DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, August 3, 2011
-- Lady Gaga and the deaf?
Lady Gaga was watching the "So You Think You Can Dance"
event and was very impressed by the performances of Melanie
and Sasha. She then threw both of her shoes at them and
said:
In the deaf community, when a great performance is given,
those in the audience throw their shoe onto the stage
Lady Gaga's comment is puzzling. No one threw shoes to
praise Marlee Matlin's efforts at one of these competitive
dancing events!
-- Who is Ashley Fiolek's interpreter?
Ashley Fiolek is the world's number one female
motocross racer; she already won one race and finished
second this season. And she has landed a huge sponsor
in Red Bull. Who interprets for her when she makes
these business deals and during interviews and during
autograph sessions? Is it a RID-certified interpreter?
No. It is her father. Is this good or bad? Hearing
parents are notorious for shielding and distorting
comments from hearing people, leaving the deaf clueless
as to what was exactly being said.
-- The Laurent, South Dakota Deaf Town at the wrong time?
In 2004, there were plans to create a "deaf, hard of hearing
and ASL-speaking" town in South Dakota. It was to be named
Laurent. The plans did not work out and after several years,
this concept was dropped. Last week, there was an announcement
that the town of Scenic, South Dakota was for sale for just
$800.000. This town has some buildings and a train depot.
Would the deaf group have bought Scenic for $800,000, had it
been available in 2004? Hard to say!
-- A deaf man's seven collegiate degrees
Last week it was mentioned that a deaf woman from
Australia has four degrees. It was later learned that
we had a deaf man with seven earned collegiate degrees.
These degrees are as follows:
* A.B. degree in biology from Clark University
* B.S. in 1961 from Gallaudet College
* M.S. from Wesleyan University
* B.S. in Chemistry from RIT
* B.S. from Gallaudet College
* M.S. from University of Rochester
* Ph.D. from University of Rochester
Who was that person? The late Dale Rockwell, a long time
faculty member with RIT/NTID.
-- A strange situation between two hearing actors
Ranbir Kapoor, an actor from India, takes his roles seriously.
So seriously that when he won a role to play a deaf character
in the new movie - Barfee, he tries to think of himself as deaf
away from the filming. This means using sign language as
as much as possible so that he can play this deaf role perfectly.
He would not even use voice to talk to co-star Ileana D'Cruz
because she has not learned signs enough. He told her if she
wants to talk to him away from the filming, she must use sign
language. It has bothered her a big deal!
