Oh, yeah... we must build a town.
That town would be for all sign language users,
a fully integrated, accessible and bilingual... for all.
I don't mean just for Deaf people. I mean for all people!
Hard of hearing, people with cochlear implants, deaf and hearing people,
it doesn't matter, all of them.
Let me start with why we should build this town.
I'll give you some statistics and facts.
In education, for instance,
according to Wikipedia, 25 % of the world population
currently receives no formal education.
That's 25 %, again, with no formal schooling.
What about deaf people?
According to the World Federation of the Deaf,
a whopping 80 % receive no education in the world!
Twenty-five percent against eighty percent? Wow, that's not even close!
Secondly, in employment ...
Before the Americans with Disabilities Act passed,
according to Andrew Houtenville's research,
about 63% of disabled people were unemployed.
So, when ADA passed, we all were excited.
Several years later, the number increased to 65% of unemployed.
Not that I agree that Deaf people should be categorized under disability.
No, but that's how they do it. That's okay for now.
In Federal government, there's data on disabled people who are employed there.
Office of Personnel and Management actually tracks this kind of thing.
Statistics are broken down by disability such as mobility impaired, amputees,
blind, low vision, mental health issues, mental retardation, deaf, hard of hearing.
Numbers were broken down into pay grade levels from GS-1 to GS-15,
levels determined by pay and responsibility scale.
Higher GS levels, means more management responsibility.
From GS-1 to GS-7, deaf people were much in line with other types of disabilities.
However from GS-8 to GS-15,
deaf people drop in numbers, just above people with mental retardation.
So, now... not only that.
This is America.
There's over 510,000 elected officials according to Favp.org.
Again, over 510,000.
These elected officials are at federal, state, city, and county levels.
We're not including appointed positions, just elected ones.
Again, all in all, there's 510,000 elected officials.
How many people live in America today? We have 307 million Americans.
If you divide these two numbers, you get something like 0.0000168 or so.
So, we take that number.
Now, there's no hard data on how many deaf people use American Sign Language daily.
There's no hard data out there.
My educated estimate is about 400,000 deaf people
who use sign language daily.
So, 400,000 multiplied with that ratio makes 665 elected officials
who should be our own people using sign language daily.
So, how many do we actually have today?
Zero. Yes, seriously, zero!
My dear friend is in the process of adopting a foster deaf child.
Wow, I was thrilled.
He was telling me something incredible.
He has two boys, children of deaf adults.
While they were starting out with foster care system,
the people at the foster care system were grateful.
They told my friend that deaf kids were absolutely the last to be adopted.
The last ones!
Even before other kids who require greater physical care and daily attention!
They would be adopted first before the deaf kids.
So, all these statistics are giving us a hint.
So now, we look around. Think about it.
Do we even own residential deaf schools?
Do we own them, run them, make decisions there?
Does "our" schools even reflect our community and values?
No. The state owns them.
Now, look.
Back to the fact we should have 665 deaf elected officials.
Let me emphasize that this is America.
Think about what makes America so special, and in the History, why America was born.
People came here looking for religious freedom. Yes.
This country was a huge experiment in liberty and self-governance.
That was the very foundation of this country.
That's the American Dream.
In Europe, there were many detractors sneering at the idea
that common people could self-govern!
"No way, that's impossible," they said.
Why? The royalty for ages had money and resources
to train and educate their children to govern and rule over the common folk.
They couldn't imagine educating millions to self-govern themselves. No way!
We all know what happened, America succeeded in a big way,
all this based on the very idea we can govern ourselves.
So, okay.
The fact we have zero deaf officials, that's taxation without representation!
Pretty smart of us to keep on paying taxes, eh?
Well, I do the same thing anyway!
So with all that in mind, wow!
Not to mention that the other key to the American Dream
and how to make it work requires having values
in free, appropriate public education for all.
The reason why that is so important
is so all can learn how to be a public servant.
The Founding Fathers felt being a public servant
was the noblest thing to do.
