Hey brothers and sisters...
Just because I’m an active member of my local Union doesn’t mean I still don’t feel alienated by my own ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’. The thing about our non-profit local is that we are not exactly like any other Union within Ontario or even North America. Over half of our members are Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals with certain needs that are not being met by both our employer and brothers/ sisters. First of all, I am the only Deaf steward within my own Union and the obligation of playing the token Deaf sister is starting to wear thin. Furthermore, having attended many CUPE-sponsored events including workshops, training, and Ontario Human Rights conference, I have found that almost all of the union members have little or no knowledge about the term ‘Audism’ or Deaf Culture. The following statement is required to use as an opener for all CUPE-related meetings;
Union solidarity is based on the principle that union members are equal and deserve mutual respect at all levels. Any behaviour that creates conflict prevents us from working together to strengthen our union.
As unionists, mutual respect, cooperation and understanding are our goals. We should neither condone nor tolerate behaviour that undermines the dignity or self-esteem of any individual or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.
Discriminatory speech or conduct which is racist, sexist, transphobic or homophobic hurts and thereby divides us. So too, does discrimination on the basis of ability, age, class, religion and ethnic origin.
Sometimes discrimination takes the form of harassment. Harassment means using real or perceived power to abuse, devalue or humiliate. Harassment should not be treated as a joke. The uneasiness and resentment that it creates are not feelings that help us grow as a union.
Discrimination and harassment focus on characteristics that make us different; and they reduce our capacity to work together on shared concerns such as decent wages, safe working conditions, and justice in the workplace, society and in our union.
CUPE’s policies and practices must reflect our commitment to equality. Members, staff and elected officers must be mindful that all sisters and brothers deserve dignity, equality and respect.
The statement is great. However, the sentence about discrimination/harassment is quite vague. Unfortunately, that’s where our biggest issue comes up with between members at our organization. First of all, respect of Deaf Culture and American Sign Language is required as it’s part of the services we provide. All new hearing members are required to take ASL classes and become proficient at a level of which their job requires them to be as per their job description. For example, if you’re a mental health counsellor with a caseload of mostly Deaf clients who use ASL, you must be able to communicate using ASL. However, if you are unable to pass the level of proficiency, the organization will give you the time by offering ASL classes for free. If you decide not to attend ASL classes because you don’t “feel like it” or whatever bullshit reason you have, the organization still can’t fire you. That’s where my conflict lies. Deaf clients/staff members who communicate using ASL should not be forced to accommodate the hearing staff because it defeats the purpose of the services we provide. So when we have Deaf members complaining about their hearing counterparts not using sign language with them (not because they can’t but ‘don’t want to’ - that’s the rub), how do we solve this situation? We can’t. We know there are audistic attitudes but we can’t prove it. Audism is a very real form of oppressive behavior toward the Deaf community and to ignore that is a problem especially for CUPE union members who don’t have enough experience in that area. Like the Civil Rights movement of the 1960, the Deaf community is currently undergoing a movement of a kind within the hearing community but we are failing already because we are considered ‘disabled’ which basically mean unworthy piece of shit. It’s bad enough that other disabled groups who fight to remove the word ‘retarded’ from society’s vocabulary still get chewed out for being “oversensitive”. How is that term any difference from using a gay or racist slur? Not much except we’re just not a cool minority group.
We now have a new law called Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) that basically will enforces all new and old businesses to make their building and services accessible to those with disabilities including wheelchair access, visual fire alarm, interpreting, captioning, braille menu, for example. A business who does not comply by this act will be fined. Currently, there are only a handful of big businesses (including TD Bank) working on improving their services. The proposed deadline for all businesses to follow is by the year 2025. That’s plenty of time. However, we already have backlash from many corporations and big businesses crying about ‘undue hardship’. Can you imagine big banks saying this bullshit? Why are they saying this? Because no one want to deal with the disabled people. We are supposed to be hidden and locked up in the attic so the rest of society doesn’t have to look at the undesirables.
Speaking of being hidden, when I was an undergrad student at University of Toronto, the Disability service was located on the third floor above a book store on College Street. Here’s the thing: There were NO ELEVATORS. Third floor. Disability service. Finally, the University moved the Disability service to the first floor of the Library. This wasn’t in 1960. This was in 1999-2002 and it wasn’t like they just decide to move to accommodate their students. They just moved because a bunch of pissed off students made some noise. During that time period, I also had a professor who didn’t want me in his classroom because he said “Deaf-Mute do not have the mental capacity to understand this lesson”.
So what am I saying? well-meaning faux liberals who call themselves my brothers and sisters aren't that much different from the asshole professor. They just hide their prejudices really well.