2022 NAD CONFERENCE RECAP: DAY 1 & 2
Hello! Guess where I am at? There are palm trees..it’s warm..I am in Orlando, Florida for the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)’s 2022 conference! It was postponed and now we are back and it is an in-person conference! I am excited. Ready to see? Let’s go!
Wade: NAD 2022 has a spirit week! On July 1st - wear LGBTQIA affirming shirt, July 2nd- wear BIPOC affirming shirt, July 3rd- wear Deaf affirming shirt. There ya go! NAD! NAD!
On Thursday, June 30th, registration opened up for conference registrants to check in, delegates check in, and last minute registration too. On the night of June 30th, NAD hosted an event called “NAD@Night: UNITY.”
The objective was to address how we can stay unified, centering focus on BIPOC and LGBTQIAS2+ experiences in the wake of recent oppressive laws. Speaker Akilah English explained more background information on "Critical Race Theory" and how and why it is banned in schools, not just in Florida but many other states as well. Derrick Behm-Josa focused on the anti-LGBTQ education bills, including Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill that recently passed. Both discussed the negative impact of these bills, and encouraged the community to resist (how?) by continuing to understand our differences and finding "joy" in our communities to keep us going.
(group photo, credit: AKILAH ENGLISH)
NAD, National Black Deaf Advocates, Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, and Florida Association of Deaf, representatives provided statements that reaffirmed the need and the support of our communities and to continue our conversations on how to become a better advocate. Current NAD President Melissa Draganac-Hawk explained that severely restricting discussion on race and LGBTQ experiences in schools creates further barriers for Deaf children to access information and even advocacy tools, since schools are often one of the few places to receive access to communication.
In summary, the event set the tone for the rest of the conference to be open and to learn from each other and to become better advocates.
On Friday, July 1st was the kick off and several things were going in such as the Council of Representatives (COR) meetings with delegates, Jr. NAD Pages, Pitch contestants with their orientation and training, College Bowl meetings, and more. And then on that night was the opening ceremony.
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[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
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Sean: We had about 756 people register for this conference. Now, more people arrived and registered so we have a little bit over 800 who decided to arrive by door to pay and register. We have over 70 workshops here. Enjoy!!
Koko: I am here at this conference as the ambassador for the DeafBlind lounge and to give a special workshop related to DeafBlind culture with my other DeafBlind presenter named Roberto. I am excited to be here.
Renca: So, how are you enjoying Orlando so far?
Koko: I am really enjoying myself. It is nice to see old faces from my time at Gallaudet, but also from my old job, within the community too. This conference is like a reunion.
Eva: Hello! We have a total of 12 people in the Jr. NAD Pages. What is the role of Jr. NAD Pages? Well, for example for a COR meeting, NAD meeting, or any meeting, suppose a participant in the meeting has a question, but has a hard time getting attention- we would help direct the attention. We would help give water, food if participants of the meeting are hungry- we would get it from the market, restaurant, or something. One thing I have learned is the amendment related to the bylaws. For example, there was an amendment from two years ago that they had to hold on until now. They opened that amendment again. Another example is not just to be limited to Deaf and Hard of Hearing, but DeafBlind too. They made a good point.
Howard: What is NAD going to do for the rest of 2022? We are still facing many challenges. Yes, we have many resources now, but there are still more we need. For example, we want to see more ASL provided for different events like during a president’s speech, for the governors, for the Super Bowl, and so forth. However, where do we usually see our ASL on screen? It usually has to be through the internet. We do not see ASL as a communication access on TV. That is one example of what we are fighting for - requiring TV to have ASL on screen for communication access. There are captions as an option, but we want to see ASL too. So, we hope to change that through the law, advocacy, etc, we still have more work to do. Also, we need to realize that Deaf rights does not mean it is independent of everything. Having Deaf rights also means collaborating with women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, BIPOC rights, and everything together because it is civil rights. All work together.
Welcome to the open ceremony!