Marlee on Hollywood Medium

Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin appears on tonight's episode of Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry. She wants to learn the real story behind how she became deaf at 18 months.

A Chat with Gally's Prez

The Austin Deaf Club hosted a GUAA gathering on Wednesday, May 31. Here is an interview with Gallaudet University President Roberta Cordano.

Grads look forward to College

The Frederick News-Post spoke with graduates of the Maryland School for the Deaf, asking about their future plans. Read the story here.

Understanding Deaf culture through art

WXXI in Rochester, New York spoke with local artist Laural Hartman about what mainstream museums may not understand about deaf art. Hartman teaches at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

Suit: No Terrp for 3 Days in hospital

Myra Gill is suing Louisiana's Slidell Memorial Hospital. She claims the hospital failed to provide her an interpreter during an emergency room visit that turned into a three day stay. Her lawyer told WDSU-TV, "We know that you can't get an interpreter at the drop of a hat within 10 minutes but Ms. Gill was in the hospital for three days and never once received a sign language interpreter."  WDSU has more on the story here.

AI comes to Cochlear Implants

The largest cochlear implant maker has inked a deal to use artificial intelligence. Cochlear based in Austrailia, will use the help of AI maker Otoconsult, based in Belgium, to more accurately taylor the settings to each wearer. Cochlear CEO Chris Smith says the software will be accessible worldwide, so audiologists calibrate the device more effectively. Read more in Business Inisder here.

Gallaudet's Motion Light Lab

The Washington Post takes a peek inside Gallaudet's Motion Light Lab. It's a place where "research and innovation turn into resources for children and families" through the use of motion-capture technology. Read the full story here.

Mocking Sign Language on the Jimmy Fallon show

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, guest Jamie Foxx started doing fake sign-language to the camera.  The winner of both "DWTS" and "America's Next Top Model" Nyle DiMarco says it was disrespectful for Foxx to mock deaf people. Fellow Oscar winner Marlee Matlin tweeeted at Foxx, "I’d be happy to give you sign language lessons so you could be funnier." Here's a video posted by TMZ that shows what happened.

" I see his voice. I hear his face."

image from ondeafness.com

The hearing mother of a deaf child has written a piece for the New York Times titled, "My Deaf Son Fought Speech. Sign Language Let Him Bloom." The writer, Elizabeth Engelman, works at the Family Center on Deafness in Largo, Florida and writes the blog OnDeafness. She says":

"In American Sign Language, the sign for cochlear implant is similar to the sign for vampire. Vampire is signed with two fingers like teeth to the throat. Cochlear implant is signed with two fingers like teeth behind the ears. The audiologist told me not to sign at all. She said sign language was a crutch that would hinder his speech.. The audiologist adjusted the pitch and tuned the levels to make a simulation of sound. She called this process mapping, but there were no guideposts to show the way. How do you chart loneliness? How do you trace a landscape of silence and sound between mother and son?"

Read the full story in the New York Times here.

Louisiana considers the "d" in Deaf

(image from Louisiana.gov)

Louisiana state legislator Pat Smith wants to change how the deaf are referred to in state law. Her bill HB253 would ask the Louisiana State Law Institute to distinguish between lower case "deaf" and upper case "Deaf." A committee endorsed her resolution yesterday. Read the text of her bill and how it is progressing through the legislature here.

Helen Keller's message to the Nazis

image public domain

Helen Keller wrote a letter to Nazi students in 1933 who played to burn her collection of her essays, How I Became a Socialist. Read it and some background on it at Open Culture here.

Deaf patients struggle to get interpreters in medical emergencies

A investigative reporting website that focuses on health issues says a "review of hospital inspection reports and court records found dozens of instances around the country when deaf patients said they were not provided adequate interpreter services." Particularly of concern is hospital dependence on Video Relay Interpreters instead of in-person ASL interpreters. STAT reports:

Many deaf patients have taken to social media to complain about the use of video interpreting services in emergency rooms. Numerous patients tell stories about a blurry video feed and describe having to set up the video interpreting service themselves when nurses don’t know how to operate the equipment, or being unable to focus on a small screen in a crowded room.

