Monday, February 8, 2010
Implant Sales
Deaf Entertainers Documentary
Georgia Winner Supports NAD
University of Georgia student Abby Killough was named Miss Savannah River 2010 Saturday night. She was crowned at Augusta State University. She'll next compete in the Miss Georgia pageant. Killough's platform is the National Association of the Deaf. She's studying communication sciences and disorders at UGA. She would like to pursue a career in audiology and help children and adults with hearing problems.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Hopital to Pay $105k
The family of a woman who died at North Memorial Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota has settled a lawsuit with the hospital over its failure to provide sign language interpreters. Mary Ann Nelson's family had met with doctors for months without understanding she was dying of cancer. Both her and her husband David were deaf. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights says the medical team failed to communicate effectively with the Nelsons. State regulators say North Memorial has now agreed to pay $105,000 to settle charges that she and another patient were not provided proper access to qualified sign language interpreters. David Nelson had repeatedly asked for an interpreter. The other deaf patient involved in the suit, Mark Epstein, filed a complaint saying he asked for an interpreter every day at North Memorial during his 2007 hospitalization but was turned down. Even though North Memorial employees claimed he never asked for an interpreter, state regulators said it didn't matter. An interpreter was needed in Epstein's case and the medical personal had a duty to recognize the need and do something about it. North Memorial now must not only pay the agreed amount, it must provided training for workers and begin using video relay with deaf patients. Hopital officials must produce evidence that they are complying with the agreement for the next two years.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Students Make Valentines For Sick Children
Thursday, February 4, 2010
1st Deaf Page
The Mississippi legislature has its first deaf page. 19-year-old Derek Schmitz of Florence is a senior at the Mississippi School for the Deaf in Jackson who uses ASL and wears a hearing aid to help with his minimal residual hearing. An interpreter is accompanying him on the floor at the Mississippi Capitol where he delivers messages and runs errands for lawmakers. Schmitz eventually plans to become a veterinarian though his interest in politics has been sparked by his recent experiences.
1st for Dubai
Closed Captioning Inventor
Bummy's Student Center
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Proposed Law Would Require Captioning
Striving for an Accessible Campus
Art on Display
Hearing Aid Models
These are the familiar crescent-shaped instruments first developed in the late 1940s. These durable aids include a receiver, microphone and amplifier that fits over the ear. It directs sound into the ear canal through a tube and custom-fitted ear mold. The most options and is easiest to handle. Picks up sound and processes it into electrical impulses that are sent through a wire to the speaker. Cost: $500 to $2,900 per ear.
▪ "mini" BTEs or OTE (on the ear)
These are the newest aids. They dramatically reduces the size of the crescent and replaces the bulky wire and speaker with a clear, thin tube. They cost $700 to $2,350 per ear.ITEs "in-the-ear" Smaller than BTEs, these fit into the outer ear and project slightly into the ear canal. Fairly easy to handle and comes with many features. These can be ordered with or without dual microphones, which provide information to the computer to analyze and reduce background noise. It comes in full shell size and the smaller, less-visible "half shell" size. Cost: $500 to $2,400 per ear.
▪ ITCs "in the canal"
This variation on the in-the-ear models protrudes only slightly into the outer ear. They are partially visible though smaller than ITEs. Not for people with severe or profound hearing loss. Fewer features and more difficult to handle. Cost: $650 to $2,350 per ear.
▪ CIC "completely in canal"
The smallest but most difficult to handle model, these customized hearing aids are tucked so far down that it comes with a plastic thread to pull it out; They are rarely visible. Not for people with severe or profound hearing loss, smaller batteries with short life; will last no more than 7 years. Impressions are taken of the ear canal to fashion the aids. Cost: $500 to $2,900 per ear.
▪ IOT "invisible open technology"
A one-size-fits-all model, these aids are a variation on CIC aids but are not custom-fitted. Sometimes referred to as "fit-and-go," it can be programmed in one visit to a hearing aid center. Cost: $1,500 to $1,900 per ear.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Feds Investigate Sheriff's Office
Implant Study: Positive Result
School May End Operation
ASL: Misconceptions & Fact
Fact: Sign language developed differently in various countries
Misconception: ASL is not a real language but just a system of symbols
Fact: ASL is its own language with its own rules of grammar
Misconception: ASL is English in sign form
Fact: It is a language of its own. Like any language, ASL has its own vocabulary and grammar.
