Deaf and the Chugger.

What is an Chugger ? Apart from a pain the ass.

A chugger is an paid "charity" street worker (read: student) who has been trained to believe that they are carrying out a worthy task, improving peoples' lives by conning Joe Public out of their money for this week's Good Cause. Usually an agency worker where the agency takes a hefty cut of the hourly rate that the charity in question has paid for, whilst at the same time increasing profits by selling on details of those foolish enough to actually stop and sign up to said Good Cause.
If you really want to support a charity, dump a chugger today.

How they help Hard of Hearing kids with sports.

Deaf children are not the only children needing support. Playing sports takes more than agility. A basic understanding of the rules and proper movements are also important. Just imagine for a moment not being able to hear the rules properly when they are explained. That's why a local group of hard-of-hearing children got a little extra help with physical literacy this weekend.

SOURCE

Signed Film of an Radio Play...

LINK TO VIDEO HERE

A sign film of Shall I Say A Kiss? accompanied by audio of the play tells the story of when Morris met Eva at Warrington Deaf Club. Drama starring two deaf actors, based on a true story. Dramatised by Vanessa Rosenthal. Shall I Say a Kiss? is the title of a book of letters edited by Lennard Davis, Eva and Morris' youngest son. When his parents died he found a bundle of faded letters. They afforded a fascinating glimpse into his parents' courtship.

Morris Davis was born deaf in 1898 in Whitechapel. He moved to New York in 1924. On a visit to the UK in 1935, he saw a photo of Eva Weintrobe, also deaf. He went to Liverpool to meet her. After four meetings, Morris proposed. Eva accepted, but before they could arrange a date, Morris had to go back to New York. So the letters and challenges began. Could he bring Eva to America and marry her there? Would he be able to support her? And most pressingly, would American Immigration accept her?

Cast includes deaf actors David Bower and Emily Howlett, and Miriam Margolyes.

New Zealand launch sign language Dictionary.

One example. (Text transcript).

"Hello, my name is Michael Fauchelle. My sign name is Fish. I work at Newlands College as a Teacher Aid. I interpret classes for Deaf students. I also work at the Medical and Health Sciences Library in Newtown as a Librarian.
I started learning New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) last year. I went to Victoria University and did DEAF101 and DEAF102. I dont get much practice now though except for my work as an unqualified interpreter. Im making this VLOG (video blog) because I want to practice NZSL more and I think this will help me do that. Also, there isnt enough NZSL stuff here on UTube, so I thought Id add some from me.

I'm thinking about going to Auckland and doing the NZSL Interpreting Diploma at AUT. I applied for the course last year, and my application was accepted, but I fell ill at the end of last year, so I decided not to go. I was so sick that I had to leave my job, and couldnt work again for around 5 months. This was very upsetting, and Im thinking about trying again in one or two years.
My NZSL teachers were Sara and Darryl, they are both great. David and Rachel also taught me. I really enjoy doing NZSL, and I think about once a week I will make a video and upload it to UTube.
Thank you for watching. Im hoping to get better at using NZSL, so please comment and tell me if you think Im good or bad at NZSL, or just say whatever. Thank you for watching."

Deaf people in New Zealand can now learn sign language on the internet. The country has just launched a multimedia sign language dictionary. The online database contains about 4,000 signs, accompanied by line drawings and video clips to show how to produce each sign, the New Zealand Herald reported. David McKee, director of the Deaf Studies Research Unit at Wellington's Victoria University, said the online dictionary would be accessible to all New Zealanders.

University deputy vice chancellor Penny Boumelha said: "As we have seen in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, sign language has provided crucial assistance to New Zealand's deaf community during press conferences." "Access to information becomes a precious commodity in times of civil emergency, making this new website an invaluable resource," she said.

Graeme Kennedy founded the Deaf Studies Research Unit and edited the first sign language dictionary in 1997.

SOURCE

Opening Paralympic ceremony choreography by Deaf Jenny.

Yet deaf are still not participating in the Paralympics to any significant representation, and the arguments are still ongoing on the reluctance to fund deaf athletes, or any longer to support the deaflympics, because the Olympic/sports areas "Only want to fund winners..." The opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympics will be created by artistic directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, it was announced today. The pair share a long history of staging exciting live shows together, including work with deaf and disabled artists. They are now getting ready to bring this to the Paralympic party for London 2012.

London 2012's ceremonies executive producer Stephen Daldry said: "Their experience primarily as extraordinary artists who have led innovative work with disabled and non-disabled artists means we can look forward to ceremony of spectacle and emotion." Sealey, 47, has been the artistic director of Britain's flagship disabled-led theatre company Graeae since 1997. Sealey, who went deaf at seven, has used sign language and audio description plus different forms of physical movement to try to reach wider audiences. She was awarded an MBE for services to disability arts in 2009.

No personal reflection on Jenny, but she could make an statement visually that doesn't suggest deaf inclusion, because that is the reality.

Read on Jenny, via an e-mail I posted to UKDS which asked, "How many deaf are participating in the paralympics ?"

"Dear MM,

Thanks for your e-mail. At this present stage we do not have any clue. But best bet is to see Laurentie Tan who represented Singapore in Equaston, which she won Bronze in the last Paralympics. She is British, yet our beloved Government did not notice her talent."

Regards,

Vincent Dickson & Gordon Hay
UKDS Sports.

SOURCE & MORE

Copy Cat, Copy that.

Apologise for 100 years of bullying..

Best not mess with the Swiss, now following Canada's quest for an apology. The Swiss federation for the deaf has called for an official apology from institutions which banned sign language in schools from the end of the 19th century. Over the course of a century, the decree against using sign language ensured the deaf were excluded from higher education, according to the federation.

“Throughout all these years, schools for the deaf in Switzerland went as far as imposing severe punishments on those who defied the ban on sign language,” Daniel Hadorn, head of the deaf federation’s legal department, told swissinfo.ch.

Hadorn said the deaf were often mistreated, including during recreation time, with punishments that included having their hands bound behind their backs, being confined in rooms, being forced to repeat sounds for hours and being hit on the hands with rulers.

