Deaf News Today

Between Sound and Silence
Deaf News Today Filmmaker Taylor Brodsky writes, "A lot can happen in two generations. I was born to deaf parents and now I’m the mother of a deaf son. He was sitting on my lap in diapers when the audiologist first detected he couldn’t hear everything. By the age of 4, he heard nothing." Read more about her experience in a New York Times opinion piece here. Read More at DeafNewsT...
Tue, Aug 07 2018

Fire-pit accident burns Teen
Deaf News Today A deaf Texas teen is recovering from burns she received from a fire-pit mishap. KFDM-TV has a video report. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Aug 05 2018

Philly Police Agree to Settlement over treatment of Deaf
Deaf News Today The Philadelphia Police Department has settled a complaint over how it handles deaf people. The department will pay eight people $97,500 and update its procedures and equipment. Read more about the settlement here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Aug 03 2018

Happy Birthday Bob Hiltermann
Deaf News Today from BobHiltermann.com Deaf since the age of 4, Bob Hiltermann was born on this day (August 1, 1952) in Germany, the tenth of eleven children born. A bout with meningitis left him deaf but he wasn't diagnosed until the age of ten. Hiltermann learned ASL while attending Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and later formed MuSign (a Signing/Mime company). He acted w...
Wed, Aug 01 2018

Starbucks' "Signing Store" is...
Deaf News Today Starbucks has received a great deal of positive news coverage and social media traction from its plan to integrate deaf culture into one of its stores near Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. But could the enthusiastic reaction be a bit much?Pamela Kincheloe writes that there was "so much hype it was kind of absurd. Sure, it’s nice and all, but really? It’s j...
Tue, Jul 31 2018

Six Siblings and Six Bilateral Cochlear Implants
Deaf News Today "Siblings Matthew, 16, Marcus, 15, Michelle, 13, Maria, 10, Miley, 8, and Marcia, 6, were born deaf. Over the past eight years, all the children have been fitted with bilateral cochlear implants," writes Nancy Dahlberg in the Miami Herald. Read the full story about the six Guillou children here or watch the video below. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Jul 31 2018

On this day.. the ADA was signed into law
Deaf News Today It was on this day (July 25, 1990) that President George H.W. Bush signed the American Disablity Act into law. Senator Tom Harkin says the ADA law was inspired by his deaf brother. The Iowa Democrat says watching his brother, Frank, struggle against social barriers motivated him to push the ADA bill through the U.S. Congress. The law prohibits private employers, state...
Wed, Jul 25 2018

Looking Back.. 15 years ago
Deaf News Today On this date (July 23) in 2003, a revival of Big River opened on Broadway with a cast of hearing and deaf actors. Roger Miller's 1985 musical about Huck Finn was the first Broadway show to do so since the 1980's Children of a Lesser God. The show was a co-production of the Roundabout Theater Company and West Hollywood's Deaf West Theater. Read More at DeafNewsToday.co...
Mon, Jul 23 2018

Starbucks To Open First U.S. Signing Store
Deaf News Today Starbucks is opening a store designed for the Deaf Community in Washington, DC less than a miles from Gallaudet University. More than two dozen deaf and hard of hearing baristas, fluent in American Sign Language, will be ready to take orders when the store opens. It's the first Starbucks signing store in the U.S. The store layout will facilitate visual communication. ...
Thu, Jul 19 2018

Heavy metal concert terp gets noticed
Deaf News Today Lindsay Rothschild-Cross' interpretation of a June 20 metal concert in Austin was caught on video and has racked up tons of views online, reports ABC News. She says it was her first time to work with this genre. Here's a video interview from ABC News. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jul 19 2018

LinkedIn Adds Captioning to Videos
Deaf News Today LinkedIn users can now add captions to videos by clicking an icon. Users can also highlight quotes from articles and save drafts of those posts. The translation of posts includes more than 60 languages. Read more here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jul 19 2018

CODA Who Defrauded Parents is Going to Jail
Deaf News Today A judge in northern Ohio has sentenced Jessica DeMarco to 60 days in jail, 200 hours of community service and five years probation and restitution for defrauding her deaf parents of $50,000. Prosecutors say DeMarco forged a letter from a lawyer, pretending she was to receive a large sum of money. Read the details in the Warren Tribune Chronicle here. Read More at ...
Wed, Jul 18 2018

