Deaf community gets a voice in Maricopa

Steven Roberts is deaf. More than a condition, it is its own culture, and he has sought out other deaf residents of the Maricopa area for some time.

They are few and far between.

“I wanted to get socially with the deaf,” he said, translated by his grandson Stephen Roberts, who is hearing. Stephen said he has known American Sign Language since he was 2 to communicate with his grandparents.

Get-togethers in the Phoenix area include nights of poker or bingo, but they are too far away, he said. Roberts learned there may be around 20 deaf people in Maricopa. But how to find them?

Steven, Stephen and Penny Roberts participated in a “Here Us, Hear Us” gathering in April in Maricopa. The event was organized by Fred Greenspan, president of Tylin Promotions, who is hard of hearing.

Greenspan said it was primarily a social gathering to let deaf and hearing intermingle, but he also invited the police and fire departments.

“It’s difficult for them to communicate with the deaf because they don’t encounter the deaf until ‘it’ happens,” Greenspan said.

MPD Officer Mike Knueppel was assigned to the gathering. As hoped, the evening turned into an opportunity to teach basic signs.

Steven Roberts explained the signs for license and registration. At Penny’s urging, he whipped out a card issued by another state to hand to police if there is an incident. The card explains the holder is deaf and does not read lips and provides information about communicating.

Knueppel said he took some ASL in high school. “I don’t remember a whole lot of it, but it’s a lot better than my Spanish,” he said. “I’m not good, but I can do the hard-of-hearing type stuff.”

On scene, he tells people he’s learning, “so please sign slow.” He will also finger-spell and use pen and paper to communicate.

Knueppel said MPD is moving toward immersion in training to deal with a variety of cultures and communities, including the deaf.

Greenspan said Tylin Promotions, which teaches deaf-sensitivity seminars, just received a grant to help teach law enforcement how to better interact with the deaf and hard of hearing.

Greenspan said the deaf are often minimized or ignored in society, leading to a lot of misinformation.