(Free) - Howie's Crying Appeal to CSUSOP
NOTE: When A paid article reaches the third month, it becomes accessible for you. The below was dated on August 15, 2023
(The below is what I emailed to the commissioners and the selected sports editors on Aug. 8, 2023)
CSUSOP Commissioners and Sports Editors:
Yesterday was one week after the deadline for submitting a public comment to the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics (CSUSOP.)
How many public comments did the CSUSOP receive?
I have no idea, but the Associated Press wrote on May 18, “[CSUSOP Co-Chair Dionne] Koller said the commission has collected ‘tens of thousands of pages of documents,’ and collected responses from more than 2,000 surveys across the Olympic landscape.” I learned that the Commission has at least five paid staffers, and they work from their homes.
Too many comments! So, I decided not to submit my public comment to the CSUSOP for five following reasons:
Reason No. 1:
It is crystal clear that Congress must amend the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to recognize the Deaflympics since an athlete who is deaf and hard of hearing is “an individual is disabled within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. (Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12102(1))” by CSUSOP Co-Chair Dionne Koller’s excellent work, “The Increasing Role of Disability Issues in U.S. Sports Law.”
There's no more discussion! (And thanks to Dionne for her honest explanation.)
Reason No. 2:
Founded on June 28, 1894, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the mission "to promote Olympism throughout the world and to lead the Olympic Movement" through Koller's other excellent work, "A Twenty-First-Century Olympic and Amateur Sports Act." Could you read the IOC's 16 roles?
In 1988, the IOC recognized Special Olympics, Inc. (SOI) as promoting sporting activities for individuals with an intellectual disability.
The IOC website mentions, "On June 19, 2001, an agreement was signed between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) aiming to secure and protect the organization of the Paralympic Games."
The IOC website says, "The IOC recognized the ICSD (International Committee of the Sports for the Deaf) in 1955 and has granted patronage to the Deaflympics since 1985." On June 13, 2023, the ICSD website announced, "ICSD President meets with IOC President Bach in Lausanne."
Do your math. ICSD in 1955, SOI in 1988, and IPC in 2001.
As a result, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) must recognize the Deaflympics immediately!
Reason No. 3:
Last week, I received three blind copies of the public comments written by three deaf sports leaders. One long sentence struck me well. It reads:
"To achieve these environments, I resolutely believe it is necessary for Congress and the USOPC to establish funding mechanisms and implement structural reforms—including revising the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to insert the Deaflympics alongside the Olympics and the Paralympics so that Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans are better protected from abuse, mistreatment, and discrimination and are afforded equal access to the provisions of the Act as covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act."
Well said!
Reason No. 4:
One Deaf friend told me he was worried that the Commissioners might not be familiar with the Deaf Culture. However, I made him feel significant relief after I told him that CSUSOP Executive Director Kevin Brown could advise the Commissioners with his wife's assistance since she is a well-known sign language interpreter in Michigan, Texas, and Colorado. Click on his wife's website. This Deaf friend emailed back, "Wow! Hope it for a breakthrough!"
The second Deaf friend excitedly emailed me, "His wife is a de facto member of our deaf community!"
Reason No. 5:
USOPC hypocrisies might prevent the Deaflympics from joining the USOPC program.
USO[P]C President Robert Kane told the Washington Post on June 7, 1977, "In my opinion, [the Final Report of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports] means a new era for the Olympic movement in this country." But the Colorado Springs Gazette article says, "The President's Commission on Olympic Sports wasn't mentioned [in the newly U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum], which to anyone familiar with the movement's evolution in the U.S. was like a blurb about the Gettysburg Address, leaving out Lincoln and the Civil War."
Hypocrisy!
After serving as a non-deaf athletic trainer for the USA deaf team in the 1977 World Games for the Deaf in Bucharest, Romania, Ed Christman, then head athletic trainer at the College of William and Mary, wrote a 7-page-long story about his experience for his (and my) alma mater magazine - the March 1978 issue of The Ohio University Alumnus Magazine. Below is his conclusion.
Look at his sentence, "This bill could end many of the struggles of the hearing-impaired with major sports organizations."
Forty-five (45) years later, these struggles for deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes remain unchanged - thanks to USOPC's ignorance of these athletes.
Another Hypocrisy!
On July 16, 2003, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives had a hearing regarding the ongoing efforts to reform the USO[P]C. Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) questioned Kirk Bauer, Executive Director of Disabled Sports USA.
Mr. Stearns: Does the organization [Paralympics] you are talking about include people who cannot hear? Is that included in the disabled, hearing loss? Just yes or no.
Mr. Bauer: The Paralympic Games do not include athletes with a hearing impairment.
Mr. Stearns: But you indicated that a person with hearing loss is not part of your----
Mr. Bauer. It is part of the Olympic movement.
Mr. Stearns. But not part of your----
Mr. Bauer. The Federal legislation that established the USOC as the National Paralympic Committee deals with the Paralympics. (Note: Bauer referred to "The Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1998".)
In fact, in the 1998 law, Bauer must say no, but, in his heart, he wanted to see the Deaflympics included in the USOPC program.
Bauer has been my long-time congressional friend since 1978, and I helped him to join his Disabled Sports USA into the USOC Committee of Handicapped in Sports as the sixth disabled sport organization. But...
Weak hypocrisy!
Nitra Rucker, USOPC Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, told the Associated Press on Dec. 22, 2022, "There's already that opportunity to delineate based on different things, and every sport is different. So you have to look at it on a sport-by-sport basis."
On June 22, 2023, I emailed her and asked if she had any plans for our future Deaflympians. But I am still waiting to receive her reply.
Strong hypocrisy!
Yes, there are more USOPC hypocrisies, but enough for this message. The Commission might find more through other public comments.
Could you click "Public Comment?" Oops, but you can email the Commission at comments@csusop.gov.
Thanks for reading.
Howard Lee Gorrell