Posts published in November 2019
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 29, 2019
— mostly vocal but mostly weak
An advocate said that comparing the deaf with other
disabled groups, the deaf is the most vocal in
fighting for their rights and needs. The irony –
when disabled groups get together to fight for
combined their needs, these groups would ignore
the deaf needs!
— sign language knowledge not required
According to Department of Transportation
regulations with the airlines, staff knowledge
of sign language is not required. Surprising?
Yes. Disappointing? Yes.
— fears during medical appointments
A newspaper story said many deaf people have
these three interpreting fears during medical
appointments – that interpreter does not
show up; not understanding what the doctor
tells the interpreter; not understanding
the prescription, again with interpreter
being around. These fears are valid.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/24/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 28, 2019
— difficult to be deaf at a hearing college
There was a newspaper story today about being
deaf at a hearing college. Part of the
story says that many students and staff are not
familiar with sign language, deaf culture, and
deafness in general, creating an isolating
environment. The story also says that deaf
students are scattered across the campus
making encounters with each other rare.
— a shocking comment by an architectural firm
A new library, costing $41.5 million dollars,
just opened up in New York City. It lacks access
to the deaf and the disabled. As a result, this
library has been slapped with a lawsuit over these
ADA violations. What made the whole thing so
shocking is the comment by the architectural
firm:
there was no priority given to people with disabilities
and that we had not thought about it
— another comment by a former deaf attorney
In another newspaper story today, a former attorney,
who is deaf, said:
There isn’t much demand for lawyers that can’t communicate,
no matter how competent they might be
That person left the legal profession and went to
another profession where his deafness is not a barrier
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/24/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 27, 2019
— reason for not using family and friends as interpreters
A police department said when there is an issue involving
the deaf, they prefer to use professional interpreters
as opposed to family members or friends as interpreters.
Reason is neutrality and confusion with different
sign language dialects among these non-interpreters
that use ASL.
— Stuffed Sign Language
Stuffed Animals using sign language? A sign language
teacher, frustrated with the struggles of her hearing
students learning ASL, has been using stuffed
animals in the classroom. She uses the stuffed animals
to teach the students how to express ASL gestures!
— a very deaf-unfriendly bank
A bank blocked the credit card of a deaf patron.
The bank had an issue with a transaction a deaf
person made at a store and texted him about it.
The deaf person replied but the bank required a
voice call and would not accept a third party
voice call. This went on and forth for almost
10 months until it was straightened out.
The bank said it is deaf-friendly but their
rules and procedures were anti-deaf!
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/24/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 26, 2019
— volunteer deaf accessibility consultants
The Superior Alliance for Independent Living, a
non-profit agency in Marquette, Michigan, is
looking for deaf volunteers to visit business
places and public facilities to look for
inaccessibility issues that hearing people
are not aware of! A perfect example would be
a deaf-unfriendly fast food place with no
menus for the deaf to point out to. A simple
issue that many restaurant owners are
never aware of.
— deaf truckers unite
Do deaf truckers stay in touch with each other
while on road? They use the CDLLife App for
that networking purposes and making contacts.
— oral deaf voters rule is now removed
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a bill
into a new law that removes requirements for
voters to voice out their name and address
in order to vote. That means ASL, non-speaking
voters can have someone else voice it out
for them. This bill was spurred by a non-voice
deaf voter feeling humiliated when asked to
voice out and as a result, walked out, not
voting at all!
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/24/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 25, 2019
— a question for business owners
There is a question for business owners. Are
they aware of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,
meaning WCAG 2.1 AA, which is the worldwide
accessibility standards? If they are not aware
of it, they may likely be sued for not complying
with ADA standards!
— the life of a faker
A deaf person that pretends to be hearing
is a faker – meaning bluffing, pretending,
hiding, hanging head down, giving wrong
impressions, giving wrong responses to
wrong questions, smiling at hearing jokes
that could not be understood, and saying
“pardon” too often. It is sad.
