Chris Morton, a Deaf man from the United States, recently completed his walk across the USA, a journey that began from Venice Beach, California in August 2022 and ended July 6 in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. His 11-month adventure included doubts, tears, two side trips to an ER, resilience and determination. As Chris tells it, he was running with a bad crowd in California and realized he needed to get away from toxic people and a toxic social environment. During his journey, he developed other goals – to promote mental health awareness, inspire others who doubt their abilities, and show what Deaf people can do.

A group, DigiDeaf was formed in Islamabad with goal to promote an inclusive society through capacity-building programs and excursions. Capacity-building through training in digital and business skills – graphic design, web design, e-commerce, business and financial management. It also includes English lessons, yoga classes, and training teachers and parents in medical and linguistic needs of Deaf children and soft skills – entrepreneur mindset programs and communication. More recently it organized a trip to Dino Valley, an education and amusement park in the hills northeast Islamabad.

Vanessa, a DeafBlind woman has begun working for ABC News Digital, proofreading stories and sharing corrections with the writing team. Impressed with her skills after asking her to organize and run a live blog on the International Day of People with Disability, ABC moved her up to subeditor, an ongoing role. She says the key to her work and daily life is her Brailliant device, a keyboard that translates text to braille.

The “European Capital of Deaf Youth”, a major event for young people aged 18-30 was held in Nantes, France between June 27 to July 2. Held every two years, there are lectures, a conference, visit to a museum, master classes, a city tour, computer technology workhsops, discussions about the future of Deaf Youth, and a party.

Erwan Nomade is a Deaf traveler, teacher, coach, actor, blogger in France. His main work is Visual Vernacular (VV) where he not only performs but also teaches and encourages brave people to try VV through Instagram. It gives everyone the opportunity to look at the world more broadly.