Posts published in July 2015

DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 31, 2015 morning

— Forbes rates Gallaudet as tops

Forbes is a business magazine that corporate
officers read along with big time investors.
This magazine gave Gallaudet a grade of A
in the private college sector. Forbes
evaluates colleges in terms of finances,
endowment, reserves, assets, surplus,
tuition, admission rate and other stuff.

— a new director of a state agency of the deaf

Former attorney Kelby Brick, who is deaf, has been
appointed as the director of Maryland Governor’s
Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It is 
homecoming thing for Kelby because back in 2001,
the state opened this new office, after he
spent considerable time lobbying for it!

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 30, 2015

— waiting 72 years for deaf school campus to be razed

Do mention Northern New York School for the Deaf (Malone, NY)
and the chances are that no one has ever heard of it. This
school was closed in 1943. The campus, however, continued
for 72 years. It is being razed soon. DeafDigest editor
knew of an acquaintance that graduated from that school,
and also met an alumni group at a deaf function in
Syracuse, NY about 35 years ago.

— a sneak preview of a 2017 convention

Coming up real soon is the 2015 Deaf Seniors
of America convention at Asheville, NC. Want
to take a sneak preview of the 2017 event
at Houston, TX? Go to:

http://deafdigest.com/2017-deaf-seniors-convention/

— two deaf texts in three weeks

The Snohomish County (Washington) 911 Center is
able to get deaf 911 emergency texts. It was
set up three weeks ago, and so far, two deaf
texts. Either deaf people have had just two
emergencies – or – there were many emergencies
in the deaf community but the deaf people just
didn’t use 911 text service?

Latest deaf jobs:
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new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 30, 2015 morning

— name of person is Deaf

Could someone have Deaf as their name? That person
is from Maryland.

Do read below; it was posted in a local newspaper

DEAR AMY: About once a month, my wife and I get together with a
group of our friends for dinner. “Vivian” is a girlfriend of
“Fred,” and is a very nice person.

However, Vivian has a very high, loud and screechy voice.

I deliberately try to sit down the table from her, but sometimes
this is not possible. I know Fred is aware of how annoying her
voice is (his facial expression sometimes gives it away), but I
doubt he has said anything to her.

I would like to say something to Fred, but my wife told me to
hold off. She says it is rude. I simply do not want to attend
any other gatherings where Vivian is in attendance.

What do you advise?
Deaf in Maryland

 
DEAR DEAF: “Fred” is not in charge of his girlfriend’s voice.

Your choices are: To speak to “Vivian,” (i.e. “Would you mind
lowering your voice just a little bit?”), stay home, or get
over it. I vote for getting over it.

— deaf winner of Miss Teenage Toronto pageant

Neha-Samantha Banerjea, a 14-year old deaf girl, won the
Miss Teenage Greater Toronto Area pageant. She will
be competing at the Miss Teenage Canada this
weekend.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 29, 2015

— a heavy equipment operator in Canada

Robert Nepinak, now a certified certified heavy equipment
operator, in Canada, had a hard time convincing construction
companies to hire him because of his deafness. They felt
deaf people cannot drive cars, let alone operate heavy
construction equipment. They would not believe him when
he told them of his experience with rock truck, skid steer,
dozer, packer and side boom. Even when he told them there
are 90 deaf semi truck drivers in Canada, they still
wouldn’t believe him. Years ago there was a deaf man
in Maryland operating heavy equipment. He had no problem
getting thisjob – only because his father owned the
construction company!

— fined for traffic violations caught on camera

Many cities use cameras to catch traffic violations,
and then to mail the summons to violators’ homes.
Where does the money go? In the case of Belfast,
Northern Ireland, it goes to the purchase of video
displays for the benefit of deaf passengers
on buses and trains.

 
— not allowed to break a record

This is a true story. During the seventies, Kitty O’Neil,
who was deaf, was a well known high speed driver on land
and water. She broke 22 high speed records. Yet there
was one speed record she was not allowed to break! She and
a male driver both shared the same car, called Motivator.
He paid $25,000 for a contract that only allowed him
to break the world’s overall record. Kitty, while allowed
to break the women’s record, also wanted to break the
world’s overall record. Because of the contract, she
was not allowed to do so. Arguing between his attorneys
and her attorneys went nowhere. It made Kitty very
bitter about the whole speed politics.

 
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past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 29, 2015 morning

— a nation discrminates against its sports hero

Years ago Baba Sidhaye, who was deaf, was lauded as
one of the best cricket players in India. He broke
three cricket records and played 51 matches with
the national Indian cricket team. A movie was
made after him. He passed away in 2002, and
his son said that no one with the Indian
cricket administrative board is willing
to acknowledge his playing feats. He said
it is because he is deaf, an embarrassment
to the cricket administrative board.

— minimum accommodation and the deaf

What is minimum accommodation?

It is movie theater portable captioning device, and is not
open captions

It is VRI and not live interpreting at the
hospitala and medical centers.

It is interpeter and not CART services in classrooms.

Said a deaf leader:
that we don’t own rights to determine which accommodation is right

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 28, 2015

 
— a deaf-owned moving company

When deaf people move to a new residence,
it is often a hassle to deal with hearing
professional movers. As a result, many
deaf people ask their friends to help them
with the move. In Rochester, NY, there is
a deaf-owned moving company, with about
10 deaf movers. The company name is
Silent Movers. Not only they move stuff
but they also do gardening services! Only
deaf owned moving company in USA? No,
there seems to be one in the Washington,
DC area but DeafDigest doesn’t know anything
about it – and also at several other
locations. Robert Rademacher, the
company CEO, said business is taking off.

You can take a look at the web site
and pictures of these deaf movers, as
well as deaf gardeners, at:
http://silentlabors.com/

— hotel is confused about ADA

Everyone knows what is ADA. Do they
really? A deaf couple checked in a
hotel and reminded the staff of their
rights under ADA. The staff was confused,
and then gave them a dental kit (toothbrush
and toothpaste). Why? They thought
ADA meant American Dental Association!
This incident is true, and is not a joke.

— deaf person not allowed to cross the railroad tracks

In a small British town, there is a law that
if anyone wants to cross the railroad tracks
they must use the phone box and ask for
permission. As a result, the deaf people
won’t cross the tracks and risk getting
summons and pay the fine. A deaf person
challenged the law, asking how could he
cross the tracks without getting into
trouble. The signalman replied:

find a hearing person to make the phone call
for you!

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 28, 2015 morning

— ADA ignores children’s TV programs

Does ADA ignore children’s TV programs? A critic of
ADA said that Disney and Nickelodeon do not have
deaf characters. These programs do have disabled
characters from time to time. But deaf – no!

