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Showing posts with label Deaf News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deaf News. Show all posts

Thursday, March 3, 2016

CPD Gets New VRS Equipment To Assist Deafies

VIDEO: Deaf News - Cleveland Police Department gets new video relay service equipment to assist Deaf community.







CLEVELAND, OH -- The Cleveland Police Department has invested in new equipment to help its officers better serve the Deaf community.



The department announced Wednesday that all officers have been trained to use video technology that gives them instant access to an American Sign Language interpreter.







Officials from the police department and local advocates for the hearing-impaired demonstrated the new equipment Thursday.



"The reality is there are barriers in place for some members of our community," Cleveland police Capt. James McPike said. "This grant was intended to try to remove those barriers for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community."



Each of the city's five police districts is stocked with an iPad equipped with the ZVRS video interpreter application. The application gives officers dealing with a Deaf crime victim, suspect or witness access to an interpreter within seconds.



The technology was purchased using a portion of a $350,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women that was awarded to the department in 2011, Cleveland police Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said.



The Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center and the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center helped train the police force.



Deaf women in the U.S. experience domestic and sexual violence at rates twice those of hearing women, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization that advocates for fairness in the justice system. Yet they often encounter barriers when seeking help, from a phone-based 911 system to having their credibility as witnesses in court questioned.



The police department purchased the equipment after getting feedback from the Deaf community, said Maria O'Neil Ruddock, coordinator of training and outreach services for the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center.



"The reason it's here is because the Deaf community has told us, 'We want access to the police, we want to be able to communicate, but it's difficult,'" O'Neil Ruddock said.



Cleveland is only one of two large police departments in the country using this technology, she added.



The department is also updating its general police orders to include a policy about communicating with the Deaf, McPike said. A draft of that policy is still in the approval stage.



Ciaccia said the interpreting technology is not related to a binding agreement with the Justice Department that requires the Cleveland police to improve the way they interact with citizens. The addition of the technology is the latest in a string of efforts by the department to expand training.



Mayor Frank Jackson announced in December that officers received first aid training and emergency medical kits.



The Cleveland Police Academy class that graduated in October was the first to receive 40 hours of crisis intervention training.



SOURCE

Gallaudet How Architecture Changes For The Deaf

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News: Curbed's feature on DeafSpace at Gallaudet University campus for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and staff.





WASHINGTON -- Vox: We live in a world made for people who hear. But what would our cities looks like if they were designed for the Deaf? DeafSpace is an emerging approach to design and architecture that is informed by the unique sensory experience of those who don't hear. In conjunction with Curbed's feature on DeafSpace, we visited Gallaudet University to see what DeafSpace looks like in action:



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People who hear might not realize what role sound plays in everyday life. If you want a passerby's attention, you shout his name. If a professor needs to explain a math problem, it's not a problem to talk while writing concepts on the board.



But people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing depend on different senses to navigate everything from social interactions to academics. The concept of DeafSpace uses that experience to inform the design of environments.



Gallaudet University - a school located in Washington, DC, and the world’s only institution of higher education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is in the process of modifying the historic university’s campus to create a more inclusive environment for the Deaf student body.



Hansel Bauman, the architect behind DeafSpace, has redesigned parts of Gallaudet's campus around five basic principles: space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color, and acoustics. DeafSpace is the project that has grown up around Bauman's work and is quickly gaining recognition both inside and outside deaf communities.



On our recent visit to the campus we sat down with Derrick Behm, a former student who now works in the Office of Campus Design and Planning. He walked us through some of the background of the DeafSpace project while also giving us a demonstration of how these concepts play out in action, which you can see in the video above.



For a more in-depth look into the history, traditions, and design elements driving DeafSpace, read Amanda Hurley's feature about DeafSpace on our sister site Curbed. SOURCE

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Learn American Sign Language For Deaf Student

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News: Signing club helps Deaf student feel at home.





PEORIA, IL -- WMBD/CNN: Inside the library at Mark Bills School, class begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. But here, they’re doing things a little differently.



Students are using American Sign Language to say the pledge.



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“It’s like they want to be like me,” said fifth-grader Rhemy Elsey, who was born almost completely Deaf. A set of cochlear implant help him hear, but he relies heavily on sign language and his interpreter, Tammy Arvin, to communicate.



