Feb 19, 2024
Greetings Howard and NAD Board:
Surdists United is a non-profit organization committed to social justice and equality for our Deaf communities via creative arts. We join in solidarity with the National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) and Council de Manos and the numerous Deaf individuals who have expressed outrage at the National Association of the Deaf’s handling of signed performers at the Super Bowl.
The four major issues we are seeing with the annual Super Bowl fiasco are:
1. lack of visibility and thus lack of access for Deaf viewers. Sending folks off to look for links to view the Deaf performers on separate screens is not access as you very well know. In fact, it results in a situation the NAD has created where we are denied our right to public access. What happened to the lawyer who said “I love to sue, sue, sue”. That was you Howard. That was your campaign promise when running to be CEO of the NAD over 10 years ago.
Sadly, we are unaware of any efforts from the NAD to make the Deaf performers and the Super Bowl accessible for DeafBlind folks also. NAD needs to be mindful of its mission and the responsibility to advocate for ALL Deaf people.
2. Apparent conflict of interest by partnering with RoseBYANDER / Love Sign – Alexis Kashar. Kashar’s company says one sign ILY = three words “Love, Unity, Belonging” yet the product placement of her ILY design on the bodies of our Deaf performers smacks of nepotism, exploitation and conflict of interest. Due to the lack of transparency, the benefit of this commercialism is unclear. The conflict is so great that it has exploded into upset, discord, frustration, and outcry. This is a far cry from “Love, Unity, Belonging.” It is ironic that the NAD and Kashar pride themselves on civil rights; yet, have actively engaged in organizing events that violate Deaf folks’ civil rights with segregated viewing systems that don’t even reliably work.
3. Selection of Deaf performers. Every year when the NAD has announced the selection of specific Deaf performers – the process of who gets chosen or why is never explained. It seems you pick folks for performing the National Anthem who have high celebrity status and are great signers but not well versed in the artistry of sign songs. The community appears accepting of this, perhaps because they feel that the chosen singers for the National Anthem are high prestige folks and thus the Deaf signer must be too. There are many Deaf creatives who have invested years in developing their craft and skill at interpreting songs. This is no easy feat and should not be entered into lightly or with such a cloud of secrecy it garners suspicion. Casting Deaf folks who are not well versed in this genre can result in hand babble with some fancy moves resulting in even less access if one is able to find and stay connected to the link in which to watch it. This results in the misrepresentation of ASL, fetishizes signing and Deaf bodies, and robs true sign song performers of much deserved opportunities.
4. Lack of a cost / benefit analysis. Since the NAD has never shared what it costs them and/or the NFL to include Deaf performers and since for the past several years, the Deaf performers have been excluded from live public viewing broadcast – the cost of grief and emotional turmoil outweigh the benefits. The lack of transparency of the expenses associated with this annual farce also call into question its purpose and benefit. NAD clearly has not implemented any positive changes following criticism of previous Super Bowls, In fact, looking back at when Marlee Matlin performed, it has only become worse.
All of us should be also calling into question why the NAD has selected this venue and effort. To simply say it’s because of its great visibility – does not float especially in light of the fact that there was no live visibility this year beyond the flash of any ILY hand before being cut off screen. Deaf performers are not props and “inclusion is truly an illusion” at this game. This illusion causes much more psychic harm than good—instead of collective cultural pride we are left feeling collective devaluation.
If the NAD is going to continue with this gambit – we hope that a truly awesome Deaf song signer is selected and they do the job while taking a knee because racism is still rampant in the USA and within the NFL and these “golden” opportunities should be for a lot more than just showing ASL for a few minutes on one day of the year.
Rather, the NAD could invest its money, time, and effort in producing films that are truly created by Deaf hands and Deaf led with stories that address challenging and important issues that Deaf, DeafBlind, and DeafDisabled, BIPOC Deaf, and LGBTQIA+ Deaf folks face. Such an effort would likely result in cultural authenticity, pride and representation as well as recognition by the general public worthy of Oscars or other awards.The effect would be far more impactful and long lasting and the NAD would be turning its rudder back to its roots of using moving pictures – film, to bring about social change and preserve our noblest gift.
The silence from NAD about what happened and why was so loud we all could all feel it. While we appreciate the NAD board president finally releasing a statement acknowledging the pain you have caused the community, we are all interested in ACTIONS that will address the situation and produce an observable restorative experience which celebrates Deaf creative talents fully.
In solidarity, Surdists United