted to run for her seat, she was happy to retire and endorse me. I ran unopposed and it was an easy campaign because the former commissioner and other neighbors knew I volunteered for the local farmers market as well as a local news website, so they trusted me to do what was best for the neighborhood.

FOLENDORF: Each election is different depending on how many people are running. My first election was in 2014 and there were three of us. Since I was new, I knocked from door to door, attended events, and other activities in the community to allow people to know me. In 2018, there were five of us. Due to my job and being gone on assignments, I did not have the ability to do the type of door knocking I had done in 2014. I ran a pretty low-key campaign. In both elections I did put signs up, attended debates and community events. The current campaign I am in has been a very different investment in sense that there is a bigger population to reach out to. I have been using a variety of platforms to get my message out such as using a website, social media, door knocking, community meet and greets, attending public events, neighborhood meet and greet events in private homes, setting up in parking lots, and so on. As you can see, each time it’s always different. However, the concept is the same, you need to reach out to as many as you can so they can learn more about you and what you are going to do for the public.

MCDEVITT: I ran for mayor in North Wales, Pennsylvania in 2017. I ran a small campaign and did not really have a committee. I paid for everything myself. I was worried that audism – (determining the value of a person based on their ability to hear or speak) would be a major factor in running a campaign. There were some challenges, but I ended up making very good connections to the local Democratic Party folks. I lost to Republican Greg D’Angelo with a very close vote of (R) 446 (50.2%) to (D) 441 (49.8%).

During your campaign, what did you not expect to happen?

DOOLING: I was surprised and thrilled when the former commissioner decided to go door-to-door with me and introduce me to her constituents and encourage them to vote for me. It was a heartwarming moment when I knew my volunteering for the overall neighborhood had paid off.

FOLENDORF: My first two campaigns in 2014 and 2018 were very mild. However, I did have to address a lot of the stigma around being Deaf. I was called Deaf and Dumb, “how can you keep up in meetings”, things like that. But, I realized that those were from people who 1) feared what they did not know, and 2) they needed something to attack me on; they took it to a personal level. The current election I am in has been educational in how hostile people are. I have had signs damaged, which is criminal, trespassing on to private properties to deface my signs, my family attacked with lies, and other random acts of harassments. I understand I am a public person, however my family is off limits, as is violence. In this day in age with how volatile the national level is, it is no wonder our local communities are doing the same thing. It’s very sad that we no longer have enough respect for each other to disagree. As you can tell, it is all very different. I am still happy I am doing this. I want to set an example that you should not have to deal with bullying and violence when you want to stand for something bigger - community. Involving yourself into politics or being a public person, those are the hits you will have to take and know that you can overcome the ugliest and still show that politics does not have to be like that. We need to learn how to work together despite what side you stand on.

MCDEVITT: As I mentioned before, I was worried audism would be a major factor but it wasn’t. However, I did hear comments about cost of accommodations and how that would impact the Borough’s bottom line. Generally speaking, people within the Democratic Party were very supportive and appreciative. For fundraising and funding, it was very difficult for me to find volunteer interpreters for events. For the Election Day itself, I needed to pay for them. If I had to pay also for the times they graciously volunteered, I would have had to spend as much money on interpreting costs as my opponent spent on his total campaign (McDevitt raised approximately $1,000 and the opponent $500). None of the party events had ASL interpreters. When requested, they told me they had no funds available for interpreters but are still supportive and will do anything to get me elected.

NEIL MCDEVITT ran for mayor in North Wales, Pennsylvania in 2017 against Republican incumbent Greg D’Angelo.

If you could change anything that you did during your campaign, what would you change?

DOOLING: I would not have changed anything. It is very easy to run unopposed and any people who want to run for elected office should strive to develop nonpartisan goodwill with all potential voters by performing community service that benefits them. They trust you and are less likely to run against you.

“I would have had to spend as much money on interpreting costs as my opponent spent on his total campaign.”

NEIL MCDEVITT

FOLENDORF: Overall, I would not of change too much. I am happy with what I did and was okay with the decisions I made during those campaigns. In 2014, I wouldn’t change much. I am happy with what I did there. In 2018, I would of like to be able to be out more, but due to traveling for work, it was difficult to do as much outreach as I wanted. I think I would have changed how I approached that. Currently now in 2020 cycle, ask me after March 3rd.

Overall, what was your take-away from your campaign experience?

DOOLING: People with disabilities can do anything!

FOLENDORF: There are good people out there and need someone to just listen and advocate for them. We have all the same goals, we just need to learn how to work together to accomplish those goals. It also teaches you a lot about yourself too and ensure you have a core foundation of your supporters both family and friends that are able to keep you grounded and true to yourself. Politics is a different world, but it all comes down to community - looking out for the future and bringing those who are behind you in front of you and supporting your community in what they envision.

MCDEVITT: For the election to turn out the way it did was due to the ward breakdown (there were three wards in his area). The third ward has a higher Republican percentage (McDevitt won majority vote in other two wards). I noticed that my opponent appealed to older democrats by putting up signs and I learned from conversations that he had with some of my colleagues that his main argument was, “Neil is younger, has a full-time job, etc. I’m retired and always in town.” In essence, it was a form of reverse ageism. Other than that, people were extremely polite and when I told them I was Deaf, they gave me the opportunity to explain my qualifications as well. At the same time, I feel if I had lesser qualifications or I didn’t speak as clearly as I do, the issue of audism would have been greatly amplified. Along those lines, I struggle greatly with how to present myself publicly. Do I use the language I use at home with my family and friends (ASL) or do I focus on speaking to the best of my ability to set aside the (presumed) audism and discrimination that I may face from voters? In the videos I did online, you can see I transitioned from speaking to using ASL and this is reflective of that struggle. I don’t believe that voters are especially ready to accept someone who signs 100% and uses an ASL interpreter. I was hoping that my election would smooth the path for others but I worried that changing to ASL would make the voters feel I presented a false picture of myself.

Darissa Bashaw, a California native, is a senior at Gallaudet University; she plans to become a lawyer and is interested in running for office in the future.

A group from Louisiana participate in the DGM National Rally at the U.S. State Capitol in 2018.

ENGAGE AND EDUCATE: HOW DGM WOKE ME UP

BY JAY ISCH

I find, as I have met Deaf individuals throughout my life, there is a recurring theme as to why people don’t vote. It is a lack of basic civics or even simple access to information. Despite the disseminated information from officials or advertisements in the media outlets, there is still a great deal of ignorance as to the where, the how and the when of getting registered to vote or to engage politically.

The Deaf community, in many cases, is lacking political engagement. This is a danger to our hard-earned progress. Procedural issues such as registration and the day of polling appear to be the major block to the deaf community’s participation due to communication barriers and lack of voting booths with an ASL version of the ballot.

Not participating in political activities enable others to make life-changing decisions for you. The repercussions of our own complacency are one of the reasons why our children suffer nowadays. Like Ben Bahan’s story “Bleeva” expresses, it’s a vicious cycle. It is clear that the present methods are NOT working, and new ways must be tried so that the most basic element for participating in democracy, ie. participation and voting, is available to all.