Read the full story here.

The Chances

image from superdeluxe.com

The Chances is "a show written by, and starring, deaf people" and, according to the Bay Area Reporter, has been picked up by Sundance Now, an AMC-backed streaming service. The Chances focuses on two best friends, one is engaged and the other is trying to move on from his ex-boyfriend. The show earned positive reviews at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Read the full story here.

a new South Texas Festival

The Good Vibrations Music and Arts Festival took place for the first time in San Antonio yesterday. KSAT-TV says it was "specifically for the deaf and hard of hearing community and has this video report.

meet Millicent Simmonds

image from Wonderstruck trailer

Millicent Simmonds is 14 years old and like most teenagers her age-except she's deaf and starring in a major motion picture called Wonderstruck.  The Associated Press reports the director of the film told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival, "It was our incredible good fortune to find this girl, Millie, who from the very beginning — the very first time I saw her tape — I just shivered. There was something about the integrity of her as a person that showed through that was true and ultimately you see it on the screen. Our good fortune in finding Millie can't be overstated." Read the full story about Millicent Simmonds here
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Life on Sesame Street

Linda Bove played Linda the Librarian on Sesame Street for years. KJZZ radio in Phoenix sat down to talk with the deaf actress to see what it was like.

The Good Vibrations Music and Art Fest

The Good Vibrations Music and Art Festival takes place Saturday in San Antonio. There will be craft booths, food, a lightshow and a deaf-accessible concert. The current Miss San Antonio, deaf singer Emma Rudkin, will perform. KSAT-TV has more in a video report.

Wonderstruck

Julianne Moore says it was an "incredible privilege” to have a deaf role in the film Wonderstruck. But "the Oscar-winner was met with criticism when she took the role in the film," reports Vanity Fair. Many in the deaf community question having a hearing actress take the role of a deaf adult when there are many capable deaf actors available. However, other roles in the film did go to deaf actors. Wonderstruckis about "the journeys of two lonely deaf children living 50 years apart." Read the full story here.

Deaf woman: all the stupid questions she's been asked

A Scottish woman named Bea shares in a video inappropriate questions she has gotten from people because she is deaf. The video was posted by BBC Social.

Using Movie Magic to Translate ASL

"Researchers are using computer-animation techniques, such as motion-capture, to make life-like computer avatars that can reliably and naturally translate written and spoken words into sign language, whether it’s American Sign Language or that of another country," reports Slate. It's the same technology that made Ratatouille and Happy Feet successful animated films. "The signing avatars can also be used in apps and games to help deaf children get early exposure to language, which is critical for their cognitive development." Read the full story from Slate here.

A drug to reverse hearing loss?

MIT researcher Bob Langer and Harvard Medical School’s Jeff Karp say they have developed a drug that could address hearing loss by using chemical compounds to multiply and create new hair cells in the inner ear. Their company is called Frequency Therapeutics. You can read their press release about the drug here. Frequency Therapeutics published a research paper about their approach in the journal Cell Reports. Read more about Frequency in The Week. "Another Boston biotech," reports Xconomy named "Decibel launched in October 2015 to develop drugs that combat some of the biological reasons for hearing issues."

Deaf Woman Denied Terp at Airport

The ACLU has filed a discrimination complaint saying a deaf woman was stopped and interrogated at Honolulu's airport. Customs officials apparently refused to provide her with a sign language interpreter, despite her repeated requests. The ACLU quotes the unnamed woman (who didn't want to be named) as saying:

I was so scared and felt alone. For people with deafness, being cut off from our ways of communicating is terrifying. I have traveled a lot, but have never experienced anything like this at any airport ever. With this complaint, I just want to make sure that other deaf people coming through Hawaii’s airports are treated with basic respect and dignity, and that disabilities are accommodated.

Read the full story in HawaiiNewsNow.