The role of public servant is so important.
And the deaf people get left behind.
Truly, our way of life is dying.
All over, deaf clubs are weakening and closing.
Once proud, deaf residential schools are closing
leaving us with probably only five great deaf schools.
Even with that, there are still challenges and worry with our schools today.
So, what do we do?
With these facts of decline and despite advances in technology,
we are becoming more disconnected.
See, like this great, awesome crowd of people here.
I wish I could see you, bump into you all daily,
chat, laugh together and more. I really wish for that.
But, t's not happening.
When we meet together like this, we talk like mad and savor each moment.
That's such a huge boost.
Let me illustrate what a healthy community and its social fabric would look like.
That's a healthy web.
That's what a strong, healthy community looks like.
Every point and line that cross each other, that's each one of you.
We are all connected, woven into each other into one beautiful web.
Unfortunately in America, even hearing people are also struggling.
Why? Suburban sprawl.
This country is designed for automobiles.
As a result, people live further apart.
Many hearing Americans are also struggling,
lonely in the suburbs, disconnected.
People in Europe have a far better social fabric.
Their night life is incredibly rich with all that eating and drinking together.
They can walk almost everywhere.
So their social fabric is stronger than ours.
It's ironic that hearing people are becoming more like us,
the deaf community, separate.
But we're more spread out!
Yes, the community is strong in some areas.
We've a social network all over the country.
We know many of our own people.
Now, let me illustrate how our deaf community looks like here.
That's us.
That's us, incredibly strong in some areas.
In the middle,
but so sparsely connected elsewhere.
Actually, that's a picture of a spider on caffeine.
Is any of you drinking coffee?
You can see the effect on the web itself.
So, now, look at that.
Imagine... Would that web catch insects easily?
No, insects would often just fly right through!
And if something big came, these lines would just break!
Yet, that's us!
We're so dependent on very few leaders and people,
all spread out, with no political voice.
We're barely holding together and worse, we punish each other harshly.
yelling at each other for being apathetic, saying things like,
"We just don't do enough! Come on!"
All that yelling at each other ... Huh!
We are just not physically connected that way!
Sure, internet use is skyrocketing, Facebook, Twitter.
These can never replace our physical connection to each other!
Never!
They can enhance, add to our social fabric, help strengthen it.
But these services can't exist without the physical connection we've with each other.
I want to tell you a story about my 11- year-old daughter, Stefania.
We moved to Indiana from South Dakota, from a small town to a big city.
We lived in apartment.
One night, after being there for a while, we sat down together.
She said, "Dad, when I grow up,
I want to move back to Salem, South Dakota."
That was the small town we lived in.
I was like, "What? Why?
That town has only 1,300 people and it's not quite beautiful" -
no offense to all people and friends in Salem!
I love them, I really do! The town is just not picturesque.
So I asked her "Why?"
She simply said, "I was free there."
"I could ride my bike, go to store, get bread and milk for you.
I could go to the town' swimming pool and over to my friend's home myself.
Here, whenever I want to visit my friends, I've to beg you to drive me there."
Wow.
She was talking about a town I thought was not so special.
And she never forgot that.
So, when you all become older, what are you going to do?
When you can no longer drive, what then?
Sure, there're two deaf nursing homes in the U.S.,
retirement communities here and there. I've seen most of them.
Almost all, if not all... Isolated, disconnected from the cities.
You can't walk to these places from anywhere.
These centers are separate, like islands.
So, life quickly passes them by, and they are there, marking time.
Residents often have to beg for visits.
"Please, I'm lonely. Can you visit me more?"
We all become so busy with life, we forget.
That realization had a profound impact on me.
No way. That can't happen to me.
But, we have to ask ourselves, "Are we worth it?"
Really, are we? Are we worth saving?
There's a long list of problems in our Deaf community.
So, why don't we just give up? Just exit the world stage?
No. We are worth it!
Why? We have a lot to offer to the world.
And we all know it!
We know it!
