A Message from the President of DEAF-DOT

Welcome to our website!

As you may know, Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in our society. This is primarily based on characteristics that are beyond our control. Exclusively they have resulted from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the deaf and hard of hearing individual's ability to participate in, and contribute to, society. 

Although laws have been passed that are breaking through many of the barriers which have kept deaf and hard-of-hearing people out of the mainstream, the one obstacle we cannot legislate against is attitudinal barriers. This attitude has the effect of patronizing deaf and hard-of-hearing people, usually relegating them to low-skill jobs, setting different job standards , or expecting a worker with a hearing loss to appreciate the opportunity to just have a job, without the amenity of equal pay, equal benefits, equal opportunity and equal access to the workplace. This is fundamentally one of the barriers that we are working hard to remove. 

Our goals for FY 2000 is to work with Secretary Rodney Slater, who is very supportive of the DOT wide disabled community and has been instrumental in the development of the D.O.T. Disability Resource Center (DRC). Together with the full support of Secretary Slater, we will strive to work hard to remove those negative and stereotypical attitudes, to ensure full inclusion and equal opportunity towards the deaf and hard-of-hearing and the DOT wide disabled community. 

We hope that you find this website useful. If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me at: deafdot@hotmail.com  

Thank you,

Kevin Ball

President,

DEAFDOT

Our Sponsor

This is a D.O.T Site, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Many thanks to NHTSA for their generous support!