| SPOTLIGHT
ON... Deaf
& Deaf-Blind Committee on Human Rights
(North
Olmsted, Ohio)
In
the last month, DDBCHR has made history holding the first and second
ever Deaf & Deaf-Blind sit-in protests at local doctors' offices
drawing attention to the fact that many doctors still refuse to
provide interpreting services for their Deaf & Deaf-Blind patients.
These actions have brought excellent media coverage and have grown
their membership and reputation both locally and around the country.
After contacting
over 100 doctors three times each and asking them to sign our "ADA
agreement form" which states they would follow the law and
provide interpreters to patients who request them, DDBCHR decided
to take their requests in person to doctors' offices who had ignored
their attempts to contact them. DDBCHR held numerous planning meetings
to prepare for their first sit-in protest to draw attention to this
issue.
DDBCHR organized
and gained support for our campaign from a number of hearing organizations.
Participants in two recent protest included a nun from a local catholic
church, members of the UNITE/HERE union, students from Oberlin College
and a local interpreter training program, and members of Organize!
Ohio, United Clevelanders to End Poverty, the Empowerment Center
and the National Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.
On March 16, 2006 the first sit-in protest was held at the office
of Dr. Solymos who had ignored all four attempts made at contacting
her. The doctor, selected as one of the nation's "top family
doctors", refused to meet with DDBCHR to discuss their demands.
Several people participated in the protest, a handful of whom were
trained and prepared to participate in civil disobedience if necessary
to bring attention to these issues. After a four-hour protest it
became clear that the police would not make any arrests so DDBCHR
vowed to be back in two weeks with double the number or supporters.
Read the Cleveland
Plain-Dealer article.
Read
the Chronicle-Telegram
article.
View the Channel
3 coverage of the event.
The next day,
however, the CEO of Premier Physicians, the company that Dr. Solymos
works for, contacted DDBCHR and said he would be happy to meet with
them. On March 29th, members of DDBCHR's negotiating team met with
Mark Wiedt, CEO of Premier Physicians at their offices to discuss
their demands and requests. Wiedt was very open to working with
DDBCHR and agreed to meet all requests.
Read the press
release.
He explained
that Premier already had a policy requiring their 60+ doctors at
40 sites around northeast Ohio to provide interpreters if requested
by the patient. Wiedt agreed to send a staff person in charge of
the company's training for special training at DDBCHR's offices
about the ADA, finding and using interpreters effectively and different
ways to communicate with Deaf/Deaf-Blind patients both in and out
of the office. This training material will then be incorporated
into training the staff at all 40 of their local offices and for
all new hires. Premier will also include ADA educational information
in their next newsletter and work with DDBCHR to promote education
on this issue in the medical community.
On April 5th
Dr. Bennhoff wrote an editorial article to a local newspaper criticizing
DDBCHR's first protest and stating that interpreting services were
both unnecessary and too costly to provide for deaf patients. The
next day, April 6th, DDBCHR staged it's second sit-in protest at
Dr. Bennhoff's office calling for an "emergency educational"
for the doctor to save patient's lives.
Read the press
release for this event.
Dr. Bennhoff
is both a professor at a local medical school and on the board of
the local medical association. DDBCHR was concerned that Bennhoff
was sending a message to the local medical community that was going
to harm the health of Deaf/Deaf-Blind patients (because without
interpreting services, miscommunication may occur resulting in misdiagnosis,
mistreatment or even death). Several members and supporters (including
10 local interpreting students) brought a poster-size copy of Bennhoff's
editorial to his office demanding to meet with him. Office staff
informed DDBCHR he would not be in the office that day but after
a while they got word from him by phone that he would agree to meet
the next morning. A press conference was then held outside the office
and DDBCHR claimed a second victory that the doctor would meet with
us.
On April 7th,
Dr. Bennhoff met with DDBCHR members and supporters and listened
to their concerns. While it is still not clear that the doctor fully
understands the importance of providing interpreters for Deaf/Deaf-Blind
patients, DDBCHR did win a victory in gaining his agreement to write
a second editorial to the newspaper stating that interpreters are
necessary in some situations. DDBCHR is currently waiting to receive
a copy of his editorial to determine our next action steps.
