Is Mike McConnell anti-deaf?

No, not me but the other Mike McConnell, a well known conservative radio talk show host that has a weekend radio show in Cincinnati called "The Weekend with Mike McConnell." He is described as a

"down-to-earth guy next door who always has an opinion and, according to Mike, he's usually right."

And that "McConnell makes sense" which pretty much describes me as well. His show is syndicated in many radio stations across the United States and I have listened to his show many times before over my truck radio whenever I drive and I happen to tune in on his show over the weekend.

Anyhow, I came across one of his iPod radio shows that was produced on October 31, 2009 where he complains about deaf people. He begins his rant at the 11:59 mark with "It is now time to bust on the handicapped." And continues with his rantings up to the 17:04 mark, and continues again at the 20:27 mark "Busting on the deaf". Here's a transcript of the radio provided by your gracious blogger, Mike McConnell, er, meaning this Mike McConnell of Kokonut Pundit and not the other Mike McConnell. Got it?

Here's the radio iPod transcript below:

No one ever bust on the handicapped. I think handicapped adults are no different than I am. Except they have a handicap. Uh, we have this, apparently, we, uh, on Broadway, this a Broadway segment of the program, they upset the deaf and blind advocates by choosing a woman to play, the girl to play Helen Keller in a stage presentation who is not deaf and blind. How easy is it to find a deaf and blind 13 year old Broadway actress? I'm guessing difficult. I'm guessing like the lead role. And apparently they found someone to play this role, who is an Oscar nominee, I don't know about child stars, Abigail Breslin, a 13 year old Oscar nominee. Because apparently, apparently, there's star power on Broadway just like star power in the movies. And I understand that.

Mike McConnell, the radio guy, not me (am I confusing you?) then reads from a Yahoo article about this selection that has angered deaf and blind people.

"On Wednesday, the producers of the Broadway revival of the play "The Miracle Worker," about the early life of blind and deaf hero Helen Keller, announced that they'd chosen the young actress who will play her on stage this winter: 13-year-old Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin. The decision has unleashed immediate complaints from groups representing blind and deaf actors who feel that an actress from their community should have been considered for the role."

Mike opines here.

Sure. That works pretty well in rehersals. The whole idea here, behind acting, you with me on this? Is pretending something that you're not. Isn't that the whole theory? Someone that you're not. Something that you're not. Maybe become an actor I pretend that, uh, I'm a cowboy from Texas and I have an accent thing. And I put on a cowboy costume and I pretend I'm something that....that's the whole idea behind acting.

Mike continues reading from the same article.

Uh, let's see, what did the producer say? "We do not think it's OK for reputable producers to cast this lead role without seriously considering an actress from our community." Uh, let's see, "The show's producer claims that the production was unable to find a blind or deaf child," with .. get this, this is a quote, "a deaf and blind child with the star power to bring in enough of an audience to justify the show's large budget. It's simply naïve to think that in this day and age, you'll be able to sell tickets to a play revival solely on the potential of the production to be a great show or on the potential for an unknown actress to give a breakthrough performance, I would consider it financially irresponsible to approach a major revival without making a serious effort to get a star."

So, the deaf and blind are still unhappy but they're gonna try and get an understudy for the role who is deaf and blind.

Next one out.

Then we have this.

A hearing impaired fan has sued Ohio state for not having closed captioning at the stadium. What? At the stadium? Let's see. "Sued the school arguing that the university should offer captioning on the scoreboard and stadium televisions because he can't hear the announcers." Said Vincent Sabino, "When I go to a game, I'm never able to follow the game. It takes away from being a fan. It's a game experience thing." "The lawsuit was filed late last month in federal court in Columbus by the National Association of the Deaf in Silver Spring, Md. The suit says the university is violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing captioning at all its venues, including Ohio Stadium ..." "It has been almost 20 years, and many places such as sports stadiums still do not take seriously their obligations to make sports events fully accessible in compliance with the ADA."

Uh, what do we do for the blind? I guess the blind could take a small radio and have a game on. I guess you could do that. But the guy makes a point down here. He's been going to the game since he was a kid. It says here, "his earliest and happiest memories are attending Ohio State football games with his father. His wife, father and two sisters attended Ohio State. He graduated from an institute for the deaf in Rochester, N.Y." So his earliest and happiest memories were going there when they didn't have captioning? Why is he suing over it now? I thought outloud.

Hmmm, sometimes the deaf people get a little bit too pushy. You know, you can sit on the radio and bust on the deaf all day, other people might tell them what you said but they don't know. Everything I said so far is legitimate. My anti-deaf people comments have been valid.

