Grumpy Old Deafies

First Memorial in the UK to Mark Disabled People's...
Grumpy Old Deafies The first memorial in the UK, to recognise the one million disabled people who were persecuted, sterilised or killed by Nazi Germany has been unveiled. This has located at The Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire. Firstly it serves as an important memory, these people are never forgotten. It is also about time some more mainstream recognition was given, as history c...
Culture Sun, May 11 2008 · 11 hours ago hide this blog

HandTalk: A glove that (supposedly) translates sign language
Grumpy Old Deafies There's a glove being developed at Carnegie Melon University which is supposed to translate ASL hand shapes into speech, via a mobile phone. One would hope some collaboration is happening with linguists. Now I don't know the first thing about the linguistics of ASL, but as a mere user of another sign langauge - BSL - I can't see this working well anytime soon. Rece...
Language Tech Sat, May 10 2008 · hide this blog

BSL Recognition: Tender to Improve Access & Demand for BSL
Grumpy Old Deafies Following the meeting with the Prime Minister in February, the Department for Children Schools and Families are planning to announce the publication of a tender for a project to improve access to and demand for BSL. The relevant DCSF page by Lord Adonis can be found here, and the direct link to the document is here [Word] (the link on their website does not work). B...
Legal Audism Culture Education Fri, May 09 2008 · hide this blog

BBC Vision Celebrates 100% Subtitling
Grumpy Old Deafies The BBC says it has now reached a 100% subtitling target in respect of television: BBC Vision has confirmed that it has reached its target of subtitling 100% of programs on its main channels - BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBeebies, CBBC and BBC News. Deaf and hard of hearing people will now be able to fully enjoy the complete range of BBC television program...
Media Tech Culture Thu, May 08 2008 · hide this blog

Film: Experience of Tinnitus, from Channel 4's The Shooting...
Grumpy Old Deafies The Shooting Party is a series (Sunday evenings) on Channel 4 which follows nine disabled directors. Two of the participants are deaf: Sam Dore is 30, profoundly deaf and uses BSL. He has worked in television on Channel 4's VEE-TV, and as a writer/director since 1999 with several short films to his name.He has also worked as a presenter and actor. His short film for...
Media Thu, May 08 2008 · hide this blog

The Sickness of Deaf Awareness Week: Imagine A World...
Grumpy Old Deafies Its Deaf Awareness Week, and the RNID has excelled itself at being the most patronising and paternalistic deaf organisation on planet earth. Before I go on, its no secret that I have my reservations about Deaf Awareness Week, but that is the subject of another blog post. However, I would imagine the aim of such a week was supposed to be about deaf people - in whatev...
Audism Culture Thu, May 08 2008 · hide this blog

Northern Ireland Assembly: The Bamford Review & Deaf People
Grumpy Old Deafies The Northern Ireland Assembly recently had a generic debate on health services. Within this debate it made mention of a review of deaf mental health services in Northern Ireland: Michael McGimpsey (UUP) The Bamford Review did not examine needs in respect of the mental health and well-being of people who are blind or partially sighted; however, it did examine those n...
Legal Culture Thu, May 08 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Health Service Funding & Provision for Deaf...
Grumpy Old Deafies Sandra Gidley (Shadow Minister, Health; Romsey, Liberal Democrat) To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much funding was provided for support services for deaf people in each region in each of the last five years; (2) what steps he is taking to improve health services for deaf people. Ivan Lewis (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health; Bury...
Tech Legal Culture Thu, May 08 2008 · hide this blog

Film: Waterfront
Grumpy Old Deafies Waterfront - a film produced in 2001 - is available on online: Total clip time: 7 minutes 20 seconds For international readers, Old Street is / was in the vicinity of a few deaf organisations. Writer/Director: William Mager, Producer: Rosa Rogers, Camera: Barbara Nicholls, Edit: Schuman Hoque, Music: Ken Easter, Tsunami Sounds, With thanks to: Maverick Television...
Media Language Art and Storytelling Culture Wed, May 07 2008 · hide this blog

