In last month’s JDCC News digest email, we asked again for feedback, suggestions and ideas from our readers.
Thank you to Dr. Steve Baldwin for sharing his thoughts:
JDCC: Should we be proactive and think ahead to keeping up with new technologies and ensuring these new technologies provide increased accessibility? Is this a dialogue that we should be having now?
Baldwin: Yes, indeed, a reasonable dialogue is needed. It takes knowledge, skills, training, practice, and patience to keep up with the mind-boggling evolving technologies. Streaming, internet-based social media, and other technological advancements have consumed our lives daily. True, it is challenging for the older generation to keep up with all the changes and upgrades. Of course, the younger generation is more addicted to their electronic devices. New laptops, iPads, and PCs are always expensive. For some people, our iPhones cause arthritis of the hands, tax our vision, strain our neck, and cause insomnia due to watching the bright light of our devices. Sometimes you think you see screens jumping over the fence instead of sheep. Kidding! As for proactivity strategies, I suggest that you provide in-person training for seniors, conduct Zoom support meetings for different age groups, post healthy screen advisements, and advocate for our accessibility needs.
JDCC: What does the future have for us?
Baldwin: In terms of appreciating, preserving, and promoting Jewish culture, history, especially Holocaust stories, the Jewish Deaf Community Center (JDCC) website, and its online newsletter and publication do all that and more for the present and future. Since 1994, JDCC has become a national information center for Jewish Deaf in America and the world. As a Gentile writer who appreciates Jewish culture, history, and leadership over the last 70 years, I “discovered” JDCC only last year while searching for Jewish Deaf information. The search led me to view NTID/RIT Professor Patti Durr’s videos about Jewish Deaf Holocaust survivors, then got me started on Eugene Bergman’s “Survival Artist: A Memoir of the Holocaust,” then I studied “Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe” by Donna Ryan and John Schuchman, and even reviewed the classic war book, “Anne Frank.” I also arranged for the University of Texas at Austin to caption a lecture by a Jewish Studies professor to share it with JDCC subscribers. I like that JDCC strives to empower all deaf citizens, regardless of race, faith, or culture.
At any rate, my experience of subscribing to JDCC News made me proud of my past feature, “Genocide and the Deaf” for The Voice in 1988, albeit two articles I contributed about two Jewish Deaflympians for JDCC News last year. Overall, as in the past, education, enlightenment, research, and sharing are still the proactive keys to reinforcing cultural and religious tolerance in our maddening world.
Thanks, Dr. Baldwin. We also welcome your thoughts! Email the editor at [email protected]