'America's Deaf Team' Tackles Identity Politics

The Atlantic has published a long piece about Gallaudet, its football team, and the issues that divide and unite the culture. Matthew Davis writes:

I have met mainstream-educated hard-of-hearing players who say they have found their true selves and a true home at Gallaudet. I have met similar players who say they feel like more of an outsider within Gallaudet’s gates than outside them. And I have met completely deaf, deaf-school-educated players who are both welcoming to their mainstreamed brothers and also skeptical of their commitment to ASL. But football unites them—in fact, football seems to unite everyone. Nothing celebrates the myriad layers of the deaf community quite like Gallaudet’s Homecoming game, a Saturday afternoon that is the largest annual gathering of the deaf and hard-of-hearing anywhere in the world.

Read the full article here.

Terp Services Lawsuit Goes Forward

An appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have prevented a lawsuit from going forward against two South Florida hospitals over interpreters. The hospitals used VRI (video remote interpreting) but Cheylla Silva and John Paul Jebian requested an in-person interpreter. When the hospitals refused, they sued. Read the full story from CBS Miami here.

Deaf Rights Advocates Rally in Lousiana

Deaf rights advocates gathered on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol this morning. WAFB-TV has a video report.

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

How children with Implants learn words

Researchers at The Ohio State University are trying to determine whether children with cochlear implants learn words differently than their peers. One of their findings: "Whether or not a child learns a word can depend on when a parent says a label and what the child is doing when that label is said." Read more about the effort in US News.

What's happened to NZ's youngest implant receptient?

Josh Foreman was New Zealand's youngest person to have cochlear implant surgery when he was two years old. Now, he's 25 and graduating from the University of Auckland. The New Zealand Herald has a video report (no captions but there is text here.

Did poor signing cost him millions?

James Wang says a wrong sign cost him millions of dollars. He once worked for IBM and was paid $200,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. Wang "accused the tech giant of firing him for being deaf." But Wang says his lawyer "confused the sign for 'million' with that for 'thousand' while negotiating the deal." Read more on the story from the New York Post.

A Talk With Marlee Matlin

photo by Angela George

      photo by Angela George

The Hartford Courant sat down to talk with Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin before she speaks tonight at the American School for the Deaf's Bicentennial Celebration at the Connecticut Convention Center. She was asked about how things have changed in Hollywood since she won her Oscar at the young age of 21:

I did "Dancing With the Stars," and people said, "hey, deaf people can dance." I raised a million dollars for hearing aids for children on "Celebrity Apprentice." I try to show by what I do that deaf people don't have to be put in a little box. But we still have "disability blackface," where 95 percent of television characters with a disability on television are played by able-bodied actors. You still have the thinking that deaf actors only act in deaf storylines; any story line can feature an actor who is deaf. The topic needs to be part of our conversation.

Read more of what she said here.

Father and Son get Implants

A Georgia father and his son got cochlear implants together-despite the fact the father was at first against his son getting an implant. Atlanta's Fox 5 was there when Randy Adams had his implant activated.

The 200th anniversary of deaf education in America

Gallaudet University President Roberta Cordano shares a special message in honor of the 200th anniversary of deaf education in America.

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.

Fed agency can't hire needed terps

The spy agency in charge of the most advanced imaging technology in the world has a budget of more than $5 billion. But "right now they have a position for a sign language interpreter that they’re not allowed to fill." Gizmodo explains why.

*update: The freeze was just lifted this week

Lawsuit: Denied Services by Sheriff's Office

screen grab from Action News Jax video 

Cassandra Kinney says the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Office failed to provide her an sign language interpreter. Police were called to her home several times but she says they failed to get her side of the story. Now she has filed a lawsuit. Action News Jax has a video report here.

Rally for Deaf Florida Man, Arrested at Protest

A demonstration opposing the Syrian airstrike turned violent in Jacksonville, Florida. Among those arrested was Connell Crooms, who is deaf. Action News Jax has a video report about a rally in his support at the county courthouse.

