The “CODA” film won a top award at the Screen Actors Guilds (SAG) ceremony for “Best Cast.” This is a huge honor. Troy Kotsur, “CODA” actor, won an individual award for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role”. He’s the first Deaf person to win this award. Troy has an Oscars nomination for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role.” CODA is nominated for “Best Picture” and “Writing- adapted screenplay.”

“Audible,” a documentary produced by Nyle DiMarco about a Deaf athlete’s journey at a Deaf school, has also been nominated for the Oscars’ “Best documentary short film.” 

The United Nations (UN) estimates that more than half a million people have fled from Ukraine. The number includes Deaf people. We don’t know the exact number of Deaf people who escaped.

Many Deaf Ukrainians and Russians didn’t want to share their experiences and opinions with the public. They fear the Deaf community will judge and blame them. We will share a video that has already been posted online.

Two Deaf-owned theaters – 1S1 Theatre and Why Not Theatre, worked together to develop a character named Puff who is popular with Deaf and hearing children. Puff teaches children about Deafness, sign language, culture, and Deaf identity. ABCs and colors are also taught in ASL and spoken English.

Maya Berinzon, one of the supporters of Puff said, “Our family loves Puff and we look forward to more episodes. It’s so hard to find educational resources for kids who sign but can hear, like our daughter.” The Puff ASL storytelling app can also be downloaded from the Apple Store.

Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes were removed from the Paralympic Games. This led to the European Deaf Sports Organization and the International Olympic Committee deciding to suspend Russia and Belarus from participating in the Deaflympics in Brazil and the European and World Championships.

Virgil Van Dijk, a famous football player from the English club Liverpool made a big donation for Deaf footballers to attend the Deaflympics. He helped fund a trip to Brazil. 

Zetteler, a London advertising firm, redesigned their headquarters to become Deaf-friendly. The founder of the firm, Sabine Zettleler, has severe hearing loss. Three rooms were redesigned – a main working area, a small cafe-style room, and a meeting room.

Sabine said she wanted the space to offer both her team and the wider creative community a flexible, beautiful, and functional place where they can come and get together to do their work.

There will be 150 hours of television coverage with a Canadian TV – CBC/Radio – for Canada’s Paralympic athletes in Beijing. The 10-day Paralympics event begins on March 4th and ends on March 13th. Opening and closing ceremonies will be presented with closed captioning, video description, and with ASL access.

Cosme Casas has a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts. When he was younger, he attended the industrial school. At the end of the painting course, his teacher invited him to take classes in the Sculpture Garden. With his art, Cosme aims to shine a light on justice and fighting for equal opportunities.