Profile of an Interpreter

Ruth Murphy
(Photo: Times Herald-Record)

Why is someone who "grew up in Spanish Harlem, the fifth daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants" now teaching ASL?  Ruth Murphy's path took her through the experience of interpreting for the Pope as well as political leaders. Read her story in New York's Times Herald-Record here.

Why ASL classes are flourishing in Florida schools

ASL classes are expanding in the Tampa Bay area. One student spent her summer pouring over the ASL books in preparation. "I tried Spanish online and that didn't work," she said. "I'm really excited about this. The class is really good. There's never a dull moment." The Tampa Bay Tribune takes a look at the growing number of schools offering classes here.

Several crimes near Gally

A series of robberies around Gallaudet University this month in northeast Washington, DC during daytime has police asking for help in finding the suspects. Three of the crimes took place just two blocks from the school on the west side. The suspects approach money couriers who are trying to make deposits from behind and grab their bags. Here's a surveillance video of one of the crimes that took place this past Friday afternoon.

Polish Sign Language

It's the largest collection of info on Polish sign language in the world. That's what the University of Warsaw says about its three year old effort. The Corpus research by the Section for Sign Linguistics will eventually be used to creat the first Polish sign language dictionary and a description of the language's grammar. Some 80 deaf signers from all over the country have already contributed more than 300 hours of recordings made with five cameras in a studio. One of the researchers tells the Polish Press Agency's Science and Scholarship in Poland site, "The corpus is a treasure trove of knowledge not only about the grammar of sign language, but also about the culture of the deaf. While collecting the linguistic data, we also collect information about the life of the deaf in early twenty-first century Poland. We often forget that the deaf are one of the largest linguistic minorities in Poland, with their own traditions, culture, poetry, theatre, civility, etc." Here's a sample of what the recordings look like.

$2.1M for training deaf scientists

If you are looking for a graduate degree, but need some financial help, you might be able to get a boost from a joint effort by the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Their new program, fueled by a five-year federal grand of more than $2 million, is designed to assist students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Rochester Bridges is particularly meant for those wanting to get into fields like biomedical and behavioral science. The program will be overseen by the University of Rochester Clinical Translation Sciences Institute and RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s Center on Access Technology which will involve mentors, workshops, skill-building workshops, and time in labs with hearing research faculty. Two students will take part in the program starting next month and more will be added each year. Read more from the University of Rochester here.

Creating a new sign language for an entire country

A Kentucky priest is helping linguists create a sign language for the deaf in Cambodia. Louisville's Courier-Journal reports the country has no sign language, no deaf schools and no deaf organizations offering services. Here is a video report about what Charles Dittmeier is doing to make a difference (no captions but you can read the full story here).

MP says UK Broadcasters failing blind and deaf

from WikiMedia Commons

A member of the British parliament and the first blind cabinet minister, David Blunkett is criticizing subtitles that leave deaf people "scratching their heads." "He tells the BBC that UK Broadcasters talk a good deal about equality, but preaching is not enough", that they need a "little consideration and forethought" to achieve a "better television experience for everyone". Read the BBC story here and the Mirror's version here and the Daily Mail's version here.

Small Roster but Positive Team

Last season's Roadrunners 

The football players for the New Mexico School for the Deaf will get a lot of playing time this season. That's because it's the smallest group ever--just six players. Sic is the "exact amount of players needed to field a 6-man football program." The team did well last year, earning 9 wins against only 2 losses. But that team had 13 players (see photo). Find out how coach Robert Huizar plans to cope with the thin ranks and keep his Roadrunners sharp in an article published in the The New Mexican here and see the team's schedule for this season here.

First school day at Deaf School

Image: Google Maps

Things will be different this year at the Maryland School for the Deaf. The school started classes today and is going to start using "the Common Core Curriculum, a state-wide reading, writing and math standard." Find out more from a report from the Frederick News-Post here.

Report: Sex Assault on School Trip

Gallaudet University says a sexual assault was reported to officials of its Model Secondary School for the Deaf. It allegedly happened on a school-sponsored trip to Annapolis, Maryland this weekend and involved two students enrolled in the secondary school. The University has released this statement:

“The incident involved two students from our Model Secondary School for the Deaf during a school-sponsored trip to Annapolis. Anne Arundel County Police are conducting an investigation and we have no additional information we can share at this time."

