Gaming for Deaf Services

A gaming arcade will open in New Port Richey, Florida to provide funding for The Deaf Service Bureau of West Central Florida. City Commissioners agreed this week to allow the skill-based slot machines to raise money for the nonprofit. Players have to push a button to stop the spinning of the slot machine. This changes it from a game of chance to a game of skill. The most money that can ride on a spin will be 75 cents. No one under 18 will be allowed to play.

Women's Motorcross

The fastest woman motorcross racer in the country is Ashley Fiolek who was born deaf. The 5-foot-two 18-year-old from St. Augustine, Floirda is the only woman rider to be featured on the cover of a major US motocross magazine. She became women's pro rookie champion last season.

DeafNation to Puerto Rico

DeafNation Expo San Juan takes place this weekend at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. Admission is free.

Cuts in Carolina

North Carolina lawmakers are considering closing Governor Morehead School in Raleigh. The North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton and the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf in Wilson may be facing some budget cuts as well. Enrollment is down to about 250 students at all three combined. Just 63 attend Governor Morehead School.

Read My Lips

Read My Lips by Teri Brown tells the story of an oral deaf girl named Serena. She's good at reading lips and uses her ability to gossip and win friends. She's the new girl at her school. This is Brown's debut novel and she weaves a great deal of humor into the high school drama. Below is a video about the book.

Rainbow Alliance

The Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf Conference is set to take place in Chicago from June 30-July 4. It takes place at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers and will be hosted by the Windy City Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf. Some 500 people are expected from around the country. This year’s theme is Our Vision, Our Kind of Life. The conference starts two days after Chicago's annual Pride Parade.

State Assoc Meetings

The Illinois and Texas Associations of the Deaf begin their biennial meetings today. The 45th Biennial Texas Association of the Deaf Conference will take place at the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel in San Antionio today through Saturday. A little further north, the Illinois Association of the Deaf holds its 45th Biennial conference the same days in Bloomington.

Disc Golf

Kentucky Deaf Disc Golf Association holds its Bluegrass Cup Tournament at Idlewild Park in Burlington, Kentucky starting tomorrow.

H&V Conference

The Hands & Voices National Leadership Conference starts Thursday in Lake Tahoe and continues through Saturday.

Breaking The Sound Barriers

A new book published in Australia tells the stories of what it was like raising nine deaf children. Breaking The Sound Barriers is written by Julie Postance and published by Deaf Children Australia. Here is a TV report from Australia on the new release.

Sims 3

The most popular and best-selling life simulation game is by far and away The Sims. Deaf gamers will not be at a disadvantage in the latest version of the virtual reality game (Sims 3). The game's audio consists of mostly happy music and nonsensical musing as characters "chat" to each other. Users see little summeries of these "conversations" in bubbles over characters heads and in body language. But you don't miss anything without the audio because it's just baby talk, no real words are exchanged between characters.

Complaint Filed against Schools

The Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind is facing a complaint from the National Federation for the Blind. The paper filed with the Utah State Office of Education wants an outside investigation into problems at the school. The Federation claims the students are not getting the education they are required to recieved according ot state and federal law. Some parents complain that all the students are getting the equipment they need. "

Final Graduation

The Scranton State School for the Deaf held perhaps its final commencement today. Seven students received their diplomas. The state of Pennsylvania is turning it over to a private group. Here's a video report on WNEP-TV.

Gally Leaving CAC

Gallaudet Univeristy is leaving the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) after the 2009-10 academic year. Salisbury, St. Mary's, Hood and Stevenson will remain a part of the group while Frostburg State will take Gallaudet's place.

Implant Tuner

New software will customize a cochlear implant to each person's hearing ability. Instead of using tones to test range, the computer uses the most common syllables in the English language. WJRT-TV has a video report.

$3 Million Bond

Vermont’s Austine School for the Deaf plans to go green with the help of a nearly $3 million bond. The Vermont Economic Development Authority gave its stamp of approval to the plan along with $15 million in commercial and agricultural financing. The school and 15 other programs are run by the Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The funds will go to upgrade several buildings on campus including new lighting, insulation and heating system.

