by BitcoDavid* of DeafInPrison.com
There are two major problems with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Primarily, it is technically obsolete. The act predates the Internet, so it doesn’t provide for such essential services as videophone interpreting. Most Deaf can’t use TTY phones, because they involve typing, which brings us back to the initial communication problems of the illiterate and semi-literate.
Written notices like this court docket seem to make sense as an accommodation for the Deaf – until you learn that Sign is not the same as English and there are high rates of illiteracy. Image: CrimeDime
In fact, the Act does very little to address the educational deficits borne by the majority of Deaf. Written signs and cards will be utterly useless to many deaf individuals. Cards were printed up, at one point, containing the Miranda warning. The idea would be that those who couldn’t hear their rights being read to them could read them off the card.
Recent studies show that someone needs to have attained an 11th grade reading level to be able to understand some cards. Since a large number of Deaf can’t read past the 3rd grade level, the cards are unintelligible to them. Only an interpreter can put this stilted language into terms that the average deaf individual can understand.
The other problem with the ADA is that it’s terribly un-enforced or under-enforced. The ADA costs money. States complain at the simpler requirements such as ramps and handrails. To equip already financially strapped institutions with special phones, radios, TVs, expensive interpreters and highly trained officers is out of the question.
BitcoDavid is a blogger, administrator, and primary contributor to DeafInPrison.com. Originally an a/v and computer engineer, he became interested in Deaf advocacy through his clients at DeafInPrison. DeafInPrison also features Dr. McCay Vernon – a psychologist and author, Pat Bliss – a paralegal that has been active in cases, Joanne Greenberg – an advocate and author, and Jean F. Andrews – a university professor and author.
Editor’s note: The blogosphere is home to many sites that work to educate and reform the criminal justice system. DeafInPrison.com is one outstanding example. Through getting to know the site’s webmaster, CrimeDime took an interest in their work. We asked several questions with the idea of doing an interview, but it turns out there’s so much to discuss on this topic that a series of separate posts made more sense.
Related articles:
- Deaf In Prison: How Do Correctional Officers Treat Deaf Inmates? (crimedime.com)
- Deaf In Prison: What Challenges Do Deaf Inmates Face? (crimedime.com)
- Settlement OK’d Over Deaf Mental Health Services (stlouis.cbslocal.com)
- Hearing From the Deaf (thelegalintelligencer.typepad.com)
- Insights From Jail Population Numbers (crimedime.com)
- Prison Populations are Up and Crime Rates are Down – What’s Up With That? (crimedime.com)
- Gerrymandering – No You Can’t Make Up Your Own Definitions (crimedime.com)
CrimeDime 
investigator25
June 11, 2012
Reblogged this on JUSTICE FOR RAYMOND.
bitcodavid
June 11, 2012
Thank you so much for doing this series, CrimeDime. You guys are the greatest.
–BitcoDavid
bitcodavid
June 11, 2012
Reblogged this on deafinprison and commented:
This is part three of the series being published on CrimeDime. We thank them for their diligence and hard work.
Tending Weeds
June 12, 2012
Another topic in great need of greater attention. Inmate or not, these are still people we are talking about. The joke of prison being a place of reform finds a new audience with the treatment of deaf inmates. I’m not surprised, but terribly saddened.
appletonavenue
June 14, 2012
All men are to be treated equally, with the exception of the handicapped and inmates. Apparently equality has limits.
dizzy
June 27, 2012
Deafness is an invisible disability. Deaf people can’t exhibit for you that they can’t hear. Just try explaining it to a three year old. Very troublesome. And adults can be even more difficult?
People often mistake them for insane, in my experience.
Good on ya CrimeDime!
Thanks for checking out my blog.
CrimeDime
June 27, 2012
Thanks for all of the great comments – not just on this post, but on the entire series – everyone. But, of course, the real credit goes to bitcodavid and deafinprison.com.
Betty Banks
July 5, 2012
Hi, my name is Betty Banks and I just found this site here, and I think it is so cool and I do have a lot to say about deafness and blindness which is a very unique disability in itself, I can also be found on face book as BJB Enterprises and I have a support group where I talk about deafblindness for which I am, as I said, I have so much to say on this subject, pleasae go there and leave me your site again, I am sure I will mistakenly lose this because if my sight.
Ginalyn
February 17, 2013
HP’s,You all are forgetting a very imrtnoapt part of this issue. The prison sytem is a business, for profit, money making operation. That’s why all of these private companies have been investing in prisons. The goverment pays on time and insures a steady stream of clients by passing laws that make it very easy to ensure the prisons success. Now the states are running out of money to pay and they are basically proving my point by the talk of releasing inmates most who probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. And if not for the housing crash they would be talking about how many more prisons they could build and how fast. (Talk about unintended consequence) I won’t even begin to speak about the racial aspect of the issue, I’ll save that for another blog.Back to the crash!RayNLA