REALTIME FILE

EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION (EHDI)
"Diversity: How Can We Meet Face‑to‑Face"
Room:  Vienna
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
1:45 ‑ 2:10 p.m.  CT

REMOTE CART CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY:
ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SERVICES, LLC
www.captionfamily.com

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Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility.  CART Captioning and this realtime file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.

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>> Okay.  We're going to get started.  
[Pause].  
>> Hello, everyone.  Are you, like, got that food coma going on?  
[Laughter]. 
>> Well, you came to the right place so we're going to get you up and moving.
Before we start, we want to get a feel for who's in the room.  How many are from EHDI?
All right.  And how many family‑based organizations do we have here?  Okay.  Any parents in the room not yet stepped out?
Okay, all right, that's fine.
All right.  So how many of you have done a poverty or diversity training before?  All right, very good.
All right.  Our objectives for today is that we're going to identify the need for diversity training, we're going to understand the process of presenting a diversity training to your organization through observing two diversity training exercises, so we're going to need some volunteers.
But by all means, you know, you don't have to [chuckles].
We're hopefully going to increase your cultural diversity awareness, your attitude, knowledge, and skills within your organization and the communities that you serve.
All right.  So who are we?
High name is Janel Frost, I'm the Executive Director of Michigan Hands & Voices.  And we've been a chapter since 2012.
We do have a pretty strong Guide By Your Side family program where we visit around 85 families a year.
We also have an advocacy and support training program, ASTRA and a family we're servicing on a one‑on‑one basis and we have trainings and we have trained over 100 families with that.
But overall, we're servicing a lot of families.  800 families have attended 30 events or more in 2018, so we're seeing a lot of families come through.
And we have our new deaf and hard‑of‑hearing guide program we just started, so we're expanding and growing all the time.
>> So as you can see in this last picture, this was our team about four years ago and we were all women, mostly the same color.
Now, we're expanding our reach and as we expand our reach, we found we needed to be making sure we were meeting families and we're meeting them where they're at, and we needed to expand our diversity as a team, and so this is from our most recent deaf and hard‑of‑hearing guide training, we just are starting that program, we have a lot more men, we have a lot different cultures, we have an Arabic‑speaking guide, we have a Spanish‑speaking guide.
We're really just branching out and trying to ‑‑ we obviously can't be everything to everybody, but we're trying to be more expansive.
Now, the reason we're here today is because of the need to have children and their families from cultural diverse backgrounds, we need them to be getting support that is right for them, meeting them where they're at, and this comes out of the JCIH 2007 position statement, directly out of that, in case you need any reasons for why we're here.  
>> All right.  So why are we going to do a diversity training exercise or simulation?  Because we know these stats.
The tools used to understand materials.  5% of adults learn by listening, 5%.
10% of adults learn by reading.
But we have 75% of adults learn by doing.
So, we want to get people up and doing something to feel actively involved and to feel it, to really feel it, and so that's why we feel that something like this is really important.
All right.  So, we also believe that in order for growth to happen, you've got to get a little uncomfortable, so it may happen today that you have some feelings brewing inside you that you may not have known were there, that may or may not happen.
We are going to challenge you to try and go through that, because we want to grow as individuals that are, you know, working with families so that we can meet their needs.
But we also want to caution, if it is too much, you know, feel free to go out of the room.  You know yourself, you know what you can handle, and some people may have experienced something dramatic and we want to respect that, no judgment here. 
>> Okay.  So we're going to get started on the first simulation, but before we do, just a little definition.
What is privilege?
Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity, granted or available, only to a particular person or group of people.
So think about that definition.
Privilege is a key element in perpetuating oppressive systems.  If one exercises privilege that favors one over another and you don't question the system, then oppressive systems are maintained.
So now we're going to examine some privileges we may hold.  And realize that we all have the power to question.  It's not always someone else's problem.
So we're gonna ask for five volunteers, if you could quickly raise your hand.
Nobody's raising your hand. 
[Laughter]. 
>> So I will take all four of you.  Thank you.  And you.  Thank you.  And see if we have everyone.
If you could line up on this line right here, kind of facing me.  