You know you're not allowed to drive a car with headphones on? You know that deaf people are allowed to drive? Not that I want to wear headphones when I drive a car, how come deaf people get to drive and I can't drive with a headphones on? A valid, legitimate question.

Mike's ends it at the 17:04 mark and continues at the 20:27 mark.

Humm. Busting on the deaf. Got this one. He said he went to an Ohio state game, uh, again, this case, uh, somebody was hearing impaired sued the school for closed captioning so they can appreciate what's going on in the game. The Ohio state game witnessed first hand a new improved scored board that's leveling the playing field for hearing impaired football fans. First thought was this must be a joke. But, no, let me explain. During those times when a song is playing in the stadium the scoreboard caption announces "The Waiting" by Tom Petty plays or Hells Bells by AC-DC plays. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the hearing impaired would care Tom Petty or AC-DC playing. Even during penalty the captions ran underneath the referree on the screen. Again, I'd scratch my head if I were completely deaf I could look at the image on the scoreboard and see the referree's hand signals. Do I really need captions to go with the signal for "holding" or "pass interference"? But the capture came during replay closed captioning at the bottom of the screen blocked out the action making it impossible to see what it had happened. Maybe I should sue Ohio state for making it difficult for the non-seeing impaired to enjoy a football game? I know the ADA was groundbreaking. A case like this is nothing but a *unintelligble*. The guy who initiated the lawsuit said some of earliest and happiest memories were attending football games with his father.

Yeah, I don't think the average person cares what song is playing if they are unfamiliar with the song because he never heard it (ends at 21:53).

Mike takes some on-the-air calls. Gets a caller at the 28:40 mark about deaf people and driving.

Caller Reggie: Hey, uh, this is Reggie, is it your contention that deaf peoples should not be allowed to drive?

Mike McConnell: No.

Reggie: Ok. You were complaining about the fact that you were not able to wear your headphones.

Mike McConnell: Actually what I said I didn't want to wear a headphones. Uh, back when whenever came along first the Walkman, the first personal stereo thing where they passed a law you could not wear headphones while driving. So the question was well that deaf people can wear headphones, uh, wait a second, I'm sorry, can deaf people drive without any restrictions? So the answer was yeah. So if you don't have to be able to hear to drive at all, why do we have a law that says you can't drive with headphones on?

Reggie: Well, I don't think the idea is that headphones block out sounds. I think the idea is that they distract people.

Mike McConnell: Actually, the argument has been made was that it block out sound. You couldn't hear sirens. People crank up their car stereo you couldn't hear the siren. The lights tend to get your attention. Soon enough anyway. But, but that was in fact the argument that you wouldn't be able to hear emergency vehicles.

Reggie: Well, I was reading a book. It was about deaf people. And they were saying that the insurance companies tried to charge deaf people more for their insurance for their auto insurance. And deaf people sued them because they said that, well, we are actually safer drivers. And the statistics proved it.

Mike McConnell: That, that's been proven. They have no foundation to, to charge them more. No reason to.

Reggie: So it would make sense then that if they have fewer accidents even though they're deaf that they should be allowed to drive even though they cannot hear.

Mike McConnell: Yeah, I mean..

Reggie: That's basically all I wanted to say.

Mike McConnell: I don't know if there should be a classification....I don't know if there should be a classification to move them up or down. They should be charged if you're 27 years old and deaf you should pay the same as any 27 year old guy for the insurance.

Reggie: Insurance agencies they charge lower insurance for people that are safer drivers.

Mike McConnell: I, I know, but that's, but that's an odd classification to put people into. I mean if you can sell to kids who went to Catholic schools have fewer accidents than kids in private schools and use that claim to get a lower...no. We do by demographics and just, just draw the line right there.

Reggie: I mean, yeah, however you want to draw a demographic line, I guess.

Mike McConnell: Yeah, we have too many subsets to be start going in that direction. So that's why I wouldn't (ends at 31:09).

And that concludes the anti-deaf transcript segment from the Mike McConnell's radio show. Is Mike McConnell anti-deaf or not? Or did I just now confused you? You decide.

Hey, Mike McConnell, how about giving me a phone call (seriously, I can use the phone without any problems even though I'm deaf or in this case hard of hearing) and we can have a bit of heart to heart chat from one conservative guy to the next about your radio rant on deaf people over on your live radio show. Try me, you won't be disappointed.

For you readers, my previous blog on Mike McConnell...the radio talk show guy.

If you made it down this far and you're still angry about Mike McConnell's anti-deaf rant, you can email him at: mike@700wlw.com. Or go to Mike McConnell's very own personal forum and give him an earful if you wish.

This is Mike McConnell on Mike McConnell's anti-deaf rant.