The Texas School For The Deaf’s Football Team Wins State Championship For 1st Time

The NBC Today Show takes a look at how the Texas School for the Deaf became state football champions last night.

Training for Austin police related to the Deaf community

Police in Austin say they are making an effort to reach out to the deaf community in the Texas city. Cadet training includes two relavant sections: One is called Services for the Deaf, which is mandated by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The other part of the training is supplementary instruction specific to the Austin Police Department due to the large deaf population in Austin. Read more from the Austin Monitor here.

Deaf advocacy group says deaf voters not given enough access to vote

A Deaf advocacy group wants video remote interpretation services available at every early voting site in Texas. No Barriers Communications says deaf voters in Bexar County aren’t getting adequate access to voting. Only one location in the county has assistent for daef voters. KSAT-TV has a video report.

Teaching while Deaf in the age of COVID

A university professor takes readers into his world of lectures and masks--it is especially difficult for a deaf man. Kevin Garrison writes in Inside Higher Ed

In class, I cannot get close enough to read people's lips behind the face shields because of social distancing rules, so my students are increasingly silent.

Garrison teaches English at Texas' Angelo State University and you can read his story here.

A Push For Diversity Among Deaf Interpreters

The Texas Standard radio show reports that a "disproportionately small number of deaf interpreters are people of color...Nationwide, 87% of interpreters are white, while only 13% are people of color, based on a 2018 report." This has lead to a diversity push among deaf interpreters. Texas Standard has an audio report here and there is an accompanying text article but no transcript of the audio. 

TSD preparing for fall classes

The Texas School for the Deaf is getting ready to start classes online. Watch the video report below from FOX-7 or read the story here.

How a Texas school is connecting with its students

The Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children in San Antonio is working to stay connected to its students. Preschool teacher Holly Mason says:

I record instructional videos every day and then send it to the parents so that they can view those videos at their convenience...We are shifting greatly to parents who are having to take the primary seat. But what parents forget is that they were the first teacher. Parents are the first teacher their child’s ever going to have.

Read more and see a video report from KSAT-TV here.

The challenges deaf and hard of hearing college students

A look at the challenges deaf and hard of hearing college students face with COVID-19 in an article published by The Houston Chronicle here.

Texas Deaf school Preps for Distance Learning

Austin's Texas School for the Deaf typically has hundreds of students from around the state on campus at this time. But that's changed with quarantining for the pandemic. Last week was spring break and this week was preparation for moving classes online--starting this Monday. KVUE-TV takes a look a how the Texas School for the Deaf and the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired are preparing for distance learning.

HoH College Basketball Player

Kameron Hill is hard-of-hearing but that hasn't stopped the Austin College senior from playing a valuable role on the school's basketball team. KTEN-TV has a video report (or read the story here).

KTEN.com - Texoma news, weather and sports

Nation's first robotics competition for deaf, hard-of-hearing students

The Texas School for the Deaf is hosting the country's first robotics competition today. It features all deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

ASL Prof Apologies for Class Guest Speaker

A Baylor ASL professor apologized to his students this week. A pastor from a deaf church in Chicago was a guest speaker who talked about and endorsed conversion therapy. Jari Saavalainen was supposed to talk about missionary work, not counseling designed to try to turn gay people straight. Read more from NBC News here.

Deaf Awareness Week Celebration

It's Deaf Awareness Week and KIII-TV has a video report on a celebration of Deaf Culture and ASL in Corpus Christi. You can read the story here.

Texas Senior Making his Mark on the Football field

Billy Haynes is not only a hard-of-hearing senior at a Texas high school, he's an important part of the school's football team. Haynes plays for Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas and has been hard of hearing since he was born. KTRK-TV has a video report (or read the story here).

Deaf-owned Business Thriving

A deaf-owned Austin-based virtual mailbox service just scanned their millionth piece of mail this month after five years in business. KXAN-TV has a video report (or read the story here).

Deaf parent Suit: No Terp at Meetings

The father of a middle schooler in San Antonio is suing the public school district. Cleto Rodriguez says in the suit "he requested sign language interpreters for multiple parent-teacher conferences but was never provided them as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws." The San Antonio Independent School District refused to comment on the lawsuit. Read the full story in the San Antonio Express here.

Let's visit Work & Woof

A freshman at the Texas School for the Deaf (with the help of his teacher) is learning how to help take care of dogs at a place called Work & Woof. Here's a video about Fabian Davenport and his teacher Alexis Roland.

Texas Hoops Team Undefeated During Season

image from tsdrangers.com

The girls' basketball team at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin was undefeated through the end of their season. The team was 33-0 going into the semifinals. That's when the Lady Rangers suffered their first defeat. They lost to Houston Lutheran North by a score of 55-52. Lubbock Trinity Christian then beat the Houston Lutheran North for the 4A championship. Find out more about the team's effort from CBS-Austin here.

Security guard attacked by deaf Uber driver

A Houston security guard is recovering after being attacked by a deaf Uber driver. The confrontation was caught on camera. ABC-13 has a video report. For captioning, go here.

Deaf students struggle with getting last minute interpreters

Students at one Texas school are having problems getting interpreters when they need them. The student paper at the University of Texas at Austin quotes a communication sciences and disorders major as saying, “A few weeks ago, my professor made last-minute office hours. On the same day, he said the review session would be moved back an hour. I can’t do anything about that. I knew that if I submitted a request, I would not get (an interpreter).” Read the full story here.