The slave rings are basically a new form of an old problem, "deaf peddling." While peddling by deaf people (usually of things like alphabet cards) has decreased tremendously, it still exists in the United States in a limited form. Peddling has such a long history in the deaf community that Jack Gannon's Deaf Heritage book devotes almost five pages in Chapter 12 of the book to it, including a full-page profile of a deaf peddler. The modern deaf slave rings basically take deaf peddling and turn it into slavery.
From time to time, it seems that the media carries stories of deaf slave rings. Three years ago a major news story was about the deaf Mexican slave ring that had been found in the United States. Then in April, the Reuters news service reported that another deaf slave ring operated by deaf people had been found in France.
According to the Reuters story, deaf people from poorer Eastern European countries had been lured to France by other deaf people, to sell cheap objects in restaurants and cafes. Their earnings were handed over to the slave ring, which profited handsomely. This was virtually identical to the Mexican slave ring case from years earlier.
There is an ongoing discussion on this topic at:
Other Slave Rings?
Articles about the Mexican deaf slave case:
- Deaf Life Magazine, February 1998 - Cover story of this issue was the deaf Mexicans.
In the future, we will probably be hearing about another deaf slave ring taking advantage of deaf people from severely depressed economies.
