Deaf News Today

Happy Birthday, Russell Harvard!
Deaf News Today Russell Harvard was born on this day (April 16, 1981) in Pasadena. The 37 year old has already made his mark in both film and stage. The Austin, Texas native grew up deaf, communicating in ASL and lip reading. Harvard’s mother was born deaf and did not learn sign until she was six years old. After playing roles in stage productions at Gallaudet such as Shakespeare...
Mon, Apr 16 2018

Some hospital services for the deaf discontinued in RI
Deaf News Today The Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing plans to discontinue some of its emergency after-hours interpreter referral service for hospital emergencies starting this summer. Read the full story in the Providence Journal here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Apr 15 2018

This Day in History: the first public school for the deaf...
Deaf News Today It was on this day (April 15) in 1817 that the American School for the Deaf, the first public school for the deaf, opened its doors. Founded by Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet, the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut is more than 200 years old. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Apr 15 2018

Deaf Kids Get Bullied More
Deaf News Today About half of adolescents with hearing loss say they have been bullied. Less than a third of other children say the same thing. That's the finding of a new student out of UT Dallas. More than one-fourth of adolescents with hearing loss indicated they felt left out of social activities, compared to only 5 percent of the general population reporting exclusion. Read more...
Sat, Apr 14 2018

TV Producer Arrested in Death of Deaf Sister
Deaf News Today Los Angeles police say a former TV producer is behind bars—arrested on suspicion of killing her deaf and partially blind sister. Jill Blackstone is accused of drugging her sister and putting her in their garage along with three pet dogs, which she set on fire. Read more in the LA Times here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Apr 13 2018

When Sign Language Is a Superpower
Deaf News Today This Friday (April 13) the film Sign Gene will begin showing at the Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles—its U.S. debut. The Pacific Standard reports, "The plot centers on an international band of deaf people, who, thanks to a genetic mutation, can channel superpowers through their use of sign language. The independent film is a fast-paced, genre-bending romp, shot on thr...
Thu, Apr 12 2018

How 'Deaf President Now' Changed America
Deaf News Today "Deaf President Now stands as a watershed moment in the history not just of Deaf and disability rights, but also of American civil rights more broadly. As I spoke to people who had been instrumental in the protests, and the current president of Gallaudet, I heard one additional message: a fear that too few Americans even remember this story," writes University of Minn...
Wed, Apr 11 2018

Director Pushed to Cast a Deaf Actress for 'A Quiet Place'
Deaf News Today image from A Quiet Place trailer  John Krasinksi not only directed the new film A Quiet Place, he fought to cast deaf actress Millicent Simmonds as his onscreen daughter, according to the screen writers. Screenwriter Scott Beck told the Hollywood Reporter, “We always had a deaf character in the script, but John really pushed for them to hire Millicent. She came to...
Sun, Apr 08 2018

On this day in 1864..
Deaf News Today It was on this date, April 8, 1864, that President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter to establish Gallaudet University. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Apr 08 2018

Florida Sued over lack of Captions on Legislative Videos
Deaf News Today A deaf man in Florida has filed a lawsuit against the state legislature because it doesn’t provide closed captioning for its online live streaming and also its archived videos. Eddie Sierra is getting support from the National Association Of The Deaf. Lawmakers haven't even bothered to respond to his letters and other attempts to bring their attention to the problem...
Sat, Apr 07 2018

Deaf Actress Delivers "Powerful Performance" in...
Deaf News Today A Quiet Place hits theaters across the country today. The horror film incudes Millicent Simmonds as one of the stars. The deaf actress has already made her mark in Wonderstruck and now she plays a pivotal role in this new film about a family that must stay silent to survive. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Apr 06 2018

This is the day that Helen Keller made her breakthrough
Deaf News Today It was on this day, April 5, during the year 1887 when Helen Keller grasped the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet with the help of teacher Anne Sullivan. Her blind and deaf pupil had learned to memorize words but failed to connect the words to their meanings. When Anne took Helen to an old pump house Helen on that fateful day, she f...
Thu, Apr 05 2018

