Deaf News Today

On this date: Sorenson Dies
Deaf News Today James LeVoy Sorenson(image from Southern Utah University) A driving force in the Deaf community died on this date (Jan. 20) in 2008. James LeVoy Sorenson passed away at a Salt Lake City hospital at the age of 86. Utah's richest man was estimated to be worth $4.5 billion by Forbes magazine. Perhaps best known for co-developing the first real-time computerized heart mo...
Mon, Jan 20 2020

Deaf doctoral student
Deaf News Today Alexis Nye is deaf and working toward her Ph.D. in audiology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Born profoundly deaf, she was diagnosed at the age of six months. At the age of two years of age, she received her first cochlear implant and a second at age 16. Read more about her from the News & Record here or watch a video report about her from last year. Read More at DeafNewsToday....
Mon, Jan 13 2020

The History of Deaf Communities in Canada
Deaf News Today Inuit Sign Language "has been an important part of the Inuit linguistic landscape." The Link newspaper takes a brief look at it here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Jan 11 2020

Recognizing ASL in Nebraska
Deaf News Today A state lawmaker in Nebraska wants ASL to be legally recognized as a language. There are only five states that don't do so and Nebraska is one of them. State Senator Anna Wishart is trying to change that with bill LB839. You can read the bill here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Jan 10 2020

Getting to Know the First Teacher of the Deaf
Deaf News Today A Spanish monk in the 16th century named Pedro Ponce de Leon (1520–1584) is recognized by most historians as the first teacher of deaf children, though some experts point to Spanish painter Juan Fernandez Navarrete, who lived in the earlier part of the century. Ponce de Leon was a Benedictine monk who took a vow of silence and developed a form of sign language to co...
Fri, Jan 10 2020

State to Split Deaf & Blind Schools
Deaf News Today South Dakota’s School for the Deaf and School for the Blind and Visually Impaired will now have two separate superintendents. In the past few months, a series of investigative pieces have been published into how the needs of deaf and hard of hearing children in the state have been ignored for decades. Read more from the Argus Leader here. Read More at DeafNewsToday....
Thu, Jan 09 2020

Getting to Know Greg Hlibok
Deaf News Today image from Gallaudet University Greg Hlibok oversaw the FCC's Disability Rights Office from 2010 to 2016. Profoundly deaf since birth, Hlibok was the first deaf law student at Hofstra University. Hlibok is best known in the Deaf community as the student body president of Gallaudet University during the 1988 Deaf President Now protest. He serves on the Gallaudet Unive...
Thu, Jan 09 2020

Getting to Know Hearing Tests
Deaf News Today Here's what won't happen during a hearing test: No one will use a needle and there will be no request to strip off your clothes.Here's what WILL happen: An audiologist will check to make sure you don’t have a build-up of wax in your ears before taking you into an acoustic testing chamber that cuts out outside noise.You’ll put on headphones that cover your ears and...
Wed, Jan 08 2020

Dealership settles ADA lawsuit
Deaf News Today A car dealership in Hawaii has agreed to pay $42,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit accusing it violating ADA law. "The EEOC alleged that Cutter Mazda failed to hire a deaf applicant due to his disability. Such conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from making employment decisions based on an individual's disability." Read m...
Tue, Jan 07 2020

Airline Travel Tips for the Deaf & HoH
Deaf News Today Make each airline agent aware of your situation at each stage of your trip.. from the booking agent all the way to the gate agent and flight attendants.Arrange for pre-boarding and have a friend or family member escort you to the gate. Escorts can get a gate pass that will allow them through security and to the gate.Airlines will often seat you at the front of a plane...
Tue, Jan 07 2020

American Girl doll with hearing aids
Deaf News Today An 8-year-old Tennessee girl loves her new doll from American Girl; it wears a hearing aid like she does. WTVC-TV in Cleveland, Tennessee has a video report below or read the story here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Mon, Jan 06 2020

Getting to Know Hearing Loops
Deaf News Today When you see a blue sign of a human ear that's a cue to hearing aid users that they can press a tiny button to hear a special broadcast sent directly to their device. This is called a hearing loop, a thin copper wire that radiates electromagnetic signals in a room. A tiny receiver called a telecoil built into most hearing aids and cochlear implants picks up the signal...
Mon, Jan 06 2020

GOP settles ADA lawsuit
Deaf News Today Utah's Republican Party has settled a lawsuit filed by a deaf man and a woman who uses a wheelchair. They said the political organization failed to follow ADA law at its conventions and caucuses. Aaron Heineman wanted to participate in a caucus three years ago but the GOP failed to provide a qualified sign language interpreter. Eliza Stauffer said the state convention...
Sun, Jan 05 2020

