Tuesday, May 31, 2016

UK Deaf Charity leader has Implant turned on

The head of digital engagement at the UK's National Children’s Deaf Society had her cochlear implant turned on recently. It led to tears.

Court discriminated against deaf man

Dustin King has won his lawsuit against an Indianapolis court for refusing to provide him with an interpreter during his child custody case. Read the details in the Indiana Lawyer.

Cochlear Equipment Returned

A boy in Indiana got back his $10K in equipment related to his cochlear implant. Two strangers dropped it off after it was stolen last week, says his mom. WISH-TV has a video report.

Friday, May 27, 2016

DiMarco’s win inspires deaf, blind Colorado Springs students

Students at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind say Nyle DiMarco’s win on Dancing with the Stars was an inspiration, reports KRDO-TV news.

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Deaf family, school celebrates Nyle DiMarco's DWTS win

Fans are still celebrating Nyle DiMarco becoming the first deaf celebrity to win Dancing with the Stars. KATV in Little Rock has a video report about how the news was recieved in the town's deaf community.

New Show opening in Boston

A new play opens tonight in Boston that is a "completely inclusive and immersive production, designed to be accessible for the hearing and deaf alike at every performance," according to the Boston Globe. I Was Most Alive With You will be performed by the Huntington Theatre Company and tells the story of a deaf, gay recovering addict. Read the full story here.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

More on Nyle's DWTS Win

Inside Edition has a video report on Nyle DiMarco's win at Dancing with the Stars. The TV show reports, "Backstage, DiMarco and his partner Peta Murgatroyd were elated after being crowned the season 22 champs." Unfortunately, no captions.

Deaf Teacher has to fight to take part in Graduation Ceremonies

A New Jersey teacher had to fight for a year to get the technology he needs to experience graduation along with the other high school faculty. Richard Koenigsberg wanted a CART (Computer Assisted Real-Time Translation) reporter but district administrators refused until the public and local media got involved. NJ.com explains he won in an article here.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

the Deaf community reacts to DiMarco's Win

The Deaf community is excited to see Dancing with the Stars proclaim Nyle DiMarco the winner. Northern Indiana's WBND-TV has a video report.

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Top Speller is Deaf

image from spellingbee.com
One of the kids in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee. going on now in Washington, DC is deaf. Neil Maes is from Belton, South Carolina. Just for him the bee's pronouncer will speak into a microphone that transmits an FM signal directly into his cochlear implants. Neil was born deaf, just like one of his sisters. He got his first implant before he turned the age of one. Read more about Neil here
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Cochlear Implant Equipment Stolen

Someone stole essential equipment for a four-year-old Indiana boy cochlear implant last week out his family's car. WTHR-TV has a video report. No captions but you can read the story here.

Nyle DiMarco takes the Mirror Ball Trophy!

Nyle DiMarco's performance on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ this week was dedicated to the deaf community. The Washington Post wrote: Even grumpy Len Goodman was in awe: “You said that’s a dance for deaf people … that was a dance for everyone,” Goodman said. “Nyle, you’re a very special person. And that was a very special dance.”
Read the full story here.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Deaf Baseball Player Helping his Team Win

A Michigan high schooler playing third base for his school's baseball team has one of the best batting averages of anyone in the league. A fan would have to look closely before realizing Jaylen Chaney is deaf. “I hear through my eyes. You can just see my eyes widely opened,” Chaney said. “I’m focused on what you have to say and what’s around me. I’m very alert when I really can’t hear anything around me," he tells MLive.com. And Chaney plays football, too. Read the full story here or watch a video featuring Chaney below.

TEDxBroadway: ASL Superpowers

image from Tedx Talks YouTube video
A TEDx video featuring the artistic director of Deaf West Theatre is now available. DJ Kurs explains how our perceived limitations are actually our superpowers. Deaf West's version of Spring Awakening made it to Broadway and won awards for it's weaving of spoken English and ASL into the show. Watch the video here.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Communication in Deaf Dreams

How do most people communication the dreams of someone who is deaf? Adam Bulger writes that it often happens through telepathy. "Of course, deaf people do not all live the same lives and don’t dream the same dream. Indeed, several people interviewed for this story said they didn’t think their deafness had a great influence on their dreams, an idea supported by medical experts." Read the full story here.