Communicating with Alexa devices using sign language
Deaf News Today Abhishek Singh, who has worked in the field of driverless cars and other AI technology, says he "used deep learning with TensorFlow.js to make Amazon Echo respond to sign language." He explains in this video. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Mon, Jul 16 2018

The history behind RI School for the Deaf
Deaf News Today The Rhode Island School for the Deaf was started by Mary Ann Lippitt whose daughter had become deaf after contracting Scarlet Fever in 1856. "Lippitt created her own program and founded the Providence Day School for the Deaf in 1876. Her husband Henry Lippitt, who had become governor in 1875, used his own influence to inspire the State to take over the administration ...
Sat, Jul 14 2018

Scientists say they've given gerbils an implant that lets...
Deaf News Today German researchers have given gerbils an implant that allows them "hear" light. They hope that this technique could be used to make superior cochlear implants for humans through optogenetics, that is, the use of light as a stimulus.Details of the study are published in the Science Translational Medicine or read an article about the research here. Read More at DeafN...
Sat, Jul 14 2018

New Director at School for the Deaf
Deaf News Today Ryan Gollner The Louisiana School for the Deaf has a new director. School Principal Ryan Gollner replaces Donna Alleman on an interim basis. The move comes after a harsh report said the Baton Rouge school suffered from "low morale among students and staff and was implementing changes without a clear plan." Read more in The Advocate here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.co...
Wed, Jul 11 2018

He was One of America's First Deaf Lawyers
Deaf News Today Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly He was born on October 25, in 1880. Blinded by Scarlet fever at the age of nine, Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly began losing his hearing a few years later. The North Carolina African-American slowly regained his vision in one eye. While he wanted to attend Gallaudet University, his application was denied in 1898 based on the color of his skin. So...
Wed, Jul 11 2018

Son: Deaf Parents Mistreated by Airline
Deaf News Today Nikolay Filatov says his parents, both of whom are deaf, were not treated well by Frontier Airlines. They were trying to get to their only grandchild's first birthday party. Denver-7 has a video report. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Jul 10 2018

On this Day: Ed Dundon was born
Deaf News Today Ed "Dummy" Dundon was the first deaf player to play baseball professionally. He was born on this day (July 10) in 1859. After attending the Ohio State School for the Deaf, Dundon went on to play several years of professional baseball. He had two seasons with the Columbus Buckeyes before retiring and becoming an umpire. During his hitch with the Buckeyes in 1883 a...
Tue, Jul 10 2018

Undercover testers find discrimination
Deaf News Today The Southwest Fair Housing Council is suing more than a dozen assisted living and nursing home operators in Arizona for discrimination against prospective deaf residents. The nonprofit advocacy group says they sent out undercover testers to see what kind of treatment they would receive. Read more about it here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Mon, Jul 09 2018

Deaf Costco Employee Gets $775k Settlement
Deaf News Today Christine D’Onofrio just won a $775,000 settlement from Costco. The deaf employee working in Pompano Beach, Florida says the store refused to provide her a sign language interpreter for meetings. Instead, Costco put in video phones, which did not work during large meetings. D’Onofrio, who had worked for Costco for 23 years, says a new manager complained she was "l...
Mon, Jul 09 2018

Deaf woman groped, held at gunpoint
Deaf News Today A deaf woman in Memphis gave a man a ride and ended up getting groped and held at gunpoint. Fox-13 has a video report below. There are no captions but you can read the story here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Jul 08 2018

Arrival & Departure debuts
Deaf News Today A new play of special interest to the Deaf community will debut in Los Angeles next weekend (July 14). Deaf actors Deanne Bray and Troy Kotsur star in Arrival & Departurewhere they meet accidentally in a New York City subway station. Kostsur and Bray are married in real life and writer Stephen Sachs says he put the play together with them in mind. The production is pe...
Fri, Jul 06 2018

