The Maryland Deaf Community Center (MDCC) has purchased land, completed a design and $3.5 million in the bank to complete the work. However, they need to raise another $1.5 million before construction can begin on a Deaf community center in Frederick. The new center will have 11,000 square feet of space to be used for a gym, offices, a lounge and kitchen. The center will connect with outdoor spaces for fair-weather gatherings and host community education programs. This project has been in progress for several years and the Deaf center is expected to open up opportunities to recreate the sense of in-person community.

An American urban farmer, DeVonne Jackson Perez, was recently chosen to travel to Uganda as part of Catholic Relief Services’ “Farmer To Farmer” educational program. Devonne traveled to St. Anthony School for the Deaf, located in a rural area on the equator, just 3 miles northeast of Lake Victoria in Uganda. Widespread poverty in the region has led some families to abandon their Deaf children. 95% of the students at the school are orphans. Some Ugandans also view Deaf people as cursed, leading to attacks by family or neighbors. DeVonne’s goal was to give Deaf farmers in rural Uganda the ability to feed and support themselves through small-scale farming.

The 8th Indian Deaf Expo will be held in Pune January 26 to 28, 2024. There will be three days of exhibits, festivals, speakers, awards and pageants. The Expo is hosted every 2 to 3 years in a different Indian city. Expo organizers, Deaf Leaders Foundation says “India has about 10 million Deaf and about 40 million Hard of Hearing people.” The event aims to “create a platform where Deaf individuals can showcase their skills and connect with each other.” The main goal is to raise public awareness about Deaf people, its rich and varied culture, the development of sign language in India and to stimulate new opportunities.

The first Chilean short film to be made in sign language created, performed and managed by deaf people, “La carta de 32 años”, produced by Pupa Studio Creativo was hosted by Centro NAVA in Santiago. The film which is signed with audio description and subtitled, is a psychological thriller that tells the story of Valentino, a young doctor who is about to become a father and, at the same time, his mother is sick of cancer. In the midst of this, Valentino learns that his father is not his biological father, but another man whom his mother has not seen for 32 years, when she was pregnant with him. Desperate, Valentino decides to go in search of that man, increasingly anguished and in an existential crisis that will confront him with the disturbing truth he is looking for.

Architects and ambassadors San Lorenzo Barbara Biglieri and Marcela Vazquez created the La Librería space, a special place to connect all the senses, where empathy and inclusion are the impulse to offer a room adapted for reading. in braille and sign language. The sensory room took place at Casacor 2023. The design of La Librería, in addition to being functional and inclusive, contributes to the creation of an aesthetic and spatial sensation, generating a balance between materials, shapes and nature. Children with hearing disabilities enjoyed the interactive screen where they learned about various books adapted to their way of communication.