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Hearing Loss Association of America Surpasses $1.2 Million...
 Mike McConnell Received an interesting email announcement from HLAA about their fund raising effort in 2011 through their Walk4Hearing fund raising events. It's amazing to see how much they've raised money in one year. Already into 2012 they've raised almost $70,000 which is about 5% of their $1.3 million dollar goal. Bethesda, MD: The Hearing Loss Association of America is pleased ...Thu, Feb 02 2012 DJ Demers - hard of hearing comedian
Mike McConnell I have never heard of DJ Demers out of Canada who happens to be a hard of hearing stand up comedian. No signing but the typical speaking comedy performances he does. I discovered this guy the other day when I came across a video of him interviewing Sarah Churman on the Sharp Focus website. An up and coming comedian who have won awards and recognition for his sta...Sun, Jan 29 2012 Hard of hearing person interviews Sarah Churman
Mike McConnell Here's an interesting captioned video interview of Sarah Churman by DJ Demers of Sharp Focus. What makes this an interesting interview is that you have two hard of hearing people talking back and forth on a live video feed with DJ Demers out of Toronto, Canada and Sarah Churman out of Burleson, Texas. They're able to understand each other quite perfectly. The only dif...Sun, Jan 29 2012 Sarah Churman gets 2nd hearing aid implant
Mike McConnell It won't be long until Sarah gets to hear the world in stereo instead of mono. Very cool. She underwent surgery on January 13, 2012 for her 2nd implantable hearing aid and will have her implant activated on March 8, 2012. All this was possible because of Envoy Medical's generous donation presented by Ellen DeGeneres on her show that helped pay for the cost of Sa...Sat, Jan 28 2012 Concerned Citizens for Disability Advocacy on Stem Cells...
Mike McConnell A blog called "Concerned Citizens for Disability Advocacy" (CCFDA) shared an opinion about the recent brouhaha by some Deaf people who are against stem cells experimentation in the field of regenerative medicine that could help babies with hearing loss. This blogger on CCFDA explained why he/she will not support such a petition that is against stem cells treatment for...Tue, Jan 17 2012 FDA Approves Phase I Stem Cells for Babies with Hearing Loss
Mike McConnell There's a new FDA approved cord blood stem cell safety study to be done on deaf children age 6 weeks to 18 months who acquired sensorineural hearing loss (nonsyndromic deafness). This is a year long study. Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Cord Blood Registry® (CBR) are launching the first FDA-approved, Phase I safety study on the use of cord blood stem cell...Tue, Jan 17 2012 2012 - the year of synergism for Deaf, deaf and hard of...
Mike McConnell Happy New Year readers and fans!I think 2012 will be the year where synergy would begin to emerge among Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing business owners. On a Facebook page "Meet Deaf CEOs" supported by Convo Relay (a deaf owned and operated VRS technology company) it shows pictures of at least 140 separate deaf-run business owners (e.g. CEOs, executive officers, etc) p...Sun, Jan 01 2012 Dutch pianist loses hearing...continues to play.
Mike McConnell Here's a subtitled video of a Dutch pianist who lost his hearing due to ear infection. He was able to push through his deafness and continue to play and compose music while the sound of piano notes remained in his head. But in the end he never took for granted the ability to hear once he regained all of his hearing back.Wed, Dec 21 2011 Lotte Sofie...the little Norwegian girl
Mike McConnell Here's a neat blog about a young girl named Lotte Sofie who was born deaf in 2002. She received her implant in 2004. It's a blog that chronicles the little implanted girl from 2002 (implanted in Nov 2004) to today 9 years later. At age 9 Lotte decided that she wanted to learn Norwegian sign language despite having three spoken languages in Norwegian, Dutch and learnin...Mon, Dec 19 2011 Patient dear...
Mike McConnell Hard to believe that some deaf people would actually get upset over the word "patient" as seen in the photo on the left. A sign that says, "Hearing & Speech Center. Patient Parking Only. Violators Will Be Towed." That sign is located on the campus of Gallaudet University.One commenter starts first:The most disturbing of all signposts shown in the video is “Heari...Sun, Dec 18 2011 Just the facts, Ma'am.
Mike McConnell I'm not sure what the deal is here with DP on going after me, Candy and Ann_C other than it's nothing more than another witch hunt over a difference of opinions under the guise of "facts" and which people have more "credibility" (note the underline bold throughout): On one hand, we have Amy Cohen Efron, a deaf ASL user who has a Master’s degree and works sole...Sat, Dec 17 2011 Signs or No Signs?
