Mid-Valley Interpreter Services
Damara Paris, President of Intertribal Deaf Council (IDC) responded to this: Quote: As the president of the only national organization for deaf/hoh/deaf-blind and late-deafened individuals who are American Indian, Alaska Natives and First Nations Indians, I find your recent post a good example of some of the struggles tribal members with hearing loss face. However, I do want to caution you. There are always two sides to a story. I believe MVIS has great integrity and would not intentionally report information that is false. At the same time, we do need to hear what the organization itself has to say before making any judgements. Congress specifically excluded tribes and reservations from the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and stated only through mass litigation could the ADA be enforced on federally recognized tribes. Therefore, yes, it seems that Tribal members do not have to provide accomodations on tribal lands through ADA. However, there has been a great disability movement among tribal members with disabilities. In 1999, in a national survey of 143 tribal governments, representing over 600,000 members, 110 responding tribes requested immediate assistance in developing disability policy. This seems to be good sign of their commitment to improve services for disabled tribal members. Further, this project led to passage of a resolution by the National Congress of American Indians that recommended the creation of disability legislation among tribes that is consistent with the principles of the ADA and is respectful of tribal sovereignty and cultural diversity. So in other words, even though tribes do not have to follow ADA, there is great support to develop some kind of policy to help their disabled tribal members. Some already have. When it comes to people with hearing loss, many of the tribals are sadly behind in developing policies to accomodate their tribal members. This is where Intertribal Deaf Council, and many many tasks forces headed by universities and government agencies, including National Council on Disability, step in to try to educate tribal members on how to provide interpreters, captioning and assistive listening devices. We have a long way to go, but I think that tribes are starting to listen. For example, most of the pow wows I have attended in Washington and Oregon have been interpreted on request. Northwest Portland American Indian Health Board, an organization made up of 43 tribes in the northwest actually has a non-tribal deaf employee and from what I have seen, they have been very supportive in giving her interpreters when needed. In the cast of the casino, it is interesting because they are employing (usually) non-tribal, non-indian people to provide services on tribal lands. They may not fall under the jurisdiction of ADA. This legal question would probably need to be addressed by the Bureau of Labor Industries and a civil rights suit. Perhaps a more peaceful approach would be key organizations such as DHHAP, IDC, NW ADAworking together to educate and pursuade the casino to change their minds. I would be happy to discuss this further with any of you. Send e-mails to Intertribal Deaf Thanks! Damara ParisLast updated on July 11, 2005