If we are truly worth it, then, we just have to do something.
Malcolm X once said,
"To achieve social equality, we must achieve economic empowerment first."
First, invest, create wealth, support each other, build on each other,
and grow from there.
Let me illustrate this with a story, a pond.
Now, you have this home on lake front, a huge lake.
You have it near wherever you live. A really big lake!
You extend a garden hose from the house into the lake.
You extent the hose to the big lake and turn on the water.
The flow starts.
How long will take for the water level in the lake to rise noticeably?
I'm telling you. Never!
So, take the flowing hose.
Well, dig a hole and put the hose there.
Bam! You see the water rise.
Wow! Let's bring in a backhoe and expand our pond.
Now, that one hose represents one of you.
The money you spend every single day
flow into the world that doesn't even notice you.
Enough! Take that hose,
and bring each one of us together, water flowing into the newly formed pond.
Whoa, now we can add a diving board here, and even add sandy beach and trees!
We can make this pond into whatever we want,
according to our vision and dreams.
We must start here with a small pond.
Some of you may cringe and say, "This pond is too small and muddy.
Ugh, I'd rather be at the huge beautiful lake over there that has everything
just like a big city."
That's fine. I can understand that. But we have to start somewhere!
So you want all that nice living in a big city?
You know what?
New York City started as this cute, tiny port town!
Today, it's home to millions and huge glittering skyscrapers,
center of everything.
We just have to start somewhere and build this bilingual signing town.
That's how we will see ourselves
change from a weak broken web to a strong beautiful web.
You see that? By being physically together in a small town.
Not just for Deaf people! No. Hearing people, interpreters, and more!
We would gain incentives to connect!
Let me give you an example, someone learning ASL.
(Awkwardly) "Hi. My. Name. Is..."
Oh, many of us just don't have the patience for that.
When we see one of those, most just run away.
It's true - just admit that - and it's perfectly understandable.
Now, in this town, you own a business, let's say a hairstylist salon.
You're motivated to see your business grow, right?
When that person learning ASL comes in.
(Awkwardly) "Hi! I. Need. Haircut."
What are you going to do? Send them away?
Or are you going to welcome them with open arms into your store?
Why? Their money is as green as the rest of them.
That's an incentive! Just one small example of incentive.
For instance, if someone starts a franchise like McDonald's
in this ASL town where we do not drown in a sea of spoken English, and feel safe,
he will create new opportunities.
This would have a huge impact on McDonald's system.
Why? The franchisee would have to work with McDonald's and go through training.
They will learn all about interpreters, providing access and working with us.
They'd be learning something valuable from us.
This would promote greater interaction between us and the rest of the world.
"Oh, Deaf people can do this!"
And you know what?
They'd ask the franchisee if they could recommend more deaf and signers.
Oh, yes, they will. That's just one example.
Seriously, just imagine yourself living in that town
where you won't be pigeonholed into limited roles we have today
such as teachers, counselors, etc. No!
You can be and do anything you want.
A deaf person came to our ASL town booth one day.
A survey asked people what they wanted to do if they lived in this town.
They were like, "Um ... Of course, I'm a school teacher"
as if this was a dumb question.
I asked if teaching was their real passion.
"What do you mean? Uh..." A light bulb went on.
"Can I start a kennel?"
"Sure! Why not?
"Oh, wow."
That was an important eureka moment.
You can pursue your passion, without having to settle.
All these new businesses create new connections forging a stronger bond.
Imagine our own local school run by our own people.
Would that school be just for deaf people? No!
It'd be a bilingual immersion program in American Sign Language for all!
Hearing and deaf kids all together!
Kids would be expressing themselves with ASL and English so fluently!
Our kids and grand kids will grow up in a different world, a much better one.
Our posterity will build something even bigger and more incredible,
something we can't even imagine.
I promise you that.
So, will you join me?
Will you help me build that town and grow it into something amazing?
With that success, we'll see new projects like this spring up across the world!
Thank you.