Sentence for Sex with Teen

A 31-year-old student teacher for the deaf was given three years in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Micah Brown will serve the sentence at the same time as a 20-year sentence he was given last week in Syracuse, New York for luring the girl into a sexually explicit relationship on the Internet. Brown, a graduate student at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was a student teacher at a Connecticut school for the deaf at the time.

No Right to Sue Police

A deaf man in Mobile, Alabama cannot sue the police officers who pepper sprayed and tased him at a Dollar General store because he didn't obey their orders to come out of a bathroom. A federal judge has ruled the officers were acting in their official capacities when they confronted Antonio Love and cannot be taken to court. Love was inside the bathroom for a half-hour and was having hallucinations because he did not take his medicine before coming to the store to buy chips. The officers were suspended when it came to light they had used a stun gun on a mostly deaf, mentally ill man who had committed no crime, but the county personnel board overturned that decision. The federal judge ruled that the officers acted "reasonably" since they did not know Love was deaf, despite the fact that even after they became aware that Love was deaf, they arrested him on disorderly conduct and resisting arrest - charges a magistrate judge refused to declined to sign off on. His family worked out a confidential out-of-court settlement negotiated this month with Dollar General and the store’s manager.
Below is surveillance video from the store the day of the event.

Terps at Nudist Camps

Here are the results from out online survey about interpreters at nudist camps. We asked:

Should interpreters be provided by nudist camps?
Yes – 27 (50%)
No – 19 (35%)
Sometimes - 4 (7%)
Not Sure – 4 (7%)

If you were an interpreter, would you agree to interpret at a nudist camp?
Yes – 22 (44%)
No – 24 (48%)
Not sure – 4 (8%)

These questions were inspired by the story of the man who was denied an interpreter by a nudist camp in upstate New York. Watch for more online survey questions at DeafNewsToday.com.

Study on Learning

Below is a video report from Seattle's KING5-TV about a new study that "looks for answers on deaf children's learning." A text version is here.

Arizona Festival

The Arizona Deaf Festival and Bi-Annual State Conference takes place Sept 23 and 24 in Tucson. There's more information here.

Chicago Meeting

Deaf Seniors of American meets for its 2011 Conference in Chicago from tomorrow through next Tuesday. For more information, click here.

Sencity London

A team of Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing young people known as Skyway Programs CIC have created a "club night where you can experience music through all your senses." Sencity London is a "multi-sensory club night for both the hearing and hearing-impaired." This includes a vibrating dance floor, aroma jockeys who pump the air full of different scents to accompany the music, signing dancers who interpret tracks for deaf club-goers. The non-audio sensory stimulation includes hair dressers, masseurs and make-up artists. The group's Facebook page is here. Below is a promotional video.

MSD Closed Tomorrow

The Maryland School for the Deaf will be closed Monday because of Hurricane Irene. The school will operate tomorrow on a Sunday schedule, which means some nurses, the Student Life staff, and the dietary staff will report as scheduled. The high school volleyball and football teams will practice as scheduled.

If you missed the ABC Family show Switched at Birth, below is a video clip from the show with Marlee Matlin. New episodes are expected this fall.

Romoff Interview

An interview with Arlene Romoff co-founder of the Hearing Loss Association of New Jersey about her organization is here. Romoff wrote about her experience of getting a cochlear implant in the book Hear Again — Back to Life with a Cochlear Implant.

Shooting Near School

A shooting took place this afternoon near the Arkansas School for the Deaf and the Blind. A man was shot once in the chest and another man is in custody. The injured man tried to drive himself to the hospital, but an ambulance met him on the way. We'll bring you more information on the story when we have it.

Plan to Cut Services for Children Halted

A UK court is ordering a city in England to hold off on its plans to cut teachers of deaf children in the community until it can review the plan. The National Deaf Children's Society is legally challenging the Stoke-on-Trent City Council decision to do away with a teaching position next week, which would leave only 3 teachers to do the work that 8 were doing just 2 years ago. If the plan goes forward, the 3 remaining teachers would have to handle the needs of 200 children.

Toronto Marathon

Toronto's Deaf Culture Centre is raising funds through the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which takes place in October. Below is a short video ad for the event. For more information about the Centre, click here. For more about the marathon itself, click here.

Changes at DeafHope

The founder of San Diego's DeafHope explains her departure from the group to join the California School for the Deaf in Freemont in the video below. DeafHope is a social media movement making an effort to end violence against women.

Book about Kansas School

A new book about the history of the Kansas School for the Deaf will be out soon. Kansas School for the Deaf: A Pictorial History, 1861-2011 will contain some 400 photos and images. The author is executive director Sandra Kelly and it will cost $50 until September 5th, when the price will just to $65. You can order a copy here.

Principal Resigns Over Oral/ASL Controversy

The principal of a Utah school for the deaf is leaving her post. Jill Radford says she can't work with the superintendent of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Steve Noyce. After three years on the job as principal of Jean Massieu School of the Deaf in Millcreek she wrote in her resignation letter:

“If I hope to exact real and measurable change, I simply cannot continue to work for a superintendent who so blatantly demoralizes the efforts, dedication and passion of the faculty and staff at JMS. I will continue to fight as a deaf adult for the rights and needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing children all across this great state."

Radford says Noyce is favoring oral programs over sign language, though Noyce says he's treated them equally.

Playground Opens at Utah School

A new playground at a deaf school in Salt Lake City is now cleaned and ready to use. It's debut was spoiled last week when vandals wrote graffiti all over the special equipment. The Jean Massieu School of the Deaf hasn't had a playground in a 10 years. Then students and parents raised $55,000. State lawmakers came up with the remaining $100,000 needed to build the playground. When the vandalism was discovered, volunteers showed up to pressure wash and scrub the equipment - which includes materials especially chosen not to generate static electricity and interfere with cochlear implants.

Researchers Looking for Participants

The University of California, San Francisco is conducting a survey about Social Security benefits. If you would be willing to be interviewed, then contact the Disability Statistics Center. The interviews are by phone and take about 30-45 minutes. Call 855-209-9538 to be interviewed or to find out more about Center you can check here.

Gally Prepares for Hurricane

Gallaudet University was supposed to reopen for returning students on Sunday, but dorms opened for returning students today because of Hurricane Irene. While the storm may stay off-shore and not directly hit the Washington, D.C. area, expected high winds and heavy rains are expected to cause power outages, downed trees and limbs, and some street flooding may occur.

Sony Working on Subtitle Glasses

Sony UK is developing a pair of glasses that display subtitles right along with a film. Through the glasses, the subtitles look like they are on the actual movie screen. But only the wearer of the glasses sees them. Plus, the words appear to be the same distance from the wearer as the film itself. The new glasses could show up in UK theaters as soon as next year. Sony is also looking at other applications for the glasses. Such as creating transcriptions of conversations. In this case, the deaf people would be able to read what someone is saying. There's a video report about it from the BBC here.