Sign-friendly restaurant opens in Arizona

Sign of the Thymes in Glendale, Arizona is sign-language friendly. Chris and Ann Colston own the restaurant. Ann Colston tells KTBS-TV, "My husband, whose sister is deaf, has been signing since he was six years old, and so we started putting some things together and talking about opening up a restaurant where deaf people can have a place to come and feel comfortable placing an order like everybody else." Read the full story and watch a video report (no captions) here.

Deaf parent Suit: No Terp at Meetings

The father of a middle schooler in San Antonio is suing the public school district. Cleto Rodriguez says in the suit "he requested sign language interpreters for multiple parent-teacher conferences but was never provided them as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws." The San Antonio Independent School District refused to comment on the lawsuit. Read the full story in the San Antonio Express here.

Let's visit Work & Woof

A freshman at the Texas School for the Deaf (with the help of his teacher) is learning how to help take care of dogs at a place called Work & Woof. Here's a video about Fabian Davenport and his teacher Alexis Roland.

Texas Hoops Team Undefeated During Season

image from tsdrangers.com

The girls' basketball team at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin was undefeated through the end of their season. The team was 33-0 going into the semifinals. That's when the Lady Rangers suffered their first defeat. They lost to Houston Lutheran North by a score of 55-52. Lubbock Trinity Christian then beat the Houston Lutheran North for the 4A championship. Find out more about the team's effort from CBS-Austin here.

A Program for Deaf-Blind Independence

The Iowa School for the Deaf has a special programs to help deaf-blind students gain independence. A dozen students in the program have jobs and one "just completed a seasonal position." Read more in The Daily Nonpareil here.

CVS Pharmacy is getting out of the hearing aid business

CVS is going to shut down its 49 standalone audiology centers at the end of the month. The move comes ahead of FDA changes to hearing aid regulations. CVS is the largest pharmacy chain in the US but Costco dominates the hearing aid retail market. The website "Hearing & Health Technology Matters" quotes a CVS spokesman as saying, "The FDA is preparing to approve lower-cost, over-the-counter hearing devices in the near future, and new technology is emerging to enable self-serve hearing testing and care." Read more here.

Discrimination Lawsuit Settled with Parking Service

USA Parking Services is settling an EEOC lawsuit for "refusing to hire a deaf applicant for a valet attendant position based on the assumption that a deaf person could not perform the essential functions of the job rather than conduct an individualized assessment of his abilities." The valet and parking services company will pay $150,000 and recruit deaf and hearing-impaired applicants and make changes to its qualifications. Read the details in a EEOC press release here.

Living with Usher Syndrome

Shannon Reyenga explains a difficult decision in Huffington Post article titled, "Why I Didn’t Tell My Boyfriend I Was Going Blind Until I Absolutely Had To." She writes, "After I learned I had Usher syndrome, I thought I lost any chance of finding love. I struggled with the idea of finding someone willing to face this challenging diagnosis with me. I could hardly face it myself." Read her full story here.

Hospital accused of not providing interpreter as deaf patient died

Mary Davidson’s family says she went weeks at a time with no sign language interpreter at the Canadian hospital where she died, according to the Hamilton Spectator. Her sister-in-law, Catherine Soplet, is quoted as saying, "The hospital was relying on family members to be the translators despite repeated requests for the use of translation services." Read the full story here.