Text-to-911 saves woman's life

The ability to text an emergency request made the difference for a California woman yesterday. The Press-Enterprise has the story of how police are crediting a news 911 option with saving her life here.

Leader at Deaf Church accused of Sexual Battery

The treasurer at a Deaf church in Kasnas is facing charges that he sexually molested another church-goer. KCTV-TV has a video report. No captions but you can read the story here.

Is a college getting ready to close its program for the deaf?

A community college in Connecticut is making changes and "advocates for the deaf are concerned" the program-the "only deaf program of its kind in the state"--is on its way out. But the school denies the changes that are underway are a sign of things to come. Read more from WNPR here.

Marlee Matlin talks Broadway

Marlee Matlin and some of the cast members of Deaf West's Spring Awakening shared with Good Morning America what it's like to be a part of the Broadway show.


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Mickey D's sued for refusing to provide Terp

McDonalds is in trouble with the EEOC for refusing to interview a deaf person who applied for a job in Missouri because he wanted an interpreter. Ricky Washington even said he would let his sister interpret for him. It didn't matter. The EEOC, which enforces federal employment discrimination laws, says McDonalds wouldn't interview him and that's an ADA violation. Read more about the story here.

Students win national competition

A dozen deaf students in Iowa won a competition sponsored by the foundation of NFL deaf football player Derrick Coleman. They had to make a video about why being deaf and hard of hearing was no excuse. Here's a video report from KWWL-TV.

Prof making a difference in student's lives

Gary Davis
(image from Oklahoma State University website) 

Oklahoma State professor Gary Davis tells The Oklahoman that the Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet University inspired him. “Experiencing Gallaudet and that protest really opened my eyes to the deaf community. They were standing up for themselves and making changes in their world. If they could do it, I knew I could.” Read the story of how Davis ended up training interpreters at Oklahoma State
here.

officer shoots deaf woman's dog

A Greenbelt, Maryland police officer is being investigated for animal cruelty after she shot a deaf woman's dog at a dog park just for growling at her. WJLA-TV has a video report. Read the story here.

Deaf woman sues NYPD over Terp

She was locked up for 24 hours without an interpreter. The New York Daily News explains what happened to Opal Gordon and why she is suing the New York Police Department in the video below. No captions, but you can read the story here.

Deaf wrestler wins right to terp during match

(image from WJBK-TV video report)

A week ago we told you about the deaf wrestler in Michigan who wasn't allowed to communicate with his interpreter during matches unless he was looking in her direction--not easy to do during a wrestling match. Now the Michigan High School Athletic Association has settled Ellis Kempf's complaint. Read the story from AP here.

Nurse settled lawsuit against College

A community college is paying a former student $75,000 to settle a lawsuit against it. Shirley Parrott-Copus is hard of hearing and said in her suit that Terra State Community College in Fremont, Ohio threw her out of the program when she asked for accommodations. Here's a video report from WTVG-TV. No captions but you can read the story here.

'Zombie Walk' driver: probation

Matthew Pocci drove through a group participating in a Zombie Walk during San Diego's 2014 Comic-Con. He injured a woman and was sentenced yesterday to "three years probation and 60 days of electronic monitoring" according to KGTV. The TV station has a video report, posted below. No captions but you can read the story here.

Hospital slapped with suit over terp

Chris and Donna Cantrell are suing Johnson City Medical Center in Johnson City, Tennessee for not providing a qualified sign language interpreter during the six months they sat by their 21-year-old daughter's side as she died from cancer. The Medical Center declined to comment on the lawsuit. Read more from the National Association of the Deaf here.

Deaf Package Handler sues UPS

A UPS package handler is suing his employer for allegedly failing to provide him a sign language interpreter. Michael MacDonald is deaf and works out of the Philadelphia airport. He told Philly.com,"No meeting, I don't need an interpreter, I can do my job. But when there's a meeting, I need an interpreter, period, end of story. The communication is vital. If I'm not privy to this communication and this information, then I can't do my job." Read the full story here.

National Tour in Broadway show's future

Can't get to New York to see Deaf West Theatre's Broadway production of Spring Awakening before it closes on January 24? Don't worry, it might be coming your way. The producers have announced a nationwide tour starting in 2017. More details about which cities the show will visit and how to buy tickets have yet to be announced.

ASL typeface

Peter A. Blacksberg
(image from RIT)

ASL Manutype Black is a modern typeface for American Sign Language designed by Peter A. Blacksberg. Blacksberg attended Rochester Institute of Technology where he studied photography and developed an interest in sign language when he took part in an NTID summer interpreter program.  He says:

As a photography student in 1972, I became fascinated by the visual aspects of fingerspelling and the challenge of representing hand shapes as graphical forms. I proposed an independent study project and developed a complete typeface along the lines of the international signage that I had seen in Europe. I spent hours reducing visual complexity while retaining and enhancing elements which made each letter shape identifiable.

The RIT official announcement is here.

Deaf men fight gun-toting robber

Police in Parma Ohio say after a "21-year-old man walked into a gas station and fatally shot its owner during a robbery, the man turned to two customers who are deaf," according to WEWS-TV. Here is a video report. No captions but you can read the story here.

A writer gets to know her deaf neighbor

A Washington Post story "gives a face to the thousands of deaf senior citizens out there without support" as one commenter writes. And it's the story of what's happened to one of Gallaudet's former biology professors. She lost her father to the Nazis while her mother's death ended up bringing her to the attention of a neighbor. Read the story in Washington Post here.

Wrestler sues over terp rules

A high school wrestler is suing "a Michigan athletic association for not allowing him to use the interpreter during wrestling matches." The Detroit News quotes Ellis Kempf's mother as saying, "We aren’t seeking money and he doesn’t want an advantage. He just wants to continue using his interpreter so he can understand what his coach wants him to do during matches.” Read the full story from the Detroit News here or watch a video report from WJBK-TV. No captions but the text of the story is here.

Linguists document ASL Philly 'accent'

"There's this real pride in how different Philadelphia ASL is," says one of the professors in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Linguistics. That's why they did some research on the accent. Read about their work here.