Gallaudet: 30 years after 'Deaf President Now' protest
Deaf News Today It has been three decades since students at Gallaudent University "brought the campus in the nation's capital to a standstill 30 years ago during a week-long protest to demand a 'deaf president now.'" USA Today has a look back and how it happened and a look at how students look at the movement today. The newspaper quotes Ryan Maliszewski, who runs Gallaudet's Innovati...
Wed, Apr 04 2018

What Do Cochlear Implants And Hearing Aids Sound Like?
Deaf News Today Science Friday has a lesson for middle schools students about how hearing aids and cochlear implants including sample recordings of.. "..what it’s like to hear sound through a hearing aid and a cochlear implant. Unless you wear one of these devices, it is impossible to know exactly what it is like to experience sound through them. In fact, people who have normal h...
Sun, Apr 01 2018

BSL teacher jailed, 'snared by paedophile hunter'
Deaf News Today "A teacher once named 'Britain's sign language tutor of the year' has been jailed after being snared by a female paedophile hunter," reports the Daily Mail. Read the full story here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Mar 29 2018

1st Deaf Female Officer for Texas Police
Deaf News Today A north Texas town has hired its first female deaf commissioned police officer. The Dalhart Police Chief David Conner picked 25-year old Erica Trevino to serve the community, and she be the first in the entire state. She tells ABC-7 KVII-TV news: “It’s not something I just want, it’s something God has called me to do. That’s what I believe. This truly is a car...
Tue, Mar 27 2018

Proposed Deaf Emojis
Deaf News Today Apple is proposing that the Unicode Consortium (which oversees the internet) approve some new emojis to represent users with disabilities. Apples says, "Diversifying the options available helps fill a significant gap and provides a more inclusive experience for all." The National Association of the Deaf helped come up with the new images. Among the proposed emojis: ...
Sat, Mar 24 2018

How Does ADA Law Apply to the Internet?
Deaf News Today How the American Disabilities Act applies to the Internet seems like a straightforward question. But the answer has been made complicated by US law and policy over the years since the law was passed. While the general answer would be "yes" Law.com offers this bottom line: There is a.. "gaping hole in the law governing accessibility requirements for websites that are n...
Sat, Mar 24 2018

A flood of lawsuits over Website Accessibility
Deaf News Today Hundreds of companies are facing federal class actions filed in recent months alleging that their websites don't comply with ADA law. CBS News reports that Nike, Burger King, Hershey, Lord & Taylor and Pandora are among those companies facing lawsuits. Read the full story here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Mar 22 2018

State says 'no' to Funding that would help Deaf School
Deaf News Today Florida's state government has said "no" to funding to help the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. The city of St. Augustine, where the school is located requested money to deal with flooding near the campus that has affected class schedules. The campus was shut down and students evacuated when Hurricanes Matthew and Irma came through, according to NEWS-4 out of ...
Wed, Mar 21 2018

Water Leak on Deaf School Campus
Deaf News Today The North Carolina School for the Deaf is dealing with a water main leak in the Main Building on campus. The News Herald has more information here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Mar 20 2018

Prof reflects on life-changing language discovery
Deaf News Today image from the University of Southern Maine  Children on a playground in Nicaragua signing to one another some 30 years ago changed language studies across the globe. That's because it was observed by a University of Southern Maine professor who turned it into "groundbreaking work" that helped show the value of American Sign Language at her school. The Press-Herald ...
Mon, Mar 19 2018

How 11 Deaf Men Helped NASA Leave Earth
Deaf News Today Why were 11 deaf men selected by NASA to help it understand space sickness? The key here was in how each of these men lost their hearing, according to Discover Magazine. These men ultimately played a significant role in getting the first astronauts off the ground in the 1960s. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Mar 18 2018

Revival of Children of a Lesser God
Deaf News Today This coming Thursday (March 22) Studio 54 in New York will present a revival of Children of a Lesser God. The play was a Tony Award-winner when it first appeared in 1980 with Phyllis Frelich (who won a Tony for best actress) and John Rubinstein (who won a Tony for Best Actor). Mark Medoff wrote the lay and adopted it for the big screen in 1986. The film starred Willia...
Sun, Mar 18 2018

