Posts published in October 2020

DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 30, 2020

— not enough captioners

Deaf people require captions, rightfully so, and
it creates problems for captioning agencies.
There was a short newspaper story about one
captioning company saying they need more
captioners and have trouble finding them
anywhere.

— another deaf with a colorful life

Edward G. Ziegler, Ohio, departed us. He was deaf
but functioned as a hearing person. He held these
various jobs throughout his life – family-owned
businesses, Ohio Department of Transportation, working
his way up from laborer right up to the top as
Special Projects Assistant Superintendent, and then
becoming a County Superintendent and then becoming
a truck driver. In between he was a mechanic and
electrician for a traveling circus group. There
wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. He simply didn’t
like to work behind a desk.

— making impatient and hungry Marines happy

When Marines are hungry, they get impatient.
Good food makes them happy. And responsible
to making them happy is Kevin Tong, a kitchen
chef. Not only he is deaf but is also
deaf-blind and serves these Marines at a
base in San Diego.

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10/25/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 29, 2020

— Deaf Space or Deaf Friendly

What is Deaf Space? What is Deaf Friendly?
Deaf Space, copied from the original Deaf
House concept, means no walls would block
Deaf Eyes. Deaf House was originated by past
deaf contractor Bernard Brown. Deaf
Friendly means signs in the store that
a deaf customer could point to. A perfect
example would be Subway setting up a “Steak”
sale on the counter instead of high up on the
walls!

— in a rush to accommodate

Covid-19 has forced a big accommodation
rush. In this big rush, overlooked are
captions and interpreters. Two of many
examples are legislative meetings and
voting rules being rushed without thought
to interpreters and captions. Leaders
in a big rush do not bother to ask the
deaf for their advice and input. As a
result these hearing leaders get one
big black eye.

— big time mover in Montana

Moving gas stations, commercial buildings,
schools, bridges, etc from one location
to another location is quite a challenge.
Forrest “Scotty” Zion, who passed away
10 years ago at the age of 94, was up
to the task. He had been deaf because
of a childhood illness. And he has been
just nominated for induction into Montana
Cowboy Hall Of Fame & Western Heritage.

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10/25/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 28, 2020

— Coda’s comment

A Coda made this comment in a newspaper
story, as follows:

I can never really know what life looks like
for the deaf even though I have seen for myself
the frustrations the deaf face in everyday life.

— a politician with long list of Deaf Promises

It is rare that a hearing politician has a long
list of Deaf Promises. Maybe a short list,
but certainly not a long list. Well, Charlene Fite,
who is campaigning for re-election for a seat
in Arkansas house of representatives, has a
long list. Her background with deaf? She
taught at a deaf school and has worked with
agencies serving the deaf. Reality – a politician
is a success if just one item on the long list
becomes a law, state politics being what it is!

— best musical instrument for a deaf musician

Taylor McDowell, who is deaf, but functions as a
hearing person, said he tried trumpet, guitar,
and piano – but failed at all of them because
of prolems with frequency pitches. The best
instrument – the drum! He is one of the popular
drummers in the Central New York area.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 27, 2020

— if less than 7 days, Pennsylvania says “too bad”

DeafDigest editor is troubled by the statement that
says – Anyone who needs an accommodation to participate
in PA State Park, and requesting an interpreter must
contact the park at least seven days notice. At least
means 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 days, etc. Hearing tourists
can visit the park at the last minute; deaf tourists
must wait, wait and wait to make sure the interpreter
is available. This is what DeafDigest editor hates.

— New York Society for the Deaf owns a problem residence

A newspaper story surfaced today of New York Society
for the Deaf owning a building for deaf residents,
helped by HUD loan. The problems are no security,
broken toilets, ceilings falling down, mold everywhere,
rats, and broken elevators. The building was built in
1994 (26 years ago). And the Society has been around
for so many, many years providing services for the deaf.

— deaf asked – Are you really deaf?