Over the last
month DDBCHR has received the most media coverage ever in their
organizational history. The protests and negotiating meetings were
covered in nine separate stories on six different TV & newspaper
media sources. These events have also been featured on dozens of
internet sources including Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Religious and Indy-media
websites, listservs and blogs.
DDBCHR has
also received an overwhelmingly positive response to these protests
from Deaf, Deaf-Blind and hearing organizations and individuals
around the country. As a result of these historic actions, DDBCHR
has been contacted by and has definite plans to meet with a group
of Deaf & Deaf-Blind seniors in Columbus, Ohio who are struggling
with the same issue and want assistance in setting up their own
protest.
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MEMBERS
OF PPEHRC
Alabama Arise
Alexandria United Taxi-drivers Organization (Alexandria,
VA)
Alternatives for Developing Change (Chico, CA)
Arise for Social
Justice (Springfield, MA)
Big Creek People in Action (Caretta, WV)
California PPEHRC Committees
Center for Economic and Social
Rights (New York, NY)
Center on
Housing Rights and Evictions (international)
Centro Comunitario
Juan Diego (Chicago, IL)
Centro de Trabajadores Agriculas (El Paso, TX)
Coalition of Immokalee
Workers (Immokalee, FL)
Coalition to Protect Public
Housing (Chicago, IL)
Community Homeless
Alliance Ministry (San Jose, CA)
Deaf
and Deaf-Blind Committee on Human Rights
(North Olmsted, OH)
Delaware Housing Coalition (Dover, DE)
Direct Action
Welfare Group (Charleston, WV)
Domestic Workers (Los Angeles, CA)
The Employment
Project (New York, NY)
Friends &
Residents of Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg
(Washington, DC)
Georgia Human Rights Union/Project
South (Atlanta, GA)
The Nashville Homeless
Power Project (Nashville, TN)
Human Rights Tech
(Philadelphia, PA)
Idahoans Struggling in Solidarity (Boise, ID)
Independent Media Center-Philadelphia (PA)
Ithaca Workers Rights
Center (Ithaca, NY)
Jesus People Against Pollution (Columbia, MS)
JEDI for Women (Salt Lake City, UT)
Just Housing! (Aurora, IL)
Kensington Welfare Rights
Union (Philadelphia, PA)
La Mujer Obrera
(El Paso, TX)
Lifetime (Oakland,
CA)
Loring Nicolett Alternative
School (Minneapolis, MN)
Louisiana Injured Workers (New Orleans, LA)
Luzerne County Residents Union (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
Massachusetts Welfare Rights
Union (Mattapan, MA)
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
(Detroit, MI)
Mid-South Peace & Justice Center (Memphis, TN)
Mormons for Equality and Social
Justice (Salt Lake City, UT)
National Welfare Rights
Union
New Jersey STEPS
New Jerusalem
(Philadelphia, PA)
New Labor (NJ)
North Carolina Farmworkers Project
Organizer's Learning Center (IL)
Organize! Ohio
People Organized to Win
Employment Rights
(San Francisco, CA)
Poor People United
(Rochester, NY)
Poor Voices United
(Atlantic City, NJ)
Portland Organization to Win Economic Rights (Portland,
ME)
The Refuge (St. Petersburg, FL)
Rochester Poor People's Coalition (Rochester, NY)
Rock A Mole Productions
(Los Angeles, CA)
The Rural Coalition (national)
The Simple Way
(Philadelphia, PA)
Sisters Of The Road (Portland, OR)
Sisters Together Ending Poverty (Boston, MA)
Skylight Pictures