“Sign language forms a base which supports the acquisition of spoken and written language, vocabulary and grammar, and also for expressing emotions. Without the ability to express oneself in writing, to read and understand medium to difficult texts, it is impossible to go on to higher education,” said Hadorn. Sign language was ostracised to such an extent that many parents were unaware of its very existence.

One deaf former student told the federation that during the 1960s her parents enrolled her in the local school without asking questions.

“I wasted my time repeating words that I didn’t understand. So everything I was saying passed me by. By the time I discovered sign language it was too late and I have never managed to catch up. It’s impossible to help my children do their homework.”

SOURCE & MORE

Brilliant, but Deaf not good enough..

Oxford University today said it turned down a brilliant deaf student with six top A-levels because she was simply not good enough.

Russian-born Anastasia Fedotova, 19, has been deaf all her life and could barely speak until she was seven. She only arrived in Britain five years ago but has been described by her school, Parrs Wood Technology College in Manchester, as its most brilliant mathematician ever. Disability campaigner Lord Ashley earlier called on Brasenose College, which rejected her, to disclose whether it made appropriate allowances for her disability at the selection interviews. He told Radio 4's Today programme that Brasenose "had a case to answer".

The university today said it had contacted her school, establishing that Miss Fedotova could lip-read and arranging to give her extra time in interviews but the university added that eight students who got places ahead of her were "simply better". Pro-vice chancellor Dame Fiona Caldicott said that taking into account A-level grades, interviews and tests and the headteacher's report, "Anastasia did not show herself to be quite at the level of those who did get a place this time round".
The case echoes the row over Oxford's rejection of state school pupil Laura Spence.

Miss Fedotova is now planning to take a year out before applying to Cambridge. Dame Fiona added: "We have to ask all very bright young people who apply to show us at interview that they will be able to benefit from the way we offer higher education at Oxford. This is based on the tutorial system and means young people bringing work to a tutorial with academics and other students."

SOURCE

Sign Language (Mysteries and Misconception).

An hearing view from the rim...

Zen, and the Art of Deafhood.

It is clear that there is still considerable discourse, (Disagreement even), on deafhood, much has to be focused in the very obscure languge and academic approaches that just darn confuse y'all, and have proven difficult for deaf to get engaged with, which has in turn created an elite of deafies so well versed in deafhood-speak, we need translators to understand them, is it a bird ? is it a plane ? We will show you the difference.... and you get to keep your feet on the ground too !

This blog will attempt completely unaided and with no wires attached, to bring deafhood to the masses, by ridding us all of the academic hoo-haa, ya-boo, ying tong, ping-pong, and most words with more than 4 letters in, that is dooming many of us to wander around the place absolutely with no idea who we are, what we are doing, or where the hell we are at....

Here is an taster and entirely free offering, the term "deafhood" itself, first get rid of the last 4 letters, it really is THAT easy ! "I'm free lord !", and has saved you reading the first 200 pages of understanding deafhood, as well as being eco-friendly, by saving half an rain forest, you know it makes sense..... This course will save you time, money, and more importantly, free your online input up so you can talk to someone without referring to:

(A) An dictionary every 5 minutes,
(B) Equality law directives,
(C) The academic deaf smart arse,

as well as:

(D) Enabling you to fend off Fatwa's, from the deaf Taliban, and,
(E) Avoiding egotistical and self-righteous deaf awareness bores.

I have decided therefor, to set up the 'Meldrew Foundation Course for Deafies of indeterminate Identity."

My first set of classes have been created, and are now available for your perusal. Applicants can write for more info via: Meldrew's Speakeasy, around the corner, near an pawn shop, in Pittsbug P.A... if they want an postal course. The other's I'll want an cash deposit up front.

Access: (yep we got it ! one door in, one door out). The workshop will be conducted and fully accessible in Sign Languages to include BSL, ASL, SE, and 63 other sign forms, along with 132 interpreters, and crowd control. There will be no all-inclusive hearing aid loop services, last time we tried it, we turned the place into an magnet and blacked out half the eastern seaboard.... Class duration will be quite lengthy, depending how long you can stay awake, so bring your own bed and food.

Meldrew's Search of Deafhood: Introduction. The Journey for deaf people.

Part (1) Looking at the word "Deaf". Please bring your reading glasses if you need them, and an large print dictionary.

Part (2) The Deaf world before 1880. This is an short class, will run about 10 mins at most, this class although optional, is for students who give a rats about what hearing invented for us years ago, (Prior to that we were all village idiots anyway). While missing this class will not affect the end qualification, as we are only interested in those naughty Italians, let them eat spaghetti, it may contribute to the vocational aspect at Stage 3 and beyond..

Part (3) Effects of Colonialism Dimensions on Deaf People. (Yep it's those damn Brits, and their tea-parties, trying to tell us how it is again), Boston Pupils get 25% reduction.

Part (4) Critical examination framing and reframing. (If it quacks it's a duck ? and other conundrums).

Part (5) The Deafhood Vision. Learn how to hate and curse A G Bell and the rest, in 15 languages (Blinkers provided free).

I feel sure this type of deafhood introduction is going to be an great help to deaf people who so far feel excluded from deaf enlightenment, (Drinks carry an 20% discount for those who sign up for the whole thing). The entire course is FULLY accredited and validated by the University of Benghazi.

Deafhood on a budget...

Much has already been said about 'Deafhood', my own view is healthily negative and even dismissive toward it, but I do suffer the slings, the arrows, and other quite outrageous misfortunes of others here who dared to question, and were forced to sit in the naughty chair a few years, by an outbreak of academics... I am doomed to wander the highways, side roads, dirt tracks, bus lanes, and by-ways of healthy ignorance till Moses does an reprise gig, or I get some deafie to sacrifice himself on my behalf on the alter of sign English.....

