{"id":5925,"date":"2009-03-31T01:01:53","date_gmt":"2009-03-31T06:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=5925"},"modified":"2009-03-31T02:30:41","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T07:30:41","slug":"together-we-stand-divided-we-fall%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/03\/31\/together-we-stand-divided-we-fall%e2%80%a6\/","title":{"rendered":"Together We Stand, Divided We Fall\u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"

Together We Stand, Divided We Fall\u2026. <\/p>\n

By Billy Koch<\/p>\n

Posted on March 26, 2009<\/p>\n

Well you know I have lived in the Houston area for over 35 years and
\nthere is no other city I can imagine living in. Houston has it all –
\nFood, Sports, Entertainment, and more. You name it – Houston has got
\nit. But there is one thing that Houston is definitely lacking – a true
\ndeaf awareness and services.<\/p>\n

Seriously folks – sure we have what? three or four interpreting
\nagencies here. We have DARS here but they can only do so much. But
\nhonestly we are really lacking on a true political social system here.
\nI mean seriously Houston has to be one of the most uneducated cities
\nin the U.S. when it comes to accomodating the deaf employees. Even the
\nschool systems here are not very beneficial for our future deaf
\nleaders and followers. How do we go about educating
\npeople\/organizations our rights, our needs, and more. It seems that
\nHouston is more interested in socializing (which is good and fine)
\nthan really building a political team that can influence and encourage
\nsupport for the deaf individuals.<\/p>\n

I have been blessed to be working for major organizations in the last
\n14 years, but then again each one has been a fight for accessibility,
\nfor my needs, or more. I am constantly educating them on what they
\nneed to be able to provide. I am a contributing member to society but
\njust give me some tools and I would be even more productive.<\/p>\n

Point being is – it all starts with \u201cYOU\u201d! We have (I might have
\nheard wrong) a few organizations that have come up and then crashed
\nand then come up and crash – and some dont want to work together as
\none whole organization because of personality conflicts. We need to
\nset those personal issues aside and focus on the \u201cBIG PICTURE\u201d we
\nall have the same common needs! One organization where everyone is a
\ncontributor to help and grow the organization.<\/p>\n

For example, when Hurricane Ike came blasting through our beloved
\ncity last year, how many of you knew what was going on, what was
\nhappening, where can you go to get help – most of us had no power.
\nProbably most had no information or resources – I do know I was
\ngetting an email from one individual – Kelly Reagan who was being very
\nproactive in providing information.<\/p>\n

Point being is – if we continue to squabble within each other and not
\nput down our differences for one common goal to build a common unity
\nto educate, build, develop a better unity for all deaf individuals in
\nthe Houston area we will not accomplish anything. So lets put our
\ndifferences aside – it is my dream one day to see an organization
\ncalled Houston Deaf Center (or something) where we could provide
\nservices for deaf, aka interpreting, legal, counseling, job training,
\neducation training, early childhood intervention,
\ncorporation\/organizational education (training them on deaf
\naccomodations), and political lobbying. And maybe even a deaf school
\nhere for our deaf children so we can watch our children grow –<\/p>\n

To be honest – Houston is lagging behind Austin, San Antonio, and
\nDallas\/Ft. Worth on these. So its time for us to unite together and
\nmake a difference. Otherwise we continue stay divided then we will
\nfall and continue to have the same fustration and disappointment we
\nface! So lets Unite and Just DO IT!<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dphhh.com\/blogs\/together-we-stand-divided-we-fall\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Together We Stand, Divided We Fall\u2026. By Billy Koch Posted on March 26, 2009 Well you know I have lived in the Houston area for over 35 years and there is no other city I can imagine living in. Houston…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-1xz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7954,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/10\/02\/houston-deaf-awareness-week-a-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":5925,"position":0},"title":"Houston Deaf Awareness Week A Success!","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Houston Deaf Awareness Week A Success! By Billy Koch September 29, 2009 Houston Deaf Awareness Week was BACK in Houston after a decade of sitting underneath a rock. For the last decade Houston has not really had a deaf awareness week to expose our culture, our language, our self being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6672,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/06\/07\/deaf-protest-one-guy%e2%80%99s-opinion%e2%80%a6\/","url_meta":{"origin":5925,"position":1},"title":"Deaf Protest – One Guy\u2019s Opinion\u2026","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"June 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"By Billy Koch June 5, 2009 Okay folks - I just got an email about a pending protest that some deaf individuals are planning to have on June 16th. Now I am going to have to admit, I am really bothered by this approach. I am speaking from a personal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31770,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2015\/09\/02\/seeking-vendors-for-deaf-women-fall-festival-2015-houston\/","url_meta":{"origin":5925,"position":2},"title":"Seeking Vendors For Deaf Women\u0003 Fall Festival 2015 – Houston","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"September 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeking Vendors For Deaf Women\u0003 Fall Festival Hosted by: Deaf Women of Houston When:\u00a0October 3, 2015 Where: \u0003Fellowship Room Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church 9920 Longpoint Road Houston, Texas 77055 Time: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm What to Expect: Great Products, Fantastic Gifts, Arts & Crafts and more! 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Men\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"dwh logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/dwh-logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36470,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2017\/10\/13\/fall-festival-102817-houston\/","url_meta":{"origin":5925,"position":4},"title":"Fall Festival 10\/28\/17 – Houston","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"You\u2019re invited to the Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church Fall Festival Join us for a time of food, games, prizes, and fellowship as we celebrate the fall season! There will be a craft table and a raffle drawing for a beautiful, handmade fall lap quilt! Also, there will be a fire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/FallFestivalFlyer2017.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36323,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2017\/09\/29\/fundraising-support-deaf-hurricane-harvey-survivors\/","url_meta":{"origin":5925,"position":5},"title":"FUNDRAISING: Support Deaf Hurricane Harvey Survivors","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"September 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"FUNDRAISING: Support Deaf Hurricane Harvey Survivors We, the Greater Houston Action Center of the Deaf, is offering our helping hands to Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind and DeafDisabled survivors of Hurricane Harvey. Need a donation form? Contact us. We understand that there are other donation drives circulating. 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