 
— Uber for the deaf drivers in a surprise nation

Africa is not known for giving the deaf their
first class rights (education, employment,
captions, interpreters, etc). But there is a
surprise in Kenya. Uber has been giving jobs
to deaf drivers in Kenya. It is a pleasant
surprise.

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 27, 2015

 
— special state license plate for alumni member of deaf school

This link is self-explanatory. Do click on:
http://deafdigest.com/license-plate-arkansas-school-for-the-deaf-alumni-member/

 
— another Rick Steves and the deaf tale

Last month DeafDigest mentioned that famous TV
travel host Rick Steves hated movie captions.
A deaf couple spent two weeks in Tuscany, Italy,
following Steves’ travel tips for the disabled
and the deaf.. Yet the travel book gave no
accessibility tips for the deaf. This couple
emailed Steves, explaining lack of accessibiity
tips for the deaf. A staffer responded, but was
stumped and would refer it to Rick. To date, no
response. Who was that couple? Gallaudet president
Alan Hurwitz and wife Vicki!

— a new way of reaching out to the deaf community

There are many deaf groups that get together at
local Starbucks for chatting over coffee. And
there is a nice twist. Paula Rodriguez,
founder and leader of Deaf Focus Services,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is having a coffee
chat at the local Starbucks with members of
the deaf community. Much easier to reach
the deaf in an informal setting. How many
leaders would do the same thing – sharing
same coffee table and sipping coffees
together?

Latest deaf jobs:
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new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 27, 2015 morning

— the “ADA” law that failed

we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the
ADA and are thrilled about successes (interpeters,
captions, etc). One nation said their own “ADA”
has failed, and it is older than USA. In Great
Britain, the 1995 Disability Act was passed,
finally after nearly 140 attempts to get the
Parliament to approve it. Yet, deaf British
leaders are saying their own “ADA” is a joke
compared to USA!

— amazing thing about Beethoven we didn’t know about

we know that Beethoven composed his best music,
and possibly the best in the world, after he
became deaf. But there were two other amazing
things about him. He was an old man. He also was
isolated from the world – yet these, plus his
deafness, did not stop him from composing the
world’s best music. Normally best music is composed
by musicians that are much younger. And also
musicians need to know what is going on in the
world; Beethoven didn’t.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/26/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 26, 2015 morning

— hate crime and the deaf

Do laws on hate crime help the deaf that are
bullied by the hearing? A discussion on
hate crime and the disabled was shown on
a British TV documentary. One deaf viewer
said that this program did not bring up
the deaf as the victims, instead lumping
them with the disabled.

— a big irony with ADA 25th anniversary

The deaf and the disabled are now celebrating
the 25th anniversary of the ADA. But there is
a big irony – just this week there have been
as many as half-dozen deaf “no interpreter”
lawsuits – such as student denied entry into
a truck driving school, deaf mother denied
a live interpreter upon birth of her child
and the rest – doctors and hospitals still
not giving interpreters for the deaf. So,
while we celebrate ADA there will still
always be no-interpreter lawsuits.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 25, 2015 morning

— an overlooked 2nd Deaf Superhero

Those that follow comic books know that Echo is a Deaf
Superhero, a big part of the X-men series. But do we
have another Deaf Superhero? Yes, it is Hawkeye, of
the Avengers series. It is not known, however, if
Echo has “met” Hawkeye in any of these cross-series?

— assisted living center closes deaf unit

The Care Living at Northwood has closed its Deaf Unit.
Why? Because the beds at the Deaf Unit has not been
used for quite some time. Deaf people not wanting
to live at that assisted living facility? Good
question – but that center is located in Halifax,
Nova Scotia. Perhaps the cost of living at the
center is too high – or – deaf population in
Halifax is too low for the Center to rely on
their business.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 24, 2015

— truck driving school says no to a deaf applicant

Deaf people are now allowed to drive trucks interstate,
thanks to Department of Transportation’s OK. Tell that
to the Smith & Solomon School of Tractor Trailer
Driving, Linden, NJ. They said no to Kenneth Frilando,
who is deaf and wants to enroll at the school. As a
result, Frilando is filing a lawsuit. It didn’t matter
to the school that he holds a Class A Commercial Driver’s
License with a safety waiver from the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration.

— another device to help the deaf communicate

Seems every other day there is a story of another
new deaf-to-hearing communications device. Here
is another one – that “marries” smart phones
and Google Glass. It is being developed
by a deaf man in Manchester, CT. Possibly
we already have as many as half dozen
deaf-to-hearing text devices. Which
device is best? May the best device
win!

— a comment about Penn State football

Penn State is a popular college football
team in Pennsylvania. Many deaf fans
root for that team – and possibly a
nightmare for them! The team has
removed players’ names from their
uniform jerseys. If these deaf fans
do not have a program book, then they
may not know who is playing. Hearing
fans have no problem since they hear
the PA announcements on these players.
Stadium captions? Not easy to switch
eyes between the action on the field
and the captioned scoreboard. Blink
an eye, and you’ve already missed
the captions.

 
Latest deaf jobs:
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/ or click on “jobs”
new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 24, 2015 morning

— deaf jurors in Massachusetts

for years, deaf people of Massachusetts
wanted to serve on a jury, but were
not able to do so. This is going
to change, thanks to the efforts by
the Massachusetts Commission for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing to convince
the state that the deaf can become
successful jurors. It is going to be
a 3-year trial basis, and hopefully
it will be permanent.

 
— a deaf baseball player makes his decision

Chase Smartt, a deaf catcher in Alabama,
faced a dilemma. He was drafted by Atlanta
Braves and he also accepted a baseball
scholarship offer by Troy University.
He had to decide – to play pro ball
or to go to college. Apparently his
decision was made easier because the
Troy baseball coach is his father!
As a result, he turned down the contract
by Atlanta Braves to play ball for his
father.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 23, 2015

— Yahoo asks for your Hall of Fame vote

Yahoo posted an announcement today, asking
baseball fans to vote for a player they
feel that should be in the Hall of Fame.
Dummy Hoy?
Pete Browning?

do read the posting at:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/-baseballhofsnubs–who-do-you-think-deserves-to-be-in-cooperstown-163530669.html

and to make sure to follow the twitter hashtag instructions

— trapped in fingerpointing between cable and phone company

A deaf person had this unpleasant experience
of being trapped in the fingerpointing between
the cable company and the telephone company.
In front of his house, while gardening, a piece of
wire cord popped up. He contacted the cable
company about this loose wire cord. The cable
company told him it is the responsibility of the
telephone company. He contacted the telephone
company – and they told him it is cable company’s
responsibility. This went on several times
until the deaf man got very angry about it,
and contacted a TV station community Ombudsman,
who then got the problem solved. It was no fun
continuing to use the video relay service for
these repeated phone calls!