“It’s tough for a kid that has an interpreter,” Arvin said. “Following them around all day, you know, especially if the rest of the class can’t really communicate.”



Rhemy’s classmate Dexyrae Clarke said, “I wanted to be able to talk to Rhemy, and I wanted to be able to communicate with him.”



That’s how the American Sign Language Club was born at the school - with a group of students who wanted to be able to talk to a friend.



“I was thrilled that they were interested and that they wanted to learn some sign language,” Arvin said, “and that they were taking some initiative to able to communicate more effectively with one of their classmates.”



And this is not like their Spanish or French classes - students say they are finding there’s a lot that goes into learning this language, and things aren’t always easy. Tabria Smith explained the difficulty.



“Sometimes you really want to talk while you’re signing, but then you have to get used to just using your hands instead of your mouth to communicate with other people,” Tabria said.



But in Rhemy, they have a teacher and friend, showing them that so much can be said without saying anything at all. “It makes me feel, like, happy,” Rhemy said. SOURCE

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Alexander Graham Bell - Theft Of The Century

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News: Alexander Graham Bell of history's most famous inventor, but shockingly his most famous invention was stolen.



WASHINGTON DC -- If you answered Alexander Graham Bell, then you, along with millions of people around the world have been misinformed. In 2002, even the US Congress succumbed to the nagging truth and “changed its mind” on the issue, according credit to the real inventor and declaring that the original telephone was in fact invented by Antonio Meucci, a penniless Italian who did not speak a word of English and could not afford to patent his discovery.



Alexander Graham Bell? He was just a successful patent applicant and some would say, THIEF.



According to the US Congress, Bell was a cunning opportunist who took all the credit for a more brilliant scientist’s work. The House of Representatives voted to recognise mechanical genius Antonio Meucci as the father of modern communications, following a protracted battle by historians and Italian Americans.



From Monopoly to the lightbulb, AllTime10s brings you 10 famous inventions stolen from other people.

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The real invented of the telephone, Meucci, born April 13, 1808, had been working in Cuba in the 1830s, developing methods for treating illnesses using electric shocks, when he discovered the ability of sound to travel through electrical impulses. He later moved to Staten Island to follow up on his discovery. In 1860 which was 16 years before Bell claimed to have invented the telephone Meucci demonstrated his teletrofono in New York, but could not afford the $250 required to register a patent.



Bell, who took an interest in Meucci’s invention, convinced him to share his research material. They shared a lab together and Bell had full access to Meucci’s materials. Bell made good and clever use of Meucci before coming up with his own “invention” and applying for a patent in his own name. Meucci duly protested, but lacking connections, was unable to convince anyone that Alexander Graham Bell had stolen his ideas. Under general patent laws, then and today, Bell should have credited Meucci and agreed to share royalties with him.



Beset with debt, Meucci could not afford the $10 fee for maintaining the patent caveat and temporarily gave up pursuit of Bell in 1874. Two years later, Bell, uncontested by Meucci, was granted ownership of the patent. Interestingly, another contender, Elisha Gray, had also submitted a patent for the telephone some hours before Bell, but due to a technicality, Bell was the registrant whose application won.



Meucci finally decided to sue Bell, charging him with fraud in the Supreme Court. The case looked rather promising for Meucci, but unfortunately, before any proceedings could begin, Meucci died on October 18, 1889.



In 2001, the United States Congress took the extraordinary decision of doing justice to Meucci, passing a resolution officially according recognition to Meucci as the real inventor of the telephone, stating that “if Meucci had been able to pay the caveat after 1874, no patent could have been issued to Bell.” The US Congress further stated that given all the facts of the patent disputes between Gray and Bell, under no terms should Alexander Graham Bell have been awarded the patent for the telephone by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1876. Alexander Graham Bell was posthumously stripped of his dubious honor as the inventor of the telephone.



“Justice” was finally served - well, sort of.



In effect, the Congressional resolution served only as a declaration and did not technically annul or modify the patent which Bell received in 1876. The resolution was also subsequently followed by another legislative declaration upholding Bell’s priority and his status as the inventor (patent holder) of the telephone.



Credit where credit is due:



Both Antonio Meucci and Elisha Gray should be credited with successfully inventing telephones in the United States before Alexander Graham Bell did so in 1876. Others who performed pioneering experimental work with electrical voice transmissions over wires included Thomas Edison, Innocenzo Manzetti, Charles Bourseul and Johann Philipp Reis. The telephone as we know it today, is largely based on improvements made by Thomas Edison on the original design which was not Bell’s but Meucci’s. Source.