— a proposed Special Day
A bill in Ohio is being proposed to honor Dummy Hoy
with May 23rd as the William Hoy Day. It should pass
since both political parties are in favor of it.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/24/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 22, 2019
— attorneys more interested in money than ADA issues
There have been many ADA-related lawsuits against local
governments in Florida. Much responsible for these
lawsuits were not deaf people but hearing attorneys,
anxious to make big money by forcing local governments
to pay up quickly just to avoid costly lawsuits.
An advocate said the right way is for deaf people
to tell the local governments what they need
(captions, interpreters, etc). That would be
preferable as opposed to attorneys getting rich
from these local governments.
— Super Bowl advertisers hopefully will caption all ads
Who will be in the Super Bowl? Whoa, too early as playoffs
have not yet started – but among the Super Bowl advertisers
they are ready to pay for these expensive ads – as much
as 5 million for these short, 30-second ads. And some of
them will tell us that cost of captioning their 30-second
ads is too expensive for them! How expensive is captioning
their ads? Just few hundred bucks. There has never been a
perfect 100 percent score of all ads being captioned.
— El Tonto, most terrible deaf movie or not
Deaf people that follow movies are upset about
Charlie Day, not deaf, that plans to produce
the “El Tonto” movie. It is about a “stupid”
deaf man. Charlie, in response to public anger,
said it is not about the deaf but about comedy.
He said it was his 6-year dream to produce that
movie – but why have hearing people laugh at
that stupid deaf person?
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/17/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 21, 2019
— deaf person appointed to president’s advisory council
Angkie Yudistia, who is deaf, was appointed to the
president’s advisory council, to give advice on
the needs of the deaf. No, not the White House
but the president’s council in Indonesia.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was the one that
appointed the deaf leader.
— The Silent Network now available via fast internet connection
The widely praised Silent Network has made all of its
programs available through fast internet connection.
This announcement was made recently and those that
want to watch Silent Network programs would need to
click on: http://deafdigest.com and again click on
the Silent Network banner ad on the right side.
— ASL deaf actor plays two hearing roles in one play
“To Kill A Mockingbird” is one of the world’s most
famous stories, shown both in theatrical plays and
in a movie. Russell Harvard, who is deaf and uses
ASL, won two coveted roles in this Broadway
play revival, as Boo Radley and as Link Deas.
He is hoping it is the springboard to bigger
acting roles.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/17/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 20, 2019
— gene-editing groups need to reach agreement
How worried is the health and science groups
are about deaf-gene editing? The World Health Organization
and the Science Academy groups need to get together
to establish principles and guidelines regarding
editing of genes. And, yet, this won’t stop
dishonest scientists from doing unathorized
work on gene editing. This was a newspaper
story today.
— being a deaf coffee barista is not easy
In a newspaper interview a deaf barista said he
handles about 100 coffee orders per day –
each order with these different combinations.
Some are simple; some are complicated. In
due time he has developed his own tricks to
know which customers want which coffee
combination. With difficult customers that
demand difficult coffee combinations he would
just grab a nearby hearing barista to help.
He said he loves his job despite occasional
difficulties.
— problems with text to 911
The Beltrami County (Minnesota) emergency management
services reviewed its Text-to-911 service and said
that while it has been a success, there are still
problems. Three examples are:
additional time with text as opposed to voice
cannot ask multiple questions; must ask one question at a time
dispatchers cannot hear the background (gun shots, screaming voices, etc)
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/17/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 19, 2019
— kicking a deaf person out of a store
There was a story about a deaf woman being
kicked out of a store; they said she was
being a troublemaker. She said she was
only questioning the prices of stuff she
wanted to buy. Who is telling the truth?
— 4th deaf store in world
Starbucks has opened its’ fourth deaf store in the
world. The list of these deaf stores is:
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Washington D.C.
Guangzhou, China
Penang, Malaysia
Why just one store in USA? Do not know.
— VR sign language
Is there such a thing as a VR sign language? VR
stands for Virtual Reality, not Video Relay.
