By Jean F. Andrews
Map of uunet global Internet backbone.
Image: Manchester AC
In collaboration with a deaf inmate, we put together 50 different ways to use the Internet. For a deaf person, the Internet is a necessity not a luxury as it is for hearing people, who have the option of using the audio-cell phone. Banning deaf persons who are released from prison, from using the Internet is a cruel and inhumane penalty that smacks of retribution rather than rehabilitation. It also makes no sense in terms of trying to rehabilitate and integrate the deaf person back into his or her family, the workforce or even society in general. With today’s technology of computer data loggers and tracking methods, restrictions and safeguards can be imposed. These insure that the individual’s devices cannot be used inappropriately. But to flat-out forbid the total use of technological devices for released deaf criminal offenders is counterproductive and unjust as well as contrary to our goals of rehabilitation.
Traceroute is a tool that tracks the hops made by electronic communications. Image: Isoc.org
1. refilling medications
2. making reservations
3. finding phone numbers
4. finding addresses
5. finding emails
6. paying bills
7. checking weather
8. joining support groups
9. checking bank account
10. research
11. ordering a pizza
12. ordering flowers
13. ordering books
14. checking out books from a library
15. contacting friends
16. tracking shipping items
17. seeking other advice
18. access to online manuals
19. contacting family
20. making appointments
21. filing taxes
22. looking up recipes
23. searching for apartments
24. finding jobs
25. contacting work
26. finding coupons
27. renting movies
28. connecting to cable services
29. reading the newspaper
30. taking online courses
31. filing out online applications
32. checking activity schedules
33. filing social security
34. purchasing from online stores
35. checking store sales
36. contacting stores for help
37. conducting phone interviews.
38. Researching medications
39. contacting ministers
40. contacting church schedules
41. applying for credit cards
42. learning how to fix household appliances
43. contacting funeral homes
44. checking for weather alerts (i.e. hurricanes, tornadoes)
45. contacting police
46. contacting lawyer
47. looking up vocabulary
48. locating bus, train, plane schedules and delays
49. buying museum tickets
50. buying sports events tickets on line
[Editor’s Note: Having been professionally involved with the Internet since the BBS days of the mid-1980s, it is not without a certain personal pride, that I state the above 50 uses are but a drop in the bucket. The Internet offers life saving and life enhancing uses to us all, but most significantly, to the Deaf. The advent of smart phones and tablets have further unchained us from our desks, and now Deaf people can enjoy almost literally the same access to services as can the hearing. Through ASL and the Internet, it is possible that the entire world will soon, no longer view deafness as a disability at all.
Also please note: HEARD’s #DeafInPrison link to the screening of Al Jazeera America‘s excellent documentary is now live. It will only be available for viewing, this weekend. Please take a few minutes to watch this entertaining and informative broadcast, and then post your support and impressions on your social media channels, using the hashtag – #DeafInPrison. Here’ s the link: http://www.facebook.com/l/QAQHw5OiQ/bit.ly/DeafPrisoners
–BitcoDavid]
Jean F. Andrews is a Reading Specialist and Professor of Deaf Studies/Deaf Education at Lamar University.
Related articles