Harvard Law’s first deaf-blind graduate: Here’s what...
Deaf News Today Haben Girma is the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. She writes,"My personal experience with discrimination, as well as those I heard from others, sparked my desire to develop legal advocacy skills." Below is a CNBC video about her below and there is some background on her from Voice of America here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Jan 04 2020

Reconstructing spoken words from the brains of primates
Deaf News Today Brown University researchers say they've been able to put together words from the brain signals of monkeys. They connected a computer directly to a monkey's brain and believe this "could be a step toward developing brain implants that may help people with hearing loss."Details are published in the journal Nature Communications Biology. Read more details here. ...
Fri, Jan 03 2020

Three of Wyoming couple's kids undergo implant procedures
Deaf News Today Three children of Jackie and Chris Isenberger went through cochlear implant procedures at the same time at Children's Hospital in Colorado. The parents defend their decision in an article published by The Denver Channel here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Jan 03 2020

On this date Grace Coolidge was born
Deaf News Today Grace Anna Goodhue was born on January 3, 1879, in Burlington, Vermont. She's known to history as the wife of the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. What many people don't know is that she was a teacher of the deaf. As first lady, she worked hard to educate the public and invited Helen Keller to visit the White House. Helped by the President, Mrs. C...
Thu, Jan 02 2020

Getting to Know your hair cells
Deaf News Today Clusters of hair cells Hair cells play a critical role in our hearing. When they are damaged, doctors say they act like blades of grass. When someone walks on grass, the blades initially lie down and then bounce back up. but if you keep walking that same path over and over again, the grass will stay down. Hair cells are the same way, if you send waves of sound from t...
Thu, Jan 02 2020

Maritime Sign Language
Deaf News Today The deaf community in Nova Scotia is rallying to preserve a sign language that's unique to the region, according to the CBC. It's called "Maritime Sign Language" and it is still used by older people in Atlantic Canada. Since it isn't being handed down to the next generation, "There's a push to document MSL before it's lost."  Read more about the effort here. Read Mor...
Tue, Dec 31 2019

On this date. at the South Pole
Deaf News Today (image from NASA) Ian Berry become the first deaf man to walk to the South Pole on this day (Dec. 31) in 2009. The UK native dragged a sled across 112 miles of ice to raise more than $40,000 for the National Deaf Children's Society. The 43-year-old reached the pole on New Year's Eve as part of a five person team. Read more about his adventure here. Read More at DeafN...
Tue, Dec 31 2019

HoH boy creates video game for blind
Deaf News Today A 12-year-old hard-of-hearing video-game designer has created a video game for blind and visually impaired children. WFTS-TV in Tampa, Florida has a video report (no captions but text here). Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Sat, Dec 28 2019

Adapting Religious Services at Gally
Deaf News Today Gallaudet University is adopting religious services to the school's deaf population by offering the services in American Sign Language and Arabic Sign Language. Religious News Service says, "Changes (to the Catholic mass) would be striking to anyone used to a Mass where the hearing are in the majority" and it is a similar experience for Muslims. Read the full story he...
Fri, Dec 27 2019

A monument honoring Thomas Gallaudet is being restored at...
Deaf News Today A monument honoring Thomas Gallaudet is being restored at the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut. Gallaudet founded the school in 1817. The project should be completed this coming fall. Read more about it from Associated Press here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Dec 27 2019

Deaf & HoH attorneys sworn in
Deaf News Today Chief Justice John Roberts used American Sign Language when he swore-in a group of 10 deaf and hard-of-hearing attorneys sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court Bar Association. That means they can argue cases before the nation's highest court. One of them is Azeema Akram, an administrative law judge at the Illinois Commerce Commission, who was diagnosed as hard of hearing ...
Fri, Dec 27 2019

Marlee Matlin vs Delta Airlines
Deaf News Today Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin is calling out Delta Airlines for failing to provide captions for its videos during flights. Sad to see that my preferred airline, @Delta flight 1998 has provisions for various languages and audio description for in-flight entertainment but no closed captions for deaf and hard of hearing flyers. #noaccess #stillwaiting for #ADAcompliance ...
Thu, Dec 26 2019

Inventing sign language for space
Deaf News Today British sign language is receiving an astronomical update thanks to a unique collaboration between a space scientist and a group of deaf astronomers. The BBC video below explains more. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Dec 24 2019