Mother of Beaten Deaf Protester Speaks Out

Feliciaia Crooms says police severely beat her deaf son in Jacksonville, Florida-and then refused to let her to see him either at the hospital or later in jail. The Florida Times-Union has a report on the several hundred people who gathered at the Duval courthouse in support of protesters arrested Friday night.

Resources in South Texas

The deaf and hard-of-hearing are in need health resources in the Rio Grande Valley. KRGV-TV has a video report from south Texas on the issue.

Deaf driver's license bill passes NC House

North Carolina lawmakers have approved a new system to help law enforcement identify people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It passed the State House and is now on its way to the State Senate. WRAL-TV has more on the story here.

Deaf-blind man ordered off Flight

Frankie Thomson has flown for decades by himself, despite being deaf-blind. But he was removed from a Easyjet flight going from Edinburgh to Gatwick.Thomson was told the decision was for "safety reasons."Read the full story here.

Mom: School took away Terp

A mom in Huntsville, Alabama says her school district has taken away her 8-year-old son's sign language interpreter. Ryann Brown told AL.com, "He cannot benefit from any type of hearing aid or cochlear implant so he fully relies on sign language to communicate. Taking away his interpreter would provide him with no access to language in the classroom." Read the full story here.

Lawsuit: Add Captioning at Pepsi Center

image KM Newnham

A class action lawsuit is asking the courts to make Denver's Pepsi Center include captioning on its video board and "provide interpreters for hearing-impaired fans at events when the video board isn’t in use." Read the full story from KMGH-TV.

A "deaf culture war" in Alabama

Rep. Margie Wilcox  

A bill in the Alabama legislature had pitted "the deaf culture and the 'hearing deaf' culture," against one another, advocate Leigh Leak says.  According to AL.com, HB 253, proposed by Rep. Margie Wilcox, aims "to help deaf kids who are falling through the cracks" but "advocates in the 'hearing deaf' culture are afraid the bill will force children who use spoken language to learn American Sign Language." They complain the opt out option for children with cochlear implants is too weak. Read the full story from AL.com here or look at the bill itself here.

Deaf student says University didn't provide interpreter

A visiting student researcher from Canada says UC Berkeley didn't provide her an interpreter until she was near the end of her time at the school, which left her sitting "in a classroom trying to read lips." KTVU-TV spoke with Nancy Barker and has a video report.

Deaf Girl Assaulted for using Sign Language

A search is underway for a woman who police say attached a deaf girl because she used sign language. Read more in the Manchester Evening News here.

Parents Accused of Murdering Deaf Son

Did a New York couple kill their deaf son and then set their house on fire to cover it up? That's what Guilford, New York prosecutors think happened. They've charged Ernest F. Franklin II and Heather Franklin with murdering their 16-year-old adopted son. Here's more from TIME.

Hearing Aids Given to deaf Syrian children

A team of audiologists from the Chicago-based "Deaf Planet Soul” charity are on a two-week mission to help deaf Syrian children in clinics around Lebanon. A spokesman tells the Associated Press, "When people think of refugees, they think of cut-off limbs and brain injuries, and all these visible things. They don’t think about the invisible results of war. They don’t think that this kid who can’t hear really needs help.” Read the full story here.

Bot helps perform Cochlear-Implant Surgery

Robots "have successfully performed a tricky, delicate operation that helped implant a hearing device into a deaf woman's ear," reports Live Science. Researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland said, ""When discussing much-needed surgical innovations for use in ear, nose and throat procedures, our surgeon colleagues would repeatedly mention that gaining access to the inner ear in a minimally invasive manner was a major hurdle that had not been resolved. This spurred us on." Here is a video with more, but there are no captions, but you can read more here.

Postage Stamp for Deaf Educator

image from USPS

The U.S. Postal Service will honor "an influential teacher and a pioneer in the field of Deaf Studies" with a new stamp. Robert Panara died in 2014 but his influence goes on,  When his stamp comes out on April 10, it will be the 16th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series. For 40 years, Panara showed students the power of sign language. He taught at both Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in New York state.  In fact, he helped found the NTID, serving as the institution's first deaf faculty member.

