One of the big concepts of a democracy is participation by the people. Democracies are judged by whether they are legitimate or not. For example, the limits on presidental term (22nd amendment) violates the legitimacy of democracy, because it limits the people’s choices. If the people want the same president repeatedly, the people should be allowed to do so. However, this doesn’t seem to be a big issue these days, but legitimacy is always a topic discussed. Well, maybe it is not a topic that legal positivists talk about, but they will always be plagued with discussion on whether laws are legitimate as opposed to merely worrying about separating laws and morality.
Let’s consider this; people in wheelchair could not access many buildings in the pre-ADA days. Now, it should be easier for people in wheelchairs to have access to buildings starting with parking, entering the buildings, and the availability of more elevators.
What has the ADA law primarily done for Deaf people on an almost universal level? Job access? Public housing? Education? It seems to me that the ADA law did not benefit all deaf people, in terms of access. Yes, we are protected further. Call me ignorant, but did we gain more access? I know radio has been a sore spot for many deaf people. I remember one lawsuit that was valid, a deaf person wanted access somehow to “hear” his favorite NFL team on radio, but that lawsuit was thrown out.
Ever since I heard about that, the idea of radio has bothered me to a degree. Hearing people have been kind enough over the years to let me know what they hear on radio, which I would never read in the newspapers or on the internet. In what I have heard, the National Press Radio (NPR) seems to be the radio for intellectuals. The only radio station/program that I am familiar with is NPR. I am Deaf, how can I be knowledgeable about radio anyways? If you go to the NPR site, apparently you can purchase a transcript for a couple bucks.
In tying legitimacy and democratic theory with Deaf people’s access to radio, I must conclude something troubling exists. Radio is a major part, if not the biggest part, of elections. Each day during elections, a few newspaper articles are written, usually with bias, liberal bias if you read the New York Times or a conservative bias if you read the Wall Street Journal. Printed articles are few when you consider how many watered down versions or same version you get in print on the internet.
Radio is a major outlet for people to continually tell their opinions in person. Deaf people are missing this HUGE media outlet, and thus do not participate as fully as people who have access to radio. Yes, it is true there is less independent owned radio nowadays, and huge media conglomerates control most, but still the people can make their voices heard and shared with all. Blogs could remedy this, but you won’t get so many varying opinions in a short time with a live moderator, if there is one.
So, if Deaf people are not fully participating during the electoral process, do we have a problem of legitimacy? I will even say when people in wheelchairs cannot access voting booths; we have a problem of legitimacy, because voting is the most fundamental of all rights. Yes, Deaf people can vote, but there is more to the democratic theory of participation than just voting. We must get all the information we can get, because if the people want information, then the people shall get it. Radio, the internet, and television are great sources of information. Deaf people cannot be denied access to radio, simply because we cannot hear it. If this argument is sound, then why should people in wheelchair have access to voting booths when they physically cannot access it? We have to make democracy accessible to ALL, in order to be a legitimate form of government.
I will concur there is ample access to the presidential elections, plenty being talked about, but do know there is more discussed on radio from all perspectives. However, if we, Deafs, read about candidates at the local level, I cannot remember a newspaper article on all candidates and platforms. That is troubling. I do not know if local elections are done mostly through radio, but I will assert that there are legitimacy issues when we are denied access to such a critical component of media. It is not up to me to propose just how we get access to this media outlet, but we should get access one way or another. I must admit, gaining access to radio is much easier than gaining access to TV. You have to buy a television and get a good antenna, while with radio; the cheapest receivers are probably a couple bucks and can be taken anywhere. Radio can be helpful in assisting Deaf people in preparing for emergencies, which is another issue unrelated to the legitimacy of a government but nonetheless a very important safety feature.
Radios. How I’d love that there was a way for us to gain access from it.
Yes, NPR is probably the most heard station nation-wide, maybe BBC. I always talk with hearing people and they tell me what they learned from NPR. Information from that station is so wonderful. Yes, we can get access from NPR on their website but it’s somewhat different.
According to http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/narrative_radio_audience.asp?cat=3&media=8 in 2002, 40% people listen to the radio at home and 33% in the car while only 25% listen at work. The percentage of listing to radios at homes has declined from 1998 to 2002 whereas listening to it in the car has gone up.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/261950_snaptune07.html says that 95% of people listen to the radio while driving. This article was written in 2006.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650201928,00.html adds that in the Spring of 2006, 25.5 million people listen to an NPR program during an average week!!
Interesting numbers there however the point I am trying to address here is that a HIGH percentage of people listen to the radio when they are doing other things that don’t require much thinking like driving a car. They are able to think about other things while driving so they turn on the radio. At home they probably do it while cooking dinner, washing dishes or folding clothes. At work, they probably listen to it while tuned in some kind of work. Their mind can screen out sounds at one’s will but if something interesting comes along, they stop working and listen for a bit.
In this day I do not see a single hearing person sitting down at home taking time to listen to the radio, those days are gone. Thanks to NPR for making their transcripts available to us (probably can get them for free if we told them we couldn’t listen to it on the radio) but it’s difficult for me to actually read NPR’s transcript on the website because it actually requires some of my time to sit down in front of the computer and read versus listening to it while driving. How can it be accessible to us while driving? That is something I would like to see done.
Comment by Bucky the GREAT — February 13, 2007 @ 11:19 am