DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, May 11, 2011
__ To be deaf by not eating fruits and vegetables
Don't eat fruits and vegetables and to be deaf? This is what
Dr Andrew Black, of the Aboriginal Medical Service in Australia
is saying. He noticed that without fruits and vegetables, the
Aboriginal people have continuing problems with infections and
health. And that some of these illnesses lead to deafness.
He is now pushing for national distribution of fruit and
vegetable crates for Aboriginal families.
__ The Sports Editor of a city newspaper is deaf
Lodi, a city of 100,000 people in the California wine country,
has a newspaper - the Lodi News-Sentinel. This daily newspaper
carries a sports section. Richard Banas, the sports editor,
is deaf - has been deaf all his life. He just won the second place
in the annual California Newspaper Publishers Association
best story honors. He grew up knowing nothing about sign
language and was a good high school athlete. He also was a
hard hitting defensive lineman with the Sacramento State
football team. Interestingly enough he only became a sports
writer while he was in his forties, but has been with it
since then.
__ An overachieving deaf teenager
Tyler Bowes, a deaf junior at Old Fort HS, near Fremont, Ohio,
is an overachiever. He just completed his first solo flight
as a student pilot on the day of his birthday (16 years old).
He is a 4.0 student, a student athletic director for his
high school athletic teams, plays the saxophone in the school
band. He has a goal in life - to become the first deaf person
to be a commercial pilot. He thinks that with his CI, it can
be done (must communicate with radio control towers).
__ Marlee Matlin angry at Bones
No one likes to be called "deaf and dumb" or "deaf and mute" -
and this includes Marlee Matlin. A recent episode of Bones TV
series included the comment "a deaf mute" and it got Marlee
very angry about it. Hopefully her influence among Hollywood
producers and scriptwriters is so strong that all of them
will listen to her!
__ Hearing people would walk out if a deaf person is
the banquet speaker?
Discrimination against the deaf was very strong during
the anti-ASL days of past years. The oral method was
very strong among these hearing teachers and educators.
At a Deaf Education conference in the early 1970's in
Europe there was a strong warning that if a deaf person
was the featured speaker at a banquet, the hearing
professionals would walk out. Fortunately it has not
happened. Times have changed!
