Well then, I must bow to the voice of experience from one whos perceptions I trust.
My mum was born in Vancouver, but her two sibs lived in the US and were US citizens. My aunt was married to a career US Navy captain whose career began in the1930’s in China. He was a staunch Republican. (until Reagan pissed him off by reducing his pension) His wife, my Aunt went to Vassar and was a staunch Democrat. Mum’s brother went to Harvard and was a Liberal New York Democrat.
There were lots of cousins, of whom I met a only a few. All were rich and all were quietly Republican with conservative views. I formed part of my opinion of the US from them.
Probably the most powerful influence on my opinion was the attack of 9/11. I remember vividly standing in my lounge room watching it on TV. I was horrified but not all surprised.
Nor was I surprised at the collective US nervous breakdown, which led directly to the Invasion of Iraq. The resulting Patriot Act and formation of the Department of Homeland Security made me decide not to visit the US again. The cherry on top has been the obscene numbers of mass shootings about which the US as a people have done nothing.
I was also influenced by Gore Vidal, who I consider one of the US’ greatest public intellectuals of his generation.
I need to add that with a single exception***, my experiences in the US were positive. I was treated with kindness and civility by everyone I met, from relatives to casual encounters with New Yorkers.
The only thing I can conclude is that my view is macro, yours seems to be both macro and micro
***the one exception was an officious US immigration officer at JFK. ( I think) He had formed the unfounded belief that everyone who comes to the US is simply dying to live there. He was quite rude.
The following is just a personal bitch. No apologies.
I have been hearing impaired all my life and I have always been subject to discrimination when job hunting, regardless of my substantial and proven credentials. And Cog is right, there is no way to legislate against any sort of intolerance, certainly not the sort I have experienced.
I get enthusiastic responses to my considerable resume, usually within hours of applying, averaging a 70% response. It’s not a prestigous line of work but I am considerably experienced and qualified. Almost without exception when I openly disclose that my loss prevents me from using mobile phones for anything other than text, despite being able to communicate verbally face to face, I get no further correspondence, no ‘sorry we went with someone else’ just the tacit silent ‘fuck off’. Even my ‘Hello are you still there?’ emails get ignored. When I use to get angry enough to mention legal redress I’d get the 'oh, we were so overwhelmed with applicants we appear to have forgotten to repy to you. Ooopsee sorry." I am not stupid. Its discrimination. And like any selection process, straight bias can be passed off as ‘honest’ choice.
Obviously, I have won good work positions, and usually with the assistance of glowing references from those I had the good fortune to work with, but verbal testimonies have long replace written ones and past employers have drifted out of touch or died. And in this internet world the personal connection has been replace with purely perfunctory exchanges. I still have a few ex-employers to champion my abilities, but the ‘lets not have a deaf head in the workplace’ policy tacitly prevails. Ironic stance in the age of internet communications.
“Best qualified people for the best positions.” is just a part of life.
It’s tough shit.
It is also the basis of the Star Trek civilization. There are no deaf heads on Federation Starships…unless they are telepaths as well…I’m working on it.
In the meantime I am ruefully looking at a cochlear implant, which is the hearing person’s super wizbang technological solution. It would be easier had sign language been a part of universal early schooling curricula, then I could have discussions in sign on my mobile. Instead I have to face a very tricky surgical operation (drilling holes in my skull) that is not without serious risks (permanent facial paralysis - thats not mentioned in the shiny brochures) and will of necessity destroy all my residual hearing (ie make me a real deafhead) to becoming a fucking Borg. At least I will be tolerated.
Exactly why I never travelled back despite theatrical agent’s urging and having an unlimited travel and work permission for the dear old USA.
It was singularly the most welcoming place I have ever been. EVEN New York, where as soon as they discovered my origins switched from aggressive dismissal to helpful, informative individuals. I still
disliked the place intensely and reneged on a contract to get out of the place. ( makes me shudder to this day)
They all seem to be educated at “How to be an Officious Rude Unhelpful Arshole Academy”
I live within a two hour drive from Buffalo, New York and the US border. Until 2001, it was a casual effort to cross the border, a very mundane affair. Never been back again. It’s not that I do not like the people, they are great. But the police and agencies are just crazy paranoid, something I have no desire to get involved with.
Which is why “quotas” have to be a thing, especially for the large organisations where privilege and wealth are concentrated in management and ownership. This normally translates to a “PLU” (people like us) opportunity system.
I am very familiar with that episode. In the original script after his telepathic interpretors have been killed, leaving the deaf ambassador incommunicado, Picard was to suggest he use Data’s technology to give him the power of speech, but the deaf actor, rightly rejected that idea because of the trauma associated with teaching deaf children to speak in real life, something the writers of the show were unaware of. They rewrote the script. The solution for the happy ending and a war averted was found in sign language. I know what the Borgs would have prescribed.