Skype BSL Commercial
Grumpy Old Deafies Below is a BSL based commercial for Skype, who had commissioned Remark!: You can watch it in full glory here. Fantastic collaboration, and good to see BSL being used as a marketing tool. Deaf people after all do use Skype as a communication tool. Source: Skype Remark! Skype Commercial See also: Sign language in advertising Pepsi Superbowl Advert More ASL...
Media Language Tech Wed, May 07 2008 · hide this blog

Video: BSL March 2000
Grumpy Old Deafies Here's a trip down memory lane, a video by Usher Life of FDP's BSL March 2000: I think this march have around 10,000 people (am I right?) In the footage, spot Jen (the co-author of this blog), being bossy via her co-ordinating duties. There's also footage at the end of Doug Alker, and Clive Mason MC; however the umbrellas sort of get in the way! Does anyone else...
Language Culture Tue, May 06 2008 · hide this blog

Jeff McWhinney vlogs
Grumpy Old Deafies Connecting Bristol introduced Jeff McWhinney as a guest vlogger, in recognition of Deaf Awarness week. Jeff's first post is introductory and introduces a Festival of Ideas. The first video in the post is in BSL, which is good (more BSL online please): For those of you who don't understand BSL, the original post has English text underneath. Unfortunately the seco...
Culture Tue, May 06 2008 · hide this blog

Deafness Matters
Grumpy Old Deafies I was just rooting through Teachers TV for any more programmes around deaf issues. The only ones there, appear to be old, but not programmes we've covered on here bfore. Here's Deafness Matters: The project was developed by Fran Simmons and Erika Stevenson for young people from the Oxfordshire Deaf Children's Society. You can buy this dvd from here. Whilst ...
Education Culture Sun, May 04 2008 · hide this blog

Deaf BSL Gorilla
Grumpy Old Deafies We may be grumpy, but we still wish there was more stuff on YouTube etc like this bloke's video: More BSL funnies, please! Know of any? Tell us!
Language Tue, Apr 29 2008 · hide this blog

Poor little Deaf children
Grumpy Old Deafies ==== This is why deaf organisations have a lot to answer for... ==== The scene: My kitchen, this evening. Doorbell rings. C (my partner): There's someone at the door. [goes to front door, opens it] Through the glass door, I (Jen) can see three people on the doorstep; one of whom is wearing a weird bib thing (think netball) with "NDCS" on it. I bid a hasty retre...
Mon, Apr 28 2008 · hide this blog

Competition: Win Four Deaf Yorkshiremen on dvd! (And you...
Grumpy Old Deafies Remember Four Deaf Yorkshiremen on last year? It was viewed 40,000 times, and also nominated for 'Best UK film' at Deaffest 2007. The team behind the film are trying to raise some money to make a second film to be filmed this summer. To do this, they've produced a special edition dvd, which includes extra features: The original film with subtitles The film with...
Media Art and Storytelling Mon, Apr 21 2008 · hide this blog

David Lodge: Deaf Sentence (forthcoming book)
Grumpy Old Deafies David Lodge was an author I came across in the early 1990s, when I was a student at the University of Birmingham. He was once a lecturer there, my flatmate who studied English, and happened to have one of his books which I took an interest in. Subsequently became one of my favourite authors, especially for his sense of humour and ability to see irony. I met Lodge a...
Art and Storytelling Culture Sun, Apr 20 2008 · hide this blog

Sign Language Interpreters at a High Ergonomic Risk
Grumpy Old Deafies Science Daily reports of research that sign language interpreting is a high risk from RSI (or similar), following research from RIT’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering: The research indicates that interpreting causes more physical stress to the extremities than high-risk tasks conducted in industrial settings, including assembly line work. It also foun...
Language Sat, Apr 19 2008 · hide this blog

Geeky device to alert you to goings on in your home
Grumpy Old Deafies Alert Me is a new UK start up, which has a product right deaf people's street, and looks cool. Its a product based on the back of your wifi signal in your home, and it will alert you via SMS or via a website, the status of various sensors including the doorbell, alarm detector, smoke detector and even door and window sensors. Check this page out. What's more it ac...
Tech Culture Fri, Apr 18 2008 · hide this blog