New Deaf Studies Degree

The state of Nevada is getting its first bachelor’s degree in deaf studies. It will be offered by Nevada State College in Henderson. The school already had a deaf studies minor. "Now, students will be able to take a deeper dive into the subject’s cultural context," reports The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

MD Deaf man Sexually Assaulted

Image from
 Wicomico County Detention Center

A deaf man was sexually assaulted in Salisbury, Maryland this past Saturday "by a woman who carjacked and robbed him," according to Delmarva Now. Salisbury Police have charged Tina Marie Graham "with kidnapping, carjacking, first-degree sex offense, perverted practice, false imprisonment and other offenses." Read the full story here
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Woman Arrested for Attacking Deaf Girl

from New York State Police

We reported Wednesday about a New York woman wanted by the police for intentionally ramming a Walmart shopping cart into a deaf 10-year-old. Police have arrested Erica Walker and charged her with assailt. Walker is out on bail but due back in a Cortlandt, New York courtroom on Monday.

Skiing accident Left Woman Deaf But Her Passion Remains

image from agelesspassions.com

A woman who lost her hearing during a barefoot skiing accident is now, more than 20 years later, planning to ski barefoot in all 50 states. When Karen Putz first became deaf, she was in despair. But she went on to raise a family (including three deaf kids) and travel all over the U.S. playing in Deaf volleyball tournaments. Read about Karen's skiing goal in the Chicago Tribune and her backstory on her blog.

School would rather take videos down than caption them

image: brainchildvn on Flickr

Many of UC Berkeley's educational videos don't meet ADA requirements, according to the Department of Justice. In response, the California school says that rather than caption more than 20,000 course capture videos accessible to the public, it would rather just take them down in order to save money. A senior is quoted in the school's student newspaper as complaining that Berkeley "does not adequately support its disabled students." Read more in the Daily Cal here.

Woman wanted for Hurting Deaf Girl

image from NY State Police

Police in a little town just north of New York City are looking for a woman who rammed a deaf girl with her shopping car at a Walmart. It happened Saturday morning. Read more about it here.

Gally comes close but misses March Madness

Gallaudet lost to Morrisville State this weekend, knocking the Bison out of contention for a spot in March Madness. Morrisville State won by a score of 72-68. Gally had a chance to tie with only 10 seconds left in the game but missed the shot. Read more about what happened in the Washington Post.

Why she refused to alter her twins' genes

Sarah-Jane Moloney O'Regan decided not to alter the genes of her twins' to prevent them being born deaf. The sign language interpreter explained why on Ireland's Late Late Show here or watch the video below.

First March Madness for Gally?

image from Gallaudet.edu

The Gallaudet men's basketball team has already set a school record by winning 20 games. And they aren't done. The school is hosting the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament for the first time this weekend. If the Bison can pull off wins in their two games, they would be the first team in Gally history to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. Read more in the Washington Post.

New Show from Deaf West

A new Deaf West Theatre production opens March 7 in LA at the Wallis. "Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo" will run through March 26. The cast includes deaf and hearing actors. You'll find more details here.

SCOTUS sides with Service Dog

A Supreme Court ruling could have an impact on students with disabilities across the country, according to the ACLU. The high court has unanimously ruled in favor a Michigan girl who wanted to bring her service dog school with her. Administrators at the Napoleon Community School had told Ehlena Fry's family that she could have human helpers but not her Goldendoodle named Wonder. Her family thought that was a violation of ADA law. The case now goes back to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Warehouse coworkers learn ASL

Kamal Nasser is helping coworkers at Columbus's AT&T warehouse learn ASL. Nasser is deaf, so this is making work better for him, but it's also bonding his coworkers together. WSYX has a video report. No captions, but you can read the 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

Deaf Man Killed by Train

A Colorado deaf man was hit and killed today afternoon by train while he was crossing the tracks. KDVR-TV has surveillance video from a neighboring business in the video report below.

