Terps in Colorado

There are 500 noncertified interpreters in Colorado, according to The Colorado Association for the Deaf. The state has 203 certified sign language interpreters, most of whom were certified through a program created under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Boycott at Deaflympics

The Deaflympics, taking place in Taipei, Taiwan has gotten caught in some international politics. Some 70 Chinese athletes are not expected to attend Saturday's opening ceremony. A spokesman says they will still take part in the games. There are reports that suggest the boycott is over the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan.

Teen Attacked

A Charlotte-area teen is facing charges he attacked a deaf student at Forestview High School. Prosecutors say the Gastonia teenager hit the victim on the back of the head, knocking out his hearing implants.

Switching Health Roles

It was a health care role reversal yesterday at a Rochester hospital. Some 100 first-year medical students switched roles with members of the deaf community who played health providers. The program is designed to teach the students what its like for the deaf and hard-of-hearing to seek medical attention. They learned first hand how difficult medical care can become as a patient without adequate communication. The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry says its the only exercise like this in the country and Deaf Strong Hospital has been doing it for more than a decade. Students are given cards with symptoms listed and are told they cannot talk.

Snow Leopard

The newest major update of the Macintosh operating system went on sale today. Snow Leopard includes an improvement for the deaf. Within the Universal Access system preference there is a Hearing tab that offers a Play Stereo Audio as Mono. This will let people who can hear better through a single ear to more clearly hear both channels of a stereo signal.

Child Porn Charges

A former deaf football player is in jail and charged with child molestation and pornography in Norman, Oklahoma. Prosecutors say Eric Thunander confessed after a child at a daycare told workers he had touched her inappropriately. The defensive end was a standout as part of the University of Oklahoma’s 2000 National Championship team.

Thunander told the story of his attempt to overcome abuse and depression in a book released last year called Silent Thunder. According to the autobiography, Thunander endured abuse and multiple foster homes as a child, finally hitting the bottom when a head injury ended his football career. He wound up trying to commit suicide. But Thunander says he turned his life over to God, went back to school to complete his degree and became a motivational speaker.

Change in Sight

A Kentucky teacher is trying get a program started for deaf-blind children. Debbie Garvue’s own 6-year-old daughter is deaf-blind. She’s hoping to launch the special classes at Heuser Hearing and Language Academy, formally the Louisville Deaf Oral School. The Academy has a program for children up to the age of five but her daughter is now too old to attend. Garvue’s Change in Sight campaign hopes to raise $200,000.

Off to Taiwan

A University of Montana journalism student is one of more than a dozen college journalism students headed to Taiwan to cover the 21st Summer Deaflympics. Hugh Carey was selected to join the USA Deaf Sports Federation’s media team as a photojournalist.

Born deaf, Carey learned ASL but stopped using it after attending third grade when he received hearing aids and being encouraged to learn to lip-read. Carey says he’ll try to relearn the language. An athlete himself, he participated in last year’s Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Florida.

Nearly 4,000 athletes from 81 countries are expected to take part in next month’s Deaflympics, in Taipei City starting September 5th.

School Chief Retires

Idaho's school for deaf and blind superintendent has called it quits. Mary Dunne has retired after 37-years with the Gooding school. She took over as superintendent two years ago. Budget cuts forced the facility to cancel its summer programs.

Just Six Students

Enrollment at the South Dakota School for the Deaf has fallen from 30 to only 6 students this fall. The governor wanted to close the facility but the school was saved by federal stimulus funds. The Brandon Valley School District took over deaf school's auditory-oral program. It serves a dozen students at an elementary school. The South Dakota School for the Deaf has a 14-acre campus worth an estimated $10 million.

Iowa Wants You

The Iowa School for the Deaf wants to fill its classrooms with students from other states. The Council Bluffs facility is only at two-thirds capacity. It already accomedates more than a dozen children from Nebraska which lost its school for the deaf 11 years ago. Even though more than 100 students attend the Iowa School for the Deaf, it could easily handle 50 more. And the dorms built on campus make it especially attractive for out-of-state parents of deaf children looking for education.