There is a persistent resistance within deaf communities to reject modern surgical and technological solutions for themselves and their children borne of the idea that they are not broken or in need of perfecting. They would prefer hearing people be more accomodating and learn to sign, after all here in Austalia you can learn almost any language in schools, colleges and universities, why not Auslan? I found it a very strong attitude in the deaf community I grew up with.
Because you will immediately get the whining anti equity mob moaning about “having to learn another language” (wrong just expressing yourself clearly in another mode) “I haven’t got the time for that nonsense, I am a very important/successful (insert profession/occupation here)” My (insert relative/ friend’s name here) was deaf and she/he didn’t get any special treatment and she became (insert fairly mediocre occupation here)" " It was better when there weren’t all those deaf people about, aren’t there homes for them they can go to?" “I dont want my kids to catch it”
I agree, Auslan should be part of the National Curriculum from Primary (Grade for the US) School. Then perhaps equity will be available for all hearing and then vision impaired people.
Only one of them? To me, every single instance of entering the US have been a “don’t want to do that again” experience. Friendly “Welcome to the United States of America” blurting out over the loudspeakers to give the illusion of friendliness, while the staff organising the lines/queues destroy that illusion by bitching, moaning and rolling their eyes over travellers that get confused by the multitude of lines and lack of information. And then bitchy, bitter, underpaid and overworked immigration droids on power trips that spit questions like “why should I believe you?” when you tell them you’re there for vacation, and then roll their eyes multiple times when you answer. In no other country that I have travelled to have I been exposed to so unfriendly and hostile immigration staff. I will need a very good reason to go back to the US.
Rant over.
Canada is better. I much prefer entering Canada to entering the US. People are much more relaxed and laid back. And in my experience the immigration officers actually crack the odd joke, and are genuinely helpful if you have a question or didn’t fill out the paperwork entirely correct.
My dad received the same treatment but more vocal. He told me he said : “Why would I want to live in America? I already live in the best country on earth!” That fixed that.
Not me. I’ve stopped long distance flying . Last time it was Australia to London Via Kualar Lumpur, 7 hours 30 minutes. Then another 13 and a half hours. repeat in reverse on the way home. Swore I’d never fly cattle class again. Nor have I. Don’t like flying alone or being alone in a foreign country either.
I have had a couple of holidays since then, to visit a special friend in Townsville Queensland, which is usually split into two flights, sometimes three. Enjoyed that. Perhaps strangely, I love international airports. They make me feel affluent.
Then I buy a coffee and a sticky bun and feel ripped off. What can I say, the owners of airports are greedy cunts who are aware they have you trapped.
I was surprised to learn many years ago that sign language varies from country to country, even between Australia (Auslan) and New Zealand (NZSL). It seemed like a lost opportunity to have a common international language, at least for English speakers. I got involved in the field while helping a Japanese family to get an education in New Zealand for their profoundly deaf 8-year-old daughter. She’d been classified as having an IQ of zero in Japan, but she learned English and NZSL in a few months at specialized and mainstream schools in New Zealand. She later became a math champion as well.
Did you ever read Jean Auel’s “Clan of the Cave Bear”? She postulated that Neanderthals communicated using a form of sign language because their vocal range was limited.
I don’t see how. Education perhaps. We certainly are not going to legeslate them away. Now we have the enforcers and the enforced. A whole new set of issues. Outside of an evolutionary jump in human consciusness I don’t see any answer. But pretending to make it better by mucking about with it is just hiding it. Bring the shit out in the open. Show what the government is really doing. Expose people for who they really are. Just do everything openly for a bit and see what happens. Lets find a new norm. I think I trust people to work it out/
The little social deaf group that I group up with, my parents friends and their families all share the same basic fingerspelling and a pool of shorthand expressions and gestures performed with their hands. My mother insisted she could tell if a deaf person was from Brisbane or Perth depending on variations in signs. My father arrived from Scotland in his late teens and the deaf in Sydney had trouble following his “Scottish accent” as he put il.
Auslan only got started in the 1980s in an attempt to formalise a single language out of the myriad pools of similar signs. But deaf people can be the most stubborn buggers when they try and within no time there were two formal Auslans, vying for the title. They were only slightly different but adherents to both insisted theirs should be the ‘proper’ Aussie sign. The nonsense eventually passed.
Jean Auel was writing fiction and the poor old Neanderthals abilities and intelligence have always been ridiculed for having died out. Remember Gary Larson’s cartoon
She is good. So expressive. Its a total whole body language method, hands, fingers gestures and facial expressions. I find deaf people telling jokes outrageous especially dirty jokes. Their mugs and double takes are priceless.
The ‘whining’ summary made me laugh out loud. I have met such people.
you mean other people.