Boy Found at LA Train Station
Deaf News Today Police in Los Angeles are asking for the public's help in identifying a child found at Union Station. They believe the boy to be deaf, though he did not respond to a sign language interpreter's attempts to communicate. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jul 05 2018

The deaf protest that gripped America
Deaf News Today The BBC has a new video explaining what happened at Gallaudet University in 1988 when a protest started over the appointment of a new president. The network interviewed I King Jordan, the first ever deaf President of Gallaudet University. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Jul 04 2018

Suit: Deaf Applicant Discrimination
Deaf News Today Mark Eurlichmann has filed a lawsuit against Pensacola State College. Eurlichmann applied to teach American Sign Language at the school but, according to the deaf man's suit, a less-qualified hearing applicant applicant was hired instead. The college is not commenting but you can read more about the lawsuit in the Pensacola News Journal here. Read More at DeafNewsToda...
Tue, Jul 03 2018

Deaf Space Camp
Deaf News Today This year's Deaf Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama brought together 20 students from all over the country recently. WAAY-TV has a video report. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Mon, Jul 02 2018

Getting to Know.. Cochlear Limited
Deaf News Today You could have bought stock in Cochlear Limited at the turn of the century for about $10. A few days ago the stock was worth more than $200 a share. Shares of the stock have increased nearly 30 percent in the last year.Cochlear Limited is the biggest of the three companies that dominate the cochlear implant market. Based in Australia, Cochlear Limited does most of its...
Mon, Jul 02 2018

On this day in history..25 year ago
Deaf News Today It was 25 years ago today (July 1, 1993) that the FCC requires all U.S. analog television receivers with screens 13 inches or larger to include built-in decoder circuitry that could display closed captioning. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Jul 01 2018

Getting to know: Canada's first deaf Priest
Deaf News Today Canada's first deaf Roman Catholic priest was ordained in 2012. Raised a Baptist in Michigan, Matthew Hysell lost his hearing after a bout with meningitis as a toddler. He made the decision to become a priest as a teenager after reading about the priesthood in school. He graduated from City University in New York, then earned a master's in theology from a California p...
Sat, Jun 30 2018

No, Koko had not mastered sign language
Deaf News Today image from KoKo.com Koko is dead. The gorilla that some claimed could communication using sign language died last week. But there was no proof of this—sign language not being something so simple an animal can use it. Geoffrey Pullum writes about the myth of Koko's linguistic prowess in an article for the Chronicle of Higher Ed here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Jun 30 2018

Netflix Captioning Complaints
Deaf News Today A host of the makeover show Queer Eye is speaking out about captioning on Netflix. Fans are complaining through social media that the dialogue isn't correctly represented in the captioning. Now, Karamo Brown is joining those voices: The BBC has Netflix response in this article. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Jun 29 2018

Deaf comedian Speaks Out about Terp Issue
Deaf News Today image from TomWillard.com  A deaf comedian in Rochester, New York, says he's having difficulty getting local businesses to provide interpreters, as required by ADA law. Tom Willard tells WROC-TV, “They just didn’t want to pay for it. They wanted the comics to pay for the interpreter, but the law says no, it's the business. It’s their responsibility, just like ...
Fri, Jun 29 2018

This day in history.. 114 year ago
Deaf News Today Helen Keller graduated with honors from Radcliffe College on June 28, 1904, 114 years ago today, becoming the first deaf and blind person to graduate from college with a B.A. Radcliffe was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a part of Harvard University. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jun 28 2018

On this day in history..
Deaf News Today Helen Keller was born on this day, 138 years ago, on June 27, 1880. The activist, and lecturer was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Jun 27 2018

Husky Saves Deaf Hiker
Deaf News Today A deaf hiker who fell nearly 700-feet down snowy mountain says a trail guide dog saved her life. Amelia Millin was some nearly 30 miles outside of Anchorage when her trekking poles broke and she plunged down the mountainside. But a husky found Millin, who attends the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester. Watch an ABC video report here. Read More at ...
Tue, Jun 26 2018

Happy Birthday Signmark!
Deaf News Today Today is the birthday of deaf Finnish rap artist Signmark. He was born Marko Vuoriheimo in Helsinki on June 26, 1978. He's now 40years old. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Jun 26 2018

