My mom sent me a link to this article from my hometown newspaper, which is about the possibility of the school system adopting ASL as a foreign language. Currently there’s only one high school that offers a sign language class, and it’s only given as an elective credit. Here’s what I wrote to the editor, cc’d to the article’s author and the teacher mentioned in the article.
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Thanks to information from mactavish and crayonbeam, I learned about the recent affiliation Pleasant Company (makers of the American Girl dolls and products) formed with Girls Inc., an organization that supports abortion rights and acceptance of gay women. Conservative groups are encouraging members to boycott American Girl as a result. I just sent the following to Pleasant Company through their e-mail form.

Hello,

I wanted to express my appreciation to you for your recent affiliation with Girls Inc. I have been a fan of American Girl dolls since there were only three of them, and I have kept a close eye on products over the years. My household is an AG home: I have one doll, my life partner has one doll, and her sister has two dolls. We don’t have any children yet, but if we have a little girl she will definitely get an American Girl of her own.

Until recently I was not aware that AG was well-respected in conservative communities. Like many conservatives, I applaud Pleasant Company for providing resources for young girls to learn more about themselves and the world around them.

I recently learned that conservative groups are encouraging a boycott of AG products because of your recent affiliation with Girls Inc. to sell their “I CAN” bands. I urge you not to give in to pressure from these groups! Girls Inc. supports the growth of girls into responsible young women, and encourages tolerance, acceptance, and open-mindedness - ideals exactly in line with what American Girl products teach. I congratulate you on your alliance with Girls Inc. and I look forward to seeing more quality products from Pleasant Company.

Sincerely,
Meredith P.
Vienna, VA

I found an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called The signs are always good to interpreters for deaf. I found a number of inaccuracies in the article, so I sent a note to the author.
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I happened to catch a segment on tonight’s Weekend Update that annoyed me quite a bit. It’s probably easiest for me to tell the story by sharing the letter I sent to SaturdayNightLive@nbc.com:

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing in regard to a segment featured on your November 13, 2004 episode, for which the host was Liam Neeson. This segment occurred as part of the “Weekend Update” portion of the show.

The hosts of Weekend Update introduced a “deaf comedian,” Richey B. (played by Fred Armisen), and his “interpreter,” Marcus (played by Kenan Thompson). As a professional sign language interpreter and member of my local Deaf community, I found this entire segment deplorable in its depiction of deaf people, sign language, and interpreters. It was clear the writers are completely unfamiliar with Deaf culture, as jokes were made about “dating is hard because girls give me their numbers but I can’t use the phone.” Although this may have been a complaint of deaf people in the early days of the telephone, it has not been true for quite some time. Deaf people have a variety of ways to communicate remotely with hearing people, from e-mail to the relay service, which does in fact allow deaf individuals to talk with hearing individuals over normal phone service. The “comedian” also made a number of racist jokes throughout the segment, which incorrectly implies that deaf people are bigoted and would take advantage of their interpreter to communicate such sentiments.

The depiction of sign language used in this segment was both stereotypical and puzzling. Most of the gestures used by the “comedian” were jerky, clearly meant to be derisive derivatives of American Sign Language. Much of what he said was incoherent, and yet there were a few genuine signs present in what he said. At one point I correctly saw him sign the word “deaf,” and several times he used the phrase “black person,” and although he signed the word “black” incorrectly, it was still clear what was meant by the sign. Overall, though, the presentation of sign language was that it is just “arm flapping” rather than a linguistically complete language expressed through the hands. It is unclear how Fred Armisen managed to integrate a few signs with his generally unclear gestures.

Finally, I take issue with the “interpreter,” as played by Kenan Thompson. His greatest mistake was that he did not look at the comedian while he was signing; even if an interpreter has been provided with a script they must still watch the deaf individual during a simultaneous interpretation. The “interpreter” also broke critical tenets of interpretation. At no time should an interpreter question the deaf client about the content of the message. It is acceptable for an interpreter to ask for clarification, but responding emotionally or refusing to interpret is highly inappropriate and would not happen in a professional situation. While interpreters may not always agree with what they are interpreting (I have had to interpret a variety of epithets and biased information in the years I have been in this profession), they absolutely must render the message faithfully. The SNL presentation of the “interpreter” diminishes the professionalism and reduces viewers’ respect for our difficult profession.

It is my sincere hope that you will take my comments to heart regarding this segment. I have seen reruns of old episodes on NBC, and SNL is widely syndicated on a variety of cable channels. I hope that you will remove this “deaf comedian” segment from all future
reruns and syndicated versions of the November 13, 2004 episode.

Sincerely,
Meredith [P.]
703-xxx-xxxx (home)
571-xxx-xxxx (cell)
[me]@gmail.com

Admittedly, I did come down a bit harshly. As cynica pointed out, a lot of the show is about incorrectness and taking jabs at particular groups. But the segment did bother me, and if you didn’t like it either, I encourage you to write to Lorne Michaels (once again, that’s SaturdayNightLive@nbc.com) and let him know. (You’ll receive an immediate form letter in response letting you know that they can’t answer all correspondence, but it’s still worth sending your thoughts to them.)