The Deaf are being 'excluded from astronomy'
Deaf News Today An astrophysicist in the UK is leading a project to develop 50 new BSL signs to help explain her research. Olja Panic says, "The deaf community risks being excluded from aspects of modern science because the number of new advances is outpacing the development of sign language to explain them." Read the full story at Phys.org here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Tue, Dec 24 2019

Nyle DiMarco & Mariah Carey
Deaf News Today Nyle DiMarco's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" ASL challenge got a thumbs up from Mariah Carey. Her song by that title hit #1 and she retweeted his video below, saying "This is Amazing!!!!!": ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU:A CHALLENGE. Post a video of you signing that! pic.twitter.com/uJPCyDmcYz — Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) December 21, 2019 Read More at De...
Mon, Dec 23 2019

Deaf History: Artist William Agnew
Deaf News Today Amateur artist William Agnew died on this day (Dec 21) in 1914. The deaf painter created a series of pictures (none of which survived) which made him famous, showing Queen Victoria using finger spelling to communicate with a deaf woman on the Isle of Wight. Educated at the Glasgow Institution where he took a leadership role as an adult, Agnew opposed the oral system ...
Sat, Dec 21 2019

Deaf school gets fined over hazardous waste
Deaf News Today image from Google Maps The Oregon School for the Deaf is getting slapped with a $11,500 fine. State environmental regulators say the school has mismanaged hazardous waste. Read more from the Statesman Journal here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Fri, Dec 20 2019

Deaf refugees overcome language barrier
Deaf News Today Sangita and Purna Kami are from Bhutan and both are deaf. Sangita has been deaf all her life while Purna became deaf after he fell from a tree at the age of eight. The deaf couple "met in a refugee camp in Bhutan and immigrated to the United States with limited ability to communicate." Find out more in this WXXI video below or read the story of the Kamis here. Read...
Thu, Dec 19 2019

ASL interpreters have a crucial role in the law
Deaf News Today ASL Interpreters and Certified Deaf Interpreters play an important role in law enforcement and court interaction. The Post-Bulletin has more here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Dec 18 2019

Happy Birthday, Curtis Pride!
Deaf News Today Image from Gallaudet University Today is the birthday of Curtis Pride. He was born on Dec 17, 1968 in Washington, D.C. The only deaf player in the major leagues during the modern era, Pride played for 11 years in the majors as an outfielder and pinch hitter and a dozen more in the minors. He hit 20 home runs in his 421 major league games with such teams as the Detroi...
Tue, Dec 17 2019

Audiologist wins national award
Deaf News Today image from Oticon.com An audiologist working at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School which is based on Gallaudet University’s campus in DC has won the 2019 Oticon Focus on People Award for Best Practitioner. The national award goes toward honoring individuals with hearing loss as well as hearing care professionals who open new possibilities for the hearing impai...
Fri, Dec 13 2019

Deafness in Three Movements
Deaf News Today A new documentary about deafness premiered on HBO last night. Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements is the story of Jonas Brodsky who began losing his hearing at the age of two like his grandmother. Only in Jonas case, his parents had the choice of giving him a cochlear implant. Read more about the film here or watch the trailer below. Read More at DeafNews...
Thu, Dec 12 2019

It's OK to Point!
Deaf News Today The CDC offers a video explaining some differences between hearing and Deaf culture. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. spoke with Jack Volpe, who is an ASL instructor and director of a play, which brings together both Deaf and hearing actors in Montreal. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Thu, Dec 12 2019

ASL Program Proposed for Univ of Memphis
Deaf News Today The University of Memphis is planning to become the only college in West Tennessee offering a degree program in ASL by the fall of 2021. The school only started offering undergraduate courses in ASL during the fall of 2015. Administrators expect to serve 40 majors each year and graduate 15 to 20 students each year. The only college in Tennessee with such a degree prog...
Wed, Dec 11 2019

$2 Million Grant Goes to Cochlear Implant Research
Deaf News Today A National Institutes of Health grant of $2 will be used by a researcher at USC toward a "project aimed at helping the formerly deaf with cochlear implants regain their appreciation for music." Ray Goldsworthy (who uses a CI himself) will study: The role pitch perception plays in music comprehension. The ability to determine pitch — to distinguish if one sound is ...
Wed, Dec 11 2019

In 2013: the fake interpreter at Mandela’s memorial...
Deaf News Today During Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg on this date (Dec. 10) in 2013, a man pretending to interpret for the dignitaries that spoke was declared a fraud by South Africa's deaf federation. U.S. President Barack Obama was among the heads of state attending the service at the 95,000-seat football stadium when Thamsanqa Jantjie took to the stage. The i...
Tue, Dec 10 2019