>> Just step back. 
>> You need more?  
>> Nope, nope, nope. 
>> Are you going to have enough room?  
>> Sorry.  Go to this line. 
[Laughter]. 
>> I think that's going to be what we can fit.
Okay.  So I am going to read a description. 
>> Is there something here?  
[Pause].  
>> Right here.  
>> I'm going to read a description.  It's going to be that we need everybody to kind of think, we're in a confidential area, we're going to be respecting one another, and you only have to respond to the description that I read, if you're comfortable doing so.
Okay.  So the first one ‑‑ go ahead.
Now, when I read this, the first one is female.  If you're female, take one step forward, because we're very stressed in space here.  One step forward ‑‑ 
>> Five steps backwards.  
>> Sorry, five steps backwards. 
>> If you are Caucasian, take two steps forward, everybody else take two steps backwards.
If you use a video phone to communicate, take five steps backwards.
If you own a car, take one step forward, for each car.
If you attended a private secondary school, take two steps forward.
If you have a chronic disease or disability, take two steps backward.
If you have a parent who graduated from college, take one step forward.
If you are ethnically part of an indigenous group, like American Indian or aborigine, take four steps backward.
If you have parents who belong to a country club, take three steps forward.
If you need captioning for accessibility, take five steps backward.
If you were born outside of the United States, take two steps backward.
If you speak English as a second language, take two steps backward.
If you're over 55, take one step backward.
If you took a vacation in the last year, two steps forward.
If you are able to take a step, forward or back, take three steps forward.  
[Room chatter]. 
>> Okay.  You're good, you're good, you're good.
So take a look around and see how you compare to the others in the activity.
How did you feel, if you don't mind answering, how did you feel about where you were on the walk?
Anybody want to respond?  
>> I'm sorry, I'm coming back here, she's still walking.
>> Does anyone here wanna.... oh, we've got.... 
[Pause]. 
>> I guess I feel pretty good until I look around and then I thought, oh, gosh, this is a harsh reality once you look around!  
>> Any other have any experiences they want to share of some feelings, what you were feeling during this?  
>> I have done this kind of simulation before, so maybe it wasn't as strong an impact for me today.  I knew what to expect or I thought I knew what this was gonna be.
They were asking you to move so they could see the screen, I think. 
[Laughter]. 
>> But it feels a little guilty, knowing I'm moving forward and I know people are not moving with me.  
>> Does ‑‑ okay, go ahead.  
>> You said over 55, so.... I am 55, so.... 
[Laughter]. 
[Applause]. 
>> I'm kinda proud of it, so I stayed put.  I followed rules.
But I was surprised I wasn't farther back because I don't feel the privilege.  But apparently.... 
>> That's interesting. 
>> All right.  So I want to ‑‑ 
>> Go ahead. 
>> I was just gonna say, I don't feel surprised because it's within systems rather than me to you and you to me, so.... 
>> Good.  All right.  So this is a little different than you usually do for a simulation.  Everybody in the room would be participating.
So this is very odd and I don't even know if it's happened before, that you have an audience watching this.
Is there anyone that wants to share from the audience of something ‑‑ like, they have ‑‑ yeah?  
>> I was trying to do the steps in my head, forward and backward.  I would be right at the very back of the line. 
[Laughter]. 
>> Well, I was just going to say, on the very last one that you said, if you're able to take a step, take three steps forward or whatever, and there were a few of us that were kind of, like [Gasps] ooh, that's a good one, while you're doing this whole process and you don't think, like, that in and of itself is a privilege that you're able to even be on the walk.  
>> And there are all different descriptions that you can use, we'll share in a minute the resource where we get some of this and some of it is made up for today's purposes, but you can choose different ones.  
>> Okay.  
>> Thank you, participants!  You can have a seat.
All right.  So we are going to explore another simulation.  This one is about deeply‑held biases that we may not even know we hold.
So we're gonna need another five volunteers.
So can I get someone ‑‑ yes, she's going to go, all right!  All right, come on up.
And, yep, all right, we have one over here, we need one more willing soul.  
>> You're very, very brave, all of you. 
>> Yeah.  
