Barely a few weeks into 2025 GOP Conservatives are attacking essential services to the Deaf Community. These voices include Turning Point leader Charlie Kirk, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Heritage Foundation member Christopher Rufo, and contributing writer to Project 2025 and alt-right and white supremacist publications under the pseudonym Richard Hoste, Richard Hanania. Why are they saying this? What are the dangers? What is Trump’s history over this exact issue? And what gains from the 80’s are potentially under threat as of today?
What Was Said
On the January 8th Episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, Charlie Kirk said the following:
“Can we please just go away with half the screen during these emergency briefings to the sign language interpreters? I have nothing against, obviously, people that cannot hear, but there’s closed captioning. I mean, this is just over the top – we can’t do this, we gotta get back to how it used to be. It’s just too much. It’s a distraction, is what it is. The reason is they do these emergency briefings for fires or terrorist attacks, and you’re looking at this and you’re not listening. I don’t like it. Closed captioning’s perfectly fine.”
He later posted a more abbreviated version of this rant on X along with a Tik Tok video of an MSNBC broadcast featuring ASL interpretation.
On Friday the 10th of January, Christopher Rufo stated the following on X,”I’m sorry, but we have to stop with the ridiculous sign language interpreters, who turn serious press conferences into a farce. There are closed captions on all broadcast channels and streaming services. No wild human gesticulators necessary.”
Finally, we have Richard Hanania. On May 31st he posted on X in regard to ASL interpretation that “It’s absolutely nuts that the deaf are a like 1% of the population and get maybe a fifth of the screen. Don’t we already have a closed caption option? Do we really need to be distracting everyone with someone waving their hands in the air?” But in this most recent fray he had to double down. According to an MSNBC story on Jan 15th of 2015 he said “that the process has been captured by the disability lobby,” Hanania argued that captioning “works fine” and that the so-called disability lobby has “to pretend like it doesn’t to force this absurdity onto us.”
National Association of the Deaf vs Trump
During Shelter in Place phase of the Pandemic, the National Association of the Deaf and affected people sued the Trump White House. Despite the governors of all 50 states having provided ASL services for all press briefing related to Covid-19 and other matters of public importance, the White House refused to offer the same services.
A federal court ruled that the White House must supply the services and after an out of court settlement the White House formalized policies that gave the Deaf community who need ASL services what they need to be informed and aware just as any other citizen of the United States in an important time.
Would we expect any less from the man who once called Oscar award winning actress Marlee Matlin the R word in regard to her condition? The same man who believes his family and other families benefit from superior genes?
Trump has called his political enemies “the enemy within” and has promised to prosecute and punish his perceived enemies.
When you combine his potential lust for revenge in light of his loss to the Deaf community in court, perhaps the sycophantic voices in opposition to ASL begins to make sense.
The Sick History of Persecution Against the Deaf Community
When people think of the horrors committed against the Deaf community, they often think of the persecution of Nazi Germany on people who were deaf. Under the German “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases” many people with various conditions were eliminated, sterilized, and were forced into abortion. Germany looked to the United States for a model. The US inspired model they created led to the sterilization of 200,000 to 400,000 German citizens. Over 15,000 of them were of the Deaf community. Approximately 5,000 of those were children ranging in age of 9 to 16 years. They were reported to the German government by neighbors, teachers, and family members.
The American model for eugenics against the Deaf community the Nazi’s modeled began with Alexander Graham Bell. Bell was concerned about intermarriage amongst the deaf and stated that they shouldn’t marry because this would isolate the deaf from hearing society and encourage births of deaf children. This sparked debate for prohibition of marriage amongst the deaf and many attempts to pass laws making such marriages illegal for fear of the formation of “a Deaf race.”
According to Bridges for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, it was 1907 that Indiana passed the first sterilization law based on eugenics. The Deaf community were one of the groups targeted for forced, barbaric sterilization. By the late 1930s, half the states had forced sterilization laws based on the eugenics of Bell and others. California’s compulsory sterilization law became a model for Nazi Germany.
The 20th Century in America was a cruel space for the Deaf community. In the 70’s through the 90’s Gen X children were exposed to the beginnings of a better reality and perception and of the Deaf community.
ABC’s for X Y and Z
From 1972 through 2002 3 generations of children got to know Linda from Sesame Street. Linda was the librarian of Sesame street, romantically linked to Bob, and was a member of the deaf community. Through her, Gen X (and Millennials and early Z) got to learn the ABC’s and essential sign for the hearing. We also got to be exposed to things that deaf people face in their day to day lives along with exposure to TTY to make phone calls and other things people in the Deaf community use in their daily lives.