School Project

Some 200 8th graders are helping determine the best seats at Minute Maid Park for those with limited hearing. Thier classroom project involves measuering speech and music samples played over the loud speaker at the stadium. The data will determine which sections of the ballpark are the best locations to sit if you are deaf. KRIV-TV has this video report.

Lawsuit Over Rape

A former New Mexico School for the Deaf student who was raped in a campus bathroom is suing the school. Her parents say officials knew about a growing problem with the perpetrator and did nothing. Last year, he pled guilty to raping the girl and recieved three years probation. Her parents claim they warned the school and were told their daughter would be safe.

Camp Wonder Hands

This is the first full day of events for deaf and hard-of-hearing campers attending Camp Wonder Hands near Columbia, South Carolina. It’s a weeklong annual event taking place at Camp Kinard. Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital hosts the free event. This year’s theme: Christmas in June.

Dog Saves Woman

A deaf woman near Orlando was saved from a fire by her Chihuahua early yesterday. Lillian Miller was asleep when the dog began furiously barking at 3 in the morning. When she stepped outside of her mobile home, Miller saw flames leaping from her living room window.

TV Goes Digital

TV broadcasters are making the switch from analogue to digital transmission this Friday. If you are using “rabbit ears” or a rooftop antenna, you must take action to continue using your old TVs after June 12, 2009. If you don't have a digital ready television and haven't installed a digital converter box, your TV will stop working unless you have cable or satellite. The deaf can call TTY number 1-877-530-2634 for more information.

Longshot

Professional basketball player Lance Allred tells his unique story in the new book Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA. Allred grew up deaf on a polygamous Mormon commune and battles with an obsessive compulsive disorder and once considered suicide. But Allred signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers last year and is now playing with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Developmental League.

Red Earth Festival

The 23rd annual Red Earth Festival is taking place in Oklahoma City this weekend. The celebration of American Indian culture and hertiage brings together more than 1200 dancers and includes a grand parade and children's activities. Among the dancers is Jordan Watson from Canada and Samuel Phillips from California. They're the first deaf dancers to take part in the festival. KSBI-TV has this video report on the couple.

Training for Deaflympics

KRIV-TV in Houston interviews Duggan Baker who's training for the Deaflympics.

Gally Prez Selection

An interview with a Gallaudet University trustee is shedding some light on how the school picked Jane Fernandes as its choice for president. The nomination was withdrawn after protests erupted from students and faculty. Dick Kinney, an investment adviser from Milwaukee, tells the Chronicle of Higher Education that the board decided to commission a study to find who would meet three criteria: The candidate needed to have experience in higher education, an earned doctorate and significant hearing impairment. Only 27 people in the world fit all three criteria. That’s part of why the board ended up going with an unpopular internal candidate.

Heroes Adding Deaf Character

The NBC show Heroes will offer a deaf character next season. Emma will first appear in episode three of the science fiction show and then she will show up throughout the volume. She's expected to be a new love interest for Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), one of the main Heroes regulars. Word is Deanne Bray will play the part.

Deaf Pilots Fly-In

The 16th annual Deaf Pilots Association Fly-In 2009 takes place next month at Wisconsin’s Manitowoc County Airport. The show will run from July 30 to August 6. Last year’s fly-in took place in Corona, California. Pilots will be joining this year’s event from Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska and California. Rather than offering aerial stunts, the Deaf Pilots Association Fly-In 2009 gives pilots a chance to talk about common problems and share experiences with one another. A youth outreach takes place August 2nd.

Baseball Clinics

The Beverly School for the Deaf in Beverly, Massachusetts is offering free ASL baseball clinics during this month for children 7 to 13. The clinics will take place each Saturday at the Strike One Sports Complex. Contact Anthony D'Ambrosio for more information at adambrosio@shoreschool.org.

HLAA Convention

The Hearing Loss Association holds its 2009 convention June 18-21 in Nashville. Click here for more information.

Saturday Deaf Festival

A Deaf Festival will take place at Ellison Park in Rochester, New York tomorrow. It’s free and open to the public. There will be plenty of family activities, booths and free prizes .

