NYTimes: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Fight to Be Heard

The New York Times quotes a lawyer who specializes in cases involving the deaf and hard of hearing as saying that despite the lawsuits:

"Time and time again, people ignore the laws that are written.” What’s more, he added, some A.D.A. violators have been sued multiple times, including the New York Police Department. Recently, however, a deaf rights movement has begun to gain ground, particularly in New York.

Read the full story about the stuggle in the state of New York here.

Seattle Film Fest

The 2016 Seattle Deaf Film Festival gets underway this Thursday. For more information click here.

Summer STEM Camps

Image from RIT.edu (the 2014 girls camp photo)

Deaf and hard of hearing middle school students will gather from around the country for camps at the Rochester Institute of Technology to talk about STEM. The week-long camps will focus on science, technology, engineering and math. The school says, "Through hands-on activities, campers will explore chemistry, computers, engineering and science--even building their own computers to take home and commanding simulated missions to Mars. They also will meet other students with similar interests and enjoy social activities." Classes are held in both English and sign language from July 23-28. Find out more at RIT's TechGirlz
site and TechBoyz site.

Nyle DiMarco's first "Dancing with the Stars"

Nyle DiMarco says he slipped up during Monday's episode of Dancing with the Stars-but the judge's didn't catch it. He explains how the first live show of the season went in his vlog.

Deaf women "brutally attacked"

KESQ-TV reports that two California deaf women were attacked with a baseball bat and their home broken into shortly thereafter. No captions provided by the TV station, but you can read the story here.

Deaf Contestant on DWTS wows Judges

Nyle DiMarco made a splash on Dancing With the Stars. The deaf America’s Next Top Model winner performed to DNCE’s Cake By the Ocean during the week one show with partner Peta Murgatroyd. Nyle and Peta earned a 23 out of 30 for theircha-cha. Here's a video report from Yahoo News.

the story of a deaf Taiwanese dancer's rise to fame

Lin Ching Lan was "turned away by dance schools" but that didn't stop the deaf Taiwanese dancer from "defying the odds and dancing her way to stardom." Read more at Mashable here. Below is a video about her.

App helps Deaf-operated biz "Glide"

image from crepecrazy.com

An Austin, Texas restaurant with a large deaf staff is using a video app to communicate with its customers. The Glide app was not built with the intention of helping deaf-operated businesses like Crepe Crazy, but the real-time visual messaging service is doing just that. Read the full story in a KUT radio article posted here.

EDM "Concert for the Deaf" in South Beach

Dutch DJ Martin Garrix created an immersive music experience for deaf people at the sold out Ultra Music Festival this weekend in Miami, Florida. Here's a video about the effort called "Concert for the Deaf."

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).

NBA's First Deaf Player starts tech business

image from Lance Allred
Keynote Speaker video

He was the first deaf player in the NBA. But Lance Allred retired from the game in 2015. What's he been up to since then?
Turns out he's "creating a tech company called Manestream that he says will provide radically faster access to internet resources," according to Forbes magazine. Read the full story here.

Nyle DiMarco on Access Hollywood

Access Hollywood takes a look at Nyle DiMarco's planned appearance on Season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. The show spoke with DilMarco and his pro partner, Peta Murgatroyd who says they are "ready for the unique challenges they’ll face." Here's the video:

"Contentious" assessment debate

State Senator Dennis Pyle

Kansas lawmakers are battling over a bill that would change how deaf and hard of hearing are assessed in school. State Senator Dennis Pyle told a Senate Committee on Education, "If we’ve had data proving there was this major of a problem, I’m very concerned as to why we’ve waited this long to act,” according to the Salina Post. Read the full story here.

Switched at Birth coming to an end

The creator of Switched at Birth says the show is coming to an end. Lizzy Weiss tweeted that the coming fifth season will be the last one. The Freeform network (formerly ABC Family) says the ASL-driven show will conclude with a special 90-minute finale. Switched at Birth centers on two teenage girls who discover they were swapped as newborns in a hospital mix-up.  It's not a surprise that the show is ending-considering there are now 100 episodes--an important number for syndication. Also, the Freeform cable network is pulling away from family-oriented shows and rebranding itself as a network about issues facing people who've recently graduated from college--getting that first job, serious love interests, and the like. Weiss didn't say when the final season will begin.

New CEO at Deaf School

image from Google maps

The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf has a new CEO. Steven Farmer was the director of student life at the Tennessee School for the Deaf. He'll take over in July for Donald Rhoten who is retiring. Board of Trustees Chair Melissa Scheffler said:

We’re thrilled that Dr. Farmer has accepted our offer to become our new CEO. The decision was the result of an intensive 8-month search process during which our Board interviewed numerous candidates, introduced them to students, parents and alumni, hosted site visits and evaluated what each candidate could bring to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community at WPSD. Ultimately, we found that Dr. Farmer would best position our school for the future due to his vast management and leadership experience and his steadfast commitment to deaf education and communication throughout his career.

Read the full announcement here.

Fast-Food Sign goes viral

A deaf woman in North Carolina was surprised when a Chick-Fil-A employee responded to her order in sign language. A video of the encounter has gone viral. WTVD-TV has a video report.

Deaf baseball player Still Inspires

The Columbus Dispatch takes a look at a new children's book about a deaf major leaguer called The William Hoy Story: How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game. Author Nancy Churnin writes "He showed how a deaf man could succeed in a hearing world at a time when deaf people encountered great prejudice. That’s one of the reasons he is such a hero in the deaf community.” Read the entire review here.

Want to learn something about Chinese Sign?

Chinese Sign Language is "slowly gaining ground in the online community, with social networking sites and blogging platforms being used to share materials and spread awareness of basic sign language. Online media is also acting as a space for deaf people to interact with CSL and use CSL in new ways, such as in online videos and music," according to an article on What's on Weibo written by Cat Hanson. Read the full story here. Below is a sample of Chinese Sign Language in action.

Nyle DiMarco & the Cast of Dancing introduced

Nyle DiMarco was introduced on Good Morning America as the first deaf contestant who will compete on ABC's Dancing With the Stars. We told you last week that the winner of the final season of America's Next Top Model would be joining Dancing when it premieres March 21 at 8pm, Eastern. However, it was Oscar winner Marlee Matlin who became the first deaf contestent on the show in 2008. Here's a video from GMA but the captions don't seem to be working.

Implants puts boy between two worlds

this is the model implant referred to
in the article

A New York mom writes that the decision to give her son cochlear implants puts him, "in between two worlds: He is not a member of deaf signing culture, but neither is he fully part of the hearing community. Instead, he lives somewhere in the middle, joining the 48 million Americans who are challenged with some level of hearing loss." Read full article in the Atlantic here.

Tensions between the Deaf community and Starkey

A Deaf advocacy group objects to how the Starkey Hearing Foundation operates. The California Association for the Deaf is calling on Starkey to stop exploiting the people who are receiving hearing aids from the group and slogans like “hearing brings joy.”The CAD president told Minnesota's Star Tribune “Their marketing approach is really hurting us. They are pushing the concept that we are OK only if we can hear, that hearing equals joy. Hollywood loves that, but it is just not true.” Starkey won't talk about the controversy. Read the full Star Tribune here.

2nd Deaf Contestant on Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars will have a deaf contestent on season 22. America’s Next Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco will be the second deaf contestant on the show. When Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin competed during season six she came in seventh place. Here's a video of DiMarco from an appeareance this psat fall on Entertainment Tonight.