Large Collection of ASL GIFs now Available

A library of more than 2,000 GIFs of individual signs are now available through GIPHY, the GIF search engine. The collection of ASL looping flashcards is cut from a educational series called "Sign With Robert" featuring Robert DeMayo. There's text to make it clearer. "Sign With Robert" director and producer Hilari Scarl says, "The GIF format has the ability to loop infinitely, so it's perfect for learning new signs. [It] doesn't require the back and forth of hitting play, rewind or repeat." Particular sign can be found by using the search bar. There's an example below.. and you can access the "Sign with Robert" GIPHY library here.


via GIPHY

Deaf Student: School Discriminated Against Me

A deaf Lousiana college student has filed a lawsuit claiming that the University of Louisiana-Lafayette did not him as required by ADA. Fabian S. Strauss says he requested a note taker but was denied. Read more about it in the Louisiana record here.

One Billion Videos Captioned.. sort of

While YouTube is bragging about have one billion captioned videos, critics are pointing out that many of the automatically generated captions are wildly inaccurate. It's been eight years since Google added the automatic speech recognition designed to generate captions and the company says it's accuracy is up by 50 percent. But in the anouncement about the number of captioned videos, Google Product Manager Liat Kaver admits the program is not where the company wants it to be:

A major goal for the team has been improving the accuracy of automatic captions — something that is not easy to do for a platform of YouTube’s size and diversity of content. Key to the success of this endeavor was improving our speech recognition, machine learning algorithms, and expanding our training data. There were limitations with the technology that underscored the need to improve the captions themselves. Results were sometimes less than perfect, prompting some creators to have a little fun at our expense!

Read the full announcement from YouTube here.

Deaf High School Mascot

Deaf from birth, 15-year-old Freshman Kamron King "has mastered sign language and how to lip read and speak." As his high school mascot, King says he "uses his eyes and his energy to get the crowd fired up." He's affectionately known as "Kam the Ham." Here is an NBC News video report.

Irish Comedian Insults Deaf with Fake Signing

An Irish comedian stood up in front of a group gathered to hear a streamed political speech and pretended to use sign language. His random gestures were not appreciated by the Deaf community, Irish Deaf Society said it was insulted by the prank. Read more about it here.

Shot after not understanding gunman's demands

John Kelly was getting money out of an ATM when he was shot four times because the deaf man couldn't hear the commands of robbers. WISN-TV in Milwaukee has a video report here.

A review of Switched at Birth from a deaf perspective

The TV series Switched at Birth has gotten a lot of positive press for its protrayal of deaf characters. But one reviewer says that while the show is a "GREAT innovation" it doesn't live up to its potential. Case in point:

If you are fluent in sign and have been in and around the deaf community it is annoying that the cast can’t learn ASL properly after 4 full seasons. It’s painful to watch Vanessa Marano (Bay Kennish) struggle through her lines as if she has an ASL coach telling her how to sign off set. It’s terrible. She is supposed to have known her deaf “sister” for 4 years now plus she is dating deaf guys for a few years and she doesn’t know the difference between the sign of “English” and “night.”

Read the full review in the San Francisco News.

Police: Video Made of Deaf Man's Beating

A video shows a deaf man being beaten in Detroit by another deaf man.. and "police said the woman holding the camera in the video set it all up," reports WDIV-TV. The three attended the same school for the deaf.

Super Bowl Signing

Kriston Pumphrey
image from NAD

The Super Bowl festivities will include the talents of an NTID alum (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). Kriston Lee Pumphrey will sign the National Anthem and “America, the Beautiful.” Pumphrey lives in Detriot where he works as an anchor at sign language channel DPAN-TV, but he considers Seattle his hometown. WJBK-TV has more on his background here, NTID has a news release here, and the National Association of the Deaf here.

Ruling on Firing of Deaf School Teachers

A judge has overturned a decision by an arbitrator about the firing of two teachers at the Iowa School for the Deaf over what administrators said was poor performance. Read the full story from Associated Press here.