[Pause]. 
>> That looks good there.  
>> That looks good?  
>> Can I join?  
>> As long as we can fit, yes, yes, come, come, come.  
[Pause].  
>> All right.  So we're gonna line up kind of like the same thing we had over here.  Can you ‑‑ let's stay just behind this line here.  
>> This one?  
>> Mmm‑hmm.  All right.  So, a cultural or ethnic group is going to be announced and if you identify with that group, you're going to cross the line into the target group.
So let's cross on this line right here.
If you identify.  And it's up to you.  You choose what you identify and feel comfortable with.
You want to ‑‑ and then when we say to turn around, you can turn around and look at the other side of the line.  
>> You need to maintain eye contact with everybody else in the line.  You have to self‑identify. 
>> Oh, no, we're going to have two lines at one point. 
[Laughter]. 
>> When you walk forward, you're going to walk forward and then you're going to stand here. 
>> Oh, you can turn around. 
>> [Laughs]. 
>> And you're going to look at the other side.  All right.  
>> And there's no laughing and talking during this. 
>> Yes, yes. 
>> We want to kind of maintain the serious ‑‑ so get it out. 
>> Yeah. 
>> All right.  Go ahead.  
>> All right.  So if you identify as a vegetarian.  All right.  We're going to need an interpreter over there.
All right.  So if you are a vegetarian, you are a hippy, you are fakers, hypocrites, vegetarians are hypersensitive, oversensitive, and think that everything should adjust to them.
Go ahead and look at your.... 
[Pause]. 
>> All right.  Thank you.  You can go back. 
All right.  So if you identify as people from the county ‑‑ or the country, from the country, I'm sorry, like if you live in the country, trees, forest.  Oh, no one?  Okay, we can move on.
But those that would, they're known as dumb, hick, uneducated, speak with a tweak, people from the country all have gun racks in their huge trucks, they have huge families ‑‑ oop ‑‑ people from the country are racists, they dip or chew tobacco.
All right.  If you identify as someone who is tattooed or body pierced, go ahead.
All right.  Those who have tattoos are trashy or body piercings, are head bangers, they're druggies, they're sexually deviant, they're also smokers, and people with tattoos or body piercing are low class.
Okay.  You can go back.
All right.  If you identify as wealthy, wealthy people, take a step forward.
All right.  
[Laughter]. 
>> Who would identify themselves as, like ‑‑ 
>> All right, so they self‑identify, but we do identify people as wealthy and wealthy people are spoiled snobs, they're racist, superficial, wealthy people are lazy, have no work ethic, they treat everyone like they work for them and they expect to buy their way out.
People with learning disabilities or ADD.  They are really just lazy, stupid, have no social skills, they are hyper, on medication, just don't study, are failing out of school, blame everything that happens to them on their disability.
On Medicaid.  They're lazy bums, people on Medicaid sit around and eat Cheetos, they don't try, they don't want to work, and they're irresponsible.
Confident women.  Oh, yeah!  
[Laughter]. 
>> Hmm.....
Confident women are aggressive, man haters, they overcompensate, they assume that everyone around them is looking down on them, they're lesbians, confident women think they need to be a man, they're feminists, want to run everything and want to tell everyone what their business should be.
Go back.
Latin‑American.  Latin‑Americans are thieves, loud, and hang out in cliques, they speak Spanish in front of others to make them feel uncomfortable.  They're good dressers, they're good dancers, they come from big families, the women are sex objects and men are love gods.  
>> Okay.  So when I did this, I was the speaker before when we did this with our staff, and I felt like the worst person on the face of the earth, it was so hard to say these things!
And so just please understand that we love you all.  
>> Yes, yes, that was very difficult to say.  
>> And we're sorry to.... if anything brought up any strong feelings.  And also that we're happy to talk with anybody afterwards out in the hall.
But you can see from this demonstration, if you're meeting with a family that maybe comes from something different from what you're used to, or if something that is ‑‑ you have these implicit biases in the back of your head, you don't even maybe realize you have, that's the ticket, then you may not be really meeting them as well as you could be.
