UK Bank Investigation

The London Times says UK banks could face huge penalties for their treatment of deaf customers. The paper says the banks it investigated are “routinely discriminating against customers with hearing loss by failing to provide equal access to services.” Some deaf customers have to deal with “broken hearing aid loop systems, poorly trained and rude staff, a lack of understanding about how text phones work and an over-reliance on spoken answers to security questions.” There are even stories of people stranded overseas because the customer could not call the bank to resolve the problem. Action on Hearing Loss says a majority of the 152 banks it surveyed have no working hearing loop, a device which many deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK depend upon.

NC Teen shot by Police

Law enforcement officers shot a deaf teen multiple times early this morning near Asheville. Buncombe County sheriff’s deputies say they stopped the 17-year-old for a traffic violation, but later saw him speeding in his pickup truck. During the ensuing chase, they say he backed into a patrol car. The boy's mother says he was scared and confused and tried to put the truck in park when the officers pulled him over the second time. The unnamed teen did not have a weapon and is now hospitalized with multiple injuries. His mother says he was hit five times. An investigation is underway by the FBI. The office who did the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome. Below is a video of part of the Sheriff's news conference about the shooting.
 

Switched Preview

Here's a preview of tonight's episode of the ABC Family show Switched at Birth. It's episode 18 of season one:

Texting 911 in Canada

911 operators will take texts from the phones of people who can't use the voice service in some Canadian cities as part of a 3 month experiment. If all goes well, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will expand the program nationally. Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and the Peel Region are taking part in the trial run, which involves more than 100 people who have signed up to take part.

School Vandalized

Police caught several teens and pre-teens vandalizing busses at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf over the weekend. They caused thousands of dollars in damages while students and parents were attending a basketball tournament Saturday. The kids may have been responsible for damage to vehicles in the parking lot on previous weekend as well. Police aren't saying whether the vandals are students at the school, but officials are now re-thinking plans it had for a garage that were shelved.

Gallaudet wants its diplomas back

Gallaudet is asking its alumni to donate their diplomas back to the school as part of its anniversary celebration to help preserve deaf history. Gallaudet is making plans to mark its 150th anniversary in July of 2014 and school officials want to include as many diplomas as possible from its 142 graduating classes in an online display and in the Gallaudet Archives. Starting with Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, each President of the United States has signed Gallaudet's diplomas because it is a federally chartered institution with the President as the patron of the university. You can see some of the diplomas here.

Bragg at Gally

Alum Bernard Bragg will perform at Gallaudet this Saturday (Feb 25). He'll perform The World is my Stage in ASL with voice interpretation.  The show is about the mistakes, misadventures, and accidents that take place while performing.

Coffee and a Pencil

A new documentary by deaf Japanese filmmaker Ayako Imamura will debut next month in Tokyo. Coffee and A Pencil is about competitive surfer Tatsuro Ota. The 49-year-old deaf man runs a Hawaiian goods shop in Kosai, where both pro and amateur surfers come to find new boards, order repair work or just hang out. Ota offers a cup of coffee to every visitor - and a pencil with which to write notes, since few people in Japan know sign language. He learned the value of hospitality from his parents who entertained guests in their home with magic shows. The 67 minute film includes touching moments, such as Ota consoling a young surfer who bursts into tears after losing a competition. Filmmaker Ayako Imamura has created more than two dozen short films about the lives of deaf people in Japan and her latest offering is being translated into English, so it can be submitted at film festivals in the U.S. The 32-year-old Nagoya native studied filmmaking at the California State University at Northridge.
Kohi to Enpitsu (or Coffee and A Pencil in English) will play for two weeks in Shinjuku, Tokyo starting March 10. For more information, visit here.

"Absolutely Gobsmacked"

The first person to earn a doctorate in Deaf education in New Zealand says she is "absolutely gobsmacked" over her government's refusal to provide a note taker for the nation's first deaf member of Parliament, Mojo Mathers. The Otago Daily Times quotes Dr. Denise Powell of Dunedin as saying New Zealand is risking a violation of United Nations agreement on the rights of the disabled it ratified in 2008. Advocates of the deaf in Australia and Europe are already writing to show their concern. The Parliamentary Services expects Mathers to pay the $30,000 cost of a full-time note taker herself. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, passed by New Zealand, upheld the rights of disabled people to hold political office and carry out all the functions of government, using "assistive and new technologies."

A Deaf Actor Finds a Rich Role Off-Broadway

An interview with Russell Harvard in the Wall Street Journal here.

Harmony on the court

A look at the basketball coach of the New York School for the Deaf team here.

Tribes

A new off-Broadway show follows the story of a deaf man who has learned to adapt to his hearing family’s unconventional ways, but they’ve never bothered to return the favor. When he meets Sylvia, a young woman on the brink of deafness, that he finally understands what it means to be understood. The show started this weekend at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York and stars deaf actor Russell Harvard. For tickets and more information, click here.

Lessons Beyond the pool from Swim Coach

The Seattle Times looks at the image of Coach Michael Dobner in a story you can here.

Update on "Excessive Force" Story

There are new developments the case of a Canadian police officer accused of using excessive force on a sick, deaf man in the small Alberta town of Red Deer. The policeman involved has been fired. We told you last month about Bill Berry, an elderly deaf man, who was trying to pay a ticket at the city courthouse. Officer Thomas Bounds told Berry he had entered through an exit door and would have to go back out and come in again, through the proper screening entrance. Bounds ignored Berry's attempts to communicate that he is deaf and didn't understand the order - and couldn't speak because Berry had his larynx removed because of cancer. You can see what happened in the video below. When Bounds forced Berry outside, he knocked out a tube in Berry's neck through which Berry breaths. The investigation by the Solicitor General Office's Law Enforcement and Oversight Branch in Alberta found that "Sheriff Bounds use and level of force against Mr. Berry was unjustified, excessive."
 

Implant Divide

The BBC talks to deaf teenagers divided over the use of implants. Read the story here.

Video on KY Captioning Settlement

Here's a video report on the story we told you about earlier today. WDRB-TV reports on the Kentucky fan's suit over captioning. Click here.

Making History in NZ

The New Zealand Parliament made history today, Mojo Mathers, the first deaf member of the body, gave her first speech. Since Mathers' speech was translated into sign language, the 13 other members of the Green party who spoke had their speeches translated into sign language as well. Ironically, Parliamentary Services is refusing to pay for Mathers to have an electronic note taker during sessions, saying she should pay for it herself. During her speech, Mathers addressed the issue, saying, "No (member of Parliament) with a disability should be expected to fund their participation in the House in this way." She also called on Parliament TV to offer captioning so that all New Zealanders could have access to political debate. Read more about Mathers here.

Deaffie Eddie Freddie

A new teddy bear is in development that would help kids learn sign language. An Irish teenager came up with the idea. Katie McCarthy is talking with manufacturing companies in both the UK and US about mass producing Deaffie Eddie Freddie. A child can press pictures on a screen located on the bear’s body and its movable fingers will sign the word. Katie got the idea from talking with a woman whose daughter was the same age as her sister. They met in a toy store and the woman told Katie how hard it is to find toys designed for deaf children. After hearing the story, she told one paper "I was almost reduced to tears. I thought it was so sad because my little sister has so much choice."

KY Scoreboard Suit Ends

The University of Kentucky has settled a lawsuit over closed captioning at its football stadium. Charles Mitchell, a deaf season ticket holder, sued the school for not providing captioning at Commonwealth Stadium for its game announcements. That will change this fall when the season kicks off. The scoreboard will begin showing captions for all public address messages.