Leala Holcomb, Dare to Utter Producer and Aracelia Aguilar, DeafHope’s Empowerment Director explains how survivors of domestic and sexual violence can share their stories to be part of Dare to Utter. Transcript in YouTube Link....
[image: Aracelia Aguilar, DeafHope’s Empowerment Director, a Latina with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a black shirt and jeans, standing on a stage signing] DeafHope was invited to the National Day of Mourning vigil to honor the disabled people murdered. Aracelia went and presented on the behalf of DeafHope about how Domestic/Sexual Violence Survivors also suffer abuse by hearing privilege by the abuser and from the system. The main problem is getting access to communication with agencies when reporting their experience. Police would ask a family member or the batterer to interpret for the Survivor. Abusers with hearing privilege gain power that way and manipulate survivors. Survivors often deal with the police, courts, hospitals, shelters fighting for access rather than focusing on healing themselves. Aracelia explained the concept of Community Accountability and how we have to protect our community by having healthy dialogues and go through an unlayering process and own our actions. We are approaching transformative justice which allows the perpetrator to have their space to own up to their abusive behavior and change for the better. We know that the system is not reliable when seeking justice so we invite all communities to join together to end violence and oppression amongst...
We are thrilled to recognize our former intern and advocate Rossana Reis for her poetry being accepted in the 29th Solo Mujeres Show, “Intersectionality,” at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Gallery @ 2868 Mission Street, 2nd Floor in San Francisco. Opening reception March 26th-May 2nd. For more of Rossana Reis’ work, go to www.rossanareis.com. What It’s Like to Be Me: DeafBlind Disabled Queer Latina Ping ponging between moving chatters Gestures, gists, do I really matter Protactile, captions, transcripts are grand My whole consciousness and vision expand A cobra, canary, cougar or cow Making guesses out of cumulus clouds Unless I am given a useful clue Not sure what value and respect it’s due Image, video descriptions solve codes Synapses fire, messages uploads A restful night of sleep is a blessing Awake with aches, I will not be dressing Overwhelmed, sometimes to myself, I’m unkind My muscles reeling behind my ambitious mind Smiling, laughing, sun shining on my soul Depth and meaning, I crave to fill my hole Misread assumptions based on preconceived notions Presuming I’ve not yet chosen or been chosen I breathe, share space with much love and delight Queer is a way of being, a birthright During family festas, I feel unease I studied English, Spanish, and Portuguese Can they learn ASL, LSM, or LIBRAS So we can have more bate-papos com...
image description: long haired Leang, wearing beige t-shirt with long necklace, sitting in front of a fireplace with mantle which holds four Cambodian statues and glide chair next to the fireplace] Titled “Whitewashing Culture” [transcription: When I posted a while ago about whitewashing culture, I noticed that people had difficult time accepting that. As the first generation here in America, which means I was born here and my family were not, I have experienced a lot of cultural clashes. Using my own life experiences, I can tell you that we do indeed live in whitewashing culture. Let me give you several examples from my experience: When I was a kid, let me say first I grew up eating homemade food from my culture, anyway once I wanted to bring a lunch from home to school because I was tired of eating lunch at school and we were on a field trip. I actually made my own lunch and I was only 7 years old because my family didn’t know how to make American lunch. Ironically, what I packed wasn’t your typical American lunch like PB + jelly sandwich lunch. I thought the food I packed were normal and I was so excited. When it was lunchtime, we were eating our lunch. I’d get comments, like “Umm…what is that?” and disgusted looks from my peers and even my teachers, too. If I were to dress “strangely” or behave differently, I’d get labeled “FOB” which stands for fresh off boat. That term is a racial slur. The only times I’d get compliments for wearing my traditional cultural clothes is when we...
