Jerry Nelson, Descriptive Transcript

[Descriptive transcript: video opens with a blue title card with the logo for the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing in center. Text on upper right corner: “40 years anniversary”. Video transitions to a black slide with white text: “The views and opinions expressed in this video are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent or the State of Minnesota.” Video transitions to Darlene standing onstage with a balloon arch behind her. She signs.]

>> Darlene: I feel like I'm sitting in history class, I’m learning so much. It makes me feel so proud to be a part of this state, and a part of the Commission too. Next, we have another historian, Jerry Nelson. 

[Applause. Darlene leaves the stage while Jerry Nelson walks onstage and places papers on the podium off to the side. He signs.]

>> Jerry: Hello, my name is Jerry Nelson. I'm a white person with a bald head, glasses, a black shirt, black pants, and gray shoes. No laces. I’m always teasing people with that. So now Bob really started off well and I was thinking, I’m only supposed to speak for 5 to 8 minutes, but I have so much to share. However, I already did share the HISA history, that's the Hearing Impaired Services Act, where Bob mentioned they passed that study. The legislature waited for the study results from 1977 – 1980, and they passed the Hearing Impaired Services Act, which set up regional service centers, and that's where I was involved. That's a very long story. I did tell that story and it was filmed by the Commission, maybe you can ask them to see that video. Go through Anne who worked with me on that. Now, as I was saying- after I finished that, I went back to college. When I came back, I had so many ideas. Remember that Bob had mentioned MFBHS? This is how we signed MFBHS. Remember that?

I became the executive director in March 1983. When I joined the organization, I tried to envision what I wanted to accomplish. Number one was to continue advocacy work, and so we did that.  After about one year, I really started getting invested, went to the legislature, and tried to help others with this effort. There was a lawyer working with Legal Aid for the Deaf, Curt Micka, who really had a wonderful heart. So, we worked with them and worked with others within the Deaf community. There were so many things that we did during that time. We went to rallies for education. We did so many things. Really, I just have to pick a few stories to share with you all this evening.

As I mentioned, we went to the legislature frequently and for a number of different bills, wanting to make sure that deaf people's rights were being protected. There was one bill that we knew we had to introduce, and the story behind that was a deaf man was arrested and put into jail for 4 days with no interpreting service, no communication. Then they said, “Oops, you can go.” He had no understanding of why he was put in jail and was shocked. Now, he does have this look that makes people wary of him, but that is no reason for not providing services. So, we fought at the legislature tooth and nail and convinced the legislature to pass a law requiring that for any time a Deaf person was arrested, interpreting services were to be provided immediately. That law was passed, which was great, but we don't know if it was actually followed in practice. We should follow up to see if that law is actually still on the books today. So that’s one story. 

Another, that I am very, very proud of; it was then called MRS, the Minnesota Relay Service. Now, remember, we were doing all of this before 1992 when the ADA was passed requiring relay access for all Deaf people. This was in 1985 that we were doing this, going to the legislature. This took us three years, we would come back year after year, session after session pushing this. I had one intern, who was fabulous. Some of you may know him, Pat Wolf. He was a student at St. Thomas College and a volunteer intern, majoring in political science. I recruited him to work with us for three years. By the third year, he was so experienced, he would focus on the legislature while I focused on office work. 

He called me one day through my secretary. There were no TTYs at that time; we didn’t have pagers. So, through the secretary he called, and he asked me to come because of a problem. “Ah, okay,” I said, and I dropped everything and raced to the capital. I arrive and was approached by a woman who was sponsoring the bill along with Pat Wolf and three men from AT&T, the telephone company. They said California already has a relay service, that AT&T was providing that service in California. They said Minnesota should not take this on, as the bill said, that we should let the telephone companies handle it. And I said, "No, I wrote the bill to say who would provide relay services specifically, a Deaf community organization, not a telephone company." And so, I pushed for that- Anyway, so that was the language they had taken issue with, language that had championed the Deaf community.

And so I said, “Okay, well will you hire Deaf and hard of hearing people? If you establish a relay service in Minnesota, will you hire Deaf people?” And they said, “No, Deaf people can’t work there.” And I looked to the author of the bill and said, “See? They aren’t the right group.” The author agreed, dismissed the men from AT&T, went back to the house floor for voting. Three hours later, the vote had passed. Whew, it was not easy, but we made it!  After that, guess who was appointed to run the relay service, an organization called DEAF. And who founded that organization? MADC! 

[Applause. Jerry checks his notes at the podium and then continues.]

>> Jerry: And now there were some lessons learned, or takeaways from my time as Executive Director. As I mentioned I was often at the capitol; sitting in on committees, providing testimony, watching their discussions. The legislature knew me. They knew my face. They would greet me by name, we would sit and talk, and one day we were at a legislative hearing, I was providing testimony, and one of the committee members stops me and says, “Jerry, I don't mean to offend you, and we love hearing from you, you are an advocate, yes, but we never hear or see Deaf people testify at the legislature.” That stopped me in my tracks and made me realize that they were right. From that point on, I stopped testifying. Instead, what I did- when there was a issue, I would find someone with lived experience on that topic and bring them to testify. Many who I approached originally wanted nothing to do with it, but I offered coaching and training, mock hearings, and made sure they were prepared. And as a result, we had many bills pass because we brought real, lived experience to the Legislature.

Now, one last thing that really warms my heart. You know, last year I moved back to Minnesota. I left back in 1988, and it's been a long time since I've been back here, but finally I moved back last year. I was talking with Alicia, who is the legislative person for the Commission, and we were talking about how finally the legislature passed a bill that requires insurance companies to pay for hearing aids. And I said, “What?" Forty years ago, I fought tooth and nail every year, and insurance companies were the ones who were there to push back every time. They have a very powerful lobby. They pushed back and we lost time and time again, now Alicia tells me it’s finally passed, that’s so inspiring! That was 40 years ago. That just goes to show you the importance of the advocacy you all have done. 

Now in closing, really with all of my experience, people, now that I’ve moved back, people who know me have been coming to me with ideas of things I can do. And though I’m retired, my plate is full already, doing things for many other organizations. I’m on the DSA, Deaf Seniors of America board, among others, I’m on the finance committee with NAD, and…all sorts of things.  But I also try to have some time to just veg out and relax because I have worked so hard for so many years, but it has been well worth it. Thank you.

[Applause. Jerry walks offstage.]

[Video transitions to a black slide with white text: “With deep appreciation to all presenters, community members, and everyone who has been part of the Commission for the past forty years. Looking forward to many more years of advocacy, hard work, collaboration, and making a difference to the quality of life of Minnesota’s deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing community.”]

[Video ends.]