Transcript for the ASL Video:
ID: Maroon background and a white woman with curly hair wearing a gray shirt with the blue color written 'TSD' on the shirt. She's drinking the sign 'Starbucks' on the mug, and inside the mug, it's written, "Coffee brings us together."
Transcript:
Coffee brings us together, and I'm bringing myself to you, the Deaf community, and our ally.
My name is Beth Adams, and I was the person who started spreading awareness about HB 3458. The bill that many of us are concerned about.
However, before I start to move forward with the discussion, I am sorry for not spreading the information equally in ASL/sign language and English at the same time. I should have ensured that both of the information was being shared equivalently. Also, I want to apologize on behalf of TAD, and I went ahead and took action, and I take accountability for that. Moving forward, we will work to do better to ensure that information is shared equally in sign language and English.
Let's talk about HB 3458 and 2364; SB 2364 is the bill filed on the Senate side, and SB 2363 is a mirror bill to HB 3458.
While SB 2364 has been filed, HB 3458 has been filed and referred to the public education committee, which means this will likely go into a hearing. The hearing can occur anytime from Tuesday, March 21st to May 2nd.
This bill was originally from Governor's Office. They want to bring some people with legal and accounting expertise to TSD Board.
In some of the comments, adding 11 people on the board, and it is still 51% (majority of Deaf people), is not a biggie deal. No. We know the history too well from our past generations. We did not get here without them fighting for our rights, and we know their stories as it is still being passed on to us. We are aware of and recognize red flags and oppressions that will happen if we allow them.
For example, if someone with listening and spoken language (LSL) has a strong oral background and happens to be an accounting or legal background with a strong audiology background. The Governor can appoint them to be part of the TSD board. This bill does not allow the TSD board to decide who can lead TSD, and nothing in this bill will allow TSD to continue decision-making. The Governor takes power from TSD, and Governor can appoint those two people and appoint them to be President & Vice President. That is how much power the Governor takes from TSD and the Deaf community.
That is an important concern, too, as nothing in there allows or ensures that it preserves TSD and continues to allow Deaf people to lead, which is a red flag. Governor makes the decision about TSD, a red flag. Now that you have a better visual of what is going on and why this is something we must pay attention to.
What do we need to do? We have to kill the bills by doing as much as we can to ensure we kill both bills.
In the comments section: we will have emails and phone numbers for House Representatives and Senators for you to call and email.
We must continue to fight for this. We will continue to update you on this, such as when they will have a hearing, what strategic plans should look like, and so on. If you want to learn more about this, sign up to become a TAD member. It's only $1.00 to be one, as they will send out the information via members and posting on social media. Sometimes things can move quickly, so I encourage you to become a TAD member to get that information quickly.
If you have questions or want clarification, I will try my best to answer them. That goes the same for TAD Boards.
Thank you