Well, there is talk that deaf gamers can
communicate with hearing gamers through
Video Reality sign language. Really?
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/17/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 18, 2019
— Netflix features Coda Prince’s mother
Prince Philip does not have a good reputation
for he is well known for his senseless joking
and wisecracking. But his mother Princess Alice
of Battenberg was deaf. She had her own personal
issues. Netflix will be showing the story in
Season 3 of The Crown. Keep in mind the mother
certainly knew no sign language, growing up
in Greece.
— emergency drills fail the deaf
New Jersey Transit recently had an emergency drill,
and asked for several deaf volunteers to participate.
They said New Jersey Transit failed the deaf in
these drills! As a result, the New Jersey Transit
is now trying to revise their drills to make sure
deaf people (volunteers) know what is going on.
This is not a surprise. The deaf know better, than
these hearing emergency people on what is the best
way to notify them.
— China finally frees a Coda
This past June, Guthrie McLean, a Coda, was visiting
his deaf mother, Jennifer McLean, who was a teacher
in China. The mother got into a fare argument with a
taxi driver and he roughed her up. The son rushed into
mother’s defense and injured him. The police authorities
in Zhengzhou arrested him and had him detained since then.
It took tense back and forth diplomatic negotiations
between the American embassy and the Chinese authorities
before he was just finally released and allowed
to go home.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/17/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 15, 2019
— honoring the ultimate late-bloomer
Betty Bounds Evans, Austin, TX career deaf
woman, passed away recently. She was
remarkable if only for one reason – as the
ultimate late-bloomer. After graduating
from Gallaudet her goals were simple –
get married, start a family and enjoy
teaching the deaf in the classrooms.
Over the years she evolved and moved up
the ladder – director of a Gallaudet regional
center, as a corporate executive,
and lastly, as an assistant superintendent
of Texas School for the Deaf. She was
that ambitious and was willing to
relocate several times while attaining
her professional goals.
— A comment from Amazon, true or false
Amazon said it is one of the only tech
companies in USA to have full time
ASL interpreter. Is this true or
false? DeafDigest thinks this claim
is false.
— the deaf of Austin
A hearing person that uses ASL said that
Austin, TX has a deaf restaurant, a deaf
dog groomer and a deaf mechanic. How many
other American metro areas with large
deaf population could make this claim?
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/10/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 14, 2019
— a troubling comment by an interpreter
An interpeter made this troubling comment:
She said:
There are just more businesses not providing
deaf people with interpreters
The implication is that businesses, despite
knowing ADA, would just not provide
interpreters. This is just troubling.
— deaf play more complicated than hearing play
A deaf play can get more complicated than a
hearing play. With the hearing play, voice and
surtitles (depending on the theater) are
both used. But with professional deaf plays,
there are four factors – voiceovers, sign
language, captions and voice. And it is not
always perfect – missed lines for the deaf
and also missed lines for the hearing!
— important deaf man behind famous country singer
Dolly Parton is one of the world’s most famous
country singers. When she is on stage, she wears
different kinds of dresses. The person responsible
for setting up her dresses is Steve Summers.
He is deaf, but functions as a hearing person
and does not know ASL.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/10/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 13, 2019
— seven text-to-911 messages in one month
Horry County is South Carolina’s fourth largest
county with population of nearly 333,000 people.
How many of these people are deaf and cannot
use voice telephones? Anyway the county said
their dispatch center received seven calls
in its’ first month of operation. How many
were from the deaf and how many were from
the hearing? No matter – the system is there
for these county residents.
— new app for deaf people that tour museums
There is a new app – called MUSEAI, which is
supposed to help the deaf enjoy touring the
museums. It pulls up information for each
exhibit window. It probably will work with
all major musuems, but not sure if it will
work with smaller museums.
— the deaf with the artist and the photographer
A deaf artist said that he looks at deaf hands first
before doing a painting of a deaf person. A
deaf photographer said he looks at deaf faces
first before taking the pictures. These two
different deaf perspectives!