“Are you really deaf” was the question by a
Delta flight attendant when the deaf man’s
mask slipped below his nose and did not
understand the question. He was kicked out 
of the flight. Ultimately Delta headquarters
apologized for this incident. This is not
a surprise when deaf with “perfect” speech
are often challenged by hearing people
that do not believe the hearing loss.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 26, 2020

— trying to lipread a ventriloquist

Deaf people trying to lipread a ventriloquist?
It seems to be a bad joke, but a senior citizen
said years ago students were taught to speak and
move their mouths at the same time, but nowadays
many people speak like ventriloquists, making
lipreading impossible!

— A reason for the Hush movie

The 2016 movie – Hush – about a deaf woman
living alone in the woods, is considered to be
one of the greatest horror movies ever. Why
was that movie produced? Director Mike Flanagan
said he wanted to show the audience that deaf
people have four remaining senses – touch, sight,
smell and taste which more than just make up
for their missing sense of sound.

— attitude of some doctors

There are some doctors that think the deaf
people do not know how to take care of their
own health and need to be told what to do
with their medical needs. An angry deaf
person brought this up in a newspaper
story.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 23, 2020

— deaf artist featured in a New York Times story

Joseph Grigely, a deaf artist and a professor
at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
said in a New York Times story that Covid-19 did
not hurt his art business. He just had to change
from old ways to new ways to communicate with
his customers and fellow artists. He previously
taught English at Gallaudet

— a deaf participant in the Bachelor Season

Abigail Heringer, who is deaf, is a participant
in the TV’s Bachelor Season. She previously would
not talk about her deafness, but said she will
open up during the program.

— New Hampshire candidate makes no deafness promises

Casey Conley, not deaf, is campaigning for a seat
with the Strafford County District in New
Hampshire. He has served on the state
commission for the deaf and hearing loss.
In a newspaper interview, he outlined a list
of promises he will do if elected. Not on
his list of promises is to help the deaf.
So disappointing.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/18/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 22, 2020

— lost in a long list of priorities

A hearing mother of a deaf child showed up
at a board of education meeting. She wanted
to pass a new rule – that only deaf teachers
can teach the deaf. The problem is that others
spoke up with their long list of suggestions,
meaning the committee members may forget the
“deaf to teach the deaf” suggestion.

— Deaf Author vs Hearing Publisher

DeafDigest mentioned a while ago that deaf author
Adam Pottle wanted the public to boycott his
children’s book because the publisher drew
illustrations that he felt was racist. But
the publisher refused to pull out the book
from the shelves. Now, the Deaf Author
won as the publisher agreed to pull out the
book despite feeling that the illustrations
were not racist.

– our Deaf Truck Drivers

It was not too long time ago that the deaf
were allowed to drive trucks. Are they
doing OK with their jobs as truck drivers?
Said an association of truck drivers:

Trucking companies have already had great success
with people who are deaf

This is great!

Some day we will see a deaf truck driver
delivering food to a deaf-owned restaurant.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/18/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 21, 2020

— suddenly deaf joins the deaf

Could a suddenly deaf adult feel comfortable
socializing with those that been deaf all
their lives? No, not always – yet there is
a movie – Sound of Metal. It portrays
a suddenly-deaf adult learning ASL and
feeling comfortable with these deaf groups.
Realistic? No. Impossible? It is possible
but not that easy.

— blue instead of white (or yellow)

White and yellow are the common colors
of hearing strobe lights, both for
hearing and for the deaf. But what
about blue strobe lights? The area
around Mount Rainier (in the state of
Washington) has problems dealing with
volcanoes. For that reason, the emergency
people are installing blue strobe lights
to alert residents of these volcanoes.
Why blue instead of white or yellow?
It has been felt that blue strobes would
attract the eyes of the deaf better
than white or yellow.

— deaf writer writes about hearing, not deaf

Deaf authors and writers tend to write about the
deaf, not about the hearing. DeafDigest editor
is no better – always writing about the deaf.
Well, deaf writer Genevieve Barr, who is said
to be a talented writer, was praised for writing
articles about non-deaf issues.

