DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, January 19, 2011

- deaf plane from Baltimore to Austin because of blizzard

The Clerc Deaf Basketball Classic took place last week
at Austin, Texas, involving 8 of the nation's better
boys and girls basketball teams. For four teams,
weather was a problem. The Learning Center team had
to stay home; Maryland School for the Deaf and the
Model School barely made it out of the Washington, DC/
Baltimore area. A surprise was that the Indiana School
for the Deaf flew East to Baltimore to get on the same
plane with the Maryland and Model teams. A coach said:

it was a deaf plane

Yes, Indiana had to fly east and then fly southwest
to make it to the tournament

.....

- made fun of his deafness, angry deaf man arrested for assault

a deaf man from Connecticut was arrested for assault as he
choked and punched his brother in the face.

Why? The hearing brother made fun of the other brother's deafness,
making the deaf man very angry.

People in other apartment units heard the yelling and screaming.

The court case will take place in a month.

Very sad.

.......

- if you are deaf, don't get arrested in South Carolina

This is not a joke. There was a newspaper story saying
that there is a serious shortage of ASL interpreters
in South Carolina. If there is no interpreter and if a
deaf person is arrested, there may be a long delay in
the court hearing because of that reason.

.......

- a popular sign language instructor at a California college

Bert Reins was written up in a story in his role as
ASL instructor at San Bernardino Valley College.
Before he came on board, the college had 35 students;
nowadays there are 270 students - plus a waiting list.

No, Bert is not the only teacher! There are two other
teachers in these sign language classes.

......

- Easy Street helps deaf immigrants understand American life

We have many immigrants every year that are deaf. Many of them
don't know English and struggle to understand the American
way of life.

In Minnesota there is "Easy Street" - which has a fake grocery store,
a fake pharmacy, a fake ATM, a fake restaurant, a fake bus, etc.

These deaf immigrants pretend to use these fake facilities to learn
quickly on how to these facilities in real life.

"Easy Street" is locacted at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

......