DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, July 31, 2015

— Gallaudet changing its looks

Gallaudet going through a facelift? Don’t know but
there is an international design contest for world’s
best architects (both deaf and hearing) to make
Gallaudet look better. A big challenge for them
is to keep Gallaudet same as is (historic district
by the National Register of Historic Places) yet
change Gallaudet’s looks! How? Just don’t know.

— accidential invention helping the deaf

Rubber is an example of an accidential invention
that helped the world. What about the deaf?
Glide is a video software invented in 2013
that was supposed to help people communicate
much easier in video. These software engineers
had no idea that the Deaf Community immediately
picked it up for their own communication needs.
So, for the deaf, Glide became an accidential
invention!

 
— a businessman thinking of the deaf

Very few businesses think of the deaf. Examples are
cash register with no displays; wall menus in
fast food places that are hard for the deaf to
point at; immigrant clerks that do not understand
written English, etc. In the case of Dean Saunders,
not deaf, he is a top realtor in Polk County,
Florida with $650 in sales. He had his company
web site videos captioned so that deaf customers
could review the houses they want to buy. No
one asked him to caption; he just did it on
his own.

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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!

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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?

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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.

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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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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

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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!

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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.

 
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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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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.

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