DeafDigest Mid-Week edition, March 30, 2011

- A movie house advertising subtitles but refusing
to turn it on

In Wales, a deaf man went to a movie house to watch
a film that was advertised as subtitled. The movie
did not show subtitles. It was the fourth time it
happened in one year. Upset, he asked the manager
to turn on the captions. The manager refused despite
being shown the newspaper ad, but refunded him. He
then complained to the movie chain headquarters, the
nation's Equality and Human Rights Commission and
the local newspaper. The chain apologized and gave
him free tickets for future movies. Why no subtitles?
The chain said it was a technical difficulty.

- Four deaf fans of British soccer cheated out of tickets
for a big game

British soccer is big time; same as NFL in USA. Anyway
four deaf fans of the Birmingham City soccer team
waited ten hours in a long line to buy tickets for a
big game; they had their confirmation numbers
with them. But when they reached the window, the
ticket seller told them their numbers were no good
because someone else already used it and they could
not buy tickets. Very angry, they filed a legal case
with the soccer club, claiming it was discrimination
to use the public announcement system to shout the
confirmatiion numbers that they would miss. The
club agreed with them and gave them replacement
tickets!

- 12 years with interpreter

Josh Brewer, an interpreter in a mainstreamed school
system in Alabama, worked with deaf student Zach
Kerger for 12 years! Josh was 20 when a 6-year old
Zach was assigned to him. They have been together
for 12 years; Josh is now 32 years old where as
Zach, now a senior, is 18 years old. When Zach
graduates this spring, Josh will be given a new
interpreting assignment. Another 12 years??????

- The thick red curly hair of a famous actress

In Great Britain, Rula Lenska is a well known actress
on stage and on TV drama programs. She is famous for
her beautiful, thick, flaming red curly hair. Rula had
a reason for keeping this same look with her hair for
many years . She became deaf as a younger woman, and
these curls easily hid her hearing aids! No one watching
her would know she was deaf. Only this week Rula gave
an interview, confessing her reason for the same looks.

- A young deaf man with dreams of coaching career in NFL

Nouri Marrakchi, a deaf student at University of
Northern Colorado, has a big dream - to become a coach
in the National Football League. He has already made
some contacts with key people in the NFL and is hoping
some of them will open the door to him after he
graduates from college. He may look at Michael Fischer
as a role model. Michael, a former Gallaudet student,
served as coaching assistant/video analyst with
Houston Comets, a past team in the WNBA before moving
on to University of Minnesota women's basketball team
as assistant to head coach Pam Borton.