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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 20, 2020

— hearing people looking down on the deaf

A hearing engineer won an award from the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
His invention – a sign language glove
(that we have too many of these such
proposed gloves on the market). He said
sign language gloves will make hearing
people proud of the deaf instead of
looking down on the deaf. Really?

— CI engineer said CI is not perfect

A deaf man, who is a CI engineer (his
degree is in electronics engineering)
said CI is not perfect. One reason
is that CI does not function well
in noisy environments. This is his
goal – to make the CI more perfect.

— lipreading fun

Many deaf people are lipreaders. Again,
many deaf people hate to lipread or are
not good lipreaders. Whatever! There
is a new video game – Mega Mouth, which
suggests challenges for deaf lipreaders,
both good or bad or even those that hate
lipreading!

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/18/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 19, 2020

— podcasts becoming ADA-headache for media providers

Podcasts are not captioned. This will lead to ADA
lawsuits. Already one deaf person is talking about
filing a lawsuit over these non-captioned podcasts.

— Beethoven learning sign language

Would Beethoven be given an opportunity
to learn sign language? Author Paul Griffiths
has written a fictional novel titled – Mr Beethoven.
It shows Beethoven traveling to USA to learn
sign language. And there is a twist – that he
would be taught Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language!
It is not the same as ASL, by the way. The
author is not deaf.

— Fresh to Deaf in Youngstown, Ohio

Tiffany Hamilton, who is deaf, owns a food stand
titled Fresh to Deaf, in Youngstown, Ohio.
She sells ready-to-go salads and other
healthy meal choices. Her most popular item
is a fruit drink that she mixes in a blender
and is called Sea Moss Water. She even sells
tamarind, an exotic African fruit. She admits
her business is a challenge because people
of Youngstown do not go for health-based
food but for traditional food.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/18/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 16, 2020

— the deaf and the family dining table

The deaf, for the most part, has been left
out of the hearing family dining table
conversation in the past. Hearing comments,
if the deaf ask questions are always this –
“never mind” or “it is not important.”
Nowadays, it is made worse when family
members wear masks, cutting off communications
almost completely.

— Microsoft’s Deaf Artificial Intelligence

In the past, Microsoft paid no attention to the
needs of the deaf. Right now, the Deaf Needs are
a priority with Microsoft, especially with
artificial intelligence. Microsoft admitted
that in the past, there was lack of information
regarding the deaf as an artificial intelligence
category. We will wait and see how it all
works out for the benefit of the deaf.

— ASL classes affected by Covid-19 for one reason

There are many hearing students that take ASL
classes on-line, likely via Zoom. A student
explained that Zoom prevents the feeling of
an ASL environment, limitations on viewing
body language that comes with signing,
and seeing closely these facial expressions.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/11/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 15, 2020

— useless robbery

A robbery was useless. A thief robbed a deaf man
of his Cochlear Implants. The thief is hearing and
does not need CI’s and would he think he can
make money selling the stolen devices on the
street? Anyway the police arrested him.

— another case of sudden deafness

DeafDigest editor has known of a man
who became deaf in middle of a telephone
conversation, and another man who went
to bed hearing and woke up deaf. And
now this, a woman became deaf while
walking. Sudden deafness cases are
always mysterious.

— entering doctor’s office is a horrible hassle

Doctors do not permit their patients to just
open the door to walk to their office. This
is due to Covid-19 concerns. One has to
use voice telephone to access the office.
And then to use Zoom to discuss medical
matters with the doctor. Said an angry
deaf patient:

always problems with technology – bad wifi
or screen scrambling around or screen
freezing up.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/11/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 14, 2020

— Deaf U reveals something very shocking

Some hearing people posted on the social media,
expressing their shock that Gallaudet, consisting
of deaf students, has a football team. These
hearing people do not realize that Gallaudet’s
football history is storied – first huddle,
one of nation’s oldest collegiate football
programs, several players moving on to pro
football (not NFL, though) and winning several
conference championships.

— hearing forced to learn sign language

For years, before Covid-19, two neighbors, one
deaf and one hearing, worked together on gardening
projects. Sign language was not necessary as
communication was done via lipreading, body language
and gestures. This has changed – the hearing gardener
had to learn sign language for communication purposes!

