The Village of the Deaf

A video report on a villiage in India located nestled in the Himalayan mountains known as the village of the deaf and mute. This comes from New Tang Dynasty Televivision, a Chinese language service based in New York.

School Building for Sale

The Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf may lose its building. The school opened last fall with three students in a building owned by Creative Kids Learning Center. The Center’s owners are willing to sell the whole 7300 square-foot building for $1 million. But that figure is beyond the resources of the School.

Minnesota Money

A new Minnesota law goes into effect tomorrow making it easier for deaf residents to access online state services. New funds will update state Web sites for the disabled.

$30 Million to Deaf School

Rhode Island's recent bond sale has raised more than $54 million - and much of it will go to the state school for the deaf. Some $30 million will help pay for the design, construction and the equipment necessary for a new Rhode Island School for the Deaf to be located in Providence.

Implant Agorithms

Dr. Philip Loizou is working on improving the filtering system of cochlear implants. Recently given the highest award in the field of acoustic signal processing, Loizou is a fellow in the Acoustical Society of America. He also teaches electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. He says the processing system of implants can be changed to better cut out background sounds at noisy restaurants and other public places by developing algorithms to remove or suppress unwanted sound.

Video Helps Financial Advisor

Louis Schwarz is a financial adviser in Bethesda, Maryland. Schwarz is deaf and uses video relay to keep in touch with his clients. A senior managing partner at Schwarz Financial Services, Schwarz has offered money advice for more than a quarter of a century. His company has invested in ten videophones and find that many of the firm's new clients come from outside the DC area, thanks to the new technology. Clients must have at least $100,000 to invest, giving Schwarz Financial more than $20 million a year to invest.

The Silencer

A wrestler called The Silencer won his match last night against Lifeguard Wade Koverly in Miami. What the audience didn't know is that The Silencer is deaf. Combantants often whisper their next wrestling move into their opponent's ear to keep the show flowing. But that's not possible with a deaf wrestler, making it all the more difficult to coordinate a match.

School to Stay Open

Even if Indiana’s state government shuts down on Tuesday, the Indiana School for the Deaf will stay open. Other state employees will be immediately furloughed if a budget isn’t passed by lawmakers. But the school falls under a state law that excepts it and a few other services from that fate. Indian Governor Mitch Daniels threatening to shutdown the rest of state government on Friday because of the impasse. Budget conferees are expected to have negotiations over the weekend with the lawmakers reconvening Monday.

Feeling the Music

Here's a profile of a deaf bass guitarist in Georgia.

Relay for Life

A 24-hour walkathon will kicks off at 10 am tomorrow morning at the California School for the Deaf in Freemont. The American Cancer Society's annual fundraiser is called the Fremont Relay for Life.

A Day of Prayer

Deaf Catholics will gather tomorrow morning in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for a A Day of Prayer in American Sign Language. The event is sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg Office of Ministry and People with Disabilities. The event will be lead by Father Michael Depcik, who is deaf, at the Cardinal Keeler Center in Lower Paxton Township . The $15 retreat will be entire in ASL with no voice interpretation and includes lunch with the bishop.

Murder Conviction Upheld

A deaf woman’s conviction for murder has been upheld by the South Dakota Supreme Court. Daphne Wright of Sioux Falls was convicted of killing Darlene VanderGiesen because she was jealous of VanderGiesen's friendship with a former lover. Wright claimed she didn’t get a fair trial because of the interpreter and she wanted statements she made to police thrown out. The South Dakota high court ruled that she got a fair trial. Wright got a life sentence for the murder and cutting up the body with a chain saw.

Deaf Rapper

KSAZ -TV has a story on deaf rapper Sean Forbes.

Jackson's Choir

Michael Jackson wants a children’s choir that knows sign language for his upcoming concerts in London. The singer wants the kids to range in age 5 to 13 and be made up of equal numbers of black, white, Asian, and mixed-race children.

ADHD Test

There’s a DVD now available that will test for ADHD in deaf and hard-of-hearing adults. The test provides the original Attention Deficit Scales for Adults published in 1996 by Santo Triolo and Kevin Murphy in ASL. The Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder test was developed by researchers at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. It’s estimated that as much as 38% of the deaf and hard-of-hearing population could have the disorder. The DVD will cost you $150 plus shipping. Contact the NTID for more information at (585) 475-6906.

Music and Silence

Every culture creates music and babies love it. But other mammals either don’t like it or are indifferent to it. Researcher Josh McDermott at New York University found monkeys preferred slow tempo music but silence best of all.

Rocker Says He's Deaf

Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young says he is “completely deaf.’’ The 64-year-old musician wears hearing aids in both ears. He says in a recent interview his fellow band members often come to his aid during interviews because he misses questions.

Springfield Protestors

Dozens gathered at the Illinois Capitol today to protest the possible closure of the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville. Governor Pat Quinn says if lawmakers fail to agree on a budget, it’s one of the services that will be shut down. Some 5000 other protesters showed up as well – concerned about a variety of state organizations that could be affected.

Chili's Effort for Deaf-Blind

Chili's restaurants in southern Mississippi are donating 10% of proceeds from 4pm to closing tonight to the Mississippi Deaf-Blind Project. You can print a flyer for it here. The Project is located at The University of Southern Mississippi.

Joanel is on his Way

Joanel Lopez will go to the Deaflympics in Taiwan thanks to readers of the New York Daily News. The paper issued an appeal for donations to his efforts. Some $2700 came from readers. It will be added to the $1800 he already has for fees and expenses. Lopez also hopes to make to the 2012 Olympics in London.