Helen Keller once flew an airplane!

It was 75 years ago, during June of 1946 that deaf-blind disability rights advocate Helen Keller flew a plane. The story is recorded in a newspaper article archived by the American Foundation for the Blind. She piloted the airplane for 20 minutes as it flew over the Mediterranean ocean. Her companion, Polly Thomson, is recorded as saying:

She sat in the co-pilot’s seat with the pilot beside her, and I relayed to her his instructions.The plane crew were amazed at her sensitive touch on the controls. There was no shaking or vibration. She just sat there and flew the plane calmly and steadily.

Read more here

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DeafBlind poet, essayist gets $50k grant

A DeafBlind poet will receive a $50,000 grant. John Lee Clark is among 20 Disability Future Fellows from around the country selected by the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Clark is from Minnesota and has authored the essay collection Where I Stand: On the Signing Community and My DeafBlind Experience as well as a poetry chapbook called Suddenly Slow. Below is a video of Clark talking about the Douglas Bullard book Islay.

CNBC profiles a Boston Terp

Jon Urquhart is a CODA who grew up with a deaf-blind father. He ultimately became a sign language interpreter as an adult and now a TikTok creator. CNBC profiled him, focusing on how Jon survives financially on $60K in Boston.

What inspires an Australian deaf-blind artist to paint

Australia deaf-blind Artist Joseph Formosa uses a camera and large computer screen to sketch sea creatures he finds along the Port Stephens beach. The Australian Broadcasting Company has a video report on what inspires Formosa's creativity.

Harvard Law School’s first deaf-blind graduate: 'My disability was never my barrier'

Harvard Law School’s first deaf-blind graduate speaks out on ableism in a video for Yahoo Life. Haben Girma says: 

People often ask, ‘Is disability a barrier? How has deaf-blindness been a barrier?’ And then I ask people, ‘Why are you assuming that a disability would be a barrier?’ That's an ableist assumption. We need to move away from thinking ‘is disability a barrier’ and instead move toward thinking, ‘how do we make our service accessible, how do we make our schools accessible? 

Watch the video of the author, lawyer, and disability rights advocate here.

Deaf-Blind artist wins National Magazine Award

Deaf-Blind artist John Lee Clark has won the 2020 National Magazine Award for "Tactile Art" in the category of Essays and Criticism. You can read Clark's piece in Poetry Magazine here and more about the award here.

The Deaf-Blind Fear That Doctors Won’t Save Them from the Coronavirus

The president of Gallaudet University, Roberta Cordano says, “My worry is that the pandemic planning has completely missed" the deaf-blind community. “To be frank, there is no mechanism on a national scale to support the deaf-blind in the current American health-care system.” At least fifteen of Gallaudet students are deaf-blind. The New Yorker has more in a new article written by Robin Wright:

During the pandemic, the new forms of protection—including social distancing, masks, and gloves—only complicate communication for deaf-blind people who can’t read Braille with gloves on because their hands are desensitized. And many who have residual sight can’t lip-read through masks.

Wright goes on to say:

When I started reporting this piece, I had no sense of the scope of the issues or the depth of their fears. More than three dozen deaf-blind people from as far away as Australia poured their hearts out in poignant e-mails and calls, some conducted through complex layers of sign interpreters and Braille. People who are deaf-blind don’t want pity, they told me. Many are exhausted, even in normal times, by simplistic depictions of their heroic survival in a hearing and sighted world.

Read the full article here.

The impact of social distancing on the DeafBlind community

"For many in the DeafBlind community, social distancing has created unique worries and exceptional challenges," reports the Washington Post."It is forcing them to grow increasingly disconnected at a time when they need more than ever to be aware of what’s happening around them." Haben Girma, who wrote a memoir titled “Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law” says:

“Many DeafBlind people rely on tactile interpretation, which cannot be done remotely or even from six feet away. I’m worried hospitals facing scarce resources will decide not to save our lives. There is an ableist assumption that causes some people to think it’s better to be dead than disabled.”

Read the story in the Washington Post here.