She had friends, a pet, a good job, and was just like everyone else.
There were even two books for all children to begin their journey into ASL.
- Sign Language Fun (1980)
- Sign Language ABC (1985)
Gen X Teen Social Changes
As we outgrew Sesame Street of our 70’s childhood, we grew into being 80’s teenagers and the world continued to change for the Deaf community. In popular culture we got to see Marlee Matlin win and Oscar and steal our hearts on talk shows as a pop culture icon. But there was so much more that happened.
The more was not bestowed on them by some sympathetic and benevolent hearing world. It was fought for with self activism.
Deaf leaders and organizations like the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) became more vocal in advocating for Deaf rights and access. Their efforts forced a change in further validation of ASL as a complete and complex language, supporting its use in education. When that happened not only did Deaf educators began advocating for a bilingual-bicultural approach to deaf education, where ASL would be taught as a first language alongside English, but hearing schools took a larger adoption of use of ASL in education.
The 80’s also gave us two very distinct points of activism. The first being the “Black Deaf Renaissance” which highlighted the distinct experiences and sign language variations of Black Deaf people. Then there was the “Deaf President Now” campaign in the late 80’s that put Deaf culture in the national spotlight. Gallaudet University is the only liberal university exclusively for the deaf. For most of their over 100 year history they did not have proper representation at the very top of the University. But with self determination and activism, March of 1988 would create a watershed event that led to the appointment of the university’s first deaf president.
Technology Changes
TTY technology gained greater adoption allowing more people from the Deaf community to have phone conversations. Closed Caption technology improved allowing more options and opportunities for people to be able to access information in written word for various reasons. Finally microcomputers and processors that gave us early home computers and pagers would give the Deaf community the groundwork for new technologies to be made to improve hearing aids and other technologies that were rudimentary at best at the time.
America Gets it Right
On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) would be signed into law by President George HW Bush. This was the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. We no longer inspired the Third Reich to commit Eugenics, we inspired the world to be more inclusive.
And while two bipartisan houses and a republican president signed an important bill into law, it would not have happened without the self advocacy of people who knew they did not live equally to fight for themselves to get it. Along the way Gen X Y and Z kids were not indoctrinated, we were deprogrammed from hate and division. We were raised to see Linda as a friend and a neighbor who had something to teach us. We were shown TTY as something amazing and ASL as an intriguing language that used the whole body and face, as well as the hands, to communicate.
ASL is not “wild human gesticulations”, it is a language…an American language…that is expressive, innovative, efficient, and beautiful. Closed captioning is a useful tool for many, but it is more efficient for people who experience hearing loss later in life. For those who ASL is the first language, it is not as efficient. Part of why a Federal judged ruled that the Trump White House had to use ASL was it was provable on a quantifiable level that the lack of ASL was leaving some citizens without proper information of what to do during the Pandemic…a national emergency…an international emergency.
In the wildfires in California, this is still true and ASL is an essential service. Charlie Kirk and his dude bro pals do not seem to understand this or care. Nor do they understand that the “wild gesticulations” are merely inflection in speech just like they do when they speak with passion to emotionally drive a point through. Charlie Kirk wants us to go back to how it used to be? How far back does he want us to go?
In the land of the free and home of the ablest we used to ban kids who could not hear from using their hands to communicate. If they were caught signing or using any form of gesture, disciplinary actions would result in a trip to the principal’s office where their hands were slapped with a ruler and then tied together. Do we go back to sterilization and prohibit them from being married? Do we assume they have cognitive issues and are socially inept? Or do we go back to institutions?
In Kirk’s world, does Linda get to be a librarian, date Bob, have kids, teach ASL, and have a pet? Does she get to keep her TTY device to call her aunt? Or does she live in an institution after having had a hysterectomy? Do we call her the R word as our current president who believes himself to have superior genes called Marlee Matlin (and likely other women in the Deaf community)?
We cannot go back because we have not gone far enough for the Deaf community! There is still a job gap, increased poverty, and women in the Deaf community are so much more vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual assault than other women are. I could triple the length of this article with the things we still have to do as a people to create a level playing field.
Storytime, My Book, and Holding Me Accountable
I am not part of the Deaf community. As such, I may have phrased things or represented things poorly in this article. If I did, I ask two things of the people in the Deaf community. Let me know and accept my proactive apology as I promise to pay attention to your words and do better.
I had a sister who, due to complications in her birth, was born with hearing loss. Through being her big brother I got to learn ASL. As a big brother I got into a helluva lot of fights sticking up for her when she was bullied. Healthy? Nah. But I got good at throwing a punch and learned to fade the heat without apology.