Mostly I get subtle and sage-like nods, occasionally some comments like "He's just an ignorant bugger he can't help it..", or, "He's Satan's follower from the depths of Audist Central, and hasn't a beard to call his own.. poor sod". Many hailed the book as a 'new dawn', except me, I was in bed till near noon after hard partying on Vimto. We are all going on an Journey to self-awareness and a deaf identity, which was a bit of an set-back, I was rather hoping the beach at least. We weren't going anywhere before, actually that is not true, I'm nearing the final countdown with the Grim reaper as we write... I was rather surprised, at all the furore, for years I had been an very contented Hard of Hearing, then late-deafied ardent and indoctrinated fifth columnist, who flicked paper pellets at deafies and posted shaving cream to Mr Ladd for fun, now it gone all serious, it's all lectures ...... and no pub after...

They got classes in deafhood now, they will get pupils once someone discovers the Rosetta stone to break down the hysterics in it... I had a stab at decoding it, if you take every 5th letter as an consonant, and every 12th letter as root A plus 6-3 squared, it reads "T9E*^ % SIAN$£ $$46", ok so its work in progress at present....

It's not a religion as far as I can make out, which is just as well as I haven't been canonized for years, at least not since that party for my brother's 21st. But there are some rules to follow, they're like commandments a bit... "Thou shalt now worship images of A G Bell", "Thou shalt not covert other people's cultures', "Lust thee not at other people's ass..." which is going to spoil the fun for some I suspect. Deafhood is to create dim-mams, they are like Imams but they don't hear all that well, get to wear blinkers, and use the elevator instead of all those stairs... Followers will be called all sorts I suppose, but it won't bother them as they can't hear either...

I mustn't poke fun at it, it is serious, there are a lot of long words in it which was an very real drawback to the cult getting off the ground, fortunately it didn't deter Americans, who gave up English years ago, who then hit on a very novel idea "Suffering sogatash ! some deafie in outer Nevada explained, after a few snorts of tumbleweed, (These Americans don't dig the Greek 'Eureka' thing), "We will not waste our time decoding it, we will... re-write it instead !" It's what makes America great, (And bigger cruise missiles than we have I suppose), "Why read this load of myopic crap from england, when you can write your own crap, sell tickets and set up a theme park, then limey's got no idea really..". And they can bring out an sequel a prequel and sell the recording rights as well....

Paddy, you been check-mated son........ the smart money is over there... I expect 'Wuthering Heights', and "Othello' to be re-written as sword and sandals epics. You know it makes sense, who the dickens understood Shakespere anyway ?

The Big Olympic Hypocrits.

The latest news is the offer of opportunities for young deaf people in London (Ignoring the plebs outside of course), evidence of London not only grabbing all the funding, but excluding the rest of the UK deaf from it as well, while a million UK residents were denied tickets so corporate sponsors could sell them for profit instead. This 'offer' below should really be treated with the contempt it deserves, given the Sports foundations withdrew support for the deaf olympics, left most deaf athletes to find their own way, and a few years ago Americans handing out food parcels to UK deaf participants, then UK sports funders telling deaf they had to be paralympians or get nothing, because deaf don't win anything people recognise.

Rather than hand out these crumbs, why not restore funding to the deaflympics ? fund access to training ? or even full deaf access for deaf athletes TO the 2012 Olympics in London ? Even the deaf they advertised for as ambassadors at the Olympics had to have hearing qualifications, what a joke. The Lottery is also contributing to the exclusion of deaf athletes and the wider deaf UK population by earmarking what is an NATIONAL lottery to one sector of the population and one sector of deaf people. NOT 'BIg' of them !

Read ON:

An innovative project to give young deaf people the lifetime opportunity to be part of the historic 2012 Olympic event is today among 11 schemes across London sharing over £2.9 million in awards today from the BIG Lottery Fund. The funding comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme which aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities. Providing an Olympian opportunity for young deaf people in East and South East London to prepare for volunteering roles at the 2012 Olympics and Para Olympics is today awarded over £279,000. Deafroots - Deaf Employment Advocacy Project (DEAP) aims to open up opportunities for young people to take on specialised duties at the games, such as a walking tour guide for deaf people, performer and artist, and ambassador.

Providing a personalised advocacy service for deaf job candidates, in particular those who are unskilled, the project will also work to provide long term employment and volunteering opportunities through an advice service for employers about the benefits and responsibilities of employing deaf people. The scheme will use the funding to run three monthly courses a year for unemployed deaf people and will offer training in covering leadership skills, public speaking and presentation, and networking skills. There will also be an afternoon drop-in centre providing one to one training which will include letter and CV writing, how to complete application forms, and interview practice.

SOURCE

The Magic bullet ? or firing blanks ?

Lip-reading is for hearing people isn't it ? At least UK classes operate that way, so do sign classes operate for the hearing sector. If lip-reading had an job at the end of it, perhaps we would see an more critical and inclusive approach to its tuition, yet it still remains the poor relation of the signing fraternity in communication terms. We would also see more support for sign in education terms via the curriculum IF we could see that as an advantage to anyone but a minority of born deaf. I wouldn't object to that awareness if it is was inclusive education.

Sign language has long been mooted as the magic bullet and answer to all deaf problems in education and outside it, yet no-one addresses the issues of where it can actually be used to maximum effect. Most would agree the max advantage is within an deaf community, unfortunately 9 million with loss in the UK do not reside within that community, and 3 million of them do not even wear hearing aids they need.

There is an huge time-bomb of unsupported people with hearing loss who can only see two unrelated systems of communication assists, going their own way, and largely inaccessible to those who need it most. As we read on other areas, if you face issues, you just get ridicule and 'get a grip', acquired deaf and deafened are the new oppressed for sure, because they complain rightly, deaf awareness and communication support has polarised to exclude them, and people are refusing to accept we may see it as an severe disablement, or even that we should see it that way.

The reality is sign is community exclusive, and acquired and deafened have to function outside these areas to work, to maintain relationships, and to cope on the street. We cannot maximise usage of deaf clubs, up to 2005, 2 deaf clubs closed every week, so accessing the deaf community to make the most of sign language is now post code dependent, (i.e. cities and large towns mostly). This goes across the board since if you adopt sign language and want to use interpreters, and live in rural areas, you will have severe difficulties getting that help. Interpreters follow the money.

