No Terp for Jazz Fest

A deaf woman says it is "frustrating" that the Montreal International Jazz Festival denied her request for a sign language interpreter. Natasha Luttrell told the CBC, "I asked for one performance, only one performance to have an interpretation and they refused." Read the full story here.

New Superintendent

The Tennessee School for the Deaf and West Tennessee School for the Deaf will have their first deaf superintendent. A welcome event is planned for Nancylynn Ward next weekend and details are here
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Research Findings on Cochlear Implant electrodes

New research suggests some best practices for cochlear implant surgery. The main finding: Cochlear implants that have electrodes without wires perform better than those with wires because they cause injury inside the inner ear. You can read the details of the study in the online edition of The Laryngoscope here.

Deaf sexual assault survivor graduates with help from detectives

image from Chicago Tribune video

Chicago sheriff's investigators not only sought the person who raped a deaf teen three years ago, they stood by her until she recently graduated from high school. One of them said, "We went into this thinking here is a victim and let's try to solve her case and it just turned into ... seeing her as a goddaughter." The Chicago Tribune has the story here.

Book breaks new ground

A new book and conference in the UK represent “a major leap forward for the discipline” of deaf studies. It's "the first volume to be written and edited entirely by deaf academics" about BSL, according to the Times Higher Education. Read more about the conference and the Oxford University Press book "Innovations in Deaf Studies: The Role of Deaf Scholars" here.

Deaf Volunteer Firefighter Arrested Without Interpreter

Keri Dee says local police did not provide her brother, a deaf volunteer firefighter, with a sign language interpreter after his recent arrest. Little Rock's KARK-TV has a video report.

New Deaf School in Waco

A new school for deaf children is opening in Waco this August. Find out more in this video report from KWKT-TV.

Rocker Claims he owns Sign for Love

Gene Simmons, co-founder of Kiss
image by Jason Hargrove

Gene Simmons, the co-founder of the oldies rock band Kiss, doesn't want anyone using the sign language gesture for love without his permission-because he claims he owns it. Last week, he filed an application with the patent office to trademark the gesture (which rock music enthusiasts know as "devil horns") he claims to have started using in the band's act during 1974. His filing says, "No other person, firm, corporation or association has the right to use said mark in commerce, either in the identical form or in such near resemblance." Trademark attorney Michael Cohen tells the Los Angeles Times:

"There's plenty of other trademarks that have been filed for the same symbol.  So, to me, he's literally trying to trademark the hand gesture as opposed to the drawing of the hand gesture.. He also has to establish that that hand gesture is associated with him. So in the mind of consumers that go to rock performances, are they going to associate that symbol with Gene Simmons?"

Read the LA Times story here. The Washington Post takes a look at some of the other rockers who used the gesture before Kiss in an article here. Read the Simmons application here.

Terps at Chance The Rapper's concerts

image from ChancetheRapper twitter feed

Chance the Rapper is hiring his own ASL interpreters for all of his concerts. They are from DEAFinitely Dope. InTouch Weekly reports here that he is the first rapper to pay for his own terps.

The NFL's first deaf offensive player is back

Derrick Coleman
image from NFL.com

The NFL's first deaf offensive player is back and ready to play this fall. Derrick Coleman wsa a fullback for the Seattle Seahawks when he was arrested after "a hit-and-run accident in suburban Seattle in which he crashed into the back of another vehicle while driving 20 mph over the speed limit, causing the other vehicle to flip over a hill. The driver of the other vehicle suffered a broken collarbone," ESPN reports. Coleman sat out the 2016 season but is now set to play with the Atlanta Falcons. He is a "replacement for Pro Bowl fullback Patrick DiMarco, who signed a free agent contract with Buffalo." Read the full story from ESPN here. Coleman's NFL page is here.

Controversial Study claims CI Kids do better without Sign

Ann Geers of the
University of Texas at Dallas

A controversial new study claims children with cochlear implants are better off not learning sign language. The researchers write, "Contrary to earlier published assertions, there was no advantage to parents' use of sign language either before or after CI." The study, lead by Ann Geers of the University of Texas at Dallas, looked at development of 97 children. They found:

Over 70% of children without sign language exposure achieved age-appropriate spoken language compared with only 39% of those exposed for 3 or more years. Children without sign language exposure produced speech that was more intelligible (mean = 70%) than those exposed to sign language (mean = 51%).

An editorial from two professors (Karl White of Utah State University and Louis Cooper of Columbia University) said the research was "well-designed" offering "credible and useful information" that "can help end the passionate but debilitating debates between advocates of signing and nonsigning." Read the full commentary here.

A limitation of the study that sign language advocates are likely to point out: The children in the study were from hearing families who were not native signers. Details of the study are in the journal Pediatrics.

Also of interest: AG Bell gave lead researcher, Ann Geers, its 2014 Volta Award for making "a significant contribution to increasing public awareness of the challenges and potential of people with hearing loss." Geers recieved the award along with colleague Jean Moog. They collaborated as at Central Institute for the Deaf and below is a video of them recieving the award.

Captions on FB Live

Facebook has enabled closed captions on some live broadcasts. Some third-party software is still needed to use the feature, so most likely you will see it first on big media outlets instead of friend’s live broadcasts. If you have the Facebook Closed Captioning feature turned on, you will automatically see the text if it is enabled. Read more about the announcement here.

Getting to Know: Certified Deaf Interpreters

image from Lydia Callis Facebook page

"As the sign language interpreting profession has evolved over the past couple decades, the interpreting community has come to better understand and embrace the role of deaf individuals as linguistic and cultural gatekeepers. Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDIs) are extremely effective at bridging the sometimes vast and persistent gaps that exist between people who are deaf and those who can hear," writes Lydia Callis. She answers some "Frequently Asked Questions About Certified Deaf Interpreters" here
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Deaf Musician on American's Got Talent

Deaf singer and Florida native (now living in Colorado) Mandy Harvey appeared on America’s Got Talent this week. She earned cheers and applause from the crowd and a “golden buzzer” from Simon Cowell. Harvey is 29-years-old having lost her hearing when she was 18 from a degenerative ear disease. She said, "Music is an expression of the soul, and for me it's always been the way I could communicate.” Watch her audition here.

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.