When I was 18 I developed a wonderful friendship with someone who is profoundly deaf. Readers of Gen X Watch and Fem Fridays know her as Jenny. When we met her beauty, her humor, sarcasm, wit and talent was undeniable. My ASL was rusty, but it was enough for us to start an amazing friendship. Our friendship continues to this day.
She is not the only one. I have several friends that are either part of the Deaf community or have some level of hearing loss and use hearing aids. Like Linda from Sesame street they are no different than I am, but people treat them like they are less and I want to revert to the grade school version of me that would take someone’s ass down in the playground for fucking with my little sister. But that is not healthy or productive.
So what is healthy and productive?
I have a book series coming out that features a character named Jenny based on the real friend you have read about in Gen X Watch in two interviews and 2 stories we have written about her. Her real name ain’t Jenny, but it is a common name for anyone who grew up in the 70’s. She works in the medical field. Being a sonographer was not her first choice for a career, but it was a career that would hire people who were profoundly deaf back then. But when I knew her, she was trying to be a model and in our friendship, we got her foot in the door.
When I decided to include a character based on Jenny in the trilogy I had two choices. The first was to make her a hearing character. Or, I could write her as the woman she is based on. A profoundly deaf teenager who dug Patti Smith and Billy Idol, was a smart ass, and never backed down from a confrontation with a jag off d bag. A dangerous redhead in preppy clothes who fought for her rights and her friends 2 years before the ADA existed to recognize her civil rights.
This was the Jenny that is in the book that will be releasing soon.
But again, I am not part of the Deaf community, I merely have friends who are. So how do I do this and do this with proper representation? How do you describe American Sign Language? It is not word for word translations to spoken English, a language that did not originate from this nation like ASL has. It uses the whole body and minor variances of body and facial language and gestures will convey different meanings. How to I reflect a character who is part of this community without reducing her or falling into bad tropes about people who are profoundly deaf?
I sought out the words of writers in the Deaf community who gave me conventions to use in writing ASL and things to avoid and embrace when writing a character who is deaf and uses hearing aids. I also went with what I knew and remembered from an amazing friendship and a with a remarkable woman and a sibling that I had in my life for a few short years before losing her.
After I wrote the character in the first draft I had to fight for Jenny again. I had an editor who I used between draft one and two who I will not be using in books 2 and 3 because she did not like the conventions used. When I explained to her what I learned from writers in the Deaf community she just doubled down on grammar and conventions for the hearing only.
I had to go a different direction between the 2nd and 3rd draft. Part of that was bringing in a test audience. Half of my test audience were women from the community. I expected negative feedback. What I did not expect was all of them to love her and how she was presented. The one critique I got was they wanted to see her more in the book.
I was not able to give them more of Jenny for book one, but there are still two more books and a series of short stories featuring an expanded universe for the characters. There will be more of Jenny.
These women told me they wish they had more characters like this when they were younger and assured me that Jenny will mean something to people who read about her. What I hope for is that there is at least one teenage girl from the Deaf community who thinks to herself…I like her, but I could write a better character. I could write a better story with a girl like me. Then, she writes that protagonist and that story. I also hope beyond hope that this mysterious young lady gives me an opportunity to introduce her to some people who can get her book published. Finally, I hope this books kicks the shit out of my books in sales.
We are looking at March or April for a release date…we are getting there. When the book does release, every public speaking event I am in attendance will have an ASL interpreter. I do not want to go back like Charlie does. I want to move forward into the future.
But I do have a plan B for the public appearances. If the ASL interpreter is unable to make it for some reason, we will make the best of it with live closed captioning and my limited ASL abilities. I hope we do not have to use a contingency plan, but it is an option. This is not an all or nothing and either or like these three alpha puppies want. Unlike Kirk, Rufo, Hanania, and Trump, I do not see my friends in the Deaf community as an inconvenience, the R word, or genetically inferior.
Inauguration Day
This article publishes on the same day as the inauguration of Donald Trump. I have concerns and I feel that these three losers fired a warning shot on a demographic that has been through enough. Considering Trump’s history with the Deaf community during a humanitarian crisis, this does not feel like an accident. It is also not an accident that all three men are connected either directly or adjacent with project 2025 and other affiliated groups.
Regardless who is in office, we always need to be watchful of those in power and hold them and their affiliates accountable to we the people. It is up to us to support the self advocates in every way we can. This is the first day of a new administration.
It is a good day to start doing our job and holding them to the fire and reminding them that they serve us and we are not their servants. We have a right and a duty to hold these fuckers accountable. Linda and “Jenny” have all the rights every American have. Thier right to life and liberty and happiness is not negotiable and denial of their equality and access to information is not a light and transient cause.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among [all ] Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.“
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