— number #1 rule with deaf employees

When employers hire the deaf, they must
realize the #1 rule – ADA, ADA and ADA.
This means accomodations, accomodations
and accomodations. A deaf employee was
fired – and the issue prior to the firing
was – did the employer look for
accomodations first? This is the issue
in an upcoming court case filed by the
fired deaf employee.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/11/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 13, 2020

— captioned news delayed for five hours

Could captioned news be delayed for five hours?
Yes, and the deaf people were happy about it!
Well, in 1973 (7 years before we finally got
our closed captions), the PBS converted
ABC News into open captions. This process
took five hours.

— big reason hearing kids sing songs in ASL

ASL education is pretty much commonplace in many
public high schools and colleges. But for
St. Damian Catholic School in Illinois, there
is a big reason the students use ASL to sing
songs. Because of school Covid-19 rules,
singing is not permitted. Instead, the music
teacher uses ASL with the kids to sing songs!

— battle won, but war is not yet won

The Forbes magazine ran this headline:

How The Deaf Community Challenged The White House—And Won

The corrected headline is this:
How The Deaf Community Challenged The White House—And Won the battle

Battles won does not mean the war is won; for some reason
the White House does not support interpreters and even
if the judge ruled in favor of us, the White House,
on other and future occasions, will still find ways
to avoid interpreters. An example is no interpreters
at the debates.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/11/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 12, 2020

— liking it, now hating it

When Deaf U came out, many people loved it,
now we are reading stories of how many
people now hate it. Can’t win!

— three-years only

A politician, campaigning to win his election,
promised the deaf that he would find funding
for three years to pay for interpreters.
Why three years? Why not permanent funding?

— mental health issues

This is a sad story. A hearing person had mental
issues, tried to tell the world, especially the
police that she is deaf and used fake-sign language
in an effort to prove her deafness! The woman’s
husband, who is not deaf, was helpless when trying
to take care of her.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/11/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 9, 2020

— interruptions, arguments, yelling

The Preidential and the Vice Presidential
debates involved a lot of interruptions,
arguments and yelling. One thing went
wrong – deaf people knew nothing on what
was going on – for one reason – no
interpreters! Captions, yes, but again,
no interpreters. Whose fault – very
easy – the Commission on Presidential
Debates.

— a big Netflix question

Deaf U is already a media sensation. Everyone
talks about it. This leads to a big Netflix
question – will there be a Deaf U Season 2?
Keep in mind Netflix, some years back, had
a history with the Deaf Community as this
media giant refused to caption their
videos. We had to force them to caption, under
the pain of a lawsuit.

— a logo or a number code

A New Jersey legislator introduced a bill to
require state Motor Vehicle Commission to
affix either a logo or a number code to
indicate the drivers’ deafness. This would
make it easier for police officers to deal
with the deaf. A logo or a number code? This
would be the choice of the deaf driver.
What is your choice?

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/04/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 8, 2020

— deaf can hear without CI or hearing aid

The ‘Monsterland’ Episode 3 (on Hulu network)
has featured Annie, who became deaf because
of an unfortunate incident. Later on, she
suddenly hears music and footsteps. At
this point, the program ends! Realistic
or not realistic?

— Google going into a new Deaf Project

Google is trying to detect sign language
shown in some videos – hoping it can
help communicate with hearing people whose
knowledge of sign language is zero.
Requires some very high level engineering
and programming knowledge.

— frustrations of non-ASL deaf professor in hearing college

A deaf professor, who is non-ASL, is being frustrated
by COVID-19. He depends on lip reading of students in
his classes, and is not able to get closer to them
to read their lips. As a result, his students ask
him less questions and offer less comments.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/04/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 7, 2020

— deaf attorney’s choice

Some deaf attorneys leave their professions
for different careers. Some deaf attorneys
stay with their profession until they retire.
Said one deaf attorney:

I suffer job discrimination but I ignore it and move on

— a new storefront in Frederick, MD

A new storefront in Frederick, MD, which
has a high deaf population, is Sisters in Style.
It is co-owned by Emilia Doudt and Nikki Reineck,
both of them deaf. It is a clothing boutique.