— beware of fake-deaf online friendship

A lonely hearing man, looking for some excitement
in life, joined an on-line text chat group.
He pretended to be deaf, well-educated with
degrees from prestigious universities,
and was a published author of several books, etc.
All of that was a fake, and he was caught.
Why did he do it? He said it seemed to be fun.

 
Latest deaf jobs:
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/ or click on “jobs”
new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 23, 2015 morning

— New Jersey has two weird laws

Every state has old laws, passed years ago, that
make no sense today, and are called weird laws.
In New Jersey there are two weird laws that could
cause the deaf to be arrested.

#1 – not allowed to make noise in Raritan, NJ
(many deaf people make noise without being
aware of it)

#2 – bad facial expressions are not allowed
(many deaf people use facial expressions
while using ASL)

Will these deaf people be arrested? No, because
cops will laugh off these bad laws!

— computer games require captions for the hearing

Many people love to play games on their computers.
For many of these hearing people they require
captions! Why? Background noise; bad computer
speakers; need to keep the home quiet. So, if
the hearing require captions, then it greatly
benefits the deaf.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 22, 2015

— be careful of fake relay fraud

some people are trying to fool deaf people, telling
them they are from a deaf relay service and they
need your credit card information. Ignore
them because relay services do NOT ask for
credit card numbers.

— an announcement we hate

In one small town, a movie house will close and go
out of business. It has made deaf people sad –
because this movie house shows open captions.
Competition between different movie theaters is
brutal and the smaller movie houses often
suffer for lack of business.

 
— how did a flight attendant know about the deaf

there was a story in a past DeafDigest edition about
a sign-language flight attendant helping the
Israeli deaf basketball team enjoy their flight
and making them confortable. How did that flight
attendant know about the Israeli deaf team?
She didn’t – she looked through the work schedules
of other flight attendants and learned about the
deaf team taking that trip. She then switched
flight shifts with other flight attendants.
How many flight attendants would do that?
Probably just very few.

Latest deaf jobs:
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/ or click on “jobs”
new job announcements every day

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

 
7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 22, 2015 morning

 
— a new texting device to help the deaf

Want to get an estimate on a plumbing job. Or an auto
repair estimate. Or for a new roof on your house.
Getting estimates for the deaf is quite a hassle,
even with interpreters or relay services. At the
The South by Southwest conference, a new texting
device was introduced. It allows the deaf
to send estimate requests to local contractors.
Deaf users could even attach pictures to explain
things better with these contractors.

 
— freelance interpreters are employees

Are freelance interpreters just freelancers or are
they employees? It is an issue being discussed
among interpreters in one state. Some agencies
have been incorrectly classifying them as
freelancers whereas they should have been
employees. A veteran interpreter said that almost
all of these such interpreters are actually
employees. He stressed it is important because
IRS has closed a few agencies for that reason.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 21, 2015

— a video relay provider worries about FCC reimbursement cuts

How bad are the proposed FCC reimbursement on video relay calls?
One provider said the jobs of 200 relay operators working for
the company may be in jeopardy. FCC has cut their rates by
20 percent in the last two years and the trend has been to
cut the rates even further down in the line. And when
that happens few more relay providers may close up.
As far as five years back, there were as many as 15-20
relay providers. Now it is just six. Two or three
relay survivors next year? Not surprised if it happens!

— live captions on screen invented by a 16 year old

Daniil Frants, not deaf, is a 16-year old high school
junior-to-be. He was awarded a prize at the New York
City-wide science contest for high school students.
His project is called “Live-Time Closed Captioning
System” and it shows captions on a screen behind
the hearing person. The screen picks up speech
and converts it to real time captions. Does he
have any connections with the deaf – such as
deaf parents or deaf siblings or deaf friends?
No!

 
— unusual deaf art with a picture

Andrew Clemens, who was deaf and attended Iowa School for
the Deaf during the 1800’s, was an artist with a rare skill.
He may have been the best in the world with that skill.
He poured sand, of as many as 40 different colors, into a
glass jar. These sands were placed on top of each other
in different layers of colors, something like rainbow
patterns. Historians have said there are only 50 of his
jars still remaining in the world. You can see a picture
of one sand bottle at:

http://deafdigest.com/bottles-of-sands-of-color-by-deaf-artist/

Latest deaf jobs:
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/ or click on “jobs”
new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

 
7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 21, 2015 morning

— a deaf woman taught how to scream

Deaf people tend to speak loud because they
can’t hear their own voices and have problems
controlling the tones. Well, Emma Meesseman,
who is deaf (but functions as a hearing person)
is a member of the Washington Mystics professional
women’s team. As the tallest player on the team,
she is responsible for shouting out defensive
signals. Her teammates were complaining that
she didn’t shout loud enough. One of her
teammates had to teach her in private how
to scream so that everyone on the
floor could hear her!

 
— a crisis among captioners

There is a crisis in the captioning field that
many of us do not know about. The National Court
Reporters Association (which involves captioners)
is saying that many captioners are retiring
from the field and that there are not enough
new captioners to replace them! This association
also says it is a perfect field for high school
graduates that can type very fast.

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 20, 2015

— a big deaf purchase and never using it

Virginia Ramachandran, an audiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit,
said that some of her patients purchase hearing aids from her but
never use it for as long as 4 years. They “give up” and come to
see her again for assistance. A brand new hearing aid costs about
$5,000-$6,000, and never using it is the same as throwing away money!

— captions or subtitles, your preference

You watch a movie with captions. You also watch another movie
with subtitles. Both the same thing? No. A movie scene shows
someone knocking on the door. The captions will say ….knocking.
The subtitles will not say anything about the knocking! So,
captions better than subtitles? Not really! A foreign-langauge
movie, shown in USA movie houses, are shown in subtitles.
With captions you have to use special equipment that many
deaf people hate. With subtitles, special equipment is not
necessary!

 
— a big Gallaudet football confusion

One season, years ago, there was a big confusion
with the Gallaudet football team. There were
two quarterbacks, both with the same name –
Marvin Tuttle (North Carolina) and Marvin
Tuttle (Iowa). There were two ways to solve
the confusion – Marvin O. was the one from
North Carolina and he played a lot. Marvin
W. was the one from Iowa and he rarely played!
DeafDigest is mentioning Iowa’s Marvin W.
because he just passed away and the edition
is being dedicated to him next weekend.