Behind the Scenes: Deafinitely Theatre's Lipsticks &...
Grumpy Old Deafies Good to see Deafinitely Theatre making use of and embracing Web 2.0 as a platform for promotion, and it ups my estimation in progression stakes. You can also see a full list of tour dates on Upcoming. They also have a Facebook group, which includes some pre-production photographs.
Language Art and Storytelling Culture Fri, Apr 18 2008 · hide this blog

Coming soon: Hybrid Implant - Hearing Aid
Grumpy Old Deafies It seems a hybrid implant / hearing aid is currently being tested. Part hearing aid part implant, which is aimed at hard of hearing people with some residual hearing but too much hearing to be considered a candidate for a CI. Since the implant threshold is much lower now (I have known people who have identified as HoH with implants); this would encompass a much broa...
Tech Thu, Apr 17 2008 · hide this blog

More ASL Pepsi advertising
Grumpy Old Deafies (I'm not sure why this one done by Keith Wann and Justin Callaway didn't seem to get as much attention as the other one? Perhaps they're meant to link together or something. I don't know how USA advertising works?) Anyway - always good to see more ASL out there in the big wide world :o) Jen
Media Wed, Apr 16 2008 · hide this blog

Problems with DeafRead
Grumpy Old Deafies Earlier Tayler posted something about solutions for DeafRead. I've got my own thoughts on this, but its not quite the subject of this post. I've stopped using DeafRead for some time, because it does not work for me and its having implications on the free flow of content. Since most of our UK readership won't know what it is, DeafRead is a moderated or filtered aggr...
Media Language Audism Tech Legal Culture Mon, Apr 14 2008 · hide this blog

Hilarious!
Grumpy Old Deafies Go here. Says it all. Wonder if it was for a catalogue of condoms, to stop you having deaf babies ("RNID does not support the selection of a deaf embryo for IVF implantation where a hearing embryo is available")? And to think they churn ~£50 million smackers per annum, to look after us and in Scotland: to promote and encourage the prevention and mitigation of dea...
Audism Culture Thu, Apr 03 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Deaf Communities & Human Fertilisation &...
Grumpy Old Deafies Janet Anderson (Rossendale & Darwen, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with representatives of deaf communities on provisions in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health) Officials at the Department have had contact with the Royal National Institut...
Tech Legal Culture Thu, Apr 03 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Deaf Telephone Access to the Dept of...
Grumpy Old Deafies Andy Reed is at it again, with his telephone questions: Andy Reed (Loughborough, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what provision is made for deaf people to access services provided by his Department through call centres. David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) The ...
Tech Legal Wed, Apr 02 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Deaf Telephone Access to the Department of...
Grumpy Old Deafies Andy Reed (Loughborough, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what provision is made for deaf people to access services provided by his Department through call centres. Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions) Deaf people can use the typetalk service or our separate textphone numbers to access all our cal...
Legal Culture Thu, Mar 27 2008 · hide this blog

The 5th anniversary of apathy BSL recognition
Grumpy Old Deafies Yep, five years ago today, the Government announced that it recognised BSL as an official British language. Whoopee-do! A few months later, we had another (pre-planned) march through London to push for a BSL Act. This banner was there: And on the back, it wisely said... Did we? Umm, no. I've said it before and I'll say it again - we British Deaf NEED to get ...
Language Culture Tue, Mar 18 2008 · hide this blog

b3ta: Car logos for the deaf
Grumpy Old Deafies b3ta.com, a time wasting Friday afternoon site, recently published on its boards "Car logos for the deaf" Petrolheads, how many do you recognise? via JK - thanks!
Language Mon, Mar 17 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Departmental Translation Services
Grumpy Old Deafies Recently there was a parliamentary question on the proportion of translation services contracted out to commercial providers: Roger Gale (North Thanet, Conservative) To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of his Department's translation and interpreting work is outsourced through framework agreements with commercial providers; and if he ...
Language Legal Mon, Mar 17 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Bus Services Concessions
Grumpy Old Deafies Deaf people in the UK are generally entitled to a free bus pass. In April, those living in England will be entitled to travel throughout England for free. Recently a question came up in parliament, in relation to mental health but the answer touched on the legal criteria for bus passes (which includes deaf people): Bob Laxton (Derby North, Labour): To ask the Secr...
Legal Culture Mon, Mar 17 2008 · hide this blog