On this date in 1889
Deaf News Today The statue of Thomas Gallaudet that greets visitors to the university in the nation's capital that bears his name was unveiled on this date-June 26, 1889. The work of sculptor Daniel Chester French, the bronze statue shows Gallaudet teaching a little girl, Alice Cogswell. She holds a book to her heart, with the alphabet running across the page. They are practicing the...
Tue, Jun 26 2018

A New, Vast Helen Keller Archive
Deaf News Today The American Foundation for the Blind has launched the world’s first fully accessible digital archive collection of Helen Keller artifacts. The collection includes digitized letters, essays, speeches, and more than a quarter million digital images of her work. You can access the archive here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sun, Jun 24 2018

Meet Maryland's deaf candidate
Deaf News Today image from vote4toyinfasakin.com Toyin Fasakin is a candidate for Register of Wills in Maryland's Prince George’s County. Only a few states elect people to open estates for the deceased and keep up with wills and Maryland is one of the them. The Washington Post reports that Fasakin is running "because when his Ni­ger­ian father died without a will, there was 'ago...
Sat, Jun 23 2018

Teen's encounter with deaf-blind man on flight goes viral
Deaf News Today A teenager used tactile signing to help a fellow passenger during their delayed flight. Photos and a Facebook post by another passenger made the encounter go viral. Seattle's King5 has a video report but it does not have captioning. You can read part of the story here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Jun 23 2018

Getting to Know... The Father of the Internet
Deaf News Today Vinton Cerf It was on this date (June 23) 1943 that Vinton Cerf was born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his colleague, Robert Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. In 2004, the pair were given the ACM Alan M. Turing award, which is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize of Compute...
Sat, Jun 23 2018

Deaf inmates denied equal access: Lawsuit
Deaf News Today The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Georgia. The complaint accuses the state failing to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing inmates access to interpreters and other tools to communicate effectively in violation of ADA law. As a result, “deaf and hard of hearing people are incarcerated more frequently, suffer harsher prison conditions, remain in prison longer, and retu...
Thu, Jun 21 2018

On this Day: The First Computer PhD
Deaf News Today image from Gallaudet.edu It was on this date, June 15, 2008, that Karen Alkoby became the first deaf woman in the US to earn a PhD in computer science. She graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, helping to pioneer a computer-animated dictionary. Alkoby’s dissertation involved determining how the human brain interprets shapes like those made by hands in ASL. T...
Fri, Jun 15 2018

NYPD issuing visor cards to deaf drivers
Deaf News Today New York police are mailing out visor cards to 11,000 deaf or hard of hearing drivers. The goal is better communication with law enforcement. As the image on the left shows, one side of the card indicates how a driver prefers to communicate and the other side shows symbols that an officer can point to in order to indicate what caused a traffic stop. The card is intend...
Thu, Jun 14 2018

Deaf Jazz Singer Hits All the Right Notes
Deaf News Today "Despite not being able to hear for nearly a decade, a jazz musician still commands the stage," reports NBC News. Below is a link to a video about Mandy Harvey. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Mon, Jun 11 2018

Life in 1950s Deaf School: Part 2
Deaf News Today Here is a second video filmed in 1954 at the UK's Royal School for Deaf Children for a documentary. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Jun 08 2018

Study: Smoking exposure increases risk of deafness twofold
Deaf News Today A Japanese study finds children are more than twice as likely to be born deaf if their mother smoked Even exposure to second-hand smoke increased the likelihood of hearing issues. Read more details in the Daily Mail here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jun 07 2018

a Video of Life in a 1950s Deaf School
Deaf News Today Here is video filmed in 1954 at the UK's Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Jun 07 2018

Suit: Denver Cops Failed to Provide Terp
Deaf News Today Two deaf Colorado women are suing Denver law enforcement for failing to provide them with qualified sign language interpreters. According to the Denver Post, "The suit claims the agencies ignored repeated requests for qualified sign language interpreters, failed to follow their own policies and broke state and federal anti-discrimination laws in the process." Read the...
Tue, Jun 05 2018