Hearing Loss News and Articles: Deaf gay men tackle... -
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Published on: 12/8/2005
Last Visited: 9/26/2006
They use sign language," said Todd Higgins, the center's former program coordinator, speaking through an interpreter.
In the U.S., 28 million people, or 10 percent of the population, are deaf.Of those, 1 in 7 deaf people have a history of substance abuse compared to 1 in 10 hearing people.
The challenge in combating substance abuse lies in providing deaf people information in a format they can understand.Higgins, who now works as a deaf services coordinator at San Francisco State University, applied for a grant through the Horizons Foundation while at the deaf center and received $5,000 in order to make the videos on meth use and HIV.
"A lot of folks don't realize ASL is distinct from English.It is not something created to replicate English," said Higgins, 32, a single deaf gay man living in San Francisco.
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When Higgins came out while living in Ohio in the late 1990s, he said there were no services for deaf gay people.So he started the Buckeye Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf to advocate for the deaf community's needs.
"It was time for us to become vocal," said Higgins, who moved to the Bay Area three and half years ago to work for the deaf center.
Higgins has helped the Pride festival expand its sign language services to various venues as well as at the food vendors.He hopes to see San Francisco's Pride become the first to offer closed caption simulcast screening.
"The Bay Area is very lucky to have deaf services," he said.
Roughly 450,000 deaf people live in the Bay Area, and it is estimated that 2 in 10 are gay.San Francisco in particular is known to be a welcoming place among the gay deaf community.
"There is a large pool of deaf people here," said Higgins.
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We need to have light to sign," said Higgins.
Deaf gay men's dating lives have been made easier by the birth of the Internet and the growing popularity for hearing people to learn sign language as they would French or Spanish.
"A number of deaf gay men have paired off with hearing guys.Many hearing gay men take classes to learn sign language," said Higgins."But just like with any other language, it takes awhile to approach someone."
Meeting people online does have its drawbacks, said Higgins.
"I do know some are making the effort to use the Internet.But if you have a bit of a language barrier for English, the person might seem like they are writing in broken English.If the other person asks why and the deaf person says 'I am deaf,' it often makes the person more interested," said Higgins, though he added, "I don't want people to think we don't go out in the community to meet people."
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