Bulletin 153: ¡¡¡ WE WON A BATTLE IN THE MEXICAN LO =?ISO-8859-1?B?V0VSIENIQU1CRVIgT0YgQ09OR1JFU1MgISEgIChlbiBpbmds6Q==?=s)

[Boris Fridman Mintz]

>,
        "For the discussion of linguistics and signed languages."
        <SLLING-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA>,
        Jim Cummins <jim_cummins at tednet.oise.utoronto.ca>,
        Carol-lee Aquiline <carol-lee.aquiline at wfdnews.org>,
        Carol Erting <Carol.Erting at gallaudet.edu>,
        Carol Patrie <cpatrie at hotmail.com>,
        Rico Peterson <rxpnss at rit.edu>,
        Roy Miller <president at tdi-online.org>,
        "Roy E. Miller" <remiller at mail.state.mo.us>
CC: V=?ISO-8859-1?B?7Q==?=ctor Manuel Montes de Oca <manol07v at hotmail.com>,
        Eduardo Daniel Maya Ortega <barrydm at prodigy.net.mx>,
        Edgar Sanabria <sanabriae10 at hotmail.com>,
        Guillermo Caballero C=?ISO-8859-1?B?4Q==?=rdenas <gina_gm10 at hotmail.com>,
        "Ma. Eugenia Rivera Lara" <femedesor at netscape.net>,
        Fidel Montemayor Zetina <fidel_mz at yahoo.com.mx>,
        Luis Armando L=?ISO-8859-1?B?83BleiBHYXJj7Q==?=a
        <loparmando2002 at yahoo.com>,
        Fidel Montemayor Zetina <isabel_fidel at yahoo.com>
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Bulletin 153                               May the 2nd, 2003

To the Mexican Deaf Community,
To Deaf's families,
To our supporting hearing friends,
To our friends across the world:

The 30th of April, 2003, the Mexican Lower Chamber of Congress voted and
approved the Bill that will lead to the proclamation of the:

    FEDERAL LAW FOR DISABLED PEOPLE
   (LEY FEDERAL PARA LAS PERSONAS CON DISCAPACIDAD)

We defeated multiple efforts that were aimed at leaving the Mexican Deaf
Community and its demands out of the negotiating process (which we will
inform you about in the near future).  We got through a few and important
ones, such as declaring:

1) The recognition of LSM (Lengua de Se=F1as Mexicana) as the national
language of the Mexican Deaf.

2) The right of all semilingual and speaking (hard of hearing) deaf to have
access to LSM.

3) The creation of a national subsystem of Bilingual Education for the Deaf=
..

4) The duty of all Federal offices to provide (LSM) interpreters, cart
services, relay services...

5) The obligation of Federal government to develop the technology needed so
that Deaf, Deaf and blind (and others) may use telecommunications, may have
access to mass media, public events... (Such as interpreters, Closed
Captioning or relay services)

6) The obligation of the Federal government to promote the application of
the items enumerated in 5.

It will not be easy to force the Executive power to comply with all of thes=
e
goals (specially 4, 5 and 6, which were diluted in the negotiating process,
and became pretty vague and open to interpretation).  Many new regulations
will have to be created, and strong lobbying groups will have to be
confronted.  But we opened a door and we plan to get through it, all the
way.  We are counting on your support.

We publicly recognize that we would have not achieved anything without the
effort of the Congresswoman Lorena Mart=EDnez Rodr=EDguez, and the Congressman
Dip. Salvador Rocha D=EDaz, for they firmly pushed forward our points of view=
,
and gained the support of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional)
parliamentary group for our causes. And they did so without interfering in
any way with our organizations, always respecting our criteria and our
independence.

You may consult the text of the future law (for it still has to be reviewed
by the higher chamber of Congress, returned to the lower chamber, and
finally sent to the Executive power to be published) in our main Internet
page (in Spanish, so far):

    http://homepage.mac.com/chido/

Or directly in the following address:

    http://homepage.mac.com/chido/gp_2003-04-30.html

In a preliminary fashion, we have outlined in boldface the most relevant
sections of this Law with regards to the Mexican Deaf.

    FOR A WELL EARNED SUCCESS IN BATTLLE,
      =A1=A1=A1 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL !!!

On behalf of the National Front for the Defense of Deaf's Cultural Rights
(Frente Nacional para la Defensa de los Derechos Culturales del Sordo),
Boris Fridman Mintz, adviser and honorary member of FEMESOR
(Federaci=F3n Mexicana de Sordos).

PD Spread the word, and the sign, at will.