Death of Student at Illinois School for the Deaf
Deaf News Today A student at the Illinois School for the Deaf has died from what appears to be a self-inflicted injury, according to the local coroner. The Journal-Courier has more information here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Mar 18 2018

Stanch Deaf Community Supporter in Congress Passes
Deaf News Today Congresswoman Louise Slaughter has died at the age of 88. Slaugher was a Democrat who represented the Rochester area since 1987. The RIT/NTID president, Gerry Buckley, issued a statement calling her a "steadfast supporter of the Deaf community in Rochester and throughout the country." The statement mentions that she received the RIT Presidential Medallion in 2010 in h...
Sat, Mar 17 2018

Couple Considers Divorce to get Implant for Daughter
Deaf News Today A Utah couple says they considered getting a divorce just so their insurance company would pay for their 9-year-old daughter a cochlear implant. John and Jennifer Meredith tell Action News Now, "We had no desire to get divorced (but) we couldn't keep putting that off. She's completely deaf in her right ear and she's mostly deaf in her left ear." Read more from ANN her...
Fri, Mar 16 2018

Gallaudet 30 years ago
Deaf News Today It has been 30 years since Gallaudet went through DPN—Deaf President Now. Fred Weiner helped launch the movement and now serves as the school's vice president for administration and program development. Weiner spoke to WAMU radio in Washington, DC about those events three decades ago. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Mar 14 2018

This day in history: DPN
Deaf News Today image from Gallaudet University  It was on this date (March 13, 1988) that the Deaf President Now movement succeeded when I King Jordan became the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Mar 13 2018

Georgia to Maintain aid for Deaf Universities
Deaf News Today The state of Georgia is backtracking on it's plan to withdraw financial support for students who attend Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Read more here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Mar 09 2018

Deaf Girl's Oscar May Open Doors for Others
Deaf News Today image from The Silent Child you tube video  When Maisie Sly was picked to star in The Silent Child, the director didn't realise he had a fourth-generation deaf family who are hugely active within the deaf community. Maisie's father, Gilson Sly, explains what it means for the film to win an Academy Award: “When I read the script for the first time, I got goosebum...
Fri, Mar 09 2018

Deaf 'America's Got Talent' singer Touring
Deaf News Today The deaf siner who gained fame on America's Got Talent was in Biose yesterday. Mandy Harvey spoke with KTVB-TV. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Mar 07 2018

Video Relay Lawsuit Settled
Deaf News Today A Florida hospital has settled a lawsuit over VRI. Bethesda Health has agreed to ask patients about whether they are willing to use video relay or want a live interpreter. A financial agreement between the West Palm Beac-area hospital and the Florida Association of the Deaf, who filed the suit, is not being made public. Read more in MyPalmBeach here. Read More at Deaf...
Wed, Mar 07 2018

Maisie Sly meets Hollywood!
Deaf News Today Maisie Sly did not go up on the stage to recieve the Acadamy Award won by the film she starred in called The Silent Child. However, director Chris Overton told BBC-5, "When we won I could see her up there jumping up and down and that was surreal. But I think she's taken it all in her stride. She always said we'd win." Co-star Rachel Shenton signed her acceptance speec...
Tue, Mar 06 2018

The Silent Child Wins!
Deaf News Today The Silent Child won the best live action short film Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards. Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton, British soap stars, accepted the award. The film starred deaf actress Maisie Sly. Shenton delivered her speech in sign language saying: “I made a promise to our six-year-old lead actress that I’d sign this speech. Our movie is about a deaf ch...
Mon, Mar 05 2018

Funding Cuts Proposed for Deaf Students in GA
Deaf News Today The state of Georgia is considering cutting its college funding to support students who attend both Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Read the full story from the Rome News-Tribune here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Mar 04 2018

Deaf Advocates Rally outside Courthouse
Deaf News Today Protesters gathered Friday in front of the courthouse in Oklahoma City to express their concern over the fatal shooting of a deaf man six months ago. KOKH-TV (Fox 25) has a video report. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Mar 04 2018

A TV first on this date
Deaf News Today It was on this date (March 4, 2013) an episode of Switched at Birth was aired that made history. The entire show was in ASL. Producers of the ABC Family program (now known as Freeform) say this was the first time a scripted series on mainstream television used only American Sign Language. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Mar 04 2018