In my opposing BSL in education, it is on the grounds that it raises the least awareness and serves only an minority with profound loss, when awareness and education should attempt to address awareness across the broader spectrum to help the most. If people see that as an discrimination or some 'attack', it is because they are refusing to see the bigger picture. We cannot just adopt the stance of picking one sector of deaf people to support against the needs of the most, they are not now the most deprived sector.

Deaf awareness is still total crap, and run by the ignorant. the egotistical, or the biased, and it is down to acquired and deafened, and HoH areas, who are too lazy to fight for what is needed and too frightened to get to grips with campaigns that are not going to include them. They have to accept THEY are going to have to fight their OWN corner, despite opposition from Deaf or from mainstream with their own agendas....

Why should cultural/sign campaigns include hard of hearing or deafened ? The seperate needs and stances and support were well defined many years ago. You want support, YOU go out and get your own, which is fair enough, if you don't fight, you don't get, but a few sacred cows will have to be sacrificed along the way.

It would assist if the polarisation of the primary deaf/HI sectors, avoided slagging each other off over what is, just an declaration of need and support difference.

If they feel depressed, ill, whatever, or unsupported, then empathise, don't abuse, you will not know how it affects their daily lives, each according to need. In my last blog I highlighted the fact this sector can see themselves as truly disabled by loss, it was responded to by highly personal attack, and critical of acquired deaf people who may well see disability via losing hearing, as the unwelcome norm and a fact of their lives. If the critics want roses around the door, go gardening...

There but for the grace of.. 40% of deaf children already suffer poor mental health, the same abuse would not be hurled at them for admitting it. There is an time bomb of support there too. It is depressing to read people with disabilities and MH issues and with hearing loss still called losers, whiners, liars and all sorts, as misguided members of the deaf community spring to its own defense because their credo is obviously an total rejection of 'medical modelling' of deafness, the fact remains it is an perceived acceptance by many OTHERS with hearing loss, who see no conflict of adopting both models or approaches. There has to be some common ground accepted on this issue and not the open warfare on a sector neglected by deaf awareness, unable to maximise sign language, and barely existing on the guesswork that is lip-reading, given many might well be elderly and living longer, it is ageist abuse as well.

Telling them to get a grip, or worse, shut up about deafness ! as an disability issue is not helpful. It probably exposes their own vulnerability and their fear of admitting that. Having said that, it IS up to non-cultural deaf to utilise their own majority to effect changes to the current systems so they get the help they need. Deaf awareness is dead in the water, an cruel one-sided joke, now we need an new approach to the whole thing, and rid of the silly politically correct approaches and total rubbish we are reading at present. Charities in the UK have already downgraded the 'Deaf-only' approaches, so obviously they are beginning to see where issues lie, however the system is still polarized to divide, so counter productive.

Were STILL disabled so get over it.

Stillman freed on health grounds.

But drug charges stay on record, and he has to get out of India. A deaf and disabled British charity worker who was jailed in India for drug smuggling but released early following a campaign to free him, today returned to Britain, vowing to clear his name. Ian Stillman, 52, was greeted by cheers from tearful family members as he arrived at Heathrow airport after serving two years and two months of a 10-year jail term for possession of 20 kilos of cannabis.

Mr Stillman, who is deaf, has an artificial leg and suffers from diabetes, was accused of being a drugs baron but was freed early on medical grounds because of the primitive prison conditions in Simla, north of Delhi. Holding his arms out wide Mr Stillman, originally from Reading, was wheeled through arrivals shortly before 8am to a chorus of clapping and cheering from his closest relatives, who had feared that today would never come.

Mr Stillman, who flew back with his son, Lennie, 23, on a BA 747 from Delhi, was released from prison last week and has since been staying at the British High Commission with his family. Mr Stillman, wearing a blue shirt and brown trousers, said of his release: "It's brilliant to be free again." Then, using sign language interpreted by his son, he read out a prepared statement thanking people for all their support and hard work over the last two years.

"I was in jail far, far longer than I thought I would have been," he said. "I thought I would be freed after six months but it has taken just over two years." Although Mr Stillman's conviction still stands, he was allowed home after signing a declaration to leave the country and is now awaiting the results of an application for a full Presidential Pardon.

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Stillman Loses Appeal

We're disabled just get over it...

Disability is an fully accepted term with 'deaf' people as it indicates issues with LOSS, I think it is important to recognize these deaf feel they ARE disabled by loss, the issue of social models does not really relate to them as it does with born deaf, I read ant-disability, pro-social model comments every day, they never make it clear who they are actually talking about, of course they are mainly talking about Deaf/cultural people not the majority in that other and major sector. There are no hard of hearing children clearly ! They should thank god they aren't because I got beaten up by teachers for being that.

There would be few Deaf v deaf issues if they just clarified WHO they were talking about and not inserted an blank 'deaf people' or even 'deaf' statement to everything. It's an question of understanding, many say deaf, as to mean cultural position, and not to mean people with no hearing, this just plain confuses everything. We here know the sector being discussed is mostly culturally inclined, but mainstream still does not know one deaf person from another, or assumes we all sign or something. So disability in deaf terms is an accurate term, it is how the 'deaf' sector may see itself. I lost hearing at 11 years of age, I can assure you it is still viewed as an very real disablement 40 years later, without that disability acceptance, I could not have claimed any help financial or to get work or anything. Good luck to deafies who play the cultural tune and refuse to take support on that basis.

There is no luxury as an adult to automatic recognition of your status as an deafie or whatever. Mostly the 'deaf' sector will have to battle twice as hard as any born deaf person to get access and support, very often forced into conflict with dedicated 'Deaf' services that are entirely unsuitable for them. On my part, and in the case of no system set up for my 'deaf' sector I insisted on changing the 'Deaf' one to suit my need, I need support, I'll take it where I can. Obviously this wasn't welcomed at all, what choice did I or others have ? there is nothing else. You can't use an lip-reading class if you are already deaf or deafened, as they cater for those still with viable hearing (Then when THEY go deaf, they are back to the situation we are already in !), you cannot use an sign language class because 95% of the people are hearing students and we would slow down the class tuition to make it difficult for them to proceed. Mostly we get kicked out after the second session.

