Benefit Concert

A concert takes place Thursday at Duke University to support the Children's Hearing Institute in New York. The organization helps to provide cochlear implants to children. The concert will feature folk-blues band Delta Rae and singer-songwriter Chris Bryant at 7 p.m. A group of children from around the area will also express song lyrics through sign language.

3D Subtitles

Disney says it's releasing the first movie to include 3D subtitles in the UK, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey. The company says the technology necessary to create subtitles in 3D is just getting to the point where it is usuable. Here's the press release.

Ultimate Fighter

An ultimate fighter finalist who is deaf compete in one of the featured bouts to be televised Saturday on Spike TV in Las Vegas. Matt Hamill from New Hartford, Connecticut is considered a rising star in the sport of mixed martial arts. He'll take part in the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. Hamill will fight Jon Jones in a light heavyweight bout. It’s his first time being showcased in the main event after 10 wins against 2 loses. Hamill says his hearing impairment has helped him to focus during a fight “without all the distractions.” You might have meet him at one of the Deaf Nation Expos which has toured the country.

Pollin Dies

One of the original members of Gallaudet's Board of Associates has died. Abe Pollin was laid to rest yesterday, after passsing away Tuesday at the age of 85. The DC sports entrepreneur owned the Wizards basketball team. He joined Gallaudet's board when it was started in 1991 and was a major donor to the University.

VRS Charges in NJ & Philly

The mother of a former Miss Deaf New Jersey is among the people facing charges in a federal probe across nine states involving video relay programs. The defendants are alleged to have generated fraudulent call minutes by making it appear that deaf Americans were engaging in legitimate calls with hearing persons. Irma Azrelyant is named in the indictments. She is co-owner of New Jersey's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services and the mother of Raymonda Azrelyant, Miss Deaf New Jersey from 2005 to 2007. Russian sign-language interpreter Hennadii Holovkin of Philadelphia is also charged. He's out on bail, waiting on a December 15th arraignment.

Golden Ear Mice

A new breed of mouse could point the way to drugs that treat age-related hearing loss. Details in an article by Scientific American.

Touch and Hearing

We reported yesterday about research suggesting that your sense of touch can help your hearing. National Public Radio offers a report on the study that you can read or listen to here.

Job Crunch

National Public Radio aired a story this morning about about how the economy has affected work options for the deaf. You can read the story or listen to it here.

Missing Captions

Disney removed all subtitles and captions from the bare-bones DVD rental release of the film Up. The enterntainment giant admitted the move was not an accident but a cost-cutting move that it now regrets. Company officials say any new versions of the movie will include captioning.

Helen Keller Story on Stage

The Miracle Worker is playing through December 6 at the Ross Valley Players' Barn Theatre in the San Francisco suburb of Ross. More information here.

VRS Deal in Doubt

A plan by a video relay service company to buy Viable may not happen after all. Viable's president, John Yeh, and three other executives have been indicted along with others around the country in a scam to defraud the U.S. government out of millions of dollars. Snap!VRS had agreed to buy Maryland-based Viable back in August but the deal wasn't finalized when the indictments came out. According to the FBI, the defendants created fraudulent call minutes by making it appear that deaf Americans were engaging in legitimate calls with hearing persons. Viable is also facing lawsuits filed in federal and state courts by more than 100 employees seeking back payment of wages.

John Yeh, a native of Taiwan who immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, has been a part of organizations such as the National Asian Deaf Congress and National Deaf Business Institute. He served as a trustee of Gallaudet University for more than a decade. Deaf Life, a monthly national magazine, honored Yeh as Deaf Person of the Year.

New Ways for Deaf to Hear

Brain images show touch affects what you hear, raising the possibility that one sense could be used as a substitute for another, creating new ways for the deaf to hear. MIT researchers found puffs of air to the back of a hand or their neck helped subjects hear better. Details of the new study have just been released by the journal Nature. Studies of deaf-blind people who learn the Tadoma method (learning to talk and hear by placing a hand on the neck and mouth of a speaker) have already shown the tactile and auditory senses are tied together. Another recent study revealed stretching a person's facial skin affects hearing which suggests we also hear through the face.

Georgia Woman Killed

A south Georgia deaf woman was shot in the back and left for dead today. Gayle Jackson was only 45-years-old. The Albany woman was left next to a dumpster early this morning. So far, police say they have no firm leads but are investigating the homicide.

Union Fined

A Minnesota union will pay a deaf sheet metal worker nearly $50,000 for discriminating against him. Leaders of Local 10 of the Sheet Metal Workers' Union refused to give apprentice Michael Sherman assignments because he is deaf. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigated and found that "stereotypes about deafness had led to a feeling among local industry professionals that deaf persons should not work in the field.'' The Union is paying the fine without admitting any wrongdoing.

Town to Make Changes

A south Mississippi town has agreed to improve its services for those with disabilities. The Department of Justice made the city of Poplarville come up with a plan after complaints. The plan includes: Adopting and implementing a grievance procedure to deal with complaints of disability discrimination, provide interpreters and auxiliary aids that are necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, provide assistance at polling places and create equal access to emergency management programs.

Toddler Gets Implant

KCAL-TV reports on a cochlear implant given to a 16-month old Newport Beach, California girl. Her hearing family says they will continue learning sign language (no captions).

World Record Pizza Line

The California School for the Deaf in Riverside went for a record breaking pizza line today led by 12-year-old Trystany Capozi. She hopes to break a world record for the longest pizza-making line at her school to raise money for the 4th Annual Trystany's Toy Drive. The outreach could touch about 60,000 kids. Her father, Angelo, runs Two Chefs Catering and they are registering their accomplishment of making 2500 pizzas with the Guinness Book of World Records. KCAL-TV in Los Angeles has a video report about the effort (no captions).

Message Boards on Airplanes

Students from the Rochester School for the Deaf have made a proposal this morning to JetBlue that the airline make use of LED message boards for airline passengers. The message board would be placed at the front of airplanes, providing both deaf and hearing passengers with gate information, baggage claim, weather or connecting flights, etc. The students say this would give those in the deaf community the same access to information available to everyone else. JetBlue officials say they were impressed with the teenagers and will offer the idea to corporate administrators. If you would like to sign a petition supporting the boards, go here.

Family Gets New Home

Habitat for Humanity has provided an Appleton, Wisconson family with a new home offering technology espcially designed for the deaf. Owner Alan Peterson told a local TV station, "I'm just so surprised and excited right now. It's awesome," The new house has light sensors for the doorbell and a special lock for the bathroom, so that if his daughter accidentally locks the door, there's a special way they can communicate through lights. All the materials came from The ReStore which takes in and re-sells used or salvaged building materials. The family says they hope to move in right after Thanksgiving.

Bison Score 100

Gallaudet University men's basketball won 100-59 against non-conference foe Christendom College Monday night. All 12 Bisxon players scored points and logged an average of 17 minutes apiece. It's Gallaudet's first victory against two losses. This is the first time Gallaudet has scored 100 points since a 103-74 victory against Johnson Bible nearly a year ago. It's the largest margin of victory since a 46-point win over Juniata College, 77-31 in January, 2007. The team suits up again at its annual Holiday Tournament this Saturday against Penn State-York.