KFC SAVES "the hearing impaired"!
Grumpy Old Deafies Wow. According to this article, KFC have bowed to their "social responsibility" and started to give "hearing impaired" people jobs. So if you too want to be specially trained how to lipread difficult things like "Toasted Twister" and "Zinger Burger", now's your chance! Get yourself down to KFC and they will help you. But, DON'T WORRY. They also employ "normal peo...
Culture Thu, Mar 13 2008 · hide this blog

Muslims in a Deaf World
Grumpy Old Deafies There's a film on YouTube which focuses on Raza, a Deaf Muslim who asks questions about living as a Deaf Muslim in the UK. My first language is British Sign Language but really I have three languages. First BSL, second English, and third Urdu, my family language. [snip] I feel strongly that being a Muslim has an effect on deaf people, being based on a background w...
Language Audism Culture Wed, Mar 12 2008 · hide this blog

Horseradish Fire Alarm for Deafies
Grumpy Old Deafies Throw away your vibrating fire alarm, a new Horseradish Fire Alarm has been developed for deafies! Yes it sprays a strong smell of horseradish to wake you up in as little as 10 seconds. Medical equipment manufacturers have developed a technology to extract components of the strong odor of horseradish, seal them inside a can and spray them out. Shiga University of Me...
Tech Tue, Mar 11 2008 · hide this blog

Genetics: BBC Radio Transcript Links
Grumpy Old Deafies Transcripts of yesterday's genetics programmes on Radio 2 and Radio 4 is on the Stop Eugenics: BBC Radio 4: Today BBC Radio 2: Jeremy Vine Show These transcripts were provided as goodwill through personal connections, however the BBC has failed badly in this respect. As a public service provider, the BBC should have an obligation to make accessible content, i.e. t...
Media Tech Legal Culture Tue, Mar 11 2008 · hide this blog

The Deaf version of Youtube...
Grumpy Old Deafies ... it had to happen! Click here to see it for yourself! I think it's Deaf-created, though I could be wrong. Do you know? And what do you think? That's what the comment box is for! ::grin:: And yes, I know GOD has been quiet of late. This is because we've been busy doing GODly things. Oh yes, we have. - jen
Media Language Tech Culture Fri, Mar 07 2008 · hide this blog

Early Day Motion on Deaf Education
Grumpy Old Deafies Frank Dobson's Early Day Motion on Deaf education is has been tabled in Parliament: That this House recognises the importance of ensuring that deaf and hearing-impaired children are educated in British Sign Language (BSL); believes that for many deaf children, BSL will be their lifelong first language and that they have a right to have the national curriculum deliver...
Language Education Legal Tue, Feb 26 2008 · hide this blog

Seeking clarification...
Grumpy Old Deafies I've just blogged a question for the organisers of the march in London on 12th April. It's on stopeugenics.org in both BSL and English - click here if you're interested. I hope someone will answer my question soon! Jen
Legal Culture Fri, Feb 15 2008 · hide this blog

Kind of messy
Grumpy Old Deafies I know, I know; Alison and I haven't managed to blog as much as we'd like to recently, but of course the world doesn't stop spinning, so all the bloggable things have piled up... and so, this post will be kind of messy. But messy is good, so here we go (in no particular order): If you haven't already, get yourself over to the BBC website's BSL survey. Apparently it...
Audism Tech Culture Wed, Feb 13 2008 · hide this blog