— deaf author tells public not to buy his book

Adam Pottle, who is deaf, wrote a book for
children – The Most Awesome Character In The World.
He was upset that the publisher drew up some
illustrations in the book that he felt was
racist. He asked the publisher to pull out
the book and the publisher refused. As a result,
he is telling the public not to buy his book.
Unusual? Yes!

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/04/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 6, 2020

— employers that reject deaf do not explain why

Deaf people apply for jobs, knowing ADA is on their
side – yet they get rejected. And because of legal
issues, these employers do not have to explain
why they were turned down! In that case, ADA may
be possibly a joke in job hunting.

— a comment by a movie producer

Michael Madsen, not deaf, is a movie producer and he
made this comment:

I don’t like to make any character a villain

This is great – because his most recent production
involved a deaf character. In the past, many
movie producers would cast a deaf character as
an evil villain. Yes, times have changed, in
small steps.

— a rare deaf person in restaurant industry

there are always restaurant success stories in
that a hearing person would start out as a
dishwasher and then over the years become a
chef and then eventually as restaurant owner.
What about the deaf? Well, Ken Tan, who is deaf,
started his restaurant career as a dishwasher
but moved all the way to the top as restaurant
owner!

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/04/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 5, 2020

— second deaf hotel 100 miles away

DeafDigest has mentioned frequently that Roberto
Wirth, a deaf man, owns Hotel Hassler in Rome,
ranked as one of the world’s best hotels. He has
taken over another hotel – Hotel Vannucci,
located in Città della Pieve, which is 100 miles
away from Rome, and is getting a big luxurious
upgrade.

— a person many deaf people hated was census consultant

Many deaf people hated Alexander Graham Bell because
of his anti-ASL, pro-oral advocacy – but way back
in 1900, US Census Bureau hired him as a consultant
on Deaf Questions with the census!

— Too much Zoom may be bad for the deaf

There was a report that too much Zoom may be
bad for the deaf. They get tired of concentrating
hard on lip reading and on ASL, especially when
the screen is somewhat blurry. Plus difficulty
in knowing when it is their turn to speak out on
Zoom!

Deaf jobs – latest update
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10/04/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 2, 2020

— Census Bureau suggests TTY/TDD line

The Census Bureau said the deaf people can
use the TTY/TDD line. A critic said it is
obsolete and many deaf people no longer
use this device, preferring to use relay
service.

— using ASL at 9 months old

There was a story of a 12-year old high IQ
genius, who is not deaf, and the family
was all hearing. The story said he could
understand and use ASL while at the age
of 9 months. Is this a fact story or an
exaggeration?

— a typical interpreting agency

Has Covid-19 impacted privately-owned
interpreting agencies? In the case of
one agency, business dropped to 25
percent of what it was before the
Covid-19 outbreak. This is not good.

Deaf jobs – latest update
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09/27/20 Blue and Gold editions & sub options at:
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DeafDigest Mid-Week edition – October 1, 2020

— Tampa Bay Lightning hockey goalie

Andrei Vasilevsky is the goalie with the Stanley
Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning team. His father
(same name) coached the national deaf Russian
hockey team that competed in the Winter Deaflympics.
The story today said that the father “knows” all
of the needed gestures perfectly.

Needed gestures – meaning hockey signs for
skate hard, check hard, move around,
freeze the puck, etc

or

something else (players’ private language)?

— less money to fund relay services

Pretty much not good news – that the FCC
has reduced from $1.58 per minute to $1.30
per minute (for the coming year and half)
to fund deaf relay services. Hope this
does not force our relay services to
go out of business. This is worrisome.

— Forbes Magazine says so

an article in the Forbes Magazine says:

Recognize obviously insulting terms and stop
using or tolerating them

First example was this – deaf and dumb for deaf
and non-speaking or non-verbal

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