(New York, NY)
Social Welfare Action Alliance (national)
Southerners for Economic Justice (Durham, NC)
Stand for Our Neighbors (Washington, DC)
Tampa Bay Action Group (St Petersburg, FL)
TRASA (Salt Lake City, UT)
UNC Housekeepers Union (Chapel Hill, NC)
United Workers Association
(Baltimore, MD)
U.S – El Salvador Sister Cities
Voices of
Illinois Poor People (Dekalb, IL)
West Virginia Listening Project (WV)
Women's
Project (Little Rock, AR)
Womens Economic Agenda Project
(Oakland, CA)
Women in Transition (Louisville, KY)
Youth
Action Research Group (Washington, DC)
PPEHRC Coordinating Council Members
Ethel Long-Scott, WEAP
Bonnie Macri, JEDI
Louise Morales, Rochester Poor People's Coalition
Cecilia Perry, PPEHRC legal committee
Galen Tyler, KWRU
Heather West, DDBCHR
Stephanie Zeitz, LNAS
Diedre Brewster, CPPH
Larry Bresler, Organize!Ohio
Jennifer Jewell, Women in Transition
Cheri Honkala, PPEHRC National Coordinator
Willie Baptist, Co-coordinator, University of the Poor
Liz Theoharis, Co-coordinator, University of the Poor
Sara Forgione, PPEHRC Chief of Staff
Cecilia Garza, PPEHRC Administrator
PPEHRC National Committee Members
Glenda Adams, Poor Voices United
Lucas Benitez, CIW
Larry Bresler, Organize! Ohio
Mary Bricker-Jenkins, SWAA
Chris Caruso, Human Rights Tech
Todd Cherkis, United Workers Association
Amity Condie, MESJ
Evelyn Dortch, DAWG
Sarah Frohock, Alternatives for Developing Change
Jim Goronson, US-El Salvador Sister Cities
Dana Hardy, Idahoans Struggling in Solidarity
Jennifer Jewell, Women in Transition
Charles Kellum, Rochester PPU
Ethel Long-Scott, WEAP
Bonnie Macri, JEDI for Women
Sister Margaret McKenna, New Jerusalem
Louise Morales, Rochester Poor People's Coalition
Cecilia Perry, PPEHRC Legal Committee
Sandy Perry, CHAM
Dotty Stevens, MWRU
Galen Tyler, KWRU
Jesse Vear, POWER - ME
Heather West, DDBCHR
Rev. Bruce Wright, The Refuge
Stephanie Zeitz, LNAS
Cheri Honkala, PPEHRC National Coordinator
Willie Baptist, Co-coordinator, UPoor
Liz Theoharis, Co-coordinator, UPoor
Sara Forgione, PPEHRC Chief of Staff
Cecilia Garza, PPEHRC Administrator
PPEHRC Staff
Cheri Honkala, National Coordinator
Willie Baptist, University of the Poor Co-Coordinator
Liz Theoharis, University of the Poor Co-Coordinator
Sara Forgione, Chief of Staff
Cecilia Garza, Administrator
Maria DelMoral, Press and Media
Natashia Euler, Arts and Culture
Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Field Organizer in the South
Jennifer Cox, International Relations and Religious Strategy
Galen Tyler, Director, KWRU
Cecilia Perry, Legal Committee
PPEHRC Legal Committee
Catherine Albisa, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Willie Baptist, PPEHRC
Jonathan Blazer, National Immigrant Law Center
Bob Brown, PPEHRC
Rhonda Copelon, IWHR Law Clinic, CUNY Law School
Cecilia Garza, PPEHRC
Maria Foscarinis, NLCH&P
Jennie Green, Center for Constitutional Rights
CCR Ella Baker Fellows, Ralph Bunche, Jason Cade
Noah Leavitt, Jewish Center for Urban Affairs/CPPH
Tara Melish, Independent Human Rights Lawyer
Cecilia Perry, AFSCME
James Pfluecke, Coalition to Protect Public Housing, Chicago
Rafi Rom, Philadelphia Community Legal Services
Cynthia Sooho, HRI, Columbia Law School
Bret Thiele, COHRE
Galen Tyler, KWRU/PPEHRC
Peter Weiss, Center for Constitutional Rights
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