Sunday March 4, 2007
Is Danville deaf-friendly?
By HERB BROCK
herb@amnews.com
For most people, fast-food restaurants offer a quick and easy way to have a meal. But for some deaf members of the Danville community, the service sometimes is far from fast and the food not exactly what they ordered.
Take Kimberly Yarnell, for example. The 18-year-old Kentucky School for the Deaf student and Danville resident has had problems at the drive-through windows of some local fast-food restaurants and also sit-down eateries trying to get her orders filled, even though she says she tries her best to communicate what she wants.
"When I go to the drive-through window at a restaurant, I have my orders written out, and when the person at the window asks for my orders, I show him what I have written or I point to the menu," said Yarnell. "But sometimes the person gives me an attitiude and acts like he doesn't understand me or even mocks me."
Where Yarnell has faced drive-through window people with an "attitude," she also has had to deal with servers at some sit-down restaurants who seem to panic when they realize she is deaf.
"I went to (a certain local sit-down restaurant) and the (server) seemed to get nervous and said she needed to get an interpreter," Yarnell said. "I appreciated that she wanted to communicate but I tried to (gesture to her) that I could point to what I wanted on the menu, that I didn't need an interpreter."
Dealing with fast-food restaurants has been so frustrating for Billy Lange, a KSD teacher and also a Danvillian, that he no longer frequents them.
"Personally I don't go through the drive-through windows anymore," he said. "I go right into the restaurant to make sure I get exactly what I want."
Both Lange and Yarnell said they were perplexed that they and their deaf friends would have a difficult time at some restaurants when, as Clyde Mohan, another KSD teacher and Danville resident, said, "Danville and this area have such a large deaf population and we and our children have access to education and other services, we should not be getting such a hard time getting food."
But Mohan, Lange and Yarnell stressed that many Danville restaurants, fast-food and sit-down, don't give them a "hard time." And Archie Harris, a KSD teacher and Danvillian, noted that the occasional problems of poor restaurant service for deaf people is "nationwide."
And they and three other KSD faculty and students agreed that, overall, the deaf population in Boyle and surrounding counties - which is estimated to number more than 500 people - has pretty good access to Danville's businesses and services.
The four KSD teachers and three students sat down Friday for a roundtable discussion based on the following question: Is Danvile deaf-friendly? The session was arranged by KSD principal Jackie Day and interpreted by KSD interpreters Rita Zirnheld and Russell Anderson.
The seven KSD faculty and students generally gave the community good marks but said obstacles and even prejudice still exists at least to some extent.
"Because the number of deaf people in Danville and the area around Danville has increased so much over the last few years, there is more acceptance of and accessibility for deaf people and there are better attitudes toward deaf people," said Mohan. "But there is always room for improvement."
Top grade goes to Ephraim McDowell
The top grade given by the panel on its report card on Danville's deaf-accessibility went to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center.
"The staff at the hospital has always been very helpful," said Barbie Harris, a teacher and Archie Harris' wife. "They always have an interpreter available when you come in or call or will get one soon."
Yarnell said her son was suffering serious respiratory problems one day and when she called the hospital, "The staff member said there would be an interpreter when I got there, and I hadn't yet asked for one."
Said Archie Harris: "I commend the hospital. When I was a patient there, they treated me like a king."
However, some of the panel said some doctor's offices might do well to follow McDowell's example.
"I had made an appointment and when I got to the doctor's office I was the third person who had signed in," Barbie Harris said. "As I waited, I noticed the two people in front of me were taken and then the people who had signed in after me started being seen. They had taken nine people by the time they got to me and I was the last one in the waiting room.
"They told me they waited to see me so they could have more time with me, and that is because they didn't have an interpreter," she said. "They should have had an interpreter because they knew I was deaf and I had an appointment, but, even without (an interpreter), I can read lips and I have speech and I can write."
Local law enforcement agencies got good grades. Panel members said that local police treat them "like other citizens" and also make sure interpreters are available when needed. However, they said that it would be good if police knew sign language because of the numerous situations - from minor traffic accidents to serious crimes - where the deaf and police come in contact with each other.
"I know of bad incidents between deaf people and police in other parts of the country," said Archie Harris, citing a situation in which a deaf friend in Minneapolis was stopped for a minor traffic violation and ended up being beaten and jailed largely because of a lack of communication. "But I think the police in Danville are fair. It wasn't like that when I came here 33 years ago but there has been much improvement in the attitude (of) and the access (to) police."
Mohan noted that a police officer who refuses to provide an interpreter for a deaf person held in custody is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Danville, Boyle County school systems get high marks
The Danville and Boyle County school systems also got high marks from the KSD group. Several deaf students are "mainstreamed" at local schools, spending all or part of each school day in classes with hearing students. Deaf interpreters are on hand at these schools.