On this date in history..
Deaf News Today On this date (March 3rd, 1887) Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller's home in Alabama to work with their deaf and blind daughter, Helen. Through their work together, Helen Keller would go on to become one of the most influential people in history. Below is a video about Helen Keller from Biography.com. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Mar 03 2018

Deaf Girl one of the stars at the Oscars
Deaf News Today image from The Silent Child you tube video  A six-year-old deaf actress will be walking the red carpet at the Oscars. Maisie Sly stars in the film The Silent Child which has been nominated for best short film. "The film tells the story of a profoundly deaf girl called Libby, played by Maisie who is also deaf, who lives in a world of silence until a caring social wo...
Sat, Mar 03 2018

Sex Abuse Lawsuit against Deaf School Settled
Deaf News Today Update: A family suing the Scranton School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing because their "daughter had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by a classmate has settled in the middle of trial." In court papers the school argued "that it couldn’t be labeled negligent for what happened because there was no reason to suspect child abuse." Read the full story at Law.com here. ...
Wed, Feb 28 2018

Judge dismisses suit from ex-head of WV deaf, blind schools
Deaf News Today The one-time head of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind filed a lawsuit against the school for firing him and evicting him from his home on the school grounds. But a judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed by Martin Keller. Read the full story in the Charleston Gazette-Mail here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Feb 23 2018

Lawyer: Sex Abuse Coverup at Deaf School
Deaf News Today image by daveynin A Pennsylvania jury was told today by an attorney that the Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children covered up sexual abuse among students. The school and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf are being sued by the victim and her parents. Read the full story in the Times Tribune here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Feb 21 2018

Deaf Man Gets $175K Settlement
Deaf News Today image from PearlPearson.com Pearl Pearson will get $175,000 for the way he treated by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers. They stopped Pearson in in Oklahoma City a couple of years ago, but because Pearson is deaf and didn't follow the troopers verbal commands, he wound up being beaten and seriously injured. The DA dropped the case, claiming it was too expensive to go ...
Tue, Feb 20 2018

Major Change to ADA Law passed by House
Deaf News Today image from CSPAN video of vote on H.R. 620 The House has passed a bill making it more difficult to sue under ADA law. The vote was 225-192. The bill isn't law yet. It still has to get through the Senate and the signature of the President. The proposed law would require businesses to be given six months after being give written notice of non-complience before legal a...
Fri, Feb 16 2018

Basketball in Buffalo
Deaf News Today WKBW-TV in Buffalo takes a look at what the St. Mary's School for the Deaf basketball teams are doing for the school's students. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Feb 16 2018

A new TV Show by and About Deaf People
Deaf News Today Sundance TV’s streaming platform Sundance Now just debuted a new show called This Close . It stars Josh Feldman and Shoshannah Stern and is about two deaf best friends living in Los Angeles. "The six-episode show is adapted from 'Fridays,' their rom-comish web series that so impressed Sundance the channel decided to make 'This Close' the debut offering for its new d...
Thu, Feb 15 2018

Deaf School Counselor Arrested: Accused of Child Molestation
Deaf News Today A man who worked with students at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont is facing child molestation charges. Ricardo Tafolla Rose has been a counselor at the school. If you know someone who might have been a victim, you are asked to call the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division Special Investigations Unit at 800-835-5247. KRON-TV has a short video re...
Thu, Feb 15 2018

Protestors with disabilities handcuffed, dragged out of...
Deaf News Today As we reported yesterday, there is a bill in Congress that would "undermine" the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the ACLU and other advocacy groups. People protesting that proposed law were "dragged from Congress on Tuesday" according to Vice and other media outlets. Here is video of showing U.S. Capitol Police "forcibly removing demonstrators, sev...
Wed, Feb 14 2018

Proposed Law in Congress would "Undermine" ADA Law
Deaf News Today President George H. W. Bush Signs the ADA bill into law in 1990  A bill in Congress could completely change the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The House of Representatives bill H.R. 620 (the “ADA Education and Reform Act”) would "eliminate any incentive for businesses to comply with the ADA" until someone complained and the business was sent a legal noti...
Tue, Feb 13 2018