Church for Sale

The property of Bethany Deaf Church in St Louis is up for sale. One prospective buyer planned to tear down the building on 310 E. Argonne Drive and put up a single-family home. The church is part of an Historic District, so the buyers had to ask permission for the demolition. But before the sale could get approval, the deal was dropped when it was discovered that a sewer line would have to be moved. The congregation of the church now meets in another nearby suburb.

Lawsuit Dropped

A lawsuit over Pennsylvania’s Scranton State School for the Deaf has been dropped. A hearing on the suit was set for tomorrow morning but that’s been cancelled after the parents of three students dropped the complaint. The doors of the school are set to close at the end of June and until recently there was no plan in place for the students. State officials finally showed parents a plan for services to move to the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. The Scranton campus will no longer offer high school grades and become a permanent day program for younger children. Students living on campus will have to be gone by the 2011-12 school year.

New Audiology Clinic

Pensacola’s Holm Elementary School is getting a state-of-the-art audiology clinic at a price tag of $400,000. A ground-breaking ceremony was held Tuesday with representatives of the Sertoma clubs. The nonprofit organization supports those with speech and hearing disorders. The school district gave $125,000 to the project and Sertoma raised the rest. The 1500 square feet facility replaces the one located at West Pensacola Elementary. Better and newer testing equipment will be purchased for Holm from federal stimulus funds to serve the 200 students who are deaf or have hearing loss.

Educating Deaf Children

A new website now available is designed to answer the questions of parents, teachers and other professionals working with deaf children. Educating Deaf Children is a product of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf which is part of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Texas School for the Deaf

The governor of Texas has named the following people to the board of the state school for the deaf. The Texas Senate will have to approve these picks before they become official.

• Beatrice M. Burk - retired associate professor at Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf
  
• Walt Camenish III – principal of the Texas School for the Deaf.
  
• Nancy Carrizales – former teacher at the Texas School for the Deaf
  
• Eric Hogue - mayor of Wylie, Texas
  
• Susan Ridley – FBI financial analyst, belongs to the Houston Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association
  
• Angela Wolf –director of human resources for the Public Utility Commission of Texas

Terp Agency Doing Well

Interpretek has posted gross revenue of more than $7 million. The Rochester sign language interpreter referral company works with schools and business in the local community but has recently expanded to offering video interpreting to deaf people in other states. The 16-yearold company has 75 full-time employees and has opened offices in Syracuse, Omaha, Nebraska and Orlando, Florida.

Deaf-Blind College Grad

A 27-year-old deaf-blind student just earned her associate degree in general studies at Cuesta College in Southern California. It took Corrina Veesart nine years to finish. She participated in graduation exercises yesterday. Veesart used interpreters in her classes, often only taking one class each semester. She can read Braille as well as large one-inch print up close.

Deaf Priest Ordained

Shawn P. Carey was ordained today as the nation's 11th deaf Roman Catholic priest. Hundreds came to Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the two-hour ordination ceremony of Carey and five others. An entire section of the church was reserved for many of the people from the deaf community.

Firefighter Lawsuit

A deaf firefighter is suing Newport Beach, California for discrimination. Brett Smith of San Luis Obispo wants $1 million after Fire Chief Steve Lewis withdrew a job offer because of the hearing issue. Smith was offered the position provided he successfully complete a physical but Lewis claims Smith never took a required hearing exam. Smith has been working as a full-time firefighter for the Santa Maria Fire Department for several years without a problem.

Baseball Championship

A deaf baseball player helped his team get to the high school state championship. Although Green Valley High lost the Nevada title to three-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman of Vegas. Casey Hicks is a backup catcher who warms up the pitchers. He’s 95% deaf without his hearing aids and an honors student. Here are some photos of Casey in action.

Loud Music & Hearing Loss

KSAZ-TV in Phoenix offers this video interview with a hearing loss expert from the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

New Video Relay Service

A new Video Relay Service has opened in Austin, Texas. Convo Relay is partly owned by several deaf entrepreneurs and Ed Bosson who’s credited with inventing Video Relay. The group plans to keep a consumer-driven perspective on new software.