When I read deaf, I groan here we go again, now I have to tell people who actually is deaf by choice (!), who is cultural, and who isn't. This is because in 30 years of deaf awareness the message has just not got through, then we had charities insisting there is no social model to deafness anyway, it's just an mess. There are 70-90,000 assumed deaf in the UK and near 9 MILLION others, who has ANY Idea what these 9 million actually need ? Most say "We need to HEAR !!" 'Deaf' have operated apart since day one too, there is scant recognition this is an fact of life too. It is possibly down to the divisions, that non-'Deaf' do not want that association with culture, but they aren't doing their own thing either which they need to do to either radically change the entire deaf access system to suit, or, just do their own thing well apart as the 'Deaf' do.

Sadly Hard of Hearing are prejudiced against deaf people, it's driven by fear, and endorsed by endless charitable messages that say "Be careful ! or you will end up like them...." so long as an decibel exists we are hearing. So we get charities endorsing deaf negativity to provide support options, and TV adverts that encourage people to hide the fact they cannot hear much ? Deaf awareness 2011, much like deaf awareness 1911 really..... but with technology. I often wonder what an earth the disability movement really thinks of the deaf attacks on the term that defines them... I don't think they are happy at all !

New Hearing Aid Dummies..

Hard-of-hearing will no more be a disorder. A team at the University of Essex is carrying out a research that promises to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of hearing impairments.

New software " hearing dummies", which are part of cutting-edge research, could also be used in the long-term to develop a radical new type of hearing aid that can be customised using the hearing dummy to meet the different needs of individual patients. If the procedures gain clinical acceptance, a device could reach the market within 4 years.

The first key advance has been the development of unique computer models (or ''hearing dummies'') that can use the information collected during the tests to simulate the precise details of an individual patient's hearing.

By altering individual mathematical algorithms within the computer models, the dummy's hearing capabilities can be adjusted until they perfectly match the hearing characteristics of the patient (e.g. where there is damage to different parts of the ear). This will then indicate the likely cause of the patient's hearing impairment.

"In the same way that a tailor's dummy is used to measure and fit a garment for a particular person, our software dummy is used to gauge a patient's hearing requirements so that their hearing aid can then be programmed to suit their needs right at the beginning of the process without the need to come back for further time consuming adjustments to their device," said Professor Ray Meddis, of the University's Department of Psychology, who has led the work.

The second key advance achieved by Professor Meddis and his team has been in the design of new hearing tests. The third advance involves the early stages of developing a new kind of hearing aid that simulates how a normal ear works. The aim of this new aid is to restore the particular aspects of hearing that are faulty and to do this as naturally as possible.

SOURCE 1

SOURCE 2

Kirsty loses in So You Think You Can Dance final

Follow That Marlee lol... Partially deaf dancer Kirsty Swain loses in So You Think You Can Dance final. A partially deaf dancer from Hackbridge lost the final of a BBC talent show. Kirsty Swain, 29, missed out on her dream of being crowned the winner of BBC1 prime time show So You Think You Can Dance, finishing fourth. Her story and talent had moved the show's viewers and judges. The dance teacher at performance art school Stagecoach Sutton has had hearing problems since birth, and dances by being able to feel the vibrations and bass of music.

She battled her way through to the final from the thousands of dancers who auditioned, and survived the process of elimination that saw 16 other finalists voted off over the past eight weeks.

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Can Do, Can Go report

Disabled media report....

"The BBC has sparked anger and shock among disabled people after deciding to shut down internet messageboards that they say provided them with a “lifeline” and a “valuable and scarce resource”.

The BBC said the decision to close the Ouch! messageboards – which allow disabled people to start their own online discussions and seek advice on important topics such as benefits cuts, discrimination and healthcare – was part of Ouch!’s move from the “BBC Learning” department to “BBC News”.

Ouch! – the BBC’s own disability website – describes the messageboards as “the beating heart of the Ouch! community where you talk to us and each other”.

But a message posted on the site by Ouch!’s disabled editor, Damon Rose, said that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter had now “outclassed” what the BBC could provide “in terms of specialisms, privacy and personal connections for this community”.

But users flooded the messageboards with comments criticising the decision to close them on 6 July, with some suggesting they could mount a legal challenge.

One accused the BBC of trying to “palm its loyal disabled users of Ouch off [onto] commercial ‘Social Networking’ sites such as Facebook and Twitter”.

Another said they were “utterly outraged” by the decision, and added: “Only last month I was helped by the good people on Ouch to deal with a very bad experience; and I wouldn’t have known how to cope with it without their kindness and help.

“This is the only part of the BBC dedicated to the needs of the disabled community and should remain as our life line.”

Another wrote: “It sounds to me like a disability resource is being removed with nothing being put in its place and no consideration made to the effect this is going to have on its users.”

Others said they were “almost speechless”, described the decision as “totally immoral” and “disgusting” or felt “betrayed”.

Several of those who posted comments questioned whether the BBC had carried out an equality impact assessment on the decision, in order to comply with its duties as a public body under the new Equality Act."

Rose declined to comment on the closure, as did a BBC spokeswoman.


Deaf Twitter said "OUCH was an embarassment..." other deaf attacked the users openly on the petition site and flamed the save OUCH topic, with the BBC standing aside to let happen an obvious hate campaign by some deaf carrying on personal grudges to bring the site down... the ugly face of deaf people. Deaf versus disabled, it's official.

Postscript, breaking news:

"MM" has left the BBC site. "Hopefully to prevent any more deaf attacks aimed at me, from being passed on to disabled members there, they don't care who they hurt so long as they can bring me down, now they have no-one to focus on... I've contributed to the OUCH site for 3 or more years with few problems, and accepted full moderation at all times, I didn't go to twitter so I could slag everyone else off which is what they did. Some suggest my joining the SEE HEAR site at that time helped stop its total closure, that it has kept going for all the time, I feel vindicated enough, the only people who didn't contribute are those who were pushed out for flaming, and now gathering like a vulture pack to enjoy the misery of disabled losing an valuable site they liked. I've enjoyed my time at OUCH,but there is no way on this earth I would now go to twitter or facebook and be linked with those people on any level... they are beneath contempt. Best wishes to OUCH contributors.. UP yours Twitter deaf.

