DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, March 21, 2012
-- A cheap quality Miss Deaf Pageant crown!
When a deaf woman wins a Miss Deaf Pageant, she is
given a crown to wear on her head. The real crown
is pure silver. It was embarrassing in Swaziland
when the organizers of the Miss Deaf Pageant gave
the winner a cheap crown that rusted because it
was not pure silver. A newspaper story about it
made hearing people laugh at SNG Sounds, the "cheap"
sponsor of the pageant. The sponsor had to replace
it with a pure silver crown.
-- Comparing deaf attitudes in Canada and New Zealand
Gary Malkowski, deaf and ASL-user, was MP in the Ontario
parliament (1990-1995). Mojo Mathers, also deaf, is the
new MP in the New Zealand parliament. Attitudes of Ontario
and New Zealand are different. Why? When Malkowski won,
the parliament quickly gave him interpreters, surprising
him, But when Mathers won and asked for electronic
notetakers, the parliament refused to pay for it. It took
a lot of arguing, threats of lawsuits, and public outcry
for three weeks before the parliament agreed to pay for it.
Different nations, different attitudes!
-- Neighbors do not want deaf school near them!
NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) is ugly sometimes. The Rocky
Mountain Deaf School is facing fierce opposition on
their plans to build a new school campus in a Lakewood,
Colorado neighborhood. These hearing people are saying
the school will increase traffic and ruin the beautiful
nature scenery (trees, grass, roaming animals - elk,
foxes and bears). The school must reach deal on property
by December or lose the $13 million grant that would pay
for the new campus. The cruel irony was that the
land was originally zoned in 1977 for a new school
campus!
-- Computer chips inserted in brain to help deaf-blind?
Sidney Primas, not deaf, is a student at Duke University,
taking a double major in biomedical engineering and
electrical/computer engineering. Using knowledge in
both fields, he is inserting computer chips inside the
human brain. He hopes it will help restore vision to
the deaf-blind. At this point, it is too early to know
if this idea will work.
-- A deaf sports executive with a new job
We do not have a deaf front office executive in major
sports in USA (football, basketball, baseball, hockey).
Last week Karim Fayed, who is deaf, has been appointed
as the Vice Chairman of the Fulham Football (soccer) club
in England. This team plays in the Premier Soccer League,
the world's #1 professional soccer league. This team plays
against Manchester United, Manchester City and other famous
British soccer teams. The British people love soccer,
same as we love pro football.