Fueling a Student's Dreams

Here’s an Associated Press article on a Kentucky School for the Deaf senior studying the visual arts.

Jumbotron Promotion

Siemens is paying for a hearing loss awareness video to play on the ABC Times Square Jumbotron every hour until May 28th. This is the hearing aid company’s Better Speech and Hearing Month. Siemens reps will hand out educational materials about hearing loss around New York City while wearing one of the company’s latest models.

1st Deaf Juror

Karen Smith is believed to be the first deaf person chosen to serve on a jury in Olmsted County Minnesota. The trial lasted three days and Smith used four interpreters. They charged $70 an hour for a total bill of around $2500. During a time that only one interpreter could be available, the court reporter used her steno machine and real-time software program to provide Smith with a transcript. She was given a separate laptop. An oath was found to give to the interpreters so they could go room where the jurors deliberated. The first vote was split but eventually, the defendant was found not guilty.

Changes at School for the Deaf

WNEP-TV files this video report on the deaf school in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

1st Deaf Pastor

The first deaf pastor in the US was ordained in 1876. He took the pulpit of the All Souls Church for the Deaf of Philadelphia in 1888.

Implant Protest

Some in the deaf community want Wisconsin’s governor to veto a cochlear implant bill. The state legislature passed the measure that would make Wisconsin the first state requiring insurance companies to foot the bill for children to get cochlear implants.

Nearly 500 people have signed a petition saying the implants are dangerous and a threaten deaf culture. It reads in part:

“The notion that being Deaf is an affliction and an abomination which alienates
one from society and leaves the dependent and isolated is a myth and rooted in
audism.”

A group of protestors will try to give Governor Jim Doyle the petition today. Here’s an online version.

Harvard's Baseball Manager

The student manager of Harvard’s baseball wears a cochlear implant. West Resendes is an incoming freshman at St. George’s preparatory school in New Hampshire. The daughter of head coach Joe Walsh is also deaf.

New Fire Alarm

Another fire alarm clock for the deaf is on the market. David Albert’s Lifetone HL Bedside Fire Alarm and Clock listens for the sound from standard fire alarms, and then broadcasts its own signal. It will also shake the bed. It’s an option for those who might not be awakened by traditional sound or light-based alarms.

New Hearing Test

A new audiovisual hearing test is being used in Lower Manhattan at the Center for Hearing and Communication. Made for New York City where there’s always lots of noise, the test skips the typical beeps and tones in favor of real life noises: cell phone chatter, office discussions and the rumble of traffic. The center’s listening studio has a 52-inch plasma screen and five speakers at a price tag of $90,000. Funds for the design by Pod Design and Media came from private donations.

Causes of Hearing Loss

• 33.7% - noise
• 28% - age
• 17% - infection or injury
• 4.4% - Birth

Source: US Census Bureau

Listening Survey

A UK poll finds two-thirds of women and 55% of men admit they had never had a hearing test. Nearly half of both groups say they sometimes struggle to understand what others are saying.

2/3rds of the women surveyed said they only really listen when gossiping or eavesdrop on an argument. About half of the men surveyed said the same thing. Here are some of the other findings about the women surveyed. The average woman gives their full attention to..

• Best friends 75% of the time
• Their partners 70% of the time
• Bosses 66% of the time
• Work colleagues 64% of the time

Deaf School Discount

Beverly, Massachusetts residents will get half-price tuition at the preschool program offered by the Beverly School for the Deaf. There could be as many as ten openings this fall. It’s part of a deal the school has made with the city. Beverly is trying to get tax-exempt organizations to offer payments or services to the community. Half of the children in the program are deaf or hard of hearing and the other half are community peers who get to learn sign language.

Outstanding Deaf Athlete

Joanel Lopez broke his college’s shot put record three times this year and was named the America East Men’s Field Athlete of the Week. The son of an Haitian immigrant, Lopez is a standout deaf athlete who attends New York’s Binghamton University. He was runner-up in the shot put in the 2008 and 2009 America East Outdoor Championships. He’s also a member of the 2007-08 America East Academic Honor Roll. Lopez plans to work in biology or environmental science and apply to graduate school.