Students cheer on DiMarco

Dancing with the Stars' Nyle DiMarco is being called an "ambassador for deaf" reports the Democrat & Chronicle. Students at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York, have been gathering for viewing parties at the Student Development Center to watch DiMarco compete. Read the full story here.

Suit: Jailed man sits in jail for 3 weeks with no interpreter

A deaf man spent nearly three weeks in Florida jail because he couldn’t get a sign language interpreter. Thomas Downing has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit and Orlando's WFTV has a video report.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

$30K over interpreter

The Minnesota city of Oakdale is settling a complaint that it failed to provide a sign language interpreter. Alan Read will get $30,000 and the police department will work on its policies and training to meet ADA law. Find out the details of how it happened in a TwinCities.com article posted here.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Deaf couple found dead

Cincinnati police say a deaf elderly couple many have been dead for nearly two weeks when they were found dead in their home. Carbon monoxide poisoning might be to blame, reports Cincinnati.com. There's more information in the video below (no captions) or read the story here.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Nyle DiMarco: I've 'never wanted to hear'

Nyle DiMarco says he's happy with who he is and does not wish he could hear. The deaf Dancing With the Stars contestant tells People Magazine:
"'I've never wanted to hear, because that's never existed in my life. I'm happy... If I'd been born into a hearing family and went to a public school, I would have probably felt much more isolated, and being deaf would have become my identity," says DiMarco, who vlogs about his DWTS experience exclusively for PEOPLE. "Since I knew my deaf identity since birth, it wasn't hard for me to be comfortable, confident and independent in a hearing world." 
Watch the video report below (no captions) or read the full story here.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Web access challenge underway against real estate co.'s

Real estate firms are being challenged over whether their websites are ADA compliant. "Lawyers representing visually impaired, hearing-impaired and other clients say the vast majority of realty sites don't offer features needed to allow handicapped individuals to shop for homes and absorb content like other visitors. These include alternative texts accompanying images, transcripts for audiovisual content, descriptive links and resizable text, and a variety of other features," reports the Chicago Tribune. Read the full story here.

Judge: Pay former deaf inmate $70K

William Pierce will get $70,000 for the way he was treated in jail. A judge says the D.C. Department of Corrections violated Pierces rights with "willful blindness and (a) half-hearted attempt" to accommodate him, according to the Washington Post. Read the full story here.

Def Leppard meets Deaf Leppard

Before the rock band Def Leppard played in Little Rock yesterday, they meet with students from from the Arkansas School for the Deaf.--whose nicknmae is The Leopards, of course.  Photos of the meeting have been going around social media.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Bridging Language Gaps for Deaf Children

"Brain systems are on different maturation timetables, and one of the most unforgiving is the system for language development," says Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto of Galluadet University. "It peaks at age 3.. and if the child doesn't experience exposure to the fundamental patterns of language in early life—6 to 10 months old—you are putting the child at severe risk" of major language, reading, and even math delays later on. "That may explain why deaf children of parents who sign from birth perform significantly better in reading and attention outcomes than deaf children whose parents did not sign," according to Education Week. Read the full story here.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Arizona: Anger over state budget cuts

Deaf Arizonans marched on the state Capitol this week. Their message: Don't shortchange a program designed to help the deaf find work. "After years of budget cuts followed by no additional funding, there are hundreds on a waiting list for assistance," reports KTVK (channel 3 in Phoenix). The full video report is below.

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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Lawsuit: Failure to Provide Terps

A Florida lawsuit claims the Miami-Dade County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation "systematically violates their rights by failing to provide interpreters" for the deaf. An attorney for the legal advocacy group Disability Rights Florida says, "We're not suing for damages. We would just like them to fix it." Read more here.

Deaf West up for major Awards

Deaf West's'Spring Awakening' got three Tony nominations yesterday. The show is now set for a national tour and the LA Times explains why the producers are surprised at how far the show has gone here.

A Punk Rock and Storytelling Show, for Deaf People

A New York deaf club event pulled together "the alienation of punk in the ’70s and the underserved Deaf community." Read the full story in the New York Times here.