Getting to Know a Deaf Farmer in Ohio

Matt Fry is a farmer in Bellville, Ohio who is deaf. He tells Ohio's County Journal, "We know of a few other deaf farmers across the state and in several other states, but there’s no formal organization or anything for us to join to gather or talk regularly.” Read the full article here. 

City Council Drops Use of Terps at Meetings

If you live in Cleveland, your City Council meetings will not include sign-language interpreters anymore. The Council thinks it's too expensive, according to a letter one of the members sent to a man who is hard of hearing and had requested interpreters. The city provided them for a while, but the letter to Rico Dancy now offers him the use of headphones instead. Read the full story at Cleveland.com here.

Video shows Taco Bell Refusing to Serve Deaf Man

Taco Bell fired an employee in Ohio after he refused to serve a deaf man. The employee even threatened to call the police if he did not leave. The man's mother posted a video of the encounter on Facebook, saying, "This is my Deaf son getting discriminated against in the Taco Bell drive thru on Dorothy Ln in Kettering. He was trying to show them his order and they told him it was against company policy to take his order that way. Really?? Pretty sure the ADA would say otherwise. Uneducated people." Taco Bell released a statement saying:

Taco Bell has a fundamental policy to respect all of our customers and employees, and we are committed to maintaining an environment free of discrimination or harassment. The franchise owner and operator of this location has investigated this situation and the team member no longer works for their organization. All team members at this restaurant are being re-trained by the franchise owner on their policies.

Watch the video here.

CODA Who Defrauded Parents is Going to Jail

A judge in northern Ohio has sentenced Jessica DeMarco to 60 days in jail, 200 hours of community service and five years probation and restitution for defrauding her deaf parents of $50,000. Prosecutors say DeMarco forged a letter from a lawyer, pretending she was to receive a large sum of money. Read the details in the Warren Tribune Chronicle here.

Deaf Ohio man sues county for lack of terp

A Springfield, Ohio deaf man is suing Clark County because Sheriff’s deputies did not provide him with a sign language interpreter when he was arrested—or later when he was booked into jail. His attorney tells the Dayton Daily News:

It’s all too common. Whether it’s in hospitals, jails, schools, so many entities don’t know what is required under the ADA and other federal laws and just presume that if they’re dealing with somebody’s who’s deaf, that they can just communicate with them through passing notes, reading lips and the law is very clear that that is not acceptable.

Read the full story here.

City Council says "no" to paying for Interpreter

Cleveland's City Council is refusing to pay for sign-language interpreters at its meetings. Rico Dancy asked for an interpreter back in October, according to Cleveland.com. The City Council provided interpreters for three meetings but now has told him he isn't deaf enough to justify an interprter. Read the full story here.

Warehouse coworkers learn ASL

Kamal Nasser is helping coworkers at Columbus's AT&T warehouse learn ASL. Nasser is deaf, so this is making work better for him, but it's also bonding his coworkers together. WSYX has a video report. No captions, but you can read the story here.

College Football Player shows off ASL Skills

A video showing an Ohio State football player signing with two deaf fans got a lot of social media attention during the last month. The story behind the video from Ohio's Journal-News is here. Below is the video:

Driver's License Rules Have Changed in Ohio

The Deaf and hard of hearing can now get a commercial driver’s license in Ohio. It's one of the first states to use a waiver from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. At least 10 people have started the process, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Read the full story here.

Deaf couple found dead

Cincinnati police say a deaf elderly couple many have been dead for nearly two weeks when they were found dead in their home. Carbon monoxide poisoning might be to blame, reports Cincinnati.com. There's more information in the video below (no captions) or read the story here.

Suit: Prison refuses to replace hearing aids

The ACLU is suing Ohio's corrections department for not replacing a deaf inmate's hearing aids. James Handwork was given the hearing aids more than decade ago and the prison audiologist says they are wore out and obsolete. Read the lawsuit details 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.

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.

New Computer Program Predicts Cochlear Implant Success

Researchers say they've developed software that can indicate whether a child will develop language skills after cochlear implant surgery. By looking at brain scans, Long (Jason) Lu, a member of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center team says:

This study identifies two features from our computer analysis that are potential biomarkers for predicting cochlear implant outcomes. We have developed one of the first successful methods for translating research data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of hearing-impaired children into something with potential for practical clinical use with individual patients.

Read the details in the journal Brain and Behavior here or the hospital's press release here.

Is FCC serious about closed captioning?

IS the FCC's new captioning rules for TV being enforced? Not according to a Cleveland, Ohio columnist for the local Beacon Journal newspaper. Read what he discovered here.

Scam targets Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing

You have probably heard about fake e-mails claiming you've won millions in some lottery. A WOIO-TV viewer in Cleveland, Ohio called the station after she was fooled into believing she'd hit the jackpot. Here's a video report.

19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

Follow up on deaf couple who died in fire along with their granddaughter

We told you yesterday about the 10-year-old girl and her grandparents who died in a fire early in the morning. WKBN-TV takes a look at how the Youngstown, Ohio deaf community is handling the loss of Bill and Judy Schmidt.

Three Die in Fire before rape trial

A fire killed a 10-year-old today--just "hours before a man suspected of raping her was scheduled to go on trial" according to KDKA-TV . The DA says the fire happened under "suspicious circumstances." The girl lived with her deaf grandparents--who also died in the Youngstown, Ohio fire. KDKA-TV has a video report with more details.

Deaf Couple forced to leave home after dispute with neighbor

A deaf couple in Cleveland are struggling with a neighbor who was once the head of the US Secret Service and is the former Cleveland Brown security chief. At issue, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer: pets, trespassing, dirty looks and surveillance cameras in an otherwise peaceful cluster of townhouses in Beachwood, one of the region's more wealthy suburbs." Here's a video report or you can read details here.

Deaf School Hoops Tourney Results

Kentucky won a basketball tournament for Deaf schools over the weekend. The Kentucky School for the Deaf boys didn't lose a game (3-0) at the Spartan Classic taking place at the Ohio School for the Deaf. Participating teams included Rochester, St. Rita, Ohio, Western Pa, and Kentucky. Read more results here.