Walk4Hearing

The first Walk4Hearing event in Tennessee kicks off tomorrow morning at the Chattanooga State Technical Community College. Some 200 walkers on 19 teams are expected. Walk4Hearing is a national walkathon program organized by Hearing Loss Association of America.

1st International Sign Degree

A University in Scotland is offering what is being called the world's first international sign language degree. The Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University program will offer classes in British Sign Language and teach students to compare it with different sign languages across Europe. Nearly 90,000 people in the UK use BSL as their primary means of communication. The school is teaming up with universities in Finland and Germany to deliver the new European masters degree in sign language interpreting to allow students to develop experts who can interpret at international events including the United Nations and European Parliament. More information.

ASL Idol

WGHP-TV in Greensboro, North Carolina takes a look at a take off on American Idol called American Sign Language Idol.

Gallaudet Building Wins Award

A building on the campus of Gallaudet has won an award for its design. International Interior Design Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter has given SmtihGroup a Silver Award in the Educational/Institutional category for its design of the new James Lee Sorenson Language and Communication Center. The 87,000 square foot building has special elements designed to enhance communication between those using sign language. Corridors widen to enhance site lines and rounded corners allow greater visibility at intersections.

Finalie Party

Reporters swarmed the first deaf contestant at the finale party screening of the Amazing Race at a hotel near Times Square. Luke gave the cheerleaders team a hug when he spotted them and then watched the finale with his mom from a monitor in the main room because of a closed captioning issue. When they crossed the finish line on the show, they returned with tear-streaked faces to join the other teams for a big group hug.

Hearing Loss in Young Ears

WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee files this video report of hearing loss in teens.

Dancing with ASL

Cruz Lane pairs his dance moves with ASL. His interest in music developed during his time at the Texas School for the Deaf. Lane was one of the top five finishers at the National Association of the Deaf Conference dance competition last year. This fall, he'll head to the Rochester Institute of Technology to work on a degree in music performance.

Shane Van Boening

Shane Van Boening is 97% deaf and the #1 ranked pool player in the world (according to AZBilliards.com). The 25-year-old attended public schools in South Dakota. His grandfather, Gary Bloomberg, who was a trick-shot artist. Van Boening does not use ASL but wears a hearing aid. He won the Predator World Tenball and the US Open 9-Ball Championship in 2007. In 2008, Van Boening made more than $147,000. So far, he’s got $34,750 in winnings this year. He credits his work ethic with his success: Van Boening practices as much as 15 hours a day.

Baseball Umps

Hand signals were developed in the 19th century in baseball so umpires could communicate with a deaf baseball star. There are about 35 deaf baseball umpires in the country.

Emergency Text Trial

The UK will test a new system this fall that will allow the deaf and hard-of-hearing to call emergency services by sending a text to 999. If the trial run works successfully, the service could be in full swing by next year in Britain.

Pool Tourney Fundraiser

This Friday a pool tournament in Boca Raton, Florida will raise funds for the Alliance for Families and Deaf Children. The South Florida Very Innovative Professionals is sponsoring the event at Gatsby's Boca Raton. Funds will support Childhood and Family Literacy Academy programs that teach deaf and hard of hearing children and their hearing family members to read together and better communicate.

Houston Deaf Church

Amazing Race Finalie

The first deaf contestant on CBS’s Amazing Race was leading the competition going into the final leg of the race but he lost to a brother-sister team. Luke Adams had just graduated as valedictorian of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. He partnered in the race with his mom (Marge). On the finalie, teams were required to prepare pigs for luaus in Hawaii and then race on personal watercrafts to find clues floating on the water. Luke started fast but couldn't get the last one right. After it was obvious they could not win, Luke told Marge during the cab ride to the finish line, "I'm very lucky to have you as my mom.”

Houston Deaf Church

The Houston newspaper takes a look at the city's largest deaf church in this article.

