Softball Tourney

The 2011 National Deaf Softball Tournament takes place Thursday through Saturday of this week in Dallas.

Hearing Loss by Gender

Men are about twice as likely to experience hearing loss as women. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders says things even out by the age of 80. The experts believe the reason for the difference is that more men are exposed to long-term loud noises.

North Carolina Artist

The work of a deaf painter is headed to the North Carolina state museum. Pete Ballard, a renowned doll maker, was asked to select a portrait of himself for donation to the museum. He picked the work by William Sparks. Ballard says the brush work of North Carolina painter is "extraordinary.” Sparks attended Gallaudet Univeristy and was commissioned to paint the portrait of school president Edward Merrill and presented a portrait to another Gallaudet president, Robert Davila, at his 2009 retirement gala.

Actress Learns Sign

English actress Rachel Shenton explains why she learned sign language in an article in the Daily Mail posted here.

Hearing Aid Financial Help

Lion's Club International

Better Hearing Institute
lists of federal and state financial assistance

Hearing Loss Association
lists of federal and state financial assistance

Find more resources at the Deaf News Today links blog.

Switched Summer Finalie

Tonight ABC Family will show the summer finalie of Switched at Birth, the new program about two teenagers, one deaf and one hearing, who came home from the hospital with the wrong families. Watch last week's full episode about the girl's celebrating their birthdays together by clicking here.

Dow Intership

Find out how the summer is going for two deaf interns from NTID here.

Interpreter for Nudist Camp

Tom Willard has filed a complaint with the Justice Department, claiming the Empire Haven Nudist Park has violated his ADA rights for failing to provide him with an interpreter. The deaf man from Rochester wanted to attend the organization's naturist festival this week taking place near Syracuse. Willard says he even offered to pay for his own interpreter if he could get a discount on his workshop registration fees. Willard says Empire Haven responded, “An interpreter for the deaf is not something Empire Haven or the organizer of the naturist festival provide for this event or any other event.” The event starts Tuesday and draws several hundred people.

Wonderstruck

A new book from award-winning author Brian Selznick includes main characters who are deaf. Selznick’s follow-up to The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the 640 page Wonderstruck. He credits Carol Padden and Tom Humphries (who both teach at the University of California-San Diego) with giving the book an authentic feel for what it means to be deaf. They reviewed the manuscript many times for him, making suggestions along the way. Selznick says he was also inspired by the documentary Through Deaf Eyes, a film about the history of Deaf culture. It hits store shelves next month. You can pre-order here or find out more here and watch a video of Selznick talking about the book below (there doesn't appear to be any captioning).

Hamill Loses in Philly

Alexander Gustafsson beat Matt Hamill with a second-round TKO during last night's Ultimate Fighter competition in Philadelphia. The match was close after the first round but in the second at the 3:34 mark, the referee stepped in to stop the fight because, as one observer put it, the deaf fighter was a "bloody mess." After winning five in a row earlier this year, Hamill has lost two in a row, dropping his record to 10-4.

Getting to Know.. Sean Forbes

Age: 28-years-old

Home: Farmington Hills, Michigan

Childhood: deaf since he was a toddler

Talents: Plays drums and bass

Family: Father and uncle lead a country rock band, stepmother is a pianist, brothers play bass and saxophone

Business: Started the music video company D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network)

Keeping it in the family: Sean's mother plays the piano and his father performs in a country-rock band.

NASCAR and ASL

A 13-year-old will sign the national anthem before a NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway today, located not far from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Carl Bradshaw of Coplay has signed the national anthem at minor league baseball and hockey events with others. Before the Good Sam RV Insurance 500, he'll do it by himself. You can see the race at 1 pm, Eastern on ESPN. Carl lost his hearing as a toddler to meningitis. An attempt at an early age to give him a cochlear implant did not work out. He attends the Scranton School for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing.

Utah Recommendations

The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind should move the office its superintendent from Ogden to Salt Lake City. That's the recommendation of a task force formed by the State Board of Education. The panel also recommends expanding the role of the advisory board and changing the qualifications for membership on the board so that more people would qualify for the post. Members of the state's deaf community have complained that everyone on the task force was hearing and it failed to take into account the unique needs of the deaf community in the state. Earlier this year, some state lawmakers suggested shutting the school down. Others have said the schools should be separated from one another.

Surcharges for Terps

ADA law prevents state and local governments from imposing a fee on someone in order to comply with the Act. That means if someone requests a sign language interpreter at a public meeting, a city or town cannot turn around and then charge that person for the interpreter's services. If it costs $150 to hire the interpreter, public officials cannot send a $25 bill to the deaf or hard-of-hearing person as a surcharge. Read more about the rule under Title Two of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Whatever happened to...

Former assistant Gallaudet basketball coach John Beker? Read the story here.

Tips for Communicating with Deaf young people

Below is a video put together by deaf young people offering some tips for communicating with them in the classroom.

Hamill in the Ring Again

Ultimate Fighter Matt Hamill will be in the octagon tomorrow night for a match at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The Light Heavyweight Bout will air on Spike TV. The deaf fighter will go against Alexander Gustafsson from Stockholm, Sweden as part of the preliminary card to the main bout. The 34-year-old Hamill carries a record of 10-3 against Gustafsson's 11-1 record. Gustafsson was supposed to fight Vladimir Matyushenko, but an injury opened the door for Hamill. Vegas think the Swede has the edge in this one.

Disc Golf World Championships

Three deaf disc golfers will compete in the Professional Disc Golf Association World Championships that starts tomorrow in the Monterey Bay area of California. This includes Deaf Disc Golf Association president Nathan Boyes, Justin Ashton, who won the 11th Deaf Disc Golf Championships in Austin, Texas, and Todd Thompson, who took the 40-and-older title at the same tourney. This is believed to be the first time deaf competitors have taken part in the event that draws more than 400 players from around the world. Both New York's Rochester Institute of Technology and Washington, DC's Gallaudet University have disc golf courses on campus. Boyes has put together the video below to teach some sign language to use on the course.

Sex Assaults at Hawaii School

Arrests from widespread sexual abuse at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. Watch this report from KHON-TV. Read the story here.

Not all deaf people want to be 'fixed'

Actress Emily Howlett was recently told by an audiologist she needed cochlear implants surgery "to prevent her falling into deaf society". Read more about it in a post at the Guardian here.