The Radical Challenge of Building a Dorm for the Deaf

Image: LTL Architects

A number of new organizations have highlighted Gallaudet's new deaf-friendly dorm that is built on the principal of DeafSpace. Now, Wired Magazine offers it's techie view of the unique structure. The "residence hall was designed specifically for deaf students by New York City-based LTL Architects. The 60,000-square-foot building is the first to fully employ architectural principles that cater to the communication and spatial needs of the hearing impaired." Read more of the Wired story here.

Interpreter Uses Fame to Advocate for the Deaf

Lydia Callis interprets for
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Lydia Callis became known as the interpreter for New York's mayor during Superstorm Sandy. She's now using that platform to advocate for the deaf in her state. Find out how she's doing it in a New York Times article here.

1200 mile ride for deaf-blind

from WWMT-TV

A group from Michigan plan to bike 1200 miles in 25 days to Texas in order to raise funds for training deaf-blind sighted guides. The adventure begins next weekend in Kalamazoo. Watch the story (with sign interpretation) from WWMT-TV here.

Why the Deaf May Have Trouble Reading

A University of New Mexico study suggests that reading difficulties among the deaf do not have to do with "the right way to teach reading when you can’t associate sounds with letters." Instead, researchers say, "We’re finding is that all this time we’ve been ignoring the fact that they’re actually learning a new language.” The study isn't new but it's the first time we've shared the research at DeafNewsToday.com. You can read the study here and this video report comes from the VOA (Voice of America) and captions are included.

Another report on boy from Yemen

Here is a second video report on the boy who traveled from the Middle East to Kentucky to receive a cochlear implant. This one comes from WDRB-TV (captions included). You can watch the first video report here
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WDRB 41 Louisville News

Gift brings boy to U.S. for implants

Four-year-old Mohammed Al Maqtari traveled from Yemen to Louisville, Kentucky to get a cochlear implant thanks to a doctor and gifts from strangers through social media. Kentucky's WHAS-TV has more on his story in this short video report (with captions).

Happy birthday, Marlee Matlin!

• Born on this date (August 24) in 1965, she is 48 years old.
• middle name is "Beth"
• Grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois near Chicago of Russian Jewish descent
• Her father was an automobile dealer
• Became deaf when she was a year and a half old after she suffered a series of fevers, the only person in her family who is deaf
• Married Burbank police officer Kevin Grandalski in 1993
• Has four children: Sarah, Brandon, Tyler and Isabelle
• Won an Oscar for her role as the deaf student in Children of a Lesser God, the only deaf person to win an Acadamy Award
• Won a Golden Globe award along with two additional nominations, and has four Emmy nominations
• Played a lawyer on her own TV series, Reasonable Doubt
• Took the role of a political analyst on The West Wing
• Plays a character on Showtime’s The ‘L’ Word
• Attended the Jewish Temple for the Deaf B’nai Shalom located in Skokie
• Discovered by Henry Winkler
• Author of two Children’s books
• Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2009
• Competed in the 6th season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars
• A finalist on the NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, she came in second place raising a million dollars for her charity, The Starkey Hearing Foundation, the most ever been raised for charity in a single event on any TV show  
• Her autobiography is titled I'll Scream Later
• Plays an ongoing role on ABC Family's Switched at Birth

Deaf-Blind man used as example of "Patient Dumping"

Brant Ward, The Chronicle         

"Timothy Martin is deaf, blind and homeless, and in April he stumbled off a one-way ride from a Reno mental hospital onto the streets of San Francisco. He found his way to a bar in the Castro neighborhood where, he says, he was thrown out and wound up crying on the sidewalk until an ambulance took him to San Francisco General Hospital." Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle here.

Football players raise money to help deaf teammate

A Pop Warner team is raising money so one of its players can have an interpreter at every scrimmage and practice. They are holding a fundraiser tomorrow (Friday) in Franklin, Massachusetts. No captions, but you can read the story here.

Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

Boxer Preps for the Pros

Germaine McKinney

A Michigan fighter who is legally deaf may realize his dream of becoming a professional boxer very soon. Germaine McKinney tells the MLive Media Group, "I want to go around and talk to kids who are hearing impaired like me and teach them, tell them that no matter what, you can be what you want to be. They don't have to be afraid of who they want to be because of their hearing." Read the full story here
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