UK Terp Shortage

If you think its difficult sometimes getting an interpreter in the US, just try living in Britain. If need a British Sign Language interpreter you have to wait an average of two weeks and pay a minimum of £130 (that's about $255). Interpreters must be booked for at least three hours at a time. There are only 360 qualified British Sign Language interpreters in the UK. That’s about one for every 140 deaf people who use sign language. That's why most BSL users rely on hearing members of their family to translate during medical and legal appointments.

Aging Rockers with Hearing Problems

• Pete Townshend of The Who
• Roger Daltrey of The Who
• Neil Young
• George Martin, Beatles producer
• Sting
• Ted Nugent
• Jeff Beck
• Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac drummer

Dance in Vermont

The Gallaudet Dance Company will perform this weekend in Vermont for the first time. The Barre Lions Club invited the group to the Barre Opera House on May 9 for two performances. Proceeds from the performance go toward providing those with vision loss and hearing loss with special equipment. The club has given more than $35,000 for eyeglasses and hearing aids in the last few years.

Deaf Musician Follows His Dream

WJBK-TV in Detroit has the story of a deaf musician trying to break into the business.

SD School Struggles

The South Dakota School for the Deaf might end up closing even after lawmakers voted to save the campus. The Sioux Falls school is down to just 16 students for the fall. The Sioux Falls school is down to just 30 and expected to drop to 16 students for the fall after administrators gave up its auditory-oral program to Brandon Valley Board of Education. Those students will attend the new Fred Assam Elementary School. The deaf school will focus on the 400 mainstreamed students it supports.

Marlee Matlin Honored

Marlee Matlin will get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today. The deaf actress will be joined by children from the International Center of Deafness & the Arts. Matlin’s star will go in front of Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. Matlin will be hoonored with the Mary Pickford Award later at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation’s Women of Distinction luncheon. The youngest to win the best actress Academy Award, her story is told in her new autobiography I’ll Scream Later.

Closed Captioning Study

The FCC is forming a working group to study digital closed captioning. The goal is to figure out how to work through some of the problems that have come up with DTV closed captioning. That includes set-tops that cut out high definition closed captioning, absent or garbled captions on high definition the feeds themselves and cables that don’t allow the information to pass through. There are also analog converter boxes that can’t read the data as well as flashing captions and some that cover the entire screen.

House on Implants

You can now watch the episode Fox's House about a deaf teen last week at Hulu.com. During the show the boy and his mom decide not to have cochlear implant surgery but Dr. House goes against their wishes. The teen rips the implant out but his mom decides to have the doctors put it back. Ryan Lane plays the 14-year-old wrestler. He's a deaf actor who also appeared on the show Cold Case.

Implant Limitations

Children with more disabilities than just hearing loss tend to lag behind other children in their learning, even with cochlear implants. That’s the finding of a new study lead by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The children made significant gains in their language skills after the implantation but the improvement did not last. Researchers presented the data at the 2009 Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting in Baltimore last week.

Amazing Race: Episode 11

On tonight’s edition of The Amazing Race, teams had to find a Travelocity gnome. Margie and her deaf son Luke are the first to find their gnome. Margie shows she is exhausted and says she’ll lose it if she hears Luke holler out her just one more time. Their clue tells them where to go to find electric bikes. They each ride a bike near the Forbidden City and then by Tiananmen Square.

Next, they apply make up to each other and put on costumes as opera characters. Luke has a lot of trouble applying makeup on Margie. He is supposed to make it match the makeup of another person. Margie gets frustrated and Luke signs to her that he is quitting. But he doesn’t.

They end the episode as team number two. Another team they have had conflicts with, sisters Jen and Kisha, are eliminated because Jen stops to go to the rest room.

Next week on the Season Finale of The Amazing Race teams travel to Hawaii.

Wrestling Fund-Raiser

Deaf WrestleFest 2009 takes place tomorrow in the gym at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. The force behind the event in Edgewood is Ken Jugan, also known as professional wrestler Lord Zoltan. One of his sons will graduate from the school this year and another is still a sophomore. The line-up card includes a six-man tag match. It’s sponsored by the WPSD Parent-Staff Organization.