Read more

A day at the Palace

It's an video they didn't want you to see, but despite attempts to hide the captions our expert video geek has manage to display them again, we apologise if the images are not as clear as we would have liked... It's about an deaf charity celebrating 100 yrs of patronising the deaf with an 90 yr old...

Twitter Trolls abuse BBC deaf in disablist frenzy.

"Ian Hunter, Managing editor of BBC Online, recently wrote a blog entry about the BBC's approach to messageboards and social media explaining how we intend to move forward. Ouch! will continue to be a place where you can feedback on disability matters alongside the content on our blog, via Facebook and Twitter. The messageboard will close on Wednesday 6 July. That gives us almost a month to help you find each other again. In the final week, we will see how this process has gone and help out if need be."

Thus ends many years of an vibrant forum of feedback on the BBC that enabled so many disabled and deaf people to raise and discuss issues, safe under the effective (If sometimes strange !), moderation that web sites for the disabled and unregulated social sites never did anyway, and has relentlessly stood up for disabled against an media onslaught of vicious attacks on those most vulnerable, by an morally bankrupt government, and deaf and disableist trolls. While Twitter advocates may revel in exposing celebrities to their own faults, it hides an very real undertone and hard core of twittering contributors whose sole reason in life is to make other people's lives a misery.

Since the initial revelation of a board closure at the BBC, contributors fearful of being exposed to social sites without protection, set up an petition to stay, Immediately these social twits logged where there was no BBC moderating, and launched a succession of very nasty attacks on deaf and disabled claiming the 'weren't entitled to the BBC access, and should go to social medias instead, where no doubt they can have more sport with these vulnerable disabled and deaf people, they posted to the petition sites attacking again, and we read even deaf.read allows them to blog here with their bile, whilst they relentlessly abuse everything moderation stands for, it isn't freedom of speech, its a licence to abuse driven by petty envy and bitterness.

I sincerely hope the DEAF SEE HEAR board is left where it is, as this is an specialist area that cannot be served effectively by social sites or other websites because of an bi-partisan system of who is deaf and who isn't sites in the UK, which led to an total factionalisation of access, and the collapse of deaf sites and aggregates in Britain, it has no responsible deaf site left that attracts any realistic membership. Some boast thousands of deaf members, whilst the reality is a dozen or less who regularly contribute to suggest lots of comments means lots of members, so they post the odd dozen on meaningless issues, cup cakes, or celebrity following, and non-deaf related ones to fill space.. so contributors who want to discuss current personal disability or deaf issues without the restrictions of twitter or the danger of facebook took to the BBC and its safer area.

Social site losers are envious it isn't a free-for-all clearly, but vulnerable people simply felt safer there. There IS an case for effective moderation, and the disabled represent this case. The UK has an difficult time the last year with many disabled and deaf people being denied basic access rights and financial support as well as in my area an 74% statistic of deaf/disabled with no job at all, the national average is 9%. They contend with the medias who are saying all disabled people are frauds, cheats, and milking the system. The BBC was an area where disabled could fight back against this onslaught on their rights, it had the BBC profile. This was in effect the BBC operating at its most useful for the disadvantaged by giving them a voice whilst protecting them against abuse..

It's not perfect,but compared with twitter or facebook, safer than Fort Knox. This goes RIGHT OVER these nasties heads as they gathered like vultures to put the boot into the BBC's disability community online. The abusers immediately targeted the disabled, many were activists, people who DO, and not people who are jealous because they don't and struggle to find 140 characters to say anything. Many (like this blogger), fell foul of the restrictive practices of deaf sites of yore, I declared my own bans day one at deaf.read, I've nothing to hide, deaf.read represented an freedom of expression the UK deaf never offered, we were still riddled with class, and one-upmanship, even our aggregates failed because they rapidly developed into who is in and who is out, by the time they decided who was in, everyone with drive, was already OUT, fed up with the back biting and whinging.

I followed a number of profile deaf who came to deaf read, and more have come since. The tardy narrow-minded of yesteryear whining they aren't in charge any more, tough ! Some are still using 21stc technology to fire off 19thc century values.

The assault on the deaf & disabled is damning proof the BBC was making an huge mistake in exposing them via closure. Read the disabled themselves at the BBC and then read what these twittering abusers are trying to do to stop the site continuing, one has to ask why people do not want disabled or deaf to have a voice ?

At the SEE HEAR board too... match the link to the deaf.read anti-deaf bloggers.

Facebook and Twitter, danger areas for the deaf ?

With the recent furores re the BBC site wanting to end moderated forums and message boards on their sites, and move them to social areas instead, just what are the risks to deaf people on these 'social medias' ?

(1) Your information is being shared with third parties
(2) Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign
(3) Facebook can contain malware
(4) Your real friends and even your family, unknowingly make you vulnerable.
(5) Scammers are creating fake profiles
(6) Facebook stalks users to publish photos of them.
(7) Adverts con users to share all their friends and privacy with demands for carte blanch to everything you are.
(8) Facebook refuses to remove terrorists, people who make threats, paedophiles, and abusers of deaf people.
(9) There are deliberately misleading 'rules' for facebook that prevent you having any privacy from them.
(10) Facebook sells your life to anyone who pays for that information, aiding and abetting identity thieves.

Basically in regards to forums/debates by deaf people even deaf.read offers more protection than any social site for its contributors... social sites are NOT SAFE, and mostly NOT SOCIAL either. That is why there are never links on my blog to them I ban them.

Cochlear Music (The sounds of silence).

So now we know what music sounds like with an cochlear implant.... Beethoven never needed one......While cochlear implants tend to convey the meaning of speech rather well, they do a very poor job at conveying musical pitch. Consequently, cochlear implant users can get the rhythm of a piece of music, but have tremendous difficulty recognizing or appreciating melodies. Their enjoyment of music is sadly much diminished as a consequence.

The link below shows us noise vocoding to simulate what the world sounds like through a cochlear implant, but this time, instead of a speech sampling, they run the noise vocoder over a short snippet of music. If it was Lady Ga-Ga would they be any the wiser ?

