Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!ox.com!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!107!608!Tzipporah.Benavraham From: Tzipporah.Benavraham@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.org (Tzipporah Benavraham) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Re: Greetings Message-ID: <15409@bunker.UUCP> Date: 5 Nov 90 15:53:55 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP Reply-To: Tzipporah.Benavraham@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.org Distribution: misc Organization: FidoNet node 1:107/608 - The Event Horizon, Staten Island NY Lines: 53 Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP Index Number: 11507 [This is from the Silent Talk Conference] I am so happy to meet you. I will cross post to the kids in Japan. I think this is incredible. These deaf kids know nothing of the civil rights we have here. There IS no mainstreaming in Japan of the handicapped. In fact Mra Naya'a school is a government run school. Only VERY ELITE hearing impaired ever get into education at all. Most are ignored and left at home. The lack of civil rights is amazing! I hope you can tell them about how you grew up before PL 94-142. I think it is so sad that kids have no access to education universally. Also, are you an oralist or a signer? How did you get to the place you did as a teacher of the hearing impaired also? And do you feel we are better off now since the equal rights laws or does it make it harder? Remember these kids also live in one of the most technology oriented countries of the world! It is estimated 1 out of ever 2 people owns a computer! In fact computers are SO cheap there that they are as common as transistor radios here. Here, we have to think a bit.. a computer may cost upwards of a month to 4 months pay! These kids are not going to have trouble getting tech.. but getting the education to USE the tech is an important barrier they still have. Even at that there are not many programs (computer or vocational education) for them either. I asked the Gallaudet high to log in here to speak with the kids also. They have sent me hundreds of questions about America. A simple one is, "What happened at Gallaudet? Did the deaf get equal education after that?" They are amazed at I. King Jordan. I sent them his speech. And they love it. Remember also these kids are learning English too. It is unheard of from what I understand for a hearing impaired teenager here to be "forced" to learn a foreign lanaguage, let alone write it on a computer network! It is MANDATORY no matter what in Japan to learn to read write and communicate in another language to get a high school diploma.. including those elite hearing impaired who do get to school. Hope to hear more. Tzipporah -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!107!608!Tzipporah.Benavraham Internet: Tzipporah.Benavraham@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.org