Latest deaf jobs:
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/ or click on “jobs”
new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

 
7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 20, 2015 morning

— a shocking scandal about a CI

A big scandal is going on in Great Britain. British people
are posting notices on the Facebook, selling their
organs, especially their own kidneys. One person
wanted to sell his organ in order to get enough money
for a CI for his deaf daughter!

— importance of captions while applying for grants

In Pittsburgh, abandoned movie theaters are becoming
community theaters, showing independent films. These
community theateres have become non-profit so they
could get grants. A big thing with these grants is
telling the donors that their independent movies
are being captioned.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
http://deafdigest.com/category/mid-week-news/

7/19/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 19, 2015 morning

— a weird comment about cochlear implant

In a web posting about a story, the headline ran:

deafness being wiped out by cochlear implant

who said that? Zoltan Istvan. He is one of the many,
many candidates for the USA presidency; he belongs
to a political party that we never heard of –
the Transhumanist Party.

The cochlear implant never eliminates deafness. It is
just like a hearing aid, helping the deaf person to
hear better. But when the person goes to bed and
takes off his CI, he is quite deaf!

— tale of texts to 911 in North Carolina

Do deaf people in parts of North Carolina use text
to reach a 911 center?

In Cary, NC the 911 center only received 6 text messages since
June.

In Raleigh, NC, the 911 center received a dozen text messages
in the past few weeks

In Durham, NC, for the past 4 years the 911 center received
very few texts.

Why? Maybe the deaf people have no need to text since because
of no emergencies!

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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7/12/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 18, 2015 morning

— reason President George H.W. Bush supported ADA

President George H.W. Bush signed ADA into law 25
years ago. Why did he support ADA? Many reasons –
he has a large family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc).
Many of them had ailments – blind in one eye, polio,
leukemia, dyslexic, colostomy, etc. While he didn’t
have deafness in his family, it was still easy for
him to sign that bill into law.

— a drug store hearing aid

If you needed a hearing aid, would you go to an
audiologist or go to a drug store? A drug store
hearing aid? Yes, if Walgreens has its’ way.
This national drug store chain is test-marketing
hearing aid sales in the Dallas, Phoenix, Orlando
and Chicago areas. If tests prove successful, it
may expand this hearing aid market nationwide.
For sure, audiologists will fight this trend.
But if top quality hearing aids that are properly
fitted and priced much lower than what hearing
aid clinics charge, then why not!

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 17, 2015

 
— FCC nosey with our private information

The FCC has asked all relay providers to get
from the relay users their full name, home
address, date of birth and social security
number (last four digits). If you refuse,
you may lose your relay service! Is FCC
that nosey? Yes!

 
— a deaf reality video show

What is a Deaf Reality Show? Rachel Soudakoff has
taped scenes where hearing people make a fool out of
themselves when dealing the deaf in every day life!

To laugh or to get angry, take a look at:
http://magazine.good.is/articles/a-day-in-the-life-being-deaf

Pretty much looks like “Candid Camera” that was a popular
TV show years ago.

 
— stadium captions is difficult

More stadiums and arenas have captions on their
scoreboards. But many deaf people are not happy
with the quality of these captions. A captioner
said that students are trained in these fields –
court reporting, attorney deposition reporting,
closed captioning, news captioning and classroom
CART. Stadium captions? Not taught at many
stenotyping schools. And many captioners
are bothered by stadium noises. Possibly
in due time, stadium captioning quality
will improve.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 17, 2015 morning

— a new word for hard of hearing people

DeafDigest editor was reading something today
and discovered a new word that describes
hard of hearing people. It is:

hearing-aid deaf

Hmm, what about a new word for the CI people?

cochlear-implant deaf

 
— 3 easy lessons for a business to be deaf friendly

An announcement was posted in a deaf e-news about
a workshop for hearing business owners, teaching
them to make their business deaf-friendly. It
consisted of three lessons – attend a deaf relay
workshop to learn how to communicate with the
deaf; tour a deaf museum; join a deaf service
agency as a member. Will it work? All depends
on the attitude of these hearing business owners.

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 16, 2015

 
— deaf woman angry at a car towing company

In Detroit, a car, belonging to a deaf woman, was
towed. She was double-angry about it. First,
because her car was towed. Second, because
the tow truck driver knocked on her door,
wanting to inform her that her car was
illegally parked and to advise her to
drive it away. She could not hear the
knock, and as a result, her car was
towed. She is planning a legal action
against the city of Detroit.

— Uber has two faces

DeafDigest mentioned several times that
Uber loves to hire the deaf. But Uber
has two faces. Hearing Uber drivers
will not pick up disabled people. To hire
the deaf but not to pick up the disabled!
Hypocrisy? Yes – and for that reason
the California Public Utilities Commission
has fined Uber $7,300,000!

 
— movie director learning his lesson

The movie “Avenged” has been getting bad
reviews. The critics said the hearing actor
that plays a fake-deaf role was not doing
a good job of playing that role. And it
was obvious to the audience. Movie director
Michael Ojeda refused to cast a deaf actor
in that movie – and he is paying the price!

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 16, 2015 morning

— two deaf entertainment stars to share same stage

We have a deaf rocker – Sean Forbes. We also have a
deaf disk jockey – Robbie Wilde. Forbes tours
USA, giving his own hip-hop concerts. Wilde
works as DJ at private parties and at private
events. Put Sean and Robbie together on a stage
at a famous concert house? Yes, this is happening
at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC. It will
be a big dance party and a blast!

— best city in Canada to be a healthy deaf woman

There is a survey in Canada, testing big cities
to see which is the best for women (both deaf
and hearing) with employment, leadership,
health, safety and education. For the deaf
women, the best city for getting medical
and health attention is Quebec City.
A deaf agency works with medical centers
to make sure deaf women are given attention
to their needs.

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 15, 2015

— censors approved a film about a deaf character

A film about a deaf character must be approved a group
of censors before it can be shown in public? It is
happening in Pakistan. The movie “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”
was filmed in India, and the producer wanted it
shown in movie houses in Pakistan. It had to be
reviewed by the Pakistani Censor Board, but it
passed easily. DeafDigest wonders if it is the
first time a deaf film had to be reviewed first
by censors?

 
— true or false about Dummy Hoy

True or false about Dummy Hoy? Baseball history books
said Dummy Hoy invented the umpire hand signals because
he couldn’t hear the calls. A group of baseball researchers
are now saying that Hoy never invented it. They said
his teammates and coaches flashed these signals for
him. After each pitch Hoy had to turn his head towards
the dugout to get the signals. And that after he
retired in 1902, the umpires started using it!

