Chris Wagner rebukes FAD; NAD Board posts video of support
Chris Wagner, the former NAD President and Florida Association of the Deaf (FAD) president, released a vlog on Wednesday evening to rebuke three specific FAD officials for disassociating the FAD from the NAD over the NAD’s position opposing a recently-passed Florida law banning LGBTQ topics from being discussed in elementary school classrooms.
Wagner said FAD President James Scott, past president Tim Wood, and Advisory Committee Chair Dr. Rickey McClain acted as individuals — independently — in disassociating the FAD from the NAD. Wagner said most of the FAD Board of Directors were not aware nor were part of any discussions.
In a news video I did on Tuesday about this topic, I explained that I was able to chat with a FAD member who said they were “surprised” to see the FAD communication go out on Saturday. This FAD member said other FAD members were also surprised.
Wagner’s vlog, which had 15 signatories from current and former FAD Board Members, declared the FAD’s disassociation from the NAD “null and void, or in better terms, out of order.” They demanded Scott, Wood, and McClain to apologize and allow the full FAD board to have an open dialogue.
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Today the NAD released a video showing its CEO and president, members of its board, and conference planning team together in one room sharing a message of support for “Deaf BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ folks.” One of the people in the video is NAD Region III Board Member Lisa Rose, who is a former FAD president. She said, “I’m thrown but we’ll get through this together.”
NAD said they are making every effort to ensure that all BIPOC and LGBTQ conference attendees “feel as welcome and safe as possible at our conference.”
The conference is scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 4 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Hotel.
Chris Wagner Vlog:
https://www.facebook.com/cdwagner86/posts/10159258204673705
NAD Message of Support: