The Hoops Coach and his Viral ASL Video

A viral video of the basketball team for the Mississippi School for the Deaf has become an educational moment for those who don't know ASL.

Deaf couple: We were mistreated at KFC

image from WLBT-TV video report

A deaf couple say employees at a KFC near Jackson, Mississippi laughed at them for not being able to communicate their food order verbally. According to WLBT-TV,"Bobbie and Mike Cole wanted a chicken dinner at KFC in Byram Wednesday, but what they said they got was disrespect and humiliation from employees." You can watch a video report or read a text version of the story here.

Mississippi School "Defies odds"

The Mississippi School for the Deaf women's basketball team made it to the second round of the 1A state playoffs for the first time in school history. Coach Victorica Monroe told the Clarion Ledger, "When we became a part of history it really was shocking because I wasn’t thinking about it like that. I just wanted to come and be a good coach, and in the meantime we’ve made history.” Read the full story here.

Deaf MS Man Shot to Death

Rafael Thompson was found dead in his car in Jackson with multiple gunshot wounds, according to MS News Now. Thompson had attended the Mississippi School for the Deaf before going to college. Jackson Police have no suspects in the case. Here's a video report from MS News Now.

MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

Home Invasion

Three men broke to into a couple's home, robbing and beating them. Now the elderly Mississippi couple is speaking out. WCMH—TV has a video report.

Home Invasion: Couple Assaulted

Three Mississippians are behind bars for breaking into a home and assaulting a deaf couple. WMC-TV has a video report.

WMC Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

Cuts at State Schools for Deaf and Blind

The Mississippi schools for the blind and deaf are facing major budget cuts for this coming year. The Clarion Ledger reports state lawmakers are cutting $332,264. Read more details here.

The Mississippi School for the Deaf

The Mississippi School for the Deaf is profiled by a Jackson paper: "The school has both commuter and residential students, and though boarding there is not a requirement, 80 percent of students, some as young as four, may use the dorm services at some point during the school year, so the school must operate 24 hours, six days a week. Children eat three meals and two snacks a day, and are supervised by a host of adults who perform distinct but critical roles: not only teachers, but also full-time audiologists, nurses, as well as residential parents who supervise students living in dorms from 3:30 p.m. until 8 the next morning. Students do not pay tuition to attend MSD." Read the full story in the Jackson Free Press here.

Implant activation with a twist

When Andrea Diaz had her cochlear implant turned on, her boyfriend, Kevin Peakman, told her, "I wanted to make one of the first things you hear.." and then he got down on one knee (no captions).

A Deaf Mississippian Cheers For the Seahawks

Image of Derrick Coleman from Seahawks.com

One Mississippian will be cheering for the Seahawks during the Super Bowl--she's deaf just like the team's fullback, Derrick Coleman. Callie Daniels writes, "It’s a relief for me to see someone else who gets it and also shares with the public all the struggles we, the deaf or hard of hearing, have faced. No matter where we grew up or what we did with our lives, we all had the quiet stress of frantically lip-reading a person who mumbles, the cold dread of our batteries dying in middle of an important conversation and the learned endurance of listening to someone who talks to us as if we were all in a Special Education class. I snickered when Coleman said he turns off his hearing aids whenever he encountered a rude person." Read the full story of why Callie calls Coleman her hero here.

Oral program gets funds

Southern Miss is getting more than a million dollars for its training program for teachers of the deaf. The five year Education Department grant will provide full-tuition scholarships to 40 people who want to earn a master's degrees focused on oral intervention--instead of teaching sign language, the program tries to get children to attempt spoken English. Read more about the grant here.

MSD defends National Championship

Image from WAPT-TV video report

"When we play against hearing schools, it's obvious that they come in, thinking, 'Oh this deaf squad is going to be nothing, it's going to be easy.' But we come out playing so aggressively, that they kind of get shocked," quarterback Keith Brignac told WAPT-TV. He leads the Mississippi School for the Deaf squad in their effort to take home another trophy. WAPT out of Jackson
has a video report here.

Events this weekend

The Greater St Louis Association of the Deaf meets this weekend in Maryland Heights, Missouri while the Mississippi Association of the Deaf Conference takes place in Pearl, Mississippi.

Deaf Student Graduates from Miss State

Ramon Alford will be the third deaf student to graduate from Mississippi State University at Meridian during ceremonies this coming Saturday. Find out what it took for Alford to earn his degree in psychology here.

Miss. Festival this Spring

DEAFFEST returns to Mississippi in May. The bi-annual Deaf Festival started in Jackson during 2011 and will bring together family and friends once again on May 3 and 4. Watch for more information here.

Raising Funds for Teen’s Implant

Read an article about a Mississippi family asking for help to pay for a cochlear implant operation for their daughter here.

1st PhD at Miss School is a CODA

The first doctoral graduate of Mississippi College is a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult). Kathleen Grigsby is the new principal of the Marshall Elementary in Jackson. She was born the same year that her father, Joseph Sarpy, won a Tony award as a member of the National Theatre for the Deaf. He was the group's first black actor. Both he and his wife Carol, who is from Australia, are both deaf. Read the full story of their family here.

Miss. Speech School

There is a story about the Magnolia Speech School in Jackson, Mississippi here.

A Christmas Suprise

WAPT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi shows how a school for the deaf got a Christmas surprise in this video:

Regional Softball Tournament

The Southwest Softball Association of the Deaf holds its regional slo-pitck softball tournament starting tomorrow in Gulfport, Mississippi and goes through Saturday. There is more information here.