What It's Like To Have Usher Syndrome

Hannah Corderman told Women's Health her story:

image from UsherSyndromeSociety.org

At 17 years old, I was officially diagnosed with Usher syndrome. I was devastated upon receiving my diagnosis, but I also felt a strange sense of relief. Even though I had just found out I would eventually go blind and potentially deaf, I still had time to do something about it, time to live my life as fully as I could during the years that I still had my daytime vision.

Read more in an article here.

KY teacher makes house calls to see Deaf-Blind students

image from WAVE-TV video

A partially blind and deaf teen in Kentucky is getting an education through his home’s glass front door. Helen Keller Center Specialist Corinne Miller comes to his home and communicates through the glass door to 16-year-old Alex Hitzelberger. Watch a video report about their arrangement from WAVE-TV here.

Harvard Law’s first deaf-blind graduate: Here’s what college is like for students with disabilities

Haben Girma is the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. She writes,"My personal experience with discrimination, as well as those I heard from others, sparked my desire to develop legal advocacy skills." Below is a CNBC video about her below and there is some background on her from Voice of America here.

DeafBlind Art

DeafBlind writer John Lee Clark talks about art he can touch in a Poetry Magazine post. He poses the question: We have DeafBlind artists, but do we have DeafBlind art? Read his entire piece here.

A Program for Deaf-Blind Independence

The Iowa School for the Deaf has a special programs to help deaf-blind students gain independence. A dozen students in the program have jobs and one "just completed a seasonal position." Read more in The Daily Nonpareil here.

Living with Usher Syndrome

Shannon Reyenga explains a difficult decision in Huffington Post article titled, "Why I Didn’t Tell My Boyfriend I Was Going Blind Until I Absolutely Had To." She writes, "After I learned I had Usher syndrome, I thought I lost any chance of finding love. I struggled with the idea of finding someone willing to face this challenging diagnosis with me. I could hardly face it myself." Read her full story here.

He was One of America's first Deaf Lawyers

He was born on this date, October 25, in 1880. Blinded by Scarlet fever at the age of nine, Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly began losing his hearing a few years later. The North Carolina African-American slowly regained his vision in one eye. While he wanted to attend Gallaudet University, his application was denied in 1898 based on the color of his skin. So instead, he earned a degree from North Carolina's Shaw University, graduating in 1908. O'Kelly was licensed to practice law in North Carolina, becoming one of America's first deaf lawyers. He later studied law at Yale University, becoming the second deaf person to graduate from the school in 1912. He returned to his home state where establised a lucrative law practice "serving white as well as black clients, particularly in real estate, domestic relations, and corporate issues" according to  Joe A. Mobley's book Raleigh: A Brief History.  O'Kelly died at the age of 82 on July 11, 1962. Below is a video from historian Kathleen Brockway about him:

Texas May Dump Helen Keller from Curriculum

Texas plans to remove Helen Keller from the state's social studies curriculum. Haben Girma, who is deaf-blind, makes a plea to keep her story a part of the in an opinion piece first published in the Washington Post. She writes:

Teaching students about disability through the stories of people such as Keller prepares them to be better citizens, better friends and better family members. Keller’s optimism, hard work and commitment to justice inspire them to the same virtues. Texas will make a final decision in November. We have time to educate the state’s Board of Education on the importance of keeping Keller in the curriculum. Keller herself would urge people to stay optimistic: “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”

Read the full article here.

Teen's encounter with deaf-blind man on flight goes viral

A teenager used tactile signing to help a fellow passenger during their delayed flight. Photos and a Facebook post by another passenger made the encounter go viral. Seattle's King5 has a video report but it does not have captioning. You can read part of the story here.

Helen Keller's message to the Nazis

image public domain

Helen Keller wrote a letter to Nazi students in 1933 who played to burn her collection of her essays, How I Became a Socialist. Read it and some background on it at Open Culture here.

Deaf-blind man ordered off Flight

Frankie Thomson has flown for decades by himself, despite being deaf-blind. But he was removed from a Easyjet flight going from Edinburgh to Gatwick.Thomson was told the decision was for "safety reasons."Read the full story here.

deaf-blind lawyer speaks out about apps

The first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law is on a mission to get more developers to design software with people with disabilities in mind. Haben Girma spoke with CNN about apps and says, "I try to always have a keyboard, braille display, Apple Watch, iPhone and guide dog with me at all times, but it doesn't always work out." Read the full story here.