zahliailhaz

zahliailhaz t1_j98g7ve wrote

Reply to comment by lav__ender in Justina Miles, deaf performer who went viral at Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show, opens up in first interview since the game by OregonTripleBeam

This is actually a major complaint of the deaf community. Sign language interpreters aren’t anywhere on the screen or even on the same stage and you have to go to a separate site to see it. She happened to go viral because people who did go to that site shared her out, but it isn’t accessibility to hide the disability access people.

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zahliailhaz t1_it4k2qu wrote

Reply to comment by cgally in Haben Girma is the first Deafblind Woman to become a Harvard Grad by cgally

Considering Haben Girma herself has said she does not want to be seen as inspirational or uplifting just because she graduated college (something that isn't a news article for non-disabled people) I think we should respect that.

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The fact that it took until 2013 for a deafblind person to graduate Harvard speaks to the ableism the university had previously, not the triumph or inspiration of Haben.

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As I said, I've worked with Haben on a couple different occasions, as I work in disability. Looking at disabled people and considering them inspiring for doing things that wouldn't be inspiring if non-disabled people did them is generally seen as unwanted by disabled people. I'd encourage you to look into this TED talk by Stella Young which speaks on this concept.

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