We've had situations where we've been working with a family and the family went in to see the doctor with a hearing loss and it was caused by CMV and the doctor said well, there's nothing you're going to do.
Well, you can follow‑up and get your hearing tested and do all this stuff, and we wondered in that moment were they being discriminated against because of their income level, their educational level, their culture, whatever.
We have another instance where we were getting ready for an event and we were giving out scholarships and we have this family every year who keeps asking for a scholarship and we looked at this family, honestly, well dressed, seems to be educated, seems to be getting along just fine, and we had to check ourselves, wait a minute, she's asking for a reason, right, and we had to ‑‑ so we continuously have to be aware of implicit bias and checking ourselves.
Before you go, I want to ask you a couple questions of how it felt for you.
So, how did it feel to stand in this target area?  Does anybody want to share what it felt like here and looking back over there?  
[Pause].  
>> The strong women one resonated with me, I'm from the south, I'm from Texas, and there is a lot of that attitude where I grew up, and so it ‑‑ I am a strong, confident woman but I feel like I had to fight for that a lot of my life to not feel looked down upon.
And it was a ‑‑ it was an interestingly powerful moment because I know all of that, I've lived it for 52 years, but it was a powerful moment to stand here and do that.  
>> And it's translating that to other categories, that feeling, to go ‑‑ that somebody else might feel like that.
Does anyone from ‑‑ or that was standing on this side of the line and had people looking back at them want to share how that felt when they were, you know, saying those terrible, mean things?
How did it feel to be standing on that side to look at that person?  
>> Well, you know, for example, when Giuliani was here, she's not any of those things and she is a wonderful person and it felt weird to hear those things about her.  
>> I felt very uncomfortable, I felt judged.  I couldn't see you reading, I just heard you.  It didn't feel good.  
>> So when the vegetarian thing was called out, I was, like.... no, you're welcome to come have dinner with me in a restaurant.  I'm not hard to get along or anything like that.
But then the confident women, as I was listening to it, I was thinking, okay, so what?  
[Laughter]. 
>> Okay.  So we only have less than two minutes now, so just a.... 
[Room chatter]. 
>> Oh, sorry.  
>> So two days ago, I mean, when I ‑‑ sorry, with the vegetarian piece, I knew that none of those things applied to me, I'm a vegetarian for health reasons and that's why I made the decision, so none of those things felt real. 
>> Thank you so much, if you want to have a seat.  Thank you, everybody, yay to our brave participants!  
>> Thank you so much!  
>> So this is about kind of our point in time where we are in our journey as an organization, Michigan Hands & Voices, in making sure that we are bringing up the issue of ‑‑ the issues related to diversity, with privilege and implicit bias and how we can, as a team, continue to meet families where they're at.
You'll find some descriptions of privilege and bias, implicit bias in the slides.
And then also this is a source of where we get those activities.  There's a whole bunch more.  You could do it on your own, you could hire somebody to do it, which I'd really recommend.
We didn't have any money for it.  But we felt, like, so strongly that it had to be done that we went ahead and kind of bit the bullet ourselves.
And you can, you know, try to get a social worker to attend, that's what we did, we had a social worker there with us so she could help with some of those emotional things.
And I wanted to ‑‑ remember when Karen put up our picture before and our picture after?  And it was more diverse and you saw that, like, you could kind of physically see some differences?  That's good.  But no matter what, we're never going to be able to get into all those categories and to feel those things, so we have to do things like this to really help us get outside that box and really understand what people are feeling.  
>> So we've only barely touched the surface, just barely, barely, and we'd have to remember that we always have to check ourselves at the door, we have to remember to check each other.
Well, why do you think that?
And we have to have to, have to keep going there, and that's where we are on our journey.  Hopefully you can respect that we're continuing on our journey as we go and we wish you the best in your own journey and with your own teams as well. 
>> Yeah, and we will be outside, so if anybody really wants to kind of talk about this and explore some issues of things that came up, we're more than willing to meet with you out there.  
>> Thank you.  
>> Thank you again, volunteers, you're wonderful.  
>> Thank you.  
[Applause].
[End of session]. 

** Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility.  CART Captioning and this realtime file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. **