Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Mother Jones reports:
In emergency updates, American Sign Language interpreters are crucial to the safety of Deaf people—close to a million of whom live in the Los Angeles area alone. They’ve also become the latest target of right-wing online influencers like Turning Point USA head Charlie Kirk, who offered a very obnoxious take on his eponymous Charlie Kirk Show last Wednesday, calling live ASL interpretation a “distraction” in the context of the fires; other right-wing media figures have piled on, adding ASL to the increasingly preposterous list of “woke” practices somehow related to the fires.
Kirk was far from the only right-winger to attack ASL interpreters: “critical race theory” profiteer Christopher Rufo said on X that no “wild human gesticulators [are] necessary,” referring to a video of a Los Angeles County emergency management news conference; Richard Hanania said ADA requirements to have ASL interpretation “have led to a nightmare.” Kirk and Rufo obviously know little about ASL if they’re criticizing it for being expressive—which it’s supposed to be.
Read the full article.
Life-saving ASL interpretation is the latest woke scourge. https://t.co/VOhSJwEGf3
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 14, 2025
I’m sorry, but we have to stop with the ridiculous sign language interpreters, who turn serious press conferences into a farce. There are closed captions on all broadcast channels and streaming services. No wild human gesticulators necessary. https://t.co/X1VXJtkNMy
— Christopher F. Rufo
(@realchrisrufo) January 10, 2025
The community note shows that the process has been captured by the disability lobby. It’s not about access, CC works fine. They have to pretend like it doesn’t to force this absurdity onto us.
And the ADA amendments of 2008 have led to a nightmare, as I explain in my book. https://t.co/miM8vk8Z7Z
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) January 11, 2025