— a scam a deaf man plays with the police

A deaf man reported to the police, claiming two
unidentified hearing men attacked and robbed him
of his money. An interpreter came over to help with
the communications. The police suggested that he
be evaluated by the paramedics. They came and
suggested that he be taken to the hospital.
The deaf man refused, and when the paramedics
left, he asked the police to bring him to the
hospital in their police car in order to get
medication. Suspicious police officers checked
the computer and learned he pulled the same
scam several times with different police officers
and different hospitals – in order to get free
medication each time! The police then told him
to go home.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 15, 2015 morning

— FCC announces a roundtable, open to public

FCC is hosting a roundtable, open to public, on
November 10 at the headquarters in Washington, DC.
Official theme is – the benefits of captioning
such programming, the relevant captioning obligations
of programmers and stations, and effective and
efficient captioning solutions

if you have a captioning beef or suggestions,
the roundtable may be a good place to attend.
If you are from out of town, then you can view
the roundtable, which will be live captioned
at www.fcc.gov/live

— a claim by the disabled

A rally by the disabled took place in New York.
Deaf people were part of that rally. There
was a sign shown at the rally which said:

Half of all people killed by police have a disability

How many times have we read in the newspapers
about police shooting a deaf man, without
realizing he couldn’t hear the commands?
Very sad.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 14, 2015

— subtitles better than voice in some movies

A movie critic said that subtitles (and captions)
are better than voice in some movies. Some
foreign accents are hard to understand. Hard to
follow Old English (Shakespeare’s days).
Impossible to understand heavy words in science.
Heavy use of slang not always easily understood.
Long-winded comments also hard to follow. And
most important of all (for hearing) some movies
do not mix sound and music that well. All the
more reason for subtitles, as well as for
captions.

— deaf will suffer if Uber is shut down

Taxi drivers hate Uber. Some city governments
hate Uber. Uber was shut down in France
because of nationwide riots. Yet, Uber
is a great source of employment for deaf
drivers. The app on their mobile devices
makes it easier for them to pick up and to
drop off hearing passengers with voice
communications being unnecessary. So, if
Uber is beaten up everywhere, then
employment for deaf drivers will suffer!

— judge says no to an interpreter during childbirth

U.S. Magistrate James Hopkins (Florida) said no to
the request by a pregnant deaf woman for an
interpreter during childbirth. The judge said
that VRI during the birth meets ADA regulations
and the Bethesda Hospital needs not to go any
further. At this point, it is not known what
Margaret Weiss will do – accept the decision
or continue to fight the court’s decision.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 14, 2015 morning

 
— taking advanage of supermarket’s money give-away

in Kansas, Dillon’s is a well known supermarket chain.
This supermarket is planning to give away two million
dollars. A deaf leader in Kansas suggested that
Kansas Association of the Deaf can earn $500,000.
All it takes is to use supermarket’s PLUS card
on all purchases by signing up the state association
as the agency that will get a percentage of each
purchase. That easy? Should be, but not that easy,
anyway!

— a much-stronger USA men’s basketball team lost to weaker Lithuania

heavily favored USA men’s basketball team lost in the world
deaf basketball championship finals to Lithuania. How could
this happen? The Americans missed too many easy lay ups;
the Americans were lazy in defense and did not rebound
too hard; and committed too many fouls. Said a fan:

each time we made a mistake, the Lithuanians took
advantage of it

To be fair, the Lithuanian team practiced year
around whereas the Americans only had a few
practices to get ready for the championship.

The Lithuanians only had two players that were
6’6 wheres the Americans had 6’7, 6’7, 6’8, 6’9
players. It was a game Americans should not
have lost but did.

At least the Americans have the upcoming
Deaflympics gold to shoot for.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 13, 2015

— forklift on “Undercover Boss” rerun

a recent “Undercover Boss” TV rerun showed a clumsy
person trying to use a forklift. He was not doing
a good job and got “fired” by his mentor. Many deaf
people claim job discrimination when they wanted
to get employment as forklift drivers and were
not hired. During that program, the mentor stressed
the importance of listening to beeps – which helps
expert operators drive carefully without accidents.
Possibly inability to hear the beeps may be the
reason why employers are reluctant to hire the deaf
as forklift drivers. Yes, we have many deaf
folklift drivers, but they are very careful and
are able to overcome inability to hear beeps!

 
— Lithuania deaf angry after defeating USA in basketball

During the men’s deaf world cup basketball championships,
Lithuania defeated USA 78-75 for the gold medal. Instead
of celebrating during the gold medal ceremony, they
were very angry! Were they angry about their win?
No. The Taiwan hosts played the Russian national
anthem instead of the Lithuanian national
anthem! It made the team and the fans very
angry. Did the hosts apologize for playing the
wrong anthem? No, they didn’t!

— AT&T says TTY machines are obsolete

As a matter of historical irony, it was AT&T that
helped establish the national deaf TTY network
during the sixties and seventies. Junked telegraph
machines donated by AT&T were converted to TTY
machines. Now, AT&T is telling the FCC that the
network they established is obsolete, and that
deaf people should be using the internet instead of
the TTY to make relay calls. Where was the FCC
during these early days This agency had no interest
in reaching out to the Deaf Community, until
closed captions came around.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 13, 2015 morning

— a movie captions loophole

We have a powerful law on movie captions. But even
this powerful law has a bad loophole, at least in
Hawaii. State law says that if a movie owner in
the state only owns just one movie theater, it
does not have to be captioned! The law only says
if the owner has two or more movie houses in
different locations, it must be captioned. If just
one movie house, then sorry, no captions!

 
— a doctorate survey of deaf business owners

This is probably a first. Michael Jasniak, who is
deaf, is going for his doctorate in Berlin, Germany.
This thesis is titled:

entrepreneurial preferences of deaf and hard of hearing people

Not sure if his survey is focused on deaf-owned businesses
in Germany, or anywhere in the world.

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 12, 2015 morning

— lucky deaf couple gets garden improvement

Asif and Sabina Iqbal, a deaf couple with their
three children live in a house at Hemel Hempstead,
a small town, not too far from London. They are
a busy couple, always involved with Deaf Community
activities and have no time to take care of their
house garden. As a result, a British TV program –
Love Your Garden will be featuring a gardening
crew doing a quick workover with their garden.
It is a popular reality program in London, but
not shown in USA.

— a reporter at the baseball All-Star game

All-Star games are always heavy with media. One
of the media writers is Megan Zahneis. She is
deaf. And she is just 14 years old! She loves
Cincinnati Reds, the host of this year’s All-Star
game. She will be reporting the game as
Major League Baseball’s youth correspondent.
It is a new position and she is the first with
this such writing honor.