Mike McConnell Ah, another one of those rounds of shocked outrage over....signs. No, not sign language or ASL but as in signage like stop signs, directional signs, billboard signs, advertising signs and so forth. The little outrage is just beginning to trickle over a video piece regarding the numerous "Hearing and Speech Center" (HSC) signage in various spots on the campus of Gallau...Sat, Dec 17 2011 Gallaudet University Google Earth from 1949 - 2010
Mike McConnell Can you spot the changes?Gif webcamWed, Dec 14 2011 Gallaudet University's holiday video....no signing II
Mike McConnell Looking back on what I wrote today about the recent holiday video that apparently upset a few people. It is a video produced by Gallaudet University that includes Dr. Hurwitz shown at the end of the video where he signed and used his voice (starting at the 16:44 mark). And then I remembered something. It was the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf's (...Wed, Dec 14 2011 Gallaudet University's holiday video....no signing
Mike McConnell At the 3:54 minute mark in a Gallaudet University's video on how holidays are celebrated in different countries as explained by different people, Oluyinka "Yinka" Fakunle who is the part of the Communications and Public Relations Staff as an Administrative Secretary discusses her holiday tradition by talking and not sign. However, we don't know when she was hired or h...Tue, Dec 13 2011 When bullies go after kids with cochlear implants
Mike McConnell Here's a good story about a deaf boy who had to take a stand and defend himself against a bully. I'm not sure if it's because he was bullied because he wore a cochlear implant but in the end the deaf boy ultimately stood his ground.There comes a point in all of our lives when we reach a limit and we are forced to defend ourselves. Bullies beware of a deaf child wearin...Fri, Dec 09 2011 Round Peg in a Square Hole - LOL MEME
Mike McConnell To expand cartoon panel go here.Enjoy. Tue, Dec 06 2011 The most accessible stadium...evah!
 Mike McConnell I've said this over four years ago at Gallaudet University while giving my speech presentation regarding technology and communication access in the future. I explained that technology will play a major role in how we will interact with anyone on and off campus. Today we continue to see this happening as communication access technology slowly unfold before us suc...Sun, Dec 04 2011 New hearing aid style....punkish
Mike McConnell I can't exactly say this is the kind of hearing aid people would desire for but I'd give them credit for being this creative. What you're seeing in this photo is a hearing aid. Yes. A hearing aid. Go here and learn more about this really strange idea of a hearing aid design. If you're hard of hearing and are into this sort of punk-type of jewelry design for your...Fri, Dec 02 2011 Unapproachable Deaf People?
Mike McConnell Are deaf and hard of hearing people really that "unapproachable" simply because they have a different way of communicating? In some ways I'd say "yes" and in some ways I'd say "no." That would depend on the context of a situation. Let me give you one "unapproachable" example and that would be the Deafhood Foundation organization. On the outside they look to be v...Wed, Nov 30 2011 Gallaudet University's Quiet Climate Change
Mike McConnell It all began some 4 to 5 years ago at the height of this well known climate fear rippling through the fabric of our easily-duped society ominously known as "Global Warming." Gallaudet University soon became a part of this movement at the academic level where professors and students excitedly signed about this fearful awesomeness of thermagedon known as "Global W...Sun, Nov 27 2011 Sign Write
Mike McConnell The title "sign write" is as best as I can describe a situation and it has to do with an observation I noticed in a discussion forum on a deaf-related topic. There was a hearing parent (of a deaf child) who actually wrote somewhat haltingly in English as if it was done in a signing format. This hearing parent was a new member with English as the native language. So, i...Sat, Nov 26 2011 Voting Illusion in DeafRead
Mike McConnell In DeafRead's Extra section there is an opportunity for readers to vote on a blog piece they like. And with enough votes it could go to the main page of DR's aggregator page. I don't care much for votes but I noticed an usual pattern after my blog piece had gotten 2 or 3 votes in the beginning. Another blog below mine in DR Extra suddenly went 2 or 3 votes highe...Fri, Nov 11 2011 A Day by Day Review
Mike McConnell Gosh, it has nearly been 6 years since Chris Muir was inspired by my email to him about Rob McGovern and my cousin, Major Gregory Stone, who was murdered in a grenade tent attack in Kuwait days before the Iraq war to begin. The resulting inspiration of mine was incorporated into Chris Muir's Day by Day cartoon panel as seen above. That was a time early on in my bloggi...Fri, Nov 11 2011 Walk4Hearing reaches pivotal fund raising goal
Mike McConnell It took 10 months starting in January of this year the Walk4Hearing to finally reach their fund raising goal of $1.2 million dollars in record time. Money raised will be used toward resources for deaf and hard of hearing people. And why so quickly did it raise so much money in such a relatively short time? Simple. There was no politics mucking things up. No political ...Fri, Nov 04 2011 Deaf Zombie Walk 2011
Mike McConnell Aaargghh! They are alive! Er...dead! Um, well, they're deaf zombies practicing their zombie walk for charity at the 2011 Flint Zombie Walk.Tue, Nov 01 2011 Successful Deaf/HH Entrepeneurs
Mike McConnell Successful deaf and hard of hearing entrepreneurs. The numbers are few and far in between but they are out there if you look hard enough. What gets me excited is seeing successful, legitimate, ethical businesses run by deaf and hard of hearing entrepreneurs whether they know sign language or not. It becomes an even greater excitement if you personally know someone run...Fri, Oct 28 2011 Hiding behind the "entertainment" claim
Mike McConnell Interesting blog piece but yet again an overtly (and obvious) personal one under the guise as being simply a fictional, "entertainment" blog piece. And the obvious effort to twist the story a bit under the guise as a "fictional story." Strange, huh? I've addressed this before in a similar vein. Others have addressed it as well recognizing such writings as person...Fri, Oct 28 2011 Thought of the day: Double standards
Mike McConnell There is no "anti-deafhood." Just that we have no interest in such a concept and certainly don't care for these fanaticism and pushiness by means of peer pressure in order to get people to conform to their DH. They play the games of double standards. Their words betray their actions. And their actions betray their words. We prefer to accept diversity as it is and keep...Thu, Oct 27 2011 Double Dog Dare You!
