'America's Deaf Team' Tackles Identity Politics

The Atlantic has published a long piece about Gallaudet, its football team, and the issues that divide and unite the culture. Matthew Davis writes:

I have met mainstream-educated hard-of-hearing players who say they have found their true selves and a true home at Gallaudet. I have met similar players who say they feel like more of an outsider within Gallaudet’s gates than outside them. And I have met completely deaf, deaf-school-educated players who are both welcoming to their mainstreamed brothers and also skeptical of their commitment to ASL. But football unites them—in fact, football seems to unite everyone. Nothing celebrates the myriad layers of the deaf community quite like Gallaudet’s Homecoming game, a Saturday afternoon that is the largest annual gathering of the deaf and hard-of-hearing anywhere in the world.

Read the full article here.

Terp Services Lawsuit Goes Forward

An appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have prevented a lawsuit from going forward against two South Florida hospitals over interpreters. The hospitals used VRI (video remote interpreting) but Cheylla Silva and John Paul Jebian requested an in-person interpreter. When the hospitals refused, they sued. Read the full story from CBS Miami here.

Deaf Rights Advocates Rally in Lousiana

Deaf rights advocates gathered on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol this morning. WAFB-TV has a video report.

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

How children with Implants learn words

Researchers at The Ohio State University are trying to determine whether children with cochlear implants learn words differently than their peers. One of their findings: "Whether or not a child learns a word can depend on when a parent says a label and what the child is doing when that label is said." Read more about the effort in US News.

What's happened to NZ's youngest implant receptient?

Josh Foreman was New Zealand's youngest person to have cochlear implant surgery when he was two years old. Now, he's 25 and graduating from the University of Auckland. The New Zealand Herald has a video report (no captions but there is text here.

Did poor signing cost him millions?

James Wang says a wrong sign cost him millions of dollars. He once worked for IBM and was paid $200,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. Wang "accused the tech giant of firing him for being deaf." But Wang says his lawyer "confused the sign for 'million' with that for 'thousand' while negotiating the deal." Read more on the story from the New York Post.

A Talk With Marlee Matlin

photo by Angela George

      photo by Angela George

The Hartford Courant sat down to talk with Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin before she speaks tonight at the American School for the Deaf's Bicentennial Celebration at the Connecticut Convention Center. She was asked about how things have changed in Hollywood since she won her Oscar at the young age of 21:

I did "Dancing With the Stars," and people said, "hey, deaf people can dance." I raised a million dollars for hearing aids for children on "Celebrity Apprentice." I try to show by what I do that deaf people don't have to be put in a little box. But we still have "disability blackface," where 95 percent of television characters with a disability on television are played by able-bodied actors. You still have the thinking that deaf actors only act in deaf storylines; any story line can feature an actor who is deaf. The topic needs to be part of our conversation.

Read more of what she said here.

Father and Son get Implants

A Georgia father and his son got cochlear implants together-despite the fact the father was at first against his son getting an implant. Atlanta's Fox 5 was there when Randy Adams had his implant activated.

The 200th anniversary of deaf education in America

Gallaudet University President Roberta Cordano shares a special message in honor of the 200th anniversary of deaf education in America.

Mississippi School "Defies odds"

The Mississippi School for the Deaf women's basketball team made it to the second round of the 1A state playoffs for the first time in school history. Coach Victorica Monroe told the Clarion Ledger, "When we became a part of history it really was shocking because I wasn’t thinking about it like that. I just wanted to come and be a good coach, and in the meantime we’ve made history.” Read the full story here.

Fed agency can't hire needed terps

The spy agency in charge of the most advanced imaging technology in the world has a budget of more than $5 billion. But "right now they have a position for a sign language interpreter that they’re not allowed to fill." Gizmodo explains why.

*update: The freeze was just lifted this week

Lawsuit: Denied Services by Sheriff's Office

screen grab from Action News Jax video 

Cassandra Kinney says the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Office failed to provide her an sign language interpreter. Police were called to her home several times but she says they failed to get her side of the story. Now she has filed a lawsuit. Action News Jax has a video report here.

Rally for Deaf Florida Man, Arrested at Protest

A demonstration opposing the Syrian airstrike turned violent in Jacksonville, Florida. Among those arrested was Connell Crooms, who is deaf. Action News Jax has a video report about a rally in his support at the county courthouse.

Mother of Beaten Deaf Protester Speaks Out

Feliciaia Crooms says police severely beat her deaf son in Jacksonville, Florida-and then refused to let her to see him either at the hospital or later in jail. The Florida Times-Union has a report on the several hundred people who gathered at the Duval courthouse in support of protesters arrested Friday night.

Resources in South Texas

The deaf and hard-of-hearing are in need health resources in the Rio Grande Valley. KRGV-TV has a video report from south Texas on the issue.

Deaf driver's license bill passes NC House

North Carolina lawmakers have approved a new system to help law enforcement identify people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It passed the State House and is now on its way to the State Senate. WRAL-TV has more on the story 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.

Mom: School took away Terp

A mom in Huntsville, Alabama says her school district has taken away her 8-year-old son's sign language interpreter. Ryann Brown told AL.com, "He cannot benefit from any type of hearing aid or cochlear implant so he fully relies on sign language to communicate. Taking away his interpreter would provide him with no access to language in the classroom." Read the full story here.

Lawsuit: Add Captioning at Pepsi Center

image KM Newnham

A class action lawsuit is asking the courts to make Denver's Pepsi Center include captioning on its video board and "provide interpreters for hearing-impaired fans at events when the video board isn’t in use." Read the full story from KMGH-TV.

A "deaf culture war" in Alabama

Rep. Margie Wilcox  

A bill in the Alabama legislature had pitted "the deaf culture and the 'hearing deaf' culture," against one another, advocate Leigh Leak says.  According to AL.com, HB 253, proposed by Rep. Margie Wilcox, aims "to help deaf kids who are falling through the cracks" but "advocates in the 'hearing deaf' culture are afraid the bill will force children who use spoken language to learn American Sign Language." They complain the opt out option for children with cochlear implants is too weak. Read the full story from AL.com here or look at the bill itself here.