This is the latest short, no-ads, Mid-Week edition.

Enjoy reading it.

- number of students taking ASL classes grow fast and faster

According to the Modern Language Association of America, ASL
is the fourth most popular language in the classroom.

Look at this growth in number of ASL students:

1990 – 1,602
1995 – 4,304
1998 – 11,420
2002 – 60,781
2006 – 78,829
2009 – 91,763

……..

- Speed Dating at Gallaudet !

Speed Dating among the hearing has been going on for
a while.

What about Deaf Speed Dating? This event took place recently
at Gallaudet.

The rules?
Just one rule – speaking is not permitted

All of these Speed Daters were deaf? No. There were some
hearing Speed Daters, but they all had to sign.

The disadvantage was that there were too many nosey
people on the campus that were curious as to what was
going on!

……..

- a deaf uniformed officer, with K-9 dog, deals with agricultural
products at the Philadelphia Airport

If you happen to be at the Philadelphia Airport, be on the
look out for Melissa Wallace, a deaf woman who is an
uniformed agent with the US Customs & Border Protection Patrol.
She deals with agricultural products in the airplane
cargo section

…….

- Back and forth between Chef and ASL interpreter

Rena Hobbs, a Coda fluent with ASL, is a chef at
the Heritage Hotel Resort and Conference Center
at Southbury, CT.

The Deaf Women of New England Conference took
place at the hotel last week. She then became
the conference interpreter.

When the conference ended, she went back to her
regular job as the hotel chef!

If you are at that hotel and order fish tacos,
these were cooked to perfection by her.

……

- another race for Luke Adams and his mother

Last year deaf Luke Adams and his mother appeared on
the TV show, The Amazing Race.

Luke became quickly popular among the deaf people
that watched this TV program.

While he and his mother did not win, they may be
invited to race again. There is a new program called
“Unfinished Business” and there is much talk in the
media that Luke and his mother will be part of that
race.

…….

Class of 1952 at Gallaudet has nothing to do with the real
graduating class of 1952. Instead it honors a very special
group of Kendall School students that enrolled that year.

Why? The mother of the three Miller deaf boys (Kenneth,
Gerald and Justin) filed an won a lawsuit to have
Kendall School enroll these three African-Americans.
A new school, the Kendall School Division II, was
established on the Gallaudet campus. This new school,
however, lasted only two years before both Kendall
and Kendall II schools were combined for good.

……

- a deaf internet cafe in Great Britain

Norwich cafe provides gateway for deaf people

Just like hearing Starbucks, the deaf internet cafe
in Norwich, a city in Great Britain, will function
as the Deaf Starbucks. There is nothing in the Deaf
Starbucks that you will not see at any hearing
Starbucks.

This Deaf Starbucks is said to be the first for
the deaf in this Norwich region of Grat Britain.

This cafe is open daily in the late mornings through
mid-afternoons.

……

- a deaf woman in a nail salon in Kentucky

Carla Staten, who is deaf, was job hunting. She completed training
classes on manicures and pedicures, hoping for a career in a
nail salon.

The salon boss was looking for a good person. Aware that Carla
was deaf, the boss was not interested in an interview. He wanted
to see how good she was with manicures and pedicures. After
watching her work on a patron, Carla was immediately hired and
told to start work ASAP! The salon is located in Covington,
Kentucky.

……

- over 20 deaf students attend a college in
Taiwan

National Cheng Kung University is one of the most
respected universities in Taiwan. It is like
Harvard in USA. This university has over 20
deaf students.

There are no interpreters for these deaf students.
Instead there is a pool of 15-20 real time
captioners that type on screen what the professors
are saying in the classroom.

……

- captioned map program at a museum near Washington, DC

If you are visiting the Manassas Battlefield,
which is about 30-35 miles away from Washington, DC
then you will be pleasantly surprised.

The museum has a captioned battle map program that
you can easily understand and follow how the battle
took place.