Getting Your Tax Check

The IRS has produced its first public service announcements in video form using ASL. There are three clips called Economic Stimulus Payment Basics. It’s about the free checks that are coming to taxpayers from the federal government in hopes of stimulating the economy. Here’s one of them.

The other videos can be seen at the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) website. Or just go the IRS website for more info.

Canadians with Hearing Loss

Around 10% of Canadians have some form of hearing loss and about 1% have profound hearing loss and use sign language, according to the Canadian Hearing Society.

Creating a new ASL sign

A YouTube search is underway for a American Sign Language symbol to represent the word poverty. The idea is the brainchild of the English Interpretation department at Columbia College Chicago. Faculty member and deaf performing artist Peter Cook says there are ASL signs for rich and poor, access but not one covering poverty. You can make a video suggestion between now and April 23rd.. The students and faculty Columbia's ASL - English Interpretation degree program will look through the entries and pass the best along to a national team of ASL linguists. They will pick a winner to be announced in May. Here’s a video where Cook explains how to participate:

Brain Surgery

Doctors at University of North Carolina Hospitals are using a new surgery to help patients who find out cochlea implants don’t work for them. Clinical trials are bypassing the cochlea and going straight to the brain stem. The surgery may someday help children born without cochlea or without certain cochlear nerves. The only two places conducting the trials are UNC and the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles.

$2.2 Million Fine

Federal regulators want to sock a cochlear implant and hearing aid maker with a $2.2 million fine. The Food and Drug Administration says Advanced Bionics has committed manufacturing violations by not following safety standards that put patients at risk. The California-based company had no comment on the recommendation.

Sexual Attacks Trial

A trial is underway in Sioux Falls involving the South Dakota School for the Deaf. A 17-year-old male student is accused of sexually assaulting four former students. The lawsuit accuses school officials of knowing about the repeated rape and sodomy attacks but doing nothing in response. The school’s lawyers say the claims were not specific and police officers were called to investigate the allegations. They also say the abuse was not reported within the two year statute of limitations.

Matlin Survives Cut

Marlee Matlin survived the first cut of Dancing with the Stars. The deaf actress is competing on season 6 of the ABC show with the likes of Adam Carolla, Jason Taylor, Kristi Yamaguchi and Priscilla Presley. The first two stars to be eliminated were Penn Jillette and Monica Seles. Matlin will perform the tango or jive on next week’s show.

Hearing Aid Costs

Most hearing aids for children are not covered by insurance. They can run between $1,000 and $3,000 a set, which must be changed every few years as children grow. Batteries can add about $600 a month to that amount because they must be switched every two to three days.

ASL Virtual Tours

A global positioning system has added sign language to its virtual tours. The GPS Ranger is a handheld device with a four-inch LCD screen. It uses a tool developed by BarZ Adventures of Austin, Texas that allows captioning and American Sign Language options to accompany virtual tours. The technology was launched this month along with a multimedia tour of the Texas capital with the help of CSD (Communication Service for the Deaf). The tour is available from the The Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau for $11.95. It will soon be available in other cities as well. More Info

Grace's Law

A bill making its way through the New Jersey legislature would require health insurance companies to provide $1000 in coverage for hearing aids every two years for children under age of 16. Grace’s Law is named for Grace Gleba. The 8-year-old girl has a severe hearing impairment. Her mother, Jeanine Gleba started lobbying lawmakers to pass the bill nine years ago. It’s now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Hearing Loss at Birth

Hearing loss is the most common birth defect in the US, occurring in three out of every 1,000 newborns. Roughly 12,000 babies are born each year with permanent hearing loss.

Deaf Pilot Sued over Accident

Jeffery Willoughby and his teenage daughter are suing a deaf pilot along with plane manufacturer Cessna for $1 million. Also named in the suit is Katama Airfield in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Willoughbys were passengers on a plane being flown into the airport by Alec Naiman, a member of the Deaf Pilots Association when it crashed leaving all three with serious injuries. Willoughby is himself an association member and because he lives in O'Fallon, Missouri, the case was filed in St. Louis. Willoughby blames the crash on the lack of communication between the Airfield and Naiman. A plane already on the runway forced Naiman to pull up too quickly. The pilot of the plane on the ground had tried to reach Naiman on the radio.

New Canadian Sign Language Program

The University of Alberta and Lakeland College in Canada are together starting a training program for sign-language interpreters this fall. The move is in response to the shortage of interpreters in the country caused by the increased number of deaf students moving into regular schools and universities as well as requirements that hospitals provide interpreters. This will only be the 5th such program offered at a college in Canada. The Alberta program will start with 16 students. Applicants must be fluent in ASL and have taken a deaf-studies program. It will take them two years to earn a degree.

Screening Bill Moves Forward

Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill that would make newborn hearing screenings mandatory. Committees in both the House and Senate voted in favor of it. It now goes to the House government operations committee. Nearly 90% of the 85,000 babies are screened already but that still leaves many that are not.

1st Deaf NBA Player

The NBA has its first legally Deaf player. Lance Allred will soon hit the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 6’11” center who’s been working out for the last two seasons with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League (or D-league). He made the league's All-Star team, averaging more than 16 points and 10 rebounds a game. Allred may play a critical role for the Cavs because the team’s frontcourt combination of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace are fighting back problems. As a senior at Weber State, Allred was the third best rebounder in the entire NCAA. He playing hoops in Europe before joining the Stampedge. Born with only 25% hearing, Allred now has cochlear implants. Born in Salt Lake City, he didn't play his first organized basketball game until he was an eighth grader.

Ballroom Dance Winner

Heather Wagley has won more than 50 ballroom dancing contests in the last decade – and the judges never know she is deaf. Her next competition will be the San Francisco Open DanceSport on March 28. Heather partners with instructor Larry Nemeth of Cleveland’s American Dance Exchange. She count steps and looks Nemeth for guidance, watching his lips for instructions, like slow or quick.

Marlee Dancing

If you missed seeing deaf actress Marlee Matlin on Dancing with the Stars you can watch her first dancing effort online.

Court Terps

A survey conducted in 2007 found 38% of the 1400 state courts have sign language interpreters available and 31% of the courts were outfitted with assisted listening devices. In areas with more than half a million people, the number that provided interpreters rose to 88%. Source: Center for Jury Studies

Deaf Juror Gets Respect

Two sign language interpreters took turns translating the four days of proceedings in a recent Atlanta murder trial for one of the jurors. Keith Davis had been called to jury duty twice but the deaf man had never been selected. He got the call on the third go-round making it a first for him as well as the judge, both attorneys and the other jurors. They told the local media they were impressed with what Davis was able to pick up on nonverbally and how much he contributed to the deliberations. Davis didn't learn sign language until he was nearly 20 years old because he was sent to a school that taught lip reading. The outcome: jurors convicted the defendant. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Matlin on Dancing with the Stars

Marlee Matlin got the third most points of the women contestants on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars last night. The 42-year-old deaf actress has an Oscar to her credit but has never danced professionally. She’s been working seven hours a day with partner and show newcomer Fabian Sanchez. The professional dancer says Matlin is great to work with because she is very sensitive to his lead, since she is not trying to follow the rhythm herself. One of Matlin’s daughter (she has four) is a devoted fan of the show and encouraged her mom to become a contestant. Matlin is competing against radio host Adam Carolla, magician Penn Jillette, pro football player Jason Taylor, tennis champ Monica Seles, Olympic skater Kristi Yamaguchi, singer Mario and actors Steve Guttenberg, Shannon Elizabeth, Christian de la Fuente, Priscilla Presley and Marissa Jaret Winokur.