Text Reminders

A UK hospital has started a program of texting deaf patients about appointments. The six-month trial run by the Colchester Hospital University started in December. If the reminders about audiology appointments works well, it may be expanded to include an option to book appointments the same way. Other patients receive an automated telephone call to confirm appointment.

VRS Training Center Opens

Sorenson Communications has officially opened its VRS Interpreting Institute at the company’s headquarters in Salt Lake City. Sorenson says it’s a state-of-the-art facility with the most current educational technology. Carolyn Ball has been tapped will lead the Institute. She was coordinator of the Salt Lake Community College Interpreter Training Program.

Save Our School

Parents, alumni and administrators from the Scranton State School for the Deaf made their voices heard at the Pennsylvania state capitol yesterday. They rallied to bring attention to plans that would shut down the school. Carrying signs that read Save Our School, they were joined by state legislators from the northeastern part of the state. The demonstrator left a stack of petitions at the governor’s office with more than 51,000 signatures opposing the school's closure.

Matlin Gets Her Star

Actress Marlee Matlin will get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next Wednesday. Long-time friend Henry Winkler and the president of Disney/ABC Television Group will take part in the ceremony along with children from the International Center of Deafness & the Arts. Matlin’s star will go in front of Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. She’s also due to pick up the Mary Pickford Award at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation’s Women of Distinction luncheon. The youngest to win the best actress Academy Award, Matlin's autobiography titled I’ll Scream Later hit store shelves just three weeks ago.

Poetry Out Loud

A Oregon deaf student became the first Poetry Out Loud contestant to compete on a national level for the top price using ASL. Tiffany Hinano Hill attends the Oregon School for the Deaf didn’t make it into the final round but says she was just happy to compete. William Farley of Arlington, Virginia won the recitation contest for high school students. The contest is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Hill was the first deaf student to compete in the competition in Oregan. You can see a video of her work here.

Academic Bowl Results

University High School of Irvine, California is winner of Gallaudet’s 2009 Academic Bowl national championship. They beat defending champion the Indiana School for the Deaf. The Maryland School for the Deaf came in third by beating the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. University High senior Gianni Manganelli won the Outstanding Player award. Florida’s South Plantation High School received the Team Sportsmanship award. You can watch the tounrnament online here.

Baseball Tourney

The Indiana School for the Deaf baseball team has won the Hoy Classic. The tournament is just for deaf schools and is named for onetime major league baseball player Dummy Hoy. The Deaf Hoosiers beat the California School for the Deaf at Fremont for the championship and went 4-and-1 overall. The Fremont school hosted the event. Indiana’s Tyler Crace won Most Valuable Player Award. He struck out 16 on his way to two victories.

School Closure Petition

Several families have gone to court to try to stop the closure of Pennsylvania’s Scranton State School for the Deaf. So far, the state has no plans for the students, according to the petition. The doors at Scranton are set to close at the end of June. At the same time, lawyers for the school have filed a motion objecting to the change. The motion has the support of the school’s superintendent, the head of the school’s board of trustees and a state representative. A private facility, the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf is expected to take over operations

Pastor in Murder-for-hire Scheme

A pastor in Baltimore is accused of paying a hit man $50k to kill a blind and deaf man for insurance money. The body of Lemuel Wallace was discovered in a park bathroom earlier this year. Prosecutors say Kevin Pushia had taken out six insurance policies on Wallace for more than one million dollars. Another pastor has been arrested in South Carolina related to the same crime.

Talking to Yourself

Some hearing people wonder if the deaf talk to themselves. The answer is obviously “yes”. The only difference is that while hearing people will talk to themselves in speech, the deaf will do it in sign language if that is how they communicate. They may rehearse a speech, mull over a conversation in their head or simply ramble internally about the day’s happenings. Imagine waving good-bye or blowing a kiss. That’s a ways hearing people talk with gestures. Imagine expanding that into a whole language of signs with grammar and its own set of rules, the greater your ability to talk to yourself without verbal expressions.

