On April 10, The Simpsons TV show created their first Deaf character, Monk Murphy, the Deaf son of saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy. Monk is played by John Autry II, a Deaf actor. The author of the episode said the storyline reflects her life experience – father loves Jazz and her brother is Deaf.

The Simpsons characters have four fingers which makes incorporating ASL tricky. Autry said, “​​this can impact change for all of us. It’s about Deaf and hearing characters coming together. It’s part of history.”

An American singer, actress, and Grammy nominee, Olivia Rodrigo walked down the Grammys 2022 red carpet with an ASL interpreter.

Marlee Matlin, an Oscar winning Deaf actress, thanked her on social media for this step to accessibility, saying “Thank you ⁦@oliviarodrigo for having an ASL interpreter with you on the red carpet! You ROCK!”.

Huawei, a technology company, in Ghana has donated 125,000 worth of ICT gadgets and equipment to the Mampong Akuapem Senior High Technical School in the Eastern region to help Deaf students learn with modern technology. Donationincluded 7 HD projectors for digital instruction, 2 65-inch television sets, 2 public address systems, 20 desktop PCs, and 20 pairs of office desks and chairs.

The Malawi National Association for the Deaf (MANAD) has voiced dismay and outrage that the Deaf issues were not addressed in the Government’s National Budget Speech for 2022/2023. Now the Deaf community has to campaign for more sign language interpreters and teachers to be trained and an improved school system.

Two Deaf authors have written and published books, “Deaf Utopia” by Nyle DiMarco and “True Biz” by Sara Nović. DiMarco is a model, dancer, activist, actor, producer, and now a writer. The book is an intimate look into his life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“True Biz”, written by Sara Nović, is an ASL expression that means “real talk”, “really” or “seriously”. Sara is a writer, translator, creative writing professor, and Deaf rights activist. The book is about a teenage girl with a cochlear implant who has never met a Deaf person before; she went to a Deaf school and learned ASL.

Forced sterilizations and abortions performed on Deaf people in Finland is being investigated for injustices against Deaf people. The study found that a total of 7,530 people in Finland, mainly women, were sterilized for racial hygiene reasons under the Sterilization Act which was in force between 1935 to 1970. The law authorized forced sterilization without the consent of the person being sterilized.

Participants in the study shared stories about their loved ones receiving an abortion or sterilization without being aware of this, and they could not defend themselves. Sign language was basically banned at the time and there was no interpretation service.

Trayshun Holmes-Gournaris, an 18-year-old student from Oregon School for the Deaf, won the state’s poetry contest. He competed against 10 other students in the school’s Poetry Out Loud program. He chose three poems, one was “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou. He said “Black people have this constant struggle to be free, and the “Caged Bird” sings for freedom, but it can’t get it because it’s within the cage.”