The Good Vibrations Music and Arts Festival

Organizers of a Texas music festival set for the summer claim it will be the first to be completely accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community. KHOU-TV has a video report.

Man pleads guilty for Gallaudet Univ. burglary

"A former employee of Gallaudet University’s food service department pleaded guilty Monday to holding deaf workers at gunpoint during a burglary" at the school, according to the Washington Post. Just days after he had been fired, Donald Williams wore a mask and used a gun to force his way into the kitchen. Read the full story here.

Court hears appeal of deaf patients

Two deaf people were in federal court today because a hospital refused to give them in-person interpreters. Baptist Hospital provided VRI but Cheylla Silva and John Paul Jebian are challenging that technology as inadequate to meet ADA requirements. A lower court judge dismissed the case but they are appealing and hoping the federal appeals court overturns the lower court ruling. Read the full story from the Miami Herald here.

Gally Hoops

Gallaudet University's basketball team is 14-3 overall and 6-0 in the North Eastern Athletic Conference. The Austin American-Statesman has a look at several players on the roster here.

City to pay for no Terp

A city in Rhode Island will pay $25,000 in damages and legal fees to a deaf man for failing to provide him with an interpreter during his arrest and night in jail. David Alves was arrested when police mistook a sign language gesture for an obscene gesture. Read the full story from Associated Press here.

Yachtsman of the Year

A deaf man has been named Britain's yachtsman of the year. Gavin Reid beat out others with Olympic medals and titles, because of his part in a "dramatic ocean rescue." As CNN reports, "Reid swam to a stranded vessel before climbing its mast and untangling a distressed crew member. All while negotiating rough seas." Read the full CNN story here. NBC has an interview with Reid below, but there are no captions. You can read that story here.

Gally: One Year with a Female President

image from Gallaudet.edu

Read the story here. "In its 152-year history, Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. never had a deaf female president — until a year ago. Roberta Cordano is the first deaf woman to lead the school," reports NPR. The news outlet recently spoke with Gally President Cordano about the how the school provides a place of support and community for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Read the story here.

Charges Dropped against deaf Oklahoma man

A 67-year-old Oklahoma man was seriously injured in Oklahoma City when he was stopped by police. Prosecutors charged Pearl Pearson with resisting arrest.. even though he could not hear the officer's commands and warnings because he is deaf. KFOR-TV reports charges he resisted arrest have been dropped.

Deaf Driver runs over Body in Road

A search is underway for a driver in the Jacksonville, Florida area who hit someone walking down a road and then drove off. A deaf man later ran over the body but stopped to help. Since David Bicknell couldn't call the police himself, he drove to "a gas station where he wrote a note asking a clerk to call the police," according to WFOX-TV.

Deaf Boy to be allowed to Stay in UK

We told you recently about a "six-year-old deaf boy who fled Iraq with his family after ISIS threatened to kill disabled children." His parents were told he would have to leave the UK. Here's an update: Lawand Hamadamin "has been given a last minute reprieve to stay in Britain," according to The Telegraph. His brother and parents had settled into Derby where he learned British Sing Language at the Royal School for the Deaf. Read more from The Telegraph here.

Deaf Couple Rescued from Snowstorm

A deaf California couple is safe after being rescued from a snowstorm after three days. KNBC-TV has a video report. No captions but you can read the story here.

Why your next Uber driver might be deaf

A new story from Quartz explains how some deaf drivers have found work with Uber. Susan Johnston Taylor says, "NAD is currently working with Uber to make its app more user-friendly for hard-of-hearing drivers (or partners, as Uber prefers to call them). These initiatives include a flashing light to notify a driver of a ride request (in addition to the existing audio notification), turning off the option to call a deaf driver, and a prompt to make sure passengers enter their destinations." Read the full story here.

Gally's in the middle a tech revolution

Now that the FCC has voted to "phase out TTY teletypewriter systems and transition to RTT on smartphones," Gallaudet becomes an important player in the new technology. Gallaudet’s senior research engineer Norman Williams now holds the patent for RTT. WJLA-TV has a video report (no captions) and a text report here.

