Sign Language, who needs it ?

This week we are reading of more help on accessing videos and vblogs (Not deaf ones !), to make them more accessible via captioning or subtitles. I'm a great fan of both, but it has occurred to me there is little or NO comprehensive attempt by the Deaf signer nor those interested in 'Deaf' access, to make videoed access via sