Gallaudet University President Roberta J. Cordano has shared stories about her life, innovation for the Deaf, and the importance of sharing light and guidance for millions. Her father, Waldo, was a teacher and sports director at the school for the Deaf. Cordano’s mother, Jean, was honored as the first Deaf woman to be chief of medical technology at an American hospital. She also studied law to fight for the rights of people with disabilities and graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Law in in 1990. She became president of Gallaudet in 2016 becoming the university’s first female president and first member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Douglas College, which has the only sign language interpreting program in the province of British Columbia, has cancelled its program for 2023. They claim there are not enough students applying for fall 2023. the Western Association of Visual Language Interpreters, there are just over 250 interpreters in the province for thousands of Deaf and hard of hearing people. In a statement to CBC, Douglas College said that it intends to return to the said program in 2024, however it depends on whether there are enough students enrolled at that time.

Shirley Wilson, a Deaf employee at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was recently awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to the Deaf community. Shirley works on improving access and development of resources to protect Deaf children, did the DeafZone and BSL PANTS projects and organized the first national multi-agency conference on protecting Deaf children in 2016 at the University of Manchester.

Sid Nouar, a former teacher, became the first Deaf person to open a Moroccan restaurant in Paris, France to offer jobs to Deaf people and educate hearing people about French Sign Language (LSF). The restaurant, named 1000&1 offers different dishes from couscous to Moroccan briwat and is run by a team of all-Deaf staff. Sid grew up working in a restaurant with his parents as talented cooks with a love for Moroccan food. Sid’s mother taught him to teach Moroccan recipes to their staff. At his restaurant, customers can sign the name of a dish which is illustrated on the menu in LSF, or simply point out what they would like to eat.

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) says 74 countries currently recognize Sign Language as an official language. WFD says the lack of meaningful sign language legislation on the national level is a grave violation of Deaf people’s fundamental rights and it is part of WFD’s 2020-2030 Strategic Direction to support legal recognition of sign languages. WFD encourages those in countries that do not yet recognize sign language contact them and can provide legislation language to include in lobbying local governments in their countries for recognition.