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/10/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 12, 2019
— a new word of the week
There is a new word by a newspaper columnist. It is
surdophobia which means hearing people that hate the
deaf or are afraid of the deaf. DeafDigest coined different
phrase few years ago – Deaf Phobia, and both mean
the same thing!
— cop doing right way or wrong way
There was a demonstration of what a cop is supposed to do
when he stops a deaf driver and is being told of his
deafness. The cop would then go back to his car
to get a special communications card. At this point,
did the cop tell the deaf driver, via gestures or
notes, to stay in the car for a few minutes? Or
is it the assumption that the deaf driver
understands what the cop is going to do?
— no response from the deaf community
An independent living center reached out to the
deaf community, asking for advice and feedback
on how to improve communications (interpreters,
captions, video devices, etc). The response
from the deaf community was zero. DeafDigest
is not sure what to make of it! This story
surfaced in a newspaper today.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/10/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 11, 2019
— wrong vocational choice
A vocational program for the deaf have been
training deaf students to become dental
technicians. Only one thing wrong –
it is just dental technican courses,
but no other courses in other vocational
fields the deaf may prefer – such as
auto body work, carpentry, brick laying,
etc. These students have no choice even
if they protest!
— Purdue is afraid of hearing students’ complaints
Purdue University is one of the nation’s best
universities. Yet, that university will side
with the hearing if there is a deaf vs hearing
issue. A group of deaf students asked the
professor to turn on captions on classroom
videos. The professor refused – as he was afraid
of getting hearing students, those that hate
captions, angry! Do not know why these deaf
students don’t make a legal issue out of it.
As a historical irony, Purdue’s first football
team, so many years ago, was coached by a
deaf man (himself a Gallaudet graduate).
— deafness not mentioned in deaf man’s successful life
An indie short film profiled the life of a deaf man,
but only one thing went wrong – it did not mention
his deafness. He functioned as a hearing person, who
did not use sign language, a fact that the producers
were easily able to cover up.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/10/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 8, 2019
— importance of first responders in emergencies
There was a story of a weather disaster that
left the deaf abandoned for quite some time.
The first responders arrived, “knocked” on the
doors and left, thinking no one was there!
Didn’t happen in USA, but happened in Japan.
Yes, the Japanese local government authorities
weren’t too happy about it.
— refusing to show the presidential insult of Marlee Matlin
Mark Burnett is a TV producer, who is supposedly
close to the White House people, including the
president. Yet, when Marlee Matlin was insulted
by the president, producer Burnett refused to
release the video that supposedly showed it!
DeafDigest is not sure exactly what this means –
either to protect the president from his
uncalled for comment or to spare Marlee the
undeserved humiliation.
— to learn sign is to 100 percent accept the deaf
An activist said that if all hearing people learn
sign language they will 100 percent accept
the deaf in all phases of everyday life.
Really? What if the hearing person learns
signs and still hates the deaf?
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/03/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 7, 2019
— deaf worse or better than an illness
A deaf woman was interviewed by a newspaper.
She said said that her mother was more
upset about the daughter’s deafness than the
cancer the mother was suffering!
— a big issue with museums
Many museums only have captions at their small movie
theaters. But at exhibit windows, no captions – just
scripts for deaf to read. But many of these scripts
are so wordy and overwhelming that it is hard to
keep up with! This is what a museum administrator
said. Interpreters? Yes, but not that easy to
find and to get and to pay low rates.
— a Deaf Hoax
There was a story that a deaf player for a British
rugby team was hired to coach a hearing Portugal
national rugby team. It was a hoax that the deaf player
and the national Portugal rugby team did not
appreciate. How did that hoax come up in the first
place? No one knows!
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/03/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 6, 2019
— serious issue, toilet leaks that deaf can’t hear
DeafDigest is still bothered by a $5,000 water bill
because a deaf woman couldn’t “hear” the water leak.