SOURCE & MORE.

OUCH is Dead, Long Live OUCH.

"Ian Hunter, Managing editor of BBC Online, recently wrote a blog entry about the BBC's approach to messageboards and social media explaining how we intend to move forward. Ouch! will continue to be a place where you can feedback on disability matters alongside the content on our blog, via Facebook and Twitter. The messageboard will close on Wednesday 6 July. That gives us almost a month to help you find each other again. In the final week, we will see how this process has gone and help out if need be."

Thus ends many years of an vibrant forum of feedback on the BBC that enabled so many disabled and deaf people to raise and discuss issues, safe under the effective (If sometimes strange !), moderation that web sites for the disabled and social sites never did anyway, and has relentlessly stood up for disabled against an media onslaught of vicious attacks on those most vulnerable, by an morally bankrupt government. It was clear the many very direct responses to cruel attacks on the disabled and the deaf by the British government was there for anyone to read, and was an thorn in the government side, it seems now that 'financial savings' are being used to kill off any more feedback to the state from the UK's deaf and disabled people. Along with others I gave this response:

"Most of us do not WANT to be foisted on to social sites, those that do are already there, this seems an excuse for the BBC to save money and face by suggesting we will gain more that way, but Facebook is an huge risk area for disabled and twitter is too stupid for grown ups. The 'self moderation' of social sites would effectively mean an total loss of the forum aspect. Also using the BBC raises issues, and getting info is MORE effective than an rag, tag and bobtail system of social sites, run by the individually biased.. I sincerely hope the DEAF SEE HEAR board is left where it is, as this is an specialist area that cannot be served effectively by social sites or other websites because of an bi-partisan system of who is deaf and who isn't led to an total factionalisation of access, and deaf being grilled and banned if they didn't fit some made up criteria, OUCH allowed everyone a say and offered moderation to protect, specialist sites will just ban whoever they don't agree with and kill discussions, create more unwanted clique's.

I read some people want to set up web sites to mirror what happens on OUCH, but the OUCH blog has failed already so why do that ? and, leave it to amateurs ? As the previous commentator stated it was an area of disabilities that made progress and as fee payers too, why should we be dumped on rubbish sites like Facebook ? an total abuser of anything private and home to most of the disabilist perverts who abuse online ?"

Regardless how others might see social sites it is clear they cannot effectively run forums or host viable debates. The OUCH board also carried the Kudos and wider audience the BBC commanded,an very effective platform for raising issues amongst those who for an variety of reason are not physically or mentally able to march on the streets. The suggestion it would be 'safer' for disabled to pick and choose who logs in or responds on social sites, is naive, ludicrous and dangerous advice to vulnerable disabled/deaf. It is simply passing debate to biased people, who are just going to kill off 'followers' or debaters they don't agree with. Many leave UK sites to make known British issues on American aggregates as it is, we are being driven out of freedom of speech areas, often BY social sites and one-man-band message boards with an axe to grind and some sort of old boys club..

With the death of the BBC OUCH boards goes another nail in the freedom of speech coffin. Our voice is being stifled.

Deaf develop super sight !

But some drawbacks I fear.... Holy goggle-vision Batman ! We'll all have second-sight soon, so why can't we see a scam coming ? The recent 'New' research is so new it repeats research from years ago ? What I want to know is HOW it actually improves our lives ?

SOURCE (HUMAN)

Even Deaf cats got it....

Disinformation Awareness

Following on from the NEET's blog, I read how deaf agencies support people via job searches. Most are simple "You must do this deaf don't do that." etc, as I stated in the first blog, a bugbear to employers. Reading the 'DEAF ACTION' site seems more of the same, at no point is there WHAT THE EMPLOYER expects from YOU, so get wise etc.... Read what employers have to read/accept before any sort of interview takes place. More 'Deafinitions" !

Deaf:

This group possesses strong cultural roots and identifies their common bond as being their first language, British Sign Language –they thus rarely use verbal communication. (cultural history is uneccessary information).

deaf:

A deaf person has usually has had a mixed exposure to mainstream settings and the Deaf community throughout their life. Most of them prefer to communicate verbally. (Some have CI's too !)

Hard of Hearing:

Here hearing loss is not as severe as the groups above. They usually can cope with everyday tasks without hearing aids but are supported through assistive devices that aim to make their life easier. (Not true, variations of hearing loss can present many issues, not even an hearing aid helps 100% especially those with sensoneural loss).

Deaf Awareness:

All of these groups require various communication tactics and awareness to enable them to integrate within mainstream society and in workplaces. One of the best ways of supporting people with a hearing loss is to ask them what works for them. (NOT ask deaf how they will function at the workplace ?).

Myth Alert: All Deaf people are good lip-readers.

Only a small percentage of Deaf, deaf and HoH people possess this skill. It is essential that appropriate support is in place and that lip-reading is not to be relied upon.

I'm still waiting to read what the deaf potential employee has to do for the employer ! So an plug for culture and sign, and a statement lip-reading doesn't work, it's a myth. In as far as lip-reading, an employer is going to read that and think, they can only function 20 minutes at a time ? So how will signing employees function in an environment with no other signers ? maybe a lot less than 20 minutes ? I find the whole deaf agency approaches of telling employers what THEY have to do first, which will undermine the applicants application. No employer is going to sit there getting an cultural lecture, one of the reasons deaf can't get jobs....

The only questions they are interested in getting an answer to are:

(1) To what extent can you do the job without supervision ?

(2) Do you have the skills I need ?

(3) To what extent do you require physical or technological help ?

They don't care two hoots you are in an deaf culture. How about only 5% of people with hearing loss do not have ANY connection's at all to deaf culture ? Surely employers are MORE likely to see them as applicants ?

Hard of Hearing/deaf are virtually the same sector anyway and NOT separate sectors, late-deafened/acquired deaf NON-sectors ? when did we disappear ? it puts the employers in some sort of pick & Mix situation where they have to first fathom out who is what long before they ask the real question "What can you do for me ?" They haven't the time nor inclination.

