Are Stuttering Non-Profits Silent or Silenced?
I wanted to summarize something that has happened recently in the stuttering community on the USA side of the globe.
You must’ve heard on some corner of the internet that we have a video circulating around of a very famous and well known public figure and presidential candidate mocking the speech difference of the President of the United States. I’m coming from a place of genuine curiosity as to why several non-profit organizations have yet to release any statement against the blatant hate speech that has been amplified all over the media recently.
I know hate speech is a strong phrase to call something like this, but I don’t think the term “discrimination” does enough to depict the cruel and disgusting behavior that was demonstrated by this person in a public setting. According to the United Nations, hate speech is defined as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.” Therefore, my interpretation of hate speech includes “person who stutters” or “disabled” or “communication difference” (whichever one you’d like) as an identifying factor in this situation.
If you watch the most recent video (there are other ones too), you can see a display of such behavior coming from a very influential political and public figure. Naturally, this caused a disturbance in the stuttering community. Many stuttering advocates, speech-language pathologists, and organizations dedicated to supporting people who stutter have come online to make some comments condemning this public mockery of stuttering. However, there are still some that haven’t. My question is, why?
I can suspect that it has to do with the IRS’s very general and ambiguous Prohibition on Political Campaign Intervention which includes a do’s and don’t’s list of what a 501(c)(3) organization must abide by in order to stay in compliance with the federal tax law. Considering this, if an organization makes a claim that can be considered biased, it may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. I encourage non-profits to dig deeper with a lawyer and determine what would make sense to say, instead of using it as a reason to stay silent in the face of discrimination and hate speech.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-06-17.pdf (this is the Prohibition on Political Campaign).
The fact of the matter is that the President of the United States is a person who stutters/stutterer. ANYONE, candidate, not candidate, someone famous, a public figure, who displays hate speech against a communication difference is under the same scrutiny. It just so happens that this year is the election year. It also just so happens that a person who is running for President is displaying hate speech during one of his campaigns. There are points of consideration outlined in the IRS document Prohibition on Political Campaign Intervention that explicitly state that various circumstances MUST be considered to identify whether a statement is political campaign intervention. One of these points is: “Whether the communication is part of an ongoing series of communications by the organization on the same issue that are made independent of the timing of any election”. As non-profit organizations dedicated to raising awareness and educating society about stuttering, dispelling myths, fighting discrimination and bullying, providing support, helping each other fight stigma, we do this 24/7 365 days a year. Just because this specific year is an election year does not mean we have to cease our advocacy efforts.
There is a great resource by the Alliance for Justice outlining how we can continue to advocate during an election year while tip-toeing around the constraints of the IRS to not face consequences. (Obviously, please consult a lawyer if you are making a statement, this is just a guide).
If you are a stuttering non-profit and have not made a statement yet, this is for you. You can make a statement while still abiding by the rules of the IRS. As long as you focus on the ISSUE at hand, which is discrimination and bullying, and not the person who is doing it, I think that is a valid consideration of continuing advocacy and awareness efforts during an election year. Let’s continue to make informed choices instead of being afraid. People who stutter deserve to know the leaders in the stuttering community have their backs.