Misconception: A deaf person as less intelligent if that person speaks or writes English with broken grammar
Fact: People who are born deaf have no access to the primary form of English, which is the spoken word
Misconception: ASL is easy to learn
Fact: It can take years to gain fluency
Monday, February 1, 2010
Scam Warning
Prisoners Sue
Digital TV Closed Captions
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Education Tax Credit
Krome Sign Language Translator
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Breslin Preps for Broadway
Cuts at NCSD
Learning About College Options
Friday, January 29, 2010
Withholding Calculator
Hearing Loss hasn't Slowed Phillies Prospect
New ASL Certification Program
Hockey Weekend Across America
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Airports... By the Numbers
Plan to Close School Ends
A committee in the South Dakota Senate has killed a bill that would have changed the state constitution and allowed closure of the South Dakota School for the Deaf. The governor tried to close the campus last year but the parents filed a federal class-action lawsuit saying state's constitution prevented the move. The bill's sponsor, Al Novstrup, says there is a new proposal that would make the bill unnecessary.
Protest Over ASL Program Closing
Students trying to save the Deaf Education Program at Michigan State University are planning to launch an email campaign asking administrators to, “Please keep MSU’s Deaf Education Program for our deaf children who use ASL in Michigan.” Late last year, the school announced plans to close the program. It's one of nearly two dozen that are set to shut down.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Florida Investigation
A federal investigation of Florida's Dept of Children and Families over its failure to provide services to deaf clients has been completed. The US Dept of Health & Human Services says the agency failed to provided sign language interpreters to deaf persons in critical situations related to child protective services investigations and state mental health facilities. In the settlement, the state agency agreed to:
- provide interpreters when needed
- hire an independent consultant to oversee implementation of the settlement’s terms
- convene an advisory committee in partnership with the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- establish an interpreter quality assessment and certification program
- designate ADA coordinators and single points of contract in the more than 100 direct service facilities operated by DCF
Texas Appointment
Susie Grona of Hideaway is one of the five people appointed to the Texas State Independent Living Council. The council leads, promotes and advances independent living and advocates for the rights of individuals with disabilities. Hideaway teaches at Tyler Junior College. A former deaf education teach in the Corpus Christi public school system, she is on the board of the Texas and National associations of the Deaf, and Texas Association of Parent and Educators for the Deaf.
Burke Honored
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Plan to Change State Constitution
Monday, January 25, 2010
FCC Issues 7-Eleven a Citation
Firefly Mobile Communications is exempt from complying with the handset stocking rules because it sold so few of them. Even so, Firefly was not exempt from the requirement to file an HAC report, so the Bureau issued it a citation, threatening to impose a fine if it fails to file the report again.
7-Eleven also received a citation because it offers cellphones with prepaid minutes but did not file an HAC report last year either. The company told the FCC that it is not phone manufacturer or service provider and should not be subject to the HAC reporting requirement.
If the ruling stands, any company selling handsets will be subject to fine for not making a HAC report, contributing to the Universal Service Fund, filing quarterly 499Q’s, and complying with all other regulations applicable under Title II of the Act to service providers... just as Verizon, AT&T and other companies you typically think of as telecommunications companies.
Chances are good that many outlets will just stop selling the phone rather than follow through with meeting the regulation requirements.
Mixed Martial Arts
Visual Sound

Pratt Institute student Suhyun Kim has come up with a device that converst voice to text and vice versa. Visual Sound is a mobile phone for the hearing impaired designed with pillars that scroll sideways to expose the roll-out display. The scroll-like device has a touchscreen for text to be typed in, which then gets converted to voice for the other person on the line, whose audio then turns into text for the deaf user of the phone to read. She is now working on finding someone to manufacture it.
Haiti Fundraiser
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Iowa Fundraiser
Help for Haiti
Here are several groups that were working with in Haiti to help deaf children before the quake struck.
Institut Montfort is a school for deaf students in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission runs a deaf school in Haiti.
A Catholic group, Reiser Relief was working this fall on establishing the Maranatha Orphanage for Children which includes deaf children (though that is not their focus).
The Children's Medical Mission of Haiti is associated with the Episcopal church and had some outreach to the deaf there before the quake.