Mike McConnell It is just fascinating to hear comments every now and then through the grapevines that gets filtered down to me in my emails about the few Deaf people who continually dismiss me as someone who is supposedly angry at the Deaf community for "not accepting me." Or that I'm "lonely" which is funny because whenever I opine strongly or present facts on certain deaf-related ...Thu, Oct 27 2011 A Poll: How much money you are willing to spend on...
Mike McConnell For deaf and hard of hearing people, how much money are you willing to spend on technology to ensure a better career path, business opportunities and/or promotion potential? As a deaf or hard of hearing person, how much money are you willing to spend on technology to ensure a better career path, business opportunities and/or promotion potential?Mon, Oct 24 2011 Transgressing the hate and negativity
Mike McConnell It was interesting to watch Ryan Comerson's uncaptioned video "Transgressing the Object: The Laboratory" about, ironically, education (i.e. pedagogy). I say ironically because his video wasn't captioned and noting he was only willing to reach out to the potential 0.05 percent of the U.S. population in his effort to "educate" people by sharing his opinions to those who...Mon, Oct 24 2011 Leading from behind....
Mike McConnell The phrase "leading from behind" essentially means to let others do the work or "thrive" and thus allow the "leader" to abrogate certain responsibilities and, most importantly, have less accountability when the crap finally hits the fan. We have seen this happen again and again seen in email exchanges, YouTube videos, Facebook, blogs, community forums, school gatherin...Sat, Oct 22 2011 Seven year anniversary of Kokonut Pundit
Mike McConnell Tomorrow, on October 22, 2011, will be my 7th anniversary for my Kokonut Pundit blog. Seven years of continuous blogging. This blog is blog number 1,880. Last year's anniversary I had 1,609 blogs. This year's anniversary will have a count of 1,880 blogs. That's 279 blogs later, an increase over 198 blogs I did from 2009 - 2010, increasing my average to 0.75 blog/day. ...Sat, Oct 22 2011 Members of DVTV
Mike McConnell Seems like there's a misconception about the word "members" by a few people out there and what it means when used in the form like "members of DVTV." There's a YouTube video floating around (won't say who in order to save this guy some embarrassment) where one guy tries to explain by saying "I'm a member of DVTV" is incorrect and proceeded to explain because "member" ...Sat, Oct 22 2011 The big boat
Mike McConnell I've maintained the same outlook and philosophy on not needing a label to describe people with hearing loss from mild to profound and their own personal journey well before I began blogging. I made that clear in July 2006 and it is still true today:- Basically it boils down to common sense knowing that we all go through, including hearing people, our own self-awarenes...Fri, Oct 21 2011 For hearing people only........