Happy Birthday, Thomas Gallaudet!
Deaf News Today Born - Philadelphia on December 10, 1787 Family - Oldest of 12 children College - Attended Yale at age 14, graduating with highest honors at 17 Ministry - Ordained in 1814, sometimes preaching at church Deaf Interest - Became interested in deaf issues when he met a 9-year-old deaf neighbor School - Founded The American School for the Deaf during 1817 in Hartfo...
Tue, Dec 10 2019

The Ottoman Empire used a Secret Sign Language
Deaf News Today Ottoman court signer from a  17th-century costume book (via Wikimedia Commons) "In the 1600s, the court of the Ottoman Empire employed some 40 deaf servants," professor Sara Scalenghe writes. "They were chosen not in spite of their deafness, but because of it. The deaf servants were favored companions of the sultan, and their facility in nonverbal communication made...
Mon, Dec 09 2019

Getting to Know Dr House
Deaf News Today It was on this date (Dec. 7, 2012) that Dr. William F. House died in Oregon at the age of 89. Dr. House is credited with installing the first cochlear implant in 1961. He was told by experts the electric current he was using would destroy the ear, but that didn't stop him. He believed in what implants could do to change someone's life. Here's a little about him. Know...
Sat, Dec 07 2019

Looking back at Kitty O'Neil's Record
Deaf News Today It was on this day (Dec. 6) in 1976 that professional stuntwoman Kitty O'Neil set a record for land speed by a female driver. It was in Oregon's Alvord Desert that Kitty hit 512 miles per hour.Childhood diseases left her deaf and nearly killed her. She became a champion diver at a young age. Her work later as a Hollywood stuntwoman was featured in TV shows like Quinc...
Fri, Dec 06 2019

Deaf Actor plays characters not defined by his being Deaf
Deaf News Today Russell Harvard, a third-generation Deaf man, is playing the roles of Link Deas and Boo Radley in Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird. It's the "first time the actor had played a character not defined by being Deaf." He tells Playbill I think it simply means I’m good at what I do. It makes sense with Link Deas and Boo Radley because they share similar qualities. B...
Thu, Dec 05 2019

On this Date: Dimarco Wins Top Model
Deaf News Today Nyle Dimarco(image from ANTM video) Nyle Dimarco won America's Next Top Model contest on this date (Dec. 4) in 2015. He was the first deaf contestant to do so. Afterward Dimarco told People magazine, "Being a deaf person on a television show alone is pretty groundbreaking, so it felt incredible just to be on the show – but to win it was amazing!" Read more of that ...
Wed, Dec 04 2019

Happy Birthday, Linda the Librarian!
Deaf News Today Linda Bove was born on this day (Nov 30) in 1945. She’s remembered as the deaf lady on Sesame Street. Bove was a regular on the show from 1971 to 2003 as Linda the Librarian, introducing thousands of children to sign language and deaf community issues. In 1991, she and her husband founded DeafWest, a resident sign-language theater in Los Angeles which has produced s...
Sat, Nov 30 2019

NAD wins settlement against Harvard over captioning video
Deaf News Today Harvard has settled a lawsuit over captioning. The school has agreed to make its website and online courses "friendlier" to those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The National Association of the Deaf filed the suit four years ago, saying "many of its videos and audio recordings lacked captions or used inaccurate captions." NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum said, "This lawsuit ...
Fri, Nov 29 2019

Oldest Terp Dies
Deaf News Today The woman believed to be the oldest working sign language interpreter in the country has died at the age of 97. Norma Lewis worked with deaf people in the Kentucky court system. Read more about Norma in the Courier-Journal here. Read More at DeafNewsToday.com
Wed, Nov 27 2019

Priests who abused deaf children get 40-year jail terms
Deaf News Today "Two Roman Catholic priests were each sentenced to more than 40 years in prison in Argentina for the sexual abuse, including rape, of deaf children" reports AFP. The victims were living at a Catholic boarding school and ranged from between four and 17 years of age. "Some burst into wild celebrations when the sentence was read out in court. Some of the victims' mothers...
Tue, Nov 26 2019

11 years ago today: William Gibson died
Deaf News Today On November 25, 2008, the man who wrote a famous play about Helen Keller called The Miracle Worker died. William Gibson's story of Helen Keller’s relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, won the 1960 Tony Award for best play and is still regularly performed around the country in community theaters. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, played the stage roles of Sulliva...
Mon, Nov 25 2019