The elephant in the NAD Conference

Transcript: Do you know the expression, “elephant in the room?” It means that there is a big, controversial topic or a problem that everyone knows about but does not talk about it.

Here at the NAD Conference, the elephant that is “not” in the room is the former CEO Howard Rosenblum, who parted ways with the NAD in April after the Super Bowl ASL access controversy.

I’ve been here since the beginning of the conference this week and I have not seen Howard in person nor his name mentioned during official NAD functions. There also has been almost zero official discussion, from as far as I’ve seen, of concerns about potential conflicts of interest with the NAD partnering with Alexis Kashar of Love Sign.

Why is that? I’ve asked some NAD officials about it, but they are not able to provide much information.

However, I do have information from sources familiar with this situation that I will share. Here are three things, in no particular order.

— There is a separation agreement between Howard and the NAD that has some type of a very strict non-disparagement clause. This means the NAD is not able to make any type of negative statement about Howard and his actions as NAD CEO, including things related to the Super Bowl. If this clause is violated, the NAD could be sued by Howard and/or face financial penalties. This means that if the NAD Board found any potential misconduct, they cannot share or say it at all with the public. So Howard does have power and leverage over whatever the NAD shares with the public.

— The NAD’s internal investigation found that the NAD spent a substantial amount of money on bringing its CEO and Alexis and others to Super Bowls, but did not reap financial benefits from Alexis and her business, Love Sign. During the Super Bowl weekend, Love Sign was able to get valuable exposure to its business, but did not reciprocate that to the NAD, as far as I know. So basically the NAD may have done a lot for a third party (Love Sign) that has no kind of obligation to the Deaf community or NAD members.

— Alexis Kashar has a strong relationship with the NFL and the NAD has allowed Alexis to control the Super Bowl ASL access on behalf of NAD. This was done without the involvement of the NAD Board or staff. This area was under Howard’s direct control and he had a lot of power as the CEO. If the NAD Board made any type of recommendation about the Super Bowl ASL access that was not what Howard and Alexis wanted, it would be ignored because Alexis had the final say. I previously reported that Alexis, who is an attorney, often uses NDAs (nondisclosure agreements) in her work with the NAD, NFL, and Super Bowl performers. So that’s another layer of control that is given to Alexis on the NAD’s name, time, and money.

That’s the three things: the non-disparagement clause, the money spent on Super Bowl, and Alexis controlling the NAD-NFL relationship. That’s the elephant in the room. Nobody is talking about it during official business.

One thing I did take away from some conversations here is that the NAD has already implemented various policies and is trying to change how it’s handles things with the Super Bowl. The NAD previously said it would set up a committee to work on its relationship with the NFL and establish procedures on selecting Deaf performers.

But what is unknown is whether Howard and Alexis are trying to maintain their relationship with the NFL to provide ASL access and doing it without the NAD’s support. The NAD could just step back completely from the NFL. I’ve reached out to Howard for comment but have not received a response.

Another thing I took away is that some NAD officials and members are tired of the Super Bowl controversy because they feel that the NFL is just one very small thing out of all that the NAD is doing on a daily basis to fight for the rights of Deaf people.

I’m sympathetic to that but in doing this report I’m following up on what was a huge Deaf community concern that did get the attention of at least one member of Congress.

I definitely see that the NAD is doing hard and thankless work. It definitely has a huge place in the Deaf community and is able to bring so many influential people in one place. But there’s still an elephant in the room. Time will tell what happens to the elephant.

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