Stewart DeLange, a Deaf hockey player from Michigan, was recently selected to be part of the USA team competing in the upcoming Jeff Sauer International Deaf Hockey Series from 11-14 April 2024 in Buffalo, New York. Stewart has played hockey since he was six years old and has always competed with hearing hockey players growing up. DeLange’s Mom, Erika DeLange, says that when she attended Stewart’s hockey games growing up, most hockey fans who watched her son play would never have guessed that he was Deaf. She explains that Stewart knows the game so well and is so visual that he knows when the referee blows his whistle, or if there is going to be a penalty. 

In Surrey, a local charity named Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey recently reported that the DeafBlind community is struggling with loneliness. The charity organization currently supports 8,000 DeafBlind people in the Surrey region and they say they are committed to empowering this group to have a strong sense of self-worth and independence. They say that the community’s loneliness is due to various things, but was surged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heike Heubach is the first Deaf lawmaker in Germany. She was recently elected to replace Uli Grotsch, a former member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrat. As Heike joined the house, Speaker Barbel Bas announced to the Parliament that Heike being the first Deaf lawmaker meant that history had been made. Heike was welcomed into the house with the Deaf applause, waving hands by her fellow lawmakers.

In Bogotá, several members of the Colombian Association of Deaf Educators (ACEDUS) and that community participated this Thursday in a peaceful demonstration outside the Palace of Nariño to demand better conditions for Deaf people in education. "The main objective of this stand is to demand the effective compliance with laws 324 of 1996, 982 of 2005, 1618 of 2013, and Decree 1421 of 2017, fundamental legislations to guarantee an inclusive and quality education for the Deaf community in Colombia." ACDUS pointed out that the stand should not be interpreted as "a protest" against the Government, but as an act to "make visible and correct the historical inequality in the treatment of Deaf teachers within the general education system." The association explains that "this inequality not only affects professionals in education but also has direct consequences on the quality and access to education for Deaf children, adolescents, young people, and adults in Colombia."

In La Paz, Associations of the Deaf were trained by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) so that Deaf people could participate as voluntary enumerators on the day of the Population and Housing Census and communicate using sign language. The National Training Chief of the 2024 Census, Camilo Morales, stated, "In all departments, we have trained Associations of the Deaf, and they will be our census agents so that the appropriate language and means of communication can be used with the Deaf population in Bolivia." He explained that the census questionnaire "has its complexities," so the INE is working to reach each household in the best way possible; that is, that census agents have the knowledge to adapt to the characteristics of each dwelling.