Do these agencies teach deaf what they have to do as, well as lecturing employers what they must ? I often wonder if these people live in the same reality regarding finding employment. They should be telling them if they turn up doing that they are wasting their application time. This is how employers treat HEARING too.

The Deaf N.E.E.T's.

What ARE NEETS ? basically it is an term used first in the United Kingdom to describe people of working age who are (N)ot in (E)mployment, (E)ducation, or (T)raining.

Putting aside the primary issue of employers not wanting to employ deaf people, it is pretty obvious the deaf awareness systems are in total meltdown and not able to convince anyone deaf can be valued and productive employees. Every other day we can read 'Deaf are doing it for themselves' i.e. deaf are setting up pseudo awareness systems for DEAF people, to show them how best they can promote themselves as viable employees. Along with this other agencies of the deaf promote 'awareness' at a price to employers who go through the motions to comply with equality laws, but still won't employ deaf people.

What we see are these deaf agencies scraping a living via awareness and a few employees learning finger-spelling and that's it, of course no use at all since their boss is not going to expose them to deaf employees anyway. Via LIZ's blog, who asks should we be doing more for ourselves, I queried in what respect ? deaf can't provide their own employment, and the gritty matter of choice probably means deaf people do not want to be stuck in deaf-only employment, even if there was any, what exists are charities dependent on handouts and we already saw a number of these go to the wall as funds dried up.

And in the case of one high profile provider, where ANOTHER charity who allocated funds to them, held back payment forcing their closure, the powers to be deciding deaf can't handle funding themselves. It begs the question why are deaf being supported to get work via charity, and hearing are getting it as an basic right ? So deaf were subject to some hearing charity paymaster to give them funds. The UK only pays out funds AFTER the agency has put a deaf person in work for a set time, in that instance the deaf charity did do that, but the other charity delayed payment and the cash flow caused closure.

I really do not want to see deaf people taking up the slack of an state support system that has already failed to comply with its own access and support laws, and is already supporting hearing people, so why are deaf having to promote their own version ? In my area, deaf & disabled unemployment rate was a staggering 74%. Compared with 27% of hearing. AS I posted to LIZ's blog, Employers simply stated deaf weren't employable, but they only said that on condition I didn't name names. I agreed to that because I simply wanted to know why the intransitive approach to employing deaf people ? it's a little like the 'Irish' question and the 'Taliban' thing ! in that sooner or later we have to sit down with the people and thrash out what bugs them and come to some compromise.

What employers said:

"The deaf cannot communicate to our customers"

"The deaf have no skills"

"The deaf require constant support"

"We are employers not social workers."

"Deaf are too expensive to employ"

"Deaf make demands on us before an interview, and do not put the case what they can do for us."

"The deaf are simply not educated or trained enough to work in an hearing environment."

Let's not all rush to the law to get at 'em, but try to answer their concerns. Or the majority of deaf people will all be NEETS. Deaf awareness is crap anyway as we know, the one-sided view of things, the myriad of need of support, none gets addressed. The ego building agencies who really do not address the reason why deaf aren't getting work and appear to be convinced the law (Like God !), will provide.. A number of employers simply can get trained help anywhere so don't need to sit down and think I need an deaf employee, I should be employing more of them. Time is money, so is support, so why the onus on us to provide it ? Why do deaf go to school and then come out totally unprepared for an hearing work environment ? and who pays ?

It seems ridiculous to them they have to take on an employee teach them basics of literacy and pay for equipment when they don't need to. The fact there is an sharp drop-off in further education by the deaf is also of concern, employers want people who are continually re-learning and acquiring new skills to keep up with progress, deaf are stuck in many cases at basic literacy levels. Why go to school until near 21 years of age, and come out no wiser in real terms ? Deaf are pitched not only against hearing candidates, but global ones and migrants too, who come here already with experience and hearing (!) and trained already. Deaf got an hard job then putting the case for themselves unless they have very special skills and experiences,which they haven't because the work experience is near nil as well.

I say to these deaf 'agencies' get with it, or forget it. A lot is down to very basic education levels, we still haven't got it right. With best agency in the world you can't sell inexperience or ignorance. At every level the deaf are sold out from birth onwards....

Wells Fargo pays Deaf $16m

Wells Fargo pays up for an dedicated deaf accessible complaint phone line, that was never answered, (Which must apply to every dedicated phone surely !). Wells Fargo & Co. has reached an agreement with the government to pay up to $16 million to settle complaints from customers who are deaf, hard of hearing or had speech defects.

The settlement involving Wells Fargo's nearly 10,000 retail banking, brokerage and mortgage stores is designed to ensure equal access under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to the Justice Department, some disabled customers of Wells Fargo were referred to a device for text communication via a telephone line that told them to leave a message, which the government says went unanswered.

SOURCE

Malta demands Sign recognition too...

The Deaf 'spring' seems to be on the up and now along with Italy and others, Malta too wants its sign language recognised. Perhaps take note that the British had BSL recognised a while ago,but still cannot get it recognised educationally, still has bare enough terps to support deaf as well, it's going to be a long haul, and recognition is just the start. Next get the support in place. The light relief is in the Malta Times stating "100 people SPOKE sign language " So now deaf sign truly is oralised !

I also read HERE that the World Congress of deaf next outing is to be in south africa, a country still not recognising its deaf sign. "Een taal is nooit genoeg nie !"

"A shortage of sign language interpreters led deaf people in Malta to a silent protest outside the Italian Embassy in Floriana this evening. George Vella, from the Deaf People Association, said that there were about 400 deaf people in Malta but the association only had one full-time interpreter at this point. Only about 100 people spoke sign language on the island.

He called on the government to officially recognise Maltese sign language as a legitimate language as that would encourage more inclusion and help with the interpreter shortage. Around 20 deaf and hearing-impaired people took part in the protest, held outside the Italian embassy because Italy was refusing to recognise sign language as an official language. The Italian government proposed changing "Italian sign language" to "language of mime and gestures" in the law and a final decision is expected today.

This has been deemed offensive by the international deaf community and protests were held at Italian embassies and consulates in Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.

(SOURCE MALTA Times)

Other source