All Lies: The history of Alexander Graham Bell was a professor of elocution at Boston University and tutor of Deaf children while pursuing his own research into a method of telegraphy that could transmit multiple messages over a single wire simultaneously, a so-called "acoustic telegraph". Bell formed a partnership with two of his students' parents to help fund his research in exchange for shares of any future profits by which does still exists these today for instance, cochlear implant, hearing aid and oral that exploitation from Deaf and Hard of Hearing children to adult that suffering from audism and oppression by the Alexander Graham Bell Association is a "Thief" from the Deaf community's souls (Culture).



Former Deaf and Hard of Hearing students are victims by Alexander Graham Bell Association.

This MADNESS must be stopped!



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Related Post: #AG Bell

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Nyle DiMarco Is Joining 'Dancing With The Stars'

Deaf News: Exclusively: America's Next Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco is joining 'Dancing with the Stars' will be on March 21 at 8pm on ABC.



LOS ANGELES -- America's Next Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco is trading his smize for dancing shoes: the 26-year-old model/actor/Deaf activist will compete on season 22 of Dancing With the Stars, a source tells E! News exclusively.



Sources confirm that the most recent champion of Tyra Banks' modeling competition is heading to the DWTS ballroom, where he'll be joining rumored fellow cast member Jodie Sweetin on the series which our insiders have also confirmed, and will be the second-ever Deaf contestant on the show.



Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin competed on the series in 2008, coming in seventh place with partner Fabian Sanchez during the ABC reality hit's sixth season. Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi eventually took home the Mirrorball Trophy that year.



The new cast will dance in the footsteps of 17-year-old Bindi Irwin, who took home the trophy with six-time champion Derek Hough, beating out Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, soldier Alek Skarlatos and Grease Live star Carlos PenaVega.



ABC declined to comment on the casting report, but the official cast announcement will be made on Good Morning America on March 8, ahead of season 22's March 21 premiere.



One certainty for next season: We won't be seeing Julianne Hough anymore. The pro-turned-judge is stepping away from the series after two years at the judges' table, she confirmed on Feb. 17, but there's good news too: Len Goodman, who left for a season to spend time with his newborn grandson (and continue judging on the original British series, Strictly Come Dancing), is coming back.



DWTS season 22 debuts Monday, March 21 at 8 p.m. on ABC - SOURCE



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Deaf Woman Sues NYPD For Wrongly Arrested

Deaf News: Deaf woman denied interpreter by cops who arrested her after car accident sues city and NYPD.



NEW YORK CITY -- A Deaf woman was mocked and wrongly arrested by New York City Police Department cops after a minor car accident - all because they refused to get an interpreter to hear her side of the story, a new Manhattan federal lawsuit alleges.



Tanya Ingram's alleged ordeal began around 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2013, when she and another car collided at the intersection of Second Ave. and E. 120th Street.



The other driver got out of her car and rushed toward Ingram, apparently angry and shouting, the suit claims.



Ingram felt threatened by the other driver’s behavior so she "picked up a small metal pipe that she had in her car and exited the car, gesturing to (the other driver) to back away with her free hand. At no time did Ms. Ingram swing the pipe, nor did she ever attempt to strike (the other driver)," the suit states.



The cops who arrived on the scene some 45 minutes later spent considerable time speaking with the other driver in the accident, the suit says.



They refused to provide Ingram with the means to communicate, however - though she repeatedly pointed to her ear and shook her head to show her hearing impairment, she says.



One of the responding officers asked Ingram for her keys and opened the trunk. He then made several gestures to indicate a pipe, and she retrieved it from the car.



As the officers mulled about the scene of the accident, an EMT dispatched to the intersection approached Ingram. She explained that she was Deaf through gestures, and he gave her a piece of paper and pen so that she could speak with him. The officer who had opened her trunk was 10 feet away.



"You did not understand me. That's not right. I know she's lying to you. How can I tell you my story? I want my rights. Call interpreter," the note stated.



Ingram, 51, tried to show him the note, and while he glanced at it, the cops "expressed visible annoyance" and ignored her.



She then saw several officers speaking with each other and they "appeared to be mocking her use of gestures."



