Just this afternoon, I received a forwarded message from my long time deaf friend Carol Cordero-Bie who is now based in the US. It’s about a photo of President-elect Barack Obama’s I-Love-You sign waving the crowd during a Florida campaign.
Here is her message:
Obama’s support for Deaf | SignCasts
I have been receiving pictures from our friends in Florida — her and her husband have been going to see Hillary and now on to see Obama-Biden — she has been sending me some neat pictures — this one want to share with you.
If we want a President who will stand by and for the deaf — I know Obama and Biden are the ones — remember McCain was on the board at Gallaudet University and quit when the deaf wanted 100% deaf president. McCain does not seem to care nor see the deaf’s needs or wants. Rather than stay on to work through a situation or find common grounds — he quits, maybe little bit of temper!!!
This picture was taken yesterday 🙂
I am a fan of I-L-Y signs. I even blogged about it. It became some sort of a de facto symbol of the deaf.
This is the first time I learned that McCain became a board member of Gallaudet and had this ill-feeling about the deaf president issue. On the other hand, waving an I-L-Y sign to the public does not give Obama the stamp that he is an eager supporter for the causes of the American deaf unless there were real concrete actions which he did.
Honestly, I am not a fan of Obama because I find him too show off. During the nomination, I rooted for Clinton. When he won the nomination, I silently wanted McCain to win. But when I learned that Obama won, well, I rested my case. Let’s just hope and pray that he will turn this crisis into something positive.
Now, why the heck do we Filipinos even cared about whoever America votes? My answer to that is written in my blog post entitled, “When Uncle Sam sneezes, the whole world catches cold.” 🙂
PS: This is my 100th blog post. Just want to mark it. 🙂
Filipino Deaf from the Eyes of a Hearing Person 
BIG DEAL!!
I thought it might interest you to know that there is now a global email-writing campaign among Deaf people and people with disabilities targeted at Obama. Although Obama was not everyone’s first choice for US President, he’s the one who will enter the White House come January 20, 2009. And he has made many promises, not only to mainstream America and the world about the economy and Iraq, but also more specifically to Deaf people and people with disabilities (http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities/).
Among other things, these include a promise to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to encourage the US Senate to ratify it. If the US does ratify it (it is not only up to Obama, it is also partly up to the Senate), that could help encourage more countries around the world to ratify the CRPD also, which could have important implications for the status of Deaf human rights and the human rights of people with disabilities generally.
Deaf people and people with disabilities from across the United States and around the world have been sending emails to Obama to congratulate him; to thank him for including a mention of people with disabilities in his election night speech; and, most importantly, to remind him of his campaign promises. These emails can be an important way of making sure that Obama’s team is well aware that people around the world are watching what Obama does next to live up to his promises to Deaf people and people with disabilities. More information about how and why to send emails to Obama is in a slideshow program that you can watch at http://reunifygally.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/why-we-should-email-obama/.
I hope you will consider emailing Obama, or maybe posting the slideshow at your blog for your readers to see.
Thanks
Thank you Andrea for enlightening us. I though US has already signed the CRPD. In our country, the Philippines is the 27th country that ratified it last April 12. I was wondering why a big country like yours still does not sign this landmark treaty.
I will make a separate blog post for this and encouraging other countries to email Pres. Obama. I will also include your slideshow. I hope you may also add my blog as link to your site. Thanks again. 🙂
how are u?am deaf.am in ghana.i hope the by gare of God you are fine and doing well.God bless u
I love deaf