911 Text

Minnesota emergency dispatch centers are preparing to upgrad their equipment to recieve text messages. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety is coordinating the change. Right now, Waterloo, Iowa emergency is the only dispatch center in the country able to receive texts.

New Outreach Center

A group called Laborers for Christ is building an outreach center for Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf in Jacksonville, Illinois across from the Illinois School for the Deaf. The new structure will take the place of the water damanged parsonage. Laborers for Christ is made up of Lutheran retirees who will camp out in their RVs during construction.

Football Returns

The Michigan School for the Deaf is fielding a football this season for the first time in 24 years. The program was cut by the Flint school in 1985. But students will play eight-man football starting September 17th against Carsonville High.

Million $ Prize

WAGA-TV in Atlanta with a video report on a prize that was supposed to go to deaf schools in the state.

TTY Pioneer

James Marsters has died at the age of 85. Profoundly deaf, Marsters was both an dentist and a licensed pilot who earned a degree in chemistry. But he will best be remembered as one of the men behind the text telephone or TTY. Marsters' mother raised him as if he was fully hearing, so he became an expert lip reader. Rejected by several dental schools because he was deaf, Marsters eventually was accepted to a New York school, making money to finance his education by performing as a magician. He became friends with deaf physicist Robert Weitbrecht and together they come up with the concept for the TTY. Weitbrecht patented the equipment linking teletype machines over telephone lines. They formed Applied Communications in the mid-60's. AT&T orginally tried to stop the development, claiming it damaged the company's equipment. But eventually, the dominant phone company gave way and supported the effort. By the next decade, police and fire departments started installing the technology for emergencies. During the 1980's a variety of TTY machines hit the market, ensuring the deaf would not be left out of the conversation.

Protest over Million $ Prize

More than two dozen protesters showed up at the law offices of the bankruptcy for Kathy Cox in Newnan, Georgia yesterday. She promised to give the $1 million she won on a TV show to the state schools for the deaf and blind: the Georgia School for the Deaf, the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf and the Georgia Academy for the Blind. But after she declared bankruptcy, that donation was in question. The prize money could go to creditors. Her attorney did not meet with the demonstrators but has said he is working to free the money up. Some of the creditors have withdrawn their claim to the prize money. Georgia's Attorney General has issued an opinion that the money should go to the schools. She won the money on the Fox show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? The network says it will not give out the prize until there is an agreement on who should get the money. If there is no agreement, Fox says it will let the courts decide.

Struggles of Deaf-Blind

KRIV-TV in Houston offers a video report on the difficulties of raising a deaf-blind child.

Viable Purchase

Video relay service Viable Communications is being bought by New York-based Snap!VRS. Viable is a Maryland-based deaf services company that was recently searched by the FBI in connection with an investigation of a Florida company whose owners have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government. Viable says it is fully cooperating with the investigation.

Meanwhile, Viable's president is headed to court September first. Mary K. Moylan accuses John Yeh of not pay her wages of more than $7400, according to The Gazette. The Maryland deaf services company faces that trial in Rockville followed by an October civil contract hearing.

Viable has nearly 250 workers, many of whom are deaf.

Georgia Protests

Advocates for Georgia's deaf schools will gather at a lawyer's office in Newnan this afternoon. They want money from the bankruptcy of Georgia School Superintendent Kathy Cox to go to the Georgia Association for the Deaf . When Cox won $1 million on the Jeff Foxworthy show Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? she pledged to give the funds to the state schools for the blind and deaf. But Cox declared bankruptcy last year, saying she and her husband owe $3.5 million. The demonstrators are gathering at the offices of the attorney serving as her bankruptcy trustee because they are concerned the funds will wind up going to creditors instead of charity.