When the cops moved to arrest her, Ingram had no idea what was happening and became "extremely frightened and utterly bewildered as to the reason for her arrest began crying and repeatedly tried to audibly shout, 'Why?,'" her lawyers maintain.



Ingram was ultimately detained for 24 hours and never received an interpreter as required by law, she alleges.



She had been charged with four misdemeanors menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, harassment, and resisting arrest but all charges were dropped in July 2013, the suit contends.



Ingram is seeking unspecified damages.



Asked about the lawsuit, a city Law Department spokesman said that: "The complaint will be reviewed."



Ingram’s lawsuit is one of several recent false arrest claims in which Deaf individuals allege they were denied an interpreter.



Also Thursday, Susan Herman, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Collaborative Policing, said the department is hosting an outreach event for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing this March at the former police academy building on E. 20th Street.



At the event, they hope to distribute visor plaques for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing so they can better communicate with police officers, she said.



These plaques would say that the driver is Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing and the driver's preferred method of communication, as well as various symbols and words, to explain things such as why an officer has stopped the driver.



Deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers will also be able to indicate whether they're having a medical emergency, Herman says.



The NYPD will soon launch a pilot program in three precincts to increase access to in-person and tablet-based American Sign Language translation. The department also worked with the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community to create a roll call training video, she told The News. SOURCE



Related:

Deaf Woman Sues NYPD For Wrongly Arrested & Assault

Deaf Woman Sues NYPD For Denying Interpreter

Deaf Schools In Belleville Worried About Future

Deaf News: Dozens of local Deaf and students and their service providers are dreading a recent announcement Deaf Schools into closures in Ontario.





BELLEVILLE, ON -- Intelligencer: Dozens of local Deaf and learning disabled students and their service providers are dreading a recent announcement of the need for efficiency at five specialized institutions across the province will translate into school closures.



Union representatives held a meeting in Belleville Friday to rally students, staff and parent support in their bid to stave off what they say will be imminent school closures unless action is taken to demonstrate a strong case for why local public schools aren’t properly equipped to provide the specialized services delivered by institution like Sir James Whitney and Sagonaska Demonstration Secondary School.



“Closure are going to happen if we don’t do something,” said Daryl O’Grady, local president for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). “We’re getting a campaign together to fight.”



He said the Education Ministry is linking planned reductions to declining Deaf student enrollment.



“They sat back and watched these programs get to where they are now so they can come and say we don’t have the numbers,” O’Grady said. “As a union we will be calling them out on that. This is a good turnout and it shows that people are concerned here,” he said, of the meeting held at the Travelodge Hotel on Friday.



Ann Carr, a former counsellor at the local schools, warned that inaction will be costly once the school year ends and changes are implemented in the fall.



“These children need people qualified to be with them,” Carr said. “When these children go into the regular system they’re just going to have someone who took a regular sign language course. If I were you guys I would go to the local public board and find out what they’re going to do for your kids before the cuts come.



“You are in danger,” Carr said. “These kids have a right.”



She urged students and staff to lobby the mayor and other levels of government to back their campaign to protect jobs and specialized student education here.



“If you don’t do it now, at the end of June you guys are going to have nothing,” said Carr. “At the end of June they’re going to say goodbye. This is for real, you have to start moving today.”



Sarah Colbeck is not only a social worker providing services at both aforementioned schools, but she’s also speaks from the unique perspective of being a mother with four children taught at the Dundas Street West site.



“Deaf children get full access to certain services for free,” Colbeck said of the current system, which if changed will force parents to either send students to schools farther away or foot the bill to find services and American Sign Language tutors.



“Once you close that school it’s going to be a disaster,” Colbeck said. “It’s going to have a big impact on the hearing schools (public schools) as well because they’re not prepared to cater to each student’s needs. Many professionals in these schools have no idea how to approach a Deaf child and their needs.”



The other option is send children to public schools with limited resources to tailor to each student’s individual needs.



“The community and parents have to work together and fight,” Colbeck said. “We have to spread more awareness that the schools actually benefit the children.” The prospect of job losses also hangs over her head.



In her current role, Colbeck is employed .5 at Sir James Whitney and .5 at Sagonaska, so “if Sagonaska closes I would lose .5 of my job this fall and how am I supposed to support my family,” she said through an interpreter. Source



Related Post: #Deaf Canadians - #Deaf Schools
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