Mike McConnell My wife and I had a good time at Deaf Nation in Portland recently this Sunday where we caught up with friends, especially seeing one of my dear friend I haven't seen in person for 19 years. It was unexpected and we surprised each other by literally bumping into each other. It was great chatting with my friend catching up and swapping stories with my wife and friends. ...Tue, Oct 18 2011 Sarah Churman's audiogram
Mike McConnell I said previously that in time we'll know more about Sarah's hearing loss and that people need to keep an open mind about her and the YouTube video that went viral with more than 7.9 million views. That helped produce a 150 percent jump in sales inquiries for the hearing aide company Envoy Medical with more to come for Envoy Medical and Sarah Churman as well (note the...Tue, Oct 18 2011 Refusing to subtitle your own videos
Mike McConnell One of the lamest excuses for a deaf or hard of hearing person to say regarding their own videos is the refusal to subtitle their own videos (whether it's voice or signing) until a good majority of videos in YouTube gets captioned or subtitled by their own authors. The funny thing is that the best way to spread awareness is to include subtitles in your own videos. Doi...Mon, Oct 17 2011 The problem with satire
Mike McConnell I've no problem with satires in the political realm of things, even in deaf politics. But to be a blogger and do satires by going after known deaf people in the blog/vlogosphere for "entertainment venue" or use "sarcasm in its stories" while hiding behind a disclaimer that everything blogged is simply fictional is being dishonest if not disingenuous. By repeatedly goi...Mon, Oct 17 2011 Deaf Rock Singer - History 4 Sale
Mike McConnell Here's a "hearing impaired" rock singer based out of Seattle, Washington that plays in a band called "History for Sale" or H4S for short. They play alternative, indie, and rock genre music. In a press release this summer (June 2011) it explains that the lead singer is deaf (hearing impaired):AFTER A TRYING 2010 THE DEAF SINGER LEADS 'HISTORY for SALE' IN RELEASE...Sun, Oct 16 2011 Deaf YouVideo
Mike McConnell Interesting to see this blog piece pointing to my blog,"When haters gonna still hate....and the clueless ones continue to be clueless," on what it appears to be an assumption that I was attacking deaf/hh/Deaf people for making those rude comments in YouTube. Quite the contrary. It was people in general I was noting who made those rude comments. No where did I mention ...Fri, Oct 14 2011 Sarah Churman responds to questions....
Mike McConnell It was a matter of time until Sarah found the time to answer some questions pertaining to her ability to speak clearly and how she hears before and after getting her implantable hearing aid. It is really astounding to read comments from people saying how it's an impossibility for one to develop a clear voice with no deaf accent. Here's Sarah Churman's money shot on on...Fri, Oct 14 2011 The elimination of a scourge....
Mike McConnell An organization in New Zealand is setting out to eradicate this scourge that affects an estimated 284 million people worldwide. Approximately 80% of the cases are due to causes which could have been prevented, treated or cured in the first place. This scourge cost the New Zealand society some $2.8 billion dollars in 2009. Multiply this cost in all of the countries wor...Fri, Oct 14 2011 An example of a successful hearing loss organization
Mike McConnell If you haven't heard of Hearing Loss Association of America you will now. This is an organization that has been around awhile since 1979 when they were known as SHHH (Self Help for Hard of Hearing) aimed at mostly the hard of hearing segment of society. It has grown today into a nationally known organization that is representative of the hearing loss population seen i...Thu, Oct 13 2011 Deafhood? No Thanks.... revisited
Mike McConnell People continue misunderstand about this loosely affiliated "group" on FB called "Deafhood? No Thanks" thinking it's based on the denial about ourselves regarding our hearing loss and who we are.That's furthest from the truth.Rather it's our polite way of telling people that we do not subscribe to a closed society's approach using peer pressure, the incorporation of '...Wed, Oct 12 2011 New CAD by-laws continues to discriminate and profile?
Mike McConnell Without much fanfare or notice to the public the California Association of the Deaf (a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, incorporated in the State of California) managed to slip in their newly updated and redacted CAD bylaws dated August 13, 2011. The old CAD Bylaws in July 2005 was peppered with terms like "deafhood" in place of "deaf" and "hard of h...Wed, Oct 12 2011 The Sarah Churman Saga Continues.....
Mike McConnell Since I am unable to contribute on Deaf Echo (for their petty reasons that's seven months old) and respond to comments over there I will do so here on my blog regarding what Mishkazena said:"i'm glad for sarah churman. i wish her the best of luck. however, the title 'hearing her voice for the first time' is misleading. many people deny this, insisting one can develop ...Mon, Oct 10 2011 Oppressive Deaf Space?
Mike McConnell Something I read (and watched) on YouTube by spdundas37 concerning the a-wordism at Gallaudet University and about "Deaf Space." Now I understand this concept of "Deaf Space" especially when it revolves around hearing people on the campus of Gallaudet University and even more so while in classrooms. Although I have serious reservations about going after a group ...Sun, Oct 09 2011 Echoing Sentiments
Mike McConnell Chris Heuer produced a piece in Deaf Echo basically lamenting over Sarah Churman's YouTube video that went viral by going over his own little history and hinting that he may just take back his sincerity about Sarah Churman. Sarah Churman, if you’re reading this, let me start out with a disclaimer. What I’m about to write isn’t about you. If your implanted hearin...Sun, Oct 09 2011 |
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