Fred Greenspan wants to give voice to those in Maricopa who live in a world of silence. 

A retired radio and TV and radio marketing and advertising representative in New York, Greenspan, 80, still operates an agency out of his Maricopa home in Tortosa.  

Today, he’s focused on helping local people who are deaf. 

After extensive research of people who are deaf and hard of hearing, Greenspan created an exclusive training class in 2014 for public servants like police, fire, hospitals, airports and school systems.  

It blossomed into a national training service sought by a variety of municipalities and other types of operations. 

“This module of the business continues to grow mainly as a result of my studies in deaf culture and interacting with the deaf community,” Greenspan said. “During the course of the company’s development in 2008, I agreed to represent a tourism-related business for its public relations and advertising. The owner of the company was born deaf. This was a solid basis on which to learn and develop strategies to assist the deaf and hard of hearing, a time of extreme concentration of the mannerisms, wants and needs of this too often misunderstood and underserviced community.” 

Greenspan is himself hard of hearing. He uses hearing aids and closed captions on his phone to communicate. He also has a degree from Mesa Community College in sign language, where he met and mingled with members of the deaf community there. 

Among his deaf sensitivity class clients are McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas Police Department and Las Vegas Metro Police Departments.

“We are in negotiations with Pinal County to train their employees,” Greenspan said. 

He said he is trying to connect with the city of Maricopa as well. 

An executive at the city of Page, Ariz., Alexandra Malnack, spoke highly of Greenspan’s service, Tylin Promotions Worldwide, which was instrumental in installing the Page Police Department’s video phone system to better communicate with residents who are deaf.  

That project came after Greenspan conducted a deaf sensitivity webinar with Malnack and a Page police officer attending. 

“Our department is one of the few agencies in the state of Arizona that offers this service to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the capability to dial anywhere in the United States, free of charge,” the city’s administrative assistant Malnack said about Greenspan. “This ensures individuals have access to necessary services at all times … The deaf community does not get much representation, and we believe it is vital to be a resource for those in need. This is why we worked so diligently with Mr. Greenspan to see this project through to the end.” 

The video phone system is free to users and providers such as the city of Page, with the Federal Communications Commission’s Interstate TRS Fund compensating all costs, Greenspan said.

City of Maricopa spokesperson Monica Williams said the city was waiting for Greenspan to work his way through the process to possibly set up deaf sensitivity training for city staffers. 

Deaf sensitivity training is important for police officers, Greenspan said, because people who are deaf send physical messages such as “big hugs,” because they cannot verbalize to officers how grateful they are for their assistance.  

Greenspan said in one case an officer shot a deaf man who hugged him to thank him for his help. The officer thought the deaf man was attacking him when he fired at him. 

“That could happen here in Maricopa,” Greenspan said. 

He said he became interested in Arizona’s deaf community many years ago after meeting a Phoenix man who was deaf. 

While eating breakfast, he asked the man to pass the sugar and milk for his coffee. No response. 

Greenspan said he finally got the man’s attention by gesturing and the man told him he was deaf and did not hear him. 

They wrote notes to each other. It turned out the man was a computer programmer and desperately in need of work. 

“Nobody wants to hire a deaf person,” the man told Greenspan, despite his extensive experience in computer programming. 

Greenspan called a friend at Wells Fargo, who said he would immediately hire the man because his computer skills were rarely found. 

Wells Fargo’s board at the time rejected the man saying, in Greenspan’s memory, “They don’t want to take a chance on someone who can’t hear, a violation of federal law.” 

Greenspan said he was angered by the rejection and called in discrimination. 

After some advocacy, Greenspan said the company agreed to have the deaf computer specialist hired through a staffing agency.  

“They moved him in with all the bells and whistles a deaf person needs, involving vision over hearing,” Greenspan said, citing more light in an office so he could read peoples’ lips.

With people who are deaf, it’s all about the sense of sight. 

“Everybody loved him,” Greenspan said.

But the man’s tribulations were not over.

“They gave him a big bonus and he lost his social security and healthcare because he was paid over what social security allows,” Greenspan recalled. “At that point I said, ‘This is disgusting, this is horrible.’ I learned all about the deaf community from him.” 

Greenspan estimates there are between 6,000 and 7,000 people in Maricopa who deal with deafness. They are a silent community, simply because no one sees their disability, unlike someone in a wheelchair. 

“People who are deaf are shy and accepting of their plight,” he said. “If you haven’t walked in their shoes, you can’t understand.” 

Greenspan said he has consulted with universities that specialize in students who are deaf. He also has knowledge of traumatic brain injury, with a daughter so has experienced it. 

Greenspan contends Maricopa is a city where public officials don’t understand the plight of deaf people. 

“Police officers need to know what it’s like for someone driving who can’t hear a siren,” he said. “People who are deaf are not hiding. They are like a sparrow in a tree.”