Implant House

On tonight's episode of Fox's hit series House, a deaf teen and his mother face a decision about whether to use cochlear implants. They decide against the implants - but Dr. House decides to go ahead with the surgery any way. The boy rips the implant out but his mom decides to have the doctors put it back. Ryan Lane plays the 14-year-old wrestler. He is a deaf actor who also appeared on the show Cold Case. If you missed the show, you'll be able to watch it online next week at Hulu.com. New episodes are posted eight days after their initial TV broadcast.

The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues was performed solely in American Sign Language for the first time this weekend at the University of Texas at Austin. Sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Center, proceeds from the performances benefited went to groups like SafePlace-Deaf Services (which assists survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault or rape).

iPod Hearing Loss

WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana files this video report on Ipods and hearing loss.

Amazing Race: Episode 10

There are only four teams left on the Amazing Race and one is a deaf man and his mom. During last night's episode, the teams made their way to Beijing where Marge and Luke must get a foot massage. Sounds simple but it’s painful. Luke decides to holds hands with a member of another team (Tammy) and share their pain. The teams next have to swim eight lengths of a pool or do a synchronized dive together. Margie and Luke choose to swim laps and moved through the relay quickly. Viewers who tuned in last week saw Luke get into a confrontation with another team, sisters Jen and Kisha. Ironically, it's Jen who’s in trouble this time. She falls apart over the requirement to swim. Margie makes fun of Jen and Kisha's lack of swimming ability after she thought that Jen was making fun of Luke’s deafness last week. Later, Luke can be heard saying, ''I'm gonna make it to the final three…and kick their ass.'' The episode ends without showing who is eliminated. With only have two more episodes to go, we can expect one team will be eliminated next week, leaving three to battle it out for the one million dollar prize.

Getting to Know... Auslan

Auslan is the short-hand term for Australian Sign Language. It differs from American Sign Language in several ways. Auslan uses two hands for each letter of the alphabet while the ASL uses one hand. ASL words sometimes incorporate the letter shapes, but the Australian words are more likely to rely on gestures. And there are some gestures that mean completely different things in each language. For instance, the sign for "where” means "what" in Auslan.

One Year Ago.. The North Pole

Oliver Westbury become the first deaf man to walk to the North Pole one year ago. He raised more than $47,000 to pay for the adventure that meant temperatures as low as 22 below zero Fahrenheit. Oliver was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss as a toddler. Half of the money he raised is going to the UK organization National Society for Deaf Children. Oliver is a web designer from the English town of Waterlooville. To prepare for the North Pole, the 27-year-old ran in eight marathons in eight world capitals over a two year period.

Is Luke Spoiled?

Bloggers are attacking the mom of Amazing Race contestant Luke (who is deaf). Luke had a run-in with another player on the CBS show and Marge immediately defended her son. One of them calls Luke "spoiled and mollycoddled" and writes:

"It really bit my butt that Margie automatically defended Luke's actions and accused the entire hearing world of thinking deaf people are dumb... When he acts up, she needs to see his behavior and call him on it. She can't just base all things on the world being against him because he's deaf."

You can read more here.

Disney Devices

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is offering a new hand-held device to guests with hearing or visual disabilities. At little more than half-a-pound, it fits in a patron’s palm. It amplifies audio and shows closed captioning. Disney plans to expand the use of it beyond its parks through software developer Softeq.

First State to Require Implant Coverage

Wisconsin is one step closer to becoming the first state to require insurance companies to cover cochlear implants for children. Both houses of the legislature approved the bill this week and the governor is expected to sign it into law. It also requires insurance companies to cover some hearing aid costs. Some Republican lawmakers complained that the new requirement will drive up the cost of insurance for small businesses. But supporters say it ultimately saves taxpayers money by cutting special education costs. The new law would affect those covered by private insurance plans but not self-funded plans. Wisconsin has more than 1200 deaf children and about a third of them already have implants.

Hockey Championships

The US won a bronze medal in the World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships after a victory over Russia. Finland won the gold and Canada took home the silver at the Winnipeg competition.