Gally's NFL prospect

image from Gallaudet.edu

Carneilus Smith didn't learn sign language until he got to Gallaudet University. He tells NFL Draft Diamonds, "I had deaf roommates and teammates that I had to learn sign language to communicate with them and as well as play on the field with them to lead. Now I’m fluent in ASL in just 4 years." Read the full interview with the football standout here.
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College Football Player shows off ASL Skills

A video showing an Ohio State football player signing with two deaf fans got a lot of social media attention during the last month. The story behind the video from Ohio's Journal-News is here. Below is the video:

Video of SUV that killed deaf woman

DC police have released a video showing the SUV that may have hit and killed a deaf woman who was crossing a street. Jacqueline Cole was walking in a marked crosswalk when she was hit and the driver of the vehicle did not stop. Read more about it from the DC Police here.

Doll With Cochlear Implants For Christmas

A little girl living near Oklahoma City wanted a doll for Christmas that looked like her, including her cochlear implants. Thanks to the work of a high schooler and a 3D printer, she got her wish. KWTV has a video report.

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

Hit and Run Driver Kills Deaf Woman

The search is underway for the driver of an SUV that hit and killed a 54-year-old deaf woman early this morning in Northwest, DC. WUSA-TV has a video report here.

Protecting deaf children from abuse in TN

A Tennessee woman is hoping her effort in schools called The Sign Club will help deaf children not become isolated and more likely fall victim to sexual abuse. WSMV-TV in Nashville has a video report. No captions, but you can read the story here.

WBRC FOX6 News - Birmingham, AL

Gally's ASL poetry contest

An eighth-grader who attends the Iowa School for the Deaf student won Gallaudet University’s national American Sign Language poetry contest. Read more about the 13 year old who wrote the poem “Impressing the Girl” in the Omaha World-Herald here.

Tim Tebow helps with adoption

Tim Tebow's foundation has helped a 4-year-old deaf boy in China be adopted by an American woman. Christine Mullican says, “I’ve always wanted to adopt. I just knew that’s how I wanted to build my family." Here's video about the adoption.

Closed: Canada's first restaurant staffed mostly by deaf servers

A unique new restaurant opened in downtown Toronto in July of 2014. Signs Restaurant said it was going to be Canada's first restaurant mostly staffed by deaf servers. The restaurant closed last week, leaving some 40, mostly deaf, workers without jobs. Read more about what happened in MetroNews.

6-year-old Deaf Boy on ISIS Hit List

Photo: Penguin PR

A six-year-old deaf boy is asking to stay in the UK. His family fled Northern Iraq when "ISIS ruled that disabled children should be killed by lethal injection." Read more in the Mirror.

Deaf Seattle worker Sues Cheesecake Factory

image by NightScream

The Cheesecake Factory is facing a federal lawsuit that claims the restaurant chain didn't provide an interpreter for a dishwasher in Seattle during disciplinary meetings. Oleg Ivanov was shown training videos without captioning and was later fired for missing a shift. Read more about the EEOC suit here.

Get to Know Gally's new Hillel Director

image from Gallaudent.edu

Jacob Salem is the new Hillel director at Gallaudet University. Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world. The Washington Post profiled Salem since he's the first campus Hillel director to be deaf. Read about the challenges for Gallaudet's Jewish students here.

FCC switching from TTY to Texting

The FCC has unanimously voted to move from TTY to RTT (real-time text messaging) as a standard for wireless carriers and device manufacturers. Among other things, the switch will "allow 911 operators to receive incomplete messages during an emergency." You can read the FCC order here or details about the issues including the history of the TTY here.

a Nyle DiMarco message

Nyle DiMarco has a message for hearing parents with a deaf child. And there's more help from the Nyle DiMarco Foundation here.

Deaf man proposes to girlfriend with Santa’s help

"A deaf couple became engaged with the help of Santa Claus at an Indiana mall this week," according to WANE–FM.