Two Things To Read Today
Grumpy Old Deafies We all know how long Friday afternoons can be sometimes. So, if you want something to read, why not try TigerDeafie, Dr Steven Emery's cool new blog. Nice photo, Steve! Or you can always have a laugh over the uproar over the Thai Prime Minister's sign name. Oh dear. Some cultural chasms cannot seem to be bridged, no? Jen
Language Culture Fri, Feb 01 2008 · hide this blog

Pepsi Superbowl Advert
Grumpy Old Deafies That Pepsi Superbowl advert based around a Deaf joke can be found on YouTube: And behind the scenes: Congratulations to those involved. We're jealous this side of the pond, although we did have an excellent and humourous BT advert using BSL, starring Fifi Garfield about 8 years ago. Nice to see positive representations of Deaf people. Via Yoav, Joe, Katrina -...
Media Culture Fri, Jan 25 2008 · hide this blog

Almost too insulting for words
Grumpy Old Deafies Forgive me for losing my sense of humour, but I was definitely NOT amused this morning when I read Deafweekly's report on a "sign language lady randomly waving her arms around during a British children's TV programme." You can read more about it here. Er, is it real?! Someone, please reassure me either way. And if so, is it really 2008, or did I wake up in 1968 or...
Art and Storytelling Fri, Jan 25 2008 · hide this blog

North Tyneside Council are delighted at closure of deaf...
Grumpy Old Deafies North Tyneside Council seem to be happy at the closure of a deaf support centre: Councillors have expressed their delight at closing a deaf support centre – as it means all the youngsters on the books have been integrated into mainstream schools. An attitude that seems to lack a lot of foresight and clearly fails to understand history, backed by a councillor's remar...
Audism Culture Thu, Jan 24 2008 · hide this blog

Cathy Heffernan, Being deaf has one big advantage when...
Grumpy Old Deafies Cathy Heffernan currently has a piece in The Guardian, Being deaf has one big advantage when you're travelling abroad - it breaks down all the barriers. In places where politically correct language and attitudes haven't arrived, people are free to describe deafness in gloriously insulting ways ....... Give me that any day over the phrases considered PC here in Britai...
Culture Thu, Jan 24 2008 · hide this blog

Mixed bag
Grumpy Old Deafies As the title suggests, this blog post is a bit of a mixed bag, mostly because I haven’t blogged here for a while and things tend to pile up. So, here we go… Firstly, what is this about captioned radio ‘for deaf people’?! (You can read more about it here and here and here.) While this has been a long time coming, Tony was right in pointing out that deaf people cann...
Media Language Tech Wed, Jan 16 2008 · hide this blog

stop eugenics II - who decides?
Grumpy Old Deafies
Audism Art and Storytelling Legal Culture Sun, Jan 13 2008 · hide this blog

Do you know of anyone going through or considering IVF?
Grumpy Old Deafies If so could you please contact BBC See Hear team by e mailing: david (dot) street (at) bbc (dot) co (dot) uk (make obvious changes to the e mail address). Its in relation to a programme on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Thanks.
Audism Tech Legal Thu, Jan 10 2008 · hide this blog

Tinnitus: a new approach
Grumpy Old Deafies Tonight there is a programme on BBC Radio 4 - Longing For Silence - at 21:00, which looks at the issue of tinnitus. Kate Cook goes on a deeply emotional journey to explore what hope there is for a cure for the chronic tinnitus she has suffered for a quarter of a century. It suggests cause plus form of treatment: Berthold Langguth, a neurologist in Germany, believ...
Wed, Jan 09 2008 · hide this blog

Parliament: Emergency SMS Trial, 2008
Grumpy Old Deafies The ability to use SMS to contact emergency services in the UK is thin on the ground, and depends on area provision. If you travel to another area, you might need to source another number or perhaps you cannot register with other local services. Yesterday an answer was published in parliament over any government plans over a national scheme: Simon Burns (West Chelm...
Tech Culture Wed, Jan 09 2008 · hide this blog

Deaf Amination: Trip to Yatkumchatka (with subtitles)
Grumpy Old Deafies Deaf animator James Merry has made one of his animations available with subtitles: Enjoy!
Art and Storytelling Mon, Jan 07 2008 · hide this blog