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 11, 2015 morning

— a store invents a sign language gesture

Asda stores is a supermarket chain in Great
Britain. A famous trademark with that
chain is “pocket tap.” The actors in the
TV commercials tap their pocket with
their hand. This tap is automatically
identified with these Asda stores.
And it has become part of the British
Sign Language! When a deaf person taps,
his friends know he’s going to shop
at that store for groceries!

— a mysterious death of a deaf athlete

DeafDigest mentioned that Yana Budyukina,
a deaf Russian soccer player, was killed
in Brazil earlier this week. She loved
life, much more than just soccer,
especially traveling. She has visited
Germany, France, Thailand, India, China,
Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. She was
hit by a car while walking through a road
tunnel, a dangerous path according to
local Brazilian drivers. Why the tunnel
walk? It will always remain a mystery!

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 10, 2015

 
— a deaf woman becomes a senator

Pilar Lima, a deaf activist from Valencia, Spain,
will become a member of the Spanish senate.
She uses Spanish Sign Language and is the leader
of the Podemos political party. Not sure if
it was a general election that she won or
if she was appointed to the Senate.

— captions better than voice for many hearing people

Hearing people, watching Netflix videos, often have
problems hearing dialogue. Many laptop voice
speakers are not loud enough. As a result, they
switch to captions! They are saying that the voice
of character Jon Snow (Games of Throne) speaks in
a whisper, thus frustrating them!

— Gallaudet’s 100th anniversary

There will be a 100th anniversary event honoring Gallaudet
this Saturday. Not Gallaudet University which was founded
in 1864 but of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company, founded
in 1915. Any connection between the university and the
aircraft company? Yes. The company founder was
Edson Fessenden Gallaudet. His father was Edward Miner
Gallaudet, the university’s first president. Edson
never followed his father’s footsteps in the field of
Deaf Education, as he became an engineer. The factory
no longer exists, but a sign will be unveiled
at the old location on Chepiwanoxet Island in
Rhode Island.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 10, 2015 morning

— a dream airplane trip for the deaf

taking a trip by airplane can be stressful –
long lines, long takeoff/landing times,
not understanding the flight attendants,
fear of landing at the wrong airport or
getting on the wrong airplane, etc.
For a group of deaf Israeli basketball
players flying to a deaf tournament in
Taiwai, it was a dream. A sign language
flight attendant stayed with the group
throughout the full trip, communicating
and giving announcements in sign language!

 
— a response by the Canadian Hearing Society

the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) caused
a furor in Ontario. This agency fired their
deaf CEO, and instead of hiring another deaf
CEO, they hired a know-nothing CEO that also
knows nothing about ASL. The Deaf Community
protested. What did the CHS say?

Timothy Andrade, the CHS chair, wrote
in a cruelly brief e-mail to the protesters.
It said:

This is a quick note to thank you for taking
the time to write and share your concerns with
us. As chair, I have the utmost confidence in
the wisdom and decision of our board. Best
wishes for a great summer!

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 9, 2015

 
— comments from a police officer

Ernesto Hernandez is a police officer in Sandusky, Ohio.
He uses sign language to communicate with deaf residents.
And it came handy in a recent bad situation that involved
a deaf man and a deaf woman. He said such situations
come up about twice a year that required use of his
sign language skills. He also said that body language,
pleasant facial expressions and proper use of signs
are most important when dealing with the deaf, be it
routine or critical.

— a big tradition is cancelled

A big event in San Diego is Comic-Con, which attracts
thousands of comic book fans from everywhere in USA.
And the highlight of this event is the Zombie Walk,
where participants parade around on the sidewalks
wearing funny costumes. It has been cancelled because
of an automobile driven by a deaf man last year that
hit a woman. He was trying to get away from the Zombie
Walk participants that physically threatened him,
banging on the car windows. The court case is
coming up and for that reason, the convention
organizers wanted to avoid possible conflicts
when this case goes to trial.

— a hospital punished for humiliating a deaf medical resident

Jessica Dunkley, who is deaf, graduated from University of
Ottawa medical school and was promised interpreters during
her residency at University of British Columbia/St Paul’s
Hospital. That promise was false and she was kicked out
of her residency. She was told there was no money
for interpreters. As a result, she filed a lawsuit –
and won $35,000 for insult and humiliation. And  the
judge ordered the medical center to re-admit her
as a resident with full time interpreters. She,
however, became a resident at  the University
of Alberta’s residency program.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 9, 2015 morning

— Holiday Inn knows what ADA is all about

The Holiday Inn hotel chain knows what ADA is all about.
Yet it is surprising that the Holiday Inn at Bonita Springs,
Florida was slapped with a lawsuit. A deaf man checked in
and asked for a TTY device. The hotel didn’t have it!
Are we surprised about it or not really surprised?

— a dumb comment by a hospital about a stolen hearing aid

A deaf woman in New Zealand lost her hearing aid in a
hospital. Her son said it was stolen. What did the
hospital say:

the deaf patient should have left it at home
instead of wearing it at the hospital
This is dumb because if she left it at home,
she would not be able to communicate with the
hearing!

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 8, 2015

— a successful owner of a franchise

Many deaf people dream of owning franchises but
faced so many barriers that they eventually give
up their dreams. One deaf man wanted to own a
McDonald’s franchise and even asked the NAD
to help him. McDonald’s just refused to deal
with him and he gave up. One franchise owner
refused to give up – Alex Trukhin, Pearland, TX
owns his Coverall franchise. He has six deaf
employees and has 35 accounts, building up his
business for the past 12 years. Easy for him?
No – but he used a network of emails, texts
and relay videos to build up his clientele
and to take appointments. Coverall? It is
a commercial cleaning service.

— an important Deaf Role in state history

The Nebraska Educational TV filmed several
deaf people explaining how they view their roles
in the history of the state. It is titled
“Unheard Journey of Deaf Nebraskans”. It is Deaf
Nebraska Culture becoming part of the Nebraska
Culture. It was a project developed by the
Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing. We don’t see other states doing that,
but it is being done in Nebraska, not bad
for a state which closed the Nebraska
School for the Deaf!

— we want everything but cannot

Is it bad for us to want everything and to try
to fight for it? First example is wanting
open movie captions and refusing to accept
inferior forms of movie captions. The
second example is IBM offering interpreters
but not offering captions. Yesterday the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained
that an employer must offer reasonable
accommodations without having to offer
more than what is considered reasonable.
This is not the best news for many deaf
employees.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 8, 2015 morning

— a nation that has no deaf kindergartens

Many nations have special kindergartens for deaf
infants. One such country has no such
kindergarten for these deaf infants. It is
North Korea. This nation bad for the deaf?
Don’t know – but it has schools for the deaf
and has sent a deaf soccer team to play
against Australia’s national deaf team.