The panel also commended local residents for educating themselves about deafness and deaf culture and also learning sign language or at least knowing how to "finger-spell" words by using the sign language alphabet.
Archie Harris said the Danville schools are "very supportive of deaf students, in education and sports." One of his and Barbie Harris' three children, Jeff, is a graduate of Danville High School and also was a member of its football team in the mid 1990s.
"He has two state championship rings," Harris said, beaming.
Harris noted that another of his children, Jennifer, a 2007 KSD graduate, was the beneficiary of the "support that the whole community often gives to deaf students." He said donations from the Rotary Club and several local doctors and other professionals, plus contributions from the KSD Foundation, allowed Jennifer to serve as an exchange student in Sweden.
Concerning the interest of hearing people in learning about deaf culture and its language, Mohan said he teaches an American Sign Language class at Eastern Kentucky University's Danville campus and reported that it is "always full."
"Many hearing people in this community of all ages are very interested in wanting to know about their neighbors in the deaf community and learn how to communicate with us," he said, as several other panel members agreed the interest by hearing people in ASL is a "very positive" sign.
Local school boards and governnent bodies generally are accessible to deaf residents and should be commended, the panel said. Interpreters usually are available at meetings, either regularly or at the request of a deaf person, they said. Mohan gave special kudos to Danville City Commission, saying that he can follow a meeting either in person or when a tape of the meeting is played on local-access television.
Danville area churches also received a high grade. Several area churches have deaf interpreters for services and also offer special services and Sunday school classes for deaf members, the group said. In addition, there are several churches established for deaf congregations, including some that are missions of larger churches.
In the area of "needing more improvement"
In the area of "needing more improvement," the panel gave lower marks but still passing grades to some stores, movie theaters and the local emergency warning system.
"When you go into some stores, the salespeople sometimes appear to be frightened, even run off when they find out you're deaf," said Mohan. "They sometimes gesture that they are going to get somebody who can communicate with deaf people. Other times, they just run away.
"It is not important that (store personnel) know American Sign Language," he said. "They just need to be aware of deafness and that there are deaf people in the community who are their customers. They need to be patient if they don't know ASL and let us communicate by gestures and writing."
Danville 8 movie theater offers a close-captioned movie on Mondays. Emma Riley, a 14-year-old KSD student, would like the theater to offer more close-captioned movies and on more days of the week.
"Many of us are busy on Monday and other weekdays," she said. "Most people go to the movies on weekends, and we deaf people would like to be able to see movies on weekends, too."
Archie Harris and Yarnell agreed, both suggesting that not only more close-captioned movies be offered but that deaf customers take part in the selection of the movies. But Harris gave Danville 8 a pat on the back for at least showing a close-captioned movie once a week, recalling that there were no close-captioned movies shown at Danville moviehouses just a few years ago.
Harris said officials should make the local emergency notification system more deaf-friendly. For example, he said deaf people cannot hear the sirens sounded to alert the community to a possible tornado. He suggested officials notify the deaf by e-mail or pagers. Yarnell recommended installing special street lamps that flash in emergencies.
On the general issue of "attitude" by hearing people toward deaf people, several panel members said the problem of prejudice still exists but has greatly lessened in recent years.
"When I took classes in the public schools, some (hearing) students would check me out and make fun of me, and I sometimes would get the same reaction just walking downtown," said Drew Meade, a 20-year-old KSD student. "I am not some lonely animal, some second-class citizen. I am a human being and I want to be treated like one."
Said Lange: "The hearing community, at least part of it, needs to get away from the stereotyping of deaf people. One example is the stereotype that deaf people don't tip after meals at restaurants. I understand that some don't tip and the word got out that 'all deaf don't tip.' It's like stereoptyping blacks and saying 'all blacks don't do this or don't do that.' We are individuals and just want to be treated like it."
Calling Danville home
But the treatment of deaf people apparently has been good enough - along with their accessibility to local businesses and services - that the panel members like calling Danville home. And more and more of their friends and family members are doing so as well, contributing to the growing population of deaf people in the Danville area.
"I came here from a small Eastern Kentucky town and, despite some of the negative reaction I received from some people, I like it here," said Meade. "I feel a part of the community - the whole community, not just the deaf community."
Archie Harris said he came to KSD in 1974 and the goal he and Barbie had at the time was to stay five years and then move out West.
"Danville has made us feel at home," he said. "It is a great place to raise a family, deaf or hearing. We feel we are members of the whole Danville community."
And, despite her problems with some fast-food service, Yarnell feels the same way - a feeling that has spread to her immediate family, all of whom are deaf.
"The reason I moved to Danville from Flemingsburg in the first place was that there was the deaf school but also my sister was here," she said. "Then, our mom moved down here. Then, my brother. Danville was a place I lived and went to school. Now it is my new hometown."