Yes, an agency helped her with the bill but what about
other deaf people that deal with their own toilet
leaks? A google search said:
Drip 10 to 15 drops of food coloring into the toilet tank.
Wait 10 minutes. If colored water appears in the toilet
bowl, you have a leak.
Hope this works!
— supervisor recommended deaf employee, no luck
A deaf employee at a store was doing a great
job. His hearing supervisor recommended him for
a big job promotion. Unfortunately the supervisor
left his job. The new supervisor didn’t like
the deaf employee and refused to follow the
recommendation to promote him. The deaf employee
filed a job discrimination lawsuit and won.
— supervisor recommended deaf employee, no luck
A deaf employee at a store was doing a great
job. His hearing supervisor recommended him for
a big job promotion. Unfortunately the supervisor
left his job. The new supervisor didn’t like
the deaf employee and refused to follow the
recommendation to promote him. The deaf employee
filed a job discrimination lawsuit and won.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/03/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 5, 2019
— boring but important
Deaf passengers on airflights want captions (or subtitles)
on inflight movies. Yet the airlines are pushing for captions
to inform deaf passengers on safety announcements. Not
a single word on inflight movies. Deaf passengeres just
have to select foreign movies because these carry
English subtitles. But what about American movies?
Sometimes deaf passengers are lucky; sometimes
not – during international flights.
— an angry comment about some restaurants
Some restaurants are not deaf-friendly. Even
when a deaf person points to the menu for
his dish choice, the waiter may not be
cooperative (no explanation of specials,
no query about meat being rare done or
medium done or well done, etc). An
activist said such restaurants has
walls for the deaf but doors for the
hearing – meaning deaf person cannot
go through the walls!
— 25 years to confess something
A deaf person denied his deafness for 25 years
until he finally gave up and confessed to a
hearing friend that he was deaf. 25 years?
No interpreters. No captions? No ADA
rules in his favor. Etc. Very sad.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/03/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 4, 2019
— FCC wants to get tough with rule-breakers
The FCC has proposed new rules regarding misconduct
by rule-breakers, meaning those that work with Deaf
Relay Services but break rules with it. Keep in mind
there was a big scandal with our Relay Services not
that too many years ago.
— famous deaf inventor’s deaf wife
Thomas A. Edison, who was deaf, was an inventor
that was well known over the years. Not too many
people also know that his second wife, Mina,
was also deaf. They both functioned as hearing
people, meaning not knowing ASL at all.
— AA reaches out to the deaf
Alcoholics Anonymous has put in captions in
its latest video, in an effort to reach out
to the deaf in need of assistance. For more
information, go to Access@aa.org
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
11/03/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – November 1, 2019
— a Deaf Chamber of Commerce
There was an announcement today that the National Deaf
Chamber of Commerce has named its own board of directors.
This is interesting because according to the press
release, this group was formed a year ago, but nary
a word about until just today. There have been
quite a few efforts in the past to promote interests
of deaf-owned businesses. All such efforts got nowhere.
A big reason is that deaf owners are more
concerned with the survival of their own businesses
than to focus on promoting the interests of
other deaf-owned businesses (some of which may
compete against them). Is National Deaf
Chamber of Commerce supposed to be better than
these past numerous efforts by different groups?
(Gallaudet, NTID, NAD and others). Don’t know
but just stay tuned!
— the cop and the deaf car driving past him
There was a discussion on what is going to happen
if a deaf driver legally passes by a police
car on a highway? Even if the cop immediately
checks his computer and finds the deaf driver
is clean with no warrants against him, still
what is he going to do? Just ignore the deaf
driver or stop him for any imagined reason?
— happy or unhappy deaf students at hearing colleges
Are deaf students happy while attending hearing
colleges? Or are they unhappy? The National Deaf
Center wants to know of the feelings of these deaf
students. What is national Deaf Center? It is
funded by Federal Department of Education.
Deaf jobs – latest update
http://deafdigest.com/category/jobs/
10/27/19 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
http://deafdigest.com/newsletters/