 
— a huge corporation keeps a promise with the deaf

Apple made an important promise last year – that
its famous iTunes will all have captions. To
carry out that promise, Apple is removing all
iTunes from its files that are not captioned.
Good or Bad? Well, it means that if a full
length movies has a non-captioned iTunes,
that movie will be removed. Does not matter
if just a tiny part of the movie was not
captioned. Just like burning down a big
barn just to get rid of one small rat!

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 7, 2015

— Donald Trump, Love him or Hate him

Deaf people love Donald Trump? Or deaf people
hate Donald Trump? Does he give deaf people
jobs in companies that he owns? Don’t know.
An advocate said that she was upset about
bad captions on The Apprentice, a TV
show owned by Trump. She contacted his
office staff, which ignored her. She then
contacted his production team, which
again ignored her and in a way, told
her to get lost! Going one up she contacted
a NBC executive who was concerned with
lousy captions. He got busy and captions
improved. Donald knowing anything about
it? Very much doubt it because Donald
is only interested in one thing – himself!

 
— sign language evaluators unfair

A posting on a web site accused deaf evaluators
of hearing people’s sign language skills
to be unfair. It said that deaf evaluators
look at local sign languages, which may be
somewhat different from national sign
languages. They give bad grades for those
that can sign nationally, but not locally!

What are these levels of sign language skills?
http://deafdigest.com/eleven-levels-of-deaf-sign-language-skills/

— a big bank invents a new system for the deaf

Lloyds Bank is one of biggest banks in Great
Britain. For years this bank discriminated
against the deaf – requiring them to use
voice telephone with a secret code to
access their banking file. This will
change next year. After touching the
telephone with their magnetic card and
the keying in of their secret code,
they will then access their banking
records.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 7, 2015 morning

— a big issue facing Amish families

Deafness among newly born babies have become a
big issue among the Amish families. As a closed
group, not open to society, the young Amish
intermarry with each other – and this leads
to deafness, among other birth defects.
The Amish of Clark, Missouri have agreed to
allow outsider teachers to come in and teach
their deaf children. In the past, it was
unthinkable – but times have changed.

 
— deaf people not wanting to hear

Do deaf people want to hear? Or they
do not want to hear? An Italian posting
(translated to English) said that deaf people
reject CI’s because they don’t want to hear.
Really? Deaf people do not want to hear –
because – they cannot understand what they
hear! No point in hearing constant sounds,
noises and voices all day without
understanding what these are.

 
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 6, 2015

 
— the deaf and the end of a Chicago tradition

People who invest their money know what Chicago
Mercantile Exchange is all about. For years,
traders have shouted their buy and sell orders,
often using their own sign language. Not
any more – computers won. Anyway has there
been a deaf person that worked on the floor
at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, dealing
with these buy and sell orders? Yes and
no. A young deaf man, years ago, worked
on the floor – but he did not deal with
these trades. He was a chartist, keeping
track of these trades with a clipboard!
He only lasted few years because the pressure
was too much for him.

— mother of a deaf son forced to sell her house

The HSE is a government agency in Ireland that
provides health services for families in need.
A mother wanted her deaf son to get auditory
brain stem implant. The HSE referred her to a
specialist in Italy. But who pays for it?
HSE said they would pay for it. Bbut just as
when the operation took place, HSE backed
out, saying “we have no money.” The mother,
stuck, with the bill, is being forced to
sell her house! HSE denied making the
agreement and refuses to pay for it.

 
— trying to use deafness as an excuse

A police officer in Savannah, Georgia,
stopped a speeding driver. The cop ordered
the driver out of the car and to run
field tests to see if he was drunk
or stoned. After the tests the cop
arrested him after explaining the
charges. The driver denied the
charges, saying his deafness was
the reason for not able to pass these
tests. The driver was not deaf!

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 6, 2015 morning

— a surprise sell-out at an event

Do deaf people (or hearing people) like to go to
Drive-in movies? It was popular way back in
1950’s and 1960’s but is no longer popular
nowadays. Yet, there is a surprise – open
captioned movies (Jurassic and San Andreas)
was shown at a drive-in theater in Kansas
City, KS. 700 people watched these movies –
the attendance count was 400 deaf patrons
and 300 hearing patrons!

 
— a nightmare for a Deaf-Blind person

At a recent earthquake in the The Philippines,
a deaf-blind person was trapped. He did not
know what was going on – and no one came to
his attention. Emergency responders came
and left – not knowing how to deal with a
deaf-blind person. It took several hours
before an interpreter, that knows how
to communicate with the deaf-blind,
came to his rescue. He was so angry
that he made a video out of it.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 5, 2015 morning

 
— an amplifier or a fake hearing aid

Is hearing aid a real hearing aid or is it
an amplifier, or in other words, a fake
hearing aid? Do read this story –
Mark Ferdinand, not deaf, said he uses a
hearing aid in order to capture the sounds
of wildlife animals which walk alk through the
forest in Pennsylvania. Will always be a
debate – is an amplifier a hearing aid
or is it a fake hearing aid. DeafDigest
says an amplifier is certainly not a
hearing aid – but many people disagree!

— a very sad homeless deaf story

Last night, DeafDigest editor was walking
with a group in Washington, DC. He didn’t
see it but a homeless deaf person was
chatting with a deaf friend just only
for a few seconds. This homeless person,
from war-torn Somalia, “won” a lottery
to enter USA as a refugee immigrant.
That was few years ago. No job; no money;
no family; no friends; no education;
no reading and writing skills; no employment
skills. He manages to scrounge for food
and money while surviving on the streets.
It is not a deaf problem nor a hearing
problem but a worldwide problem.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 4, 2015 morning

— accidental back-pocket calls

Many people, both deaf and hearing, put their
mobile devices in their back pockets. This creates
problems for many 911 centers because of many
accidential back-pocket 911 emergency calls.
Hearing people may hear their own accidential
calls and then explain to the 911 center that
it was all an accident. Not that so with the
deaf person! These “accidents” were explained
in a newspaper story today!

— an almost Miss America contestant

from time to time we’ve had deaf contestants
in state pageants. We even had a deaf winner
of Miss America (1995). This time, coming
as the first runner-up in the Miss South
Carolina 2015 pageant is Greer Anna Brown.
She is deaf, but functions as a hearing
person, so unlike Whitestone that was
deaf and functioned as a deaf person!

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 3, 2015

 
— a cruel comment that made an employer angry

Barry Blackwell, not deaf, owns a bonsai garden
in Australia. He already had one deaf employee working
for him, who was only just average in talent and
skills. Another deaf person came in and asked for
a job. The owner was hesitant because of his
bad experience with his current deaf employee.
But one of the customers said:

you should be ashamed of yourself, employing people
like that; you are keeping real people out of a job

Very angry about that comment, Blackwell decided
to immediately hire the 2nd deaf person. This deaf
person became the best employee Blackwell has ever
had in his 30 years of owning that bonsai garden!
They both tease each other about their favorite
Australian football teams.

— a deaf pro wrestler identified in a lawsuit

Yesterday’s DeafDigest mentioned a pro wrestling
lawsuit where WWE was accused of causing a
wrestler’s deafness. WWE said the wrestler had
been deaf since birth. That wrestler has been
identified as Vito “Big Vito” LoGrasso. In a
past interview Vito was quoted as saying:

I am three-quarters deaf and I’ve been that
way my whole life. I made it, I did my thing

This is the evidence that WWE plans to show
in the courtroom.

— an angry hearing columnist speaks out

Lee Duigon is an internet columnist, speaking
out on any issues. One such issue made him
angry – that some people want to create
a disabled baby on purpose! Does not matter
what disability it is, some parents want
to create it. He says it is trans-ableism,
and that is bad. He mentioned a created-deaf
baby as one of these disabiilites that these
newly borns do not deserve!

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past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 3, 2015 morning

— a big irony with a movie

There are always movies when we see hearing actors
play fake-deaf roles. But there is a twist with
a movie produced in India. In the movie
“Guddu Rangeela”, the plot involves a
hearing actress that plays a role of a
hearing woman that plays as a hearing
character that tries to play a fake-deaf role!
It is about a kidnapping, that the hearing
character, faking her deafness, finally admits
that she is not deaf!

— deaf man thought dead for 67 years

A sad story. Donovan Calkins was born deaf in
Australia. His parents thought he was mentally
retarded and gave him up in 1948. Institutionalized
for all of his life, he never learned to read or
write or to communicate with other deaf people.
Only just recently the Australian social services
people tracked down his real family and had
Donovan reunited with them. The family was happy,
but shocked because for all of these years they
thought he was dead! He was never mentally
retarded, just that he never had a chance to
grow and learn normally, like with other deaf
people.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 2, 2015

— a day of shock and disappointment for the deaf of Ontario

In Ontario, the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) is big.
Been around for a long time. It is just like GLAD serving
the huge Los Angeles metro area and the DCARA serving
the huge San Francisco Bay area. Across the Ontario
province, CHS has 20 satellite sites to best serve
the Deaf Community. Two years ago the CEO, a deaf person,
was fired. And just right now, the new person replacing
the fired CEO is a hearing person. The knowledge of
ASL and of Deaf Culture and of deafness of that new
CEO is Total ZERO! All the more reason for the
deaf of Ontario being so upset.

— A Super Deaf Baby

Do we have a Super Deaf Baby? A newspaper headline ran like
this:

‘Profoundly deaf’ baby can now hear and speak after ‘life-changing
CI operation’

That deaf baby is just one year old. And the newspaper
says he can now hear and speak. One-year old hearing
babies are still learning how to understand sounds
and learning how to speak. Baby babbling is not exactly
the same as speaking. So, DeafDigest asks if it is a
Super Deaf Baby, supposedly better than a hearing
baby with speech and hearing?

— a pro wrestling lawsuit

WWE, a big organization in Pro Wrestling, is facing
a lawsuit. The plaintiff, apparently a former
pro wrestler, filed the lawsuit saying he became
deaf because of a head injury while wrestling.
WWE said that this wrestler has always told
people that he has been deaf since birth!
While we have a few deaf wrestlers, DeafDigest
does not know who that deaf wrestler is.

 
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past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 2, 2015 morning

 
— rare cause of death

DeafDigest editor was looking at a list of
deaths among past Gallaudetians. One acquaintance
passed away, cause of death listed as:

CI infection

Googling up the FDA web site, the impression is that
deaths by CI infection is somewhat rare.

 
— an amazing tennis player

Michael-Angelo Gomes is a young deaf-blind British man.
He has just learned how to play tennis at a club
in Walthamstow. When he wanted to take up this
sport, his support service provider told him it
was impossible. Even though he has just enough
vision to see where the ball was going, the task
would be overwhelming. Yet, he surprised everyone
by becoming a good player!

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 1, 2015

— three Gallaudet finalists

Gallaudet presidential search committee has interviewed
8 semifinalists, and culled the list down to three
finalists. Who are they? The committee is not telling us,
citing confidentiality concerns. The committee, however,
has promised an announcement of the three finalists
next month. This being said, we need to be patient!

— an “oops” stopping of a deaf man

Giovan Giuseppe Nasti, a deaf man, was visiting
the Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy, with a group of
friends. Fair security people stopped them
at the entrance gate, and denied them entry.
Why? He was wearing a black and white T-shirt
with the words “No deaf – No Expo” in front.
The alarmed security thought he was a terrorist.
The T-Shirt was conveying the message that the
Fair was not accessible to the deaf! And
besides Giovan is 75 years old!

— arrested men not allowed to plead in court

In Kenya, a deaf man, part of a hearing group, was
arrested for assault. Taken to the court, the judge
would not allow the group to plead guilty or not
guilty. It was for one reason – the deaf man in
that group who did not understand the court
proceedings. The judge ordered an interpreter
to show up at a future date, so that all of
these men in the group could plead something!

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new job announcements every day

 
past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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6/28/15 Blue and Gold editions at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 1, 2015 morning

 
— the hero is a hearing aid

Christine Bowden, a deaf British woman, wears two hearing aids.
Just recently she was working in her garden, near the sea, and
heard screaming. The hearing people around her didn’t hear
these screams! Puzzled, she looked around and found a
capsized boat with several sailors waving and screaming
for assistance. She quickly alerted the Coast Guard; they
came and rescued them. These sailors owe a great deal of
thanks for her two hearing aids!

— six relay providers accusing FCC of not improving the services

The six relay providers, all of them which bitterly compete
against each other, joined forces to issue a joint
press release. They accused the FCC of preventing improvement
of deaf relay services. It was because FCC reduced the money
to be paid these providers for their relay services. Less
money means no chance to purchase better equipment, hire
better interpreters, etc. Will FCC change its mind?
No, because once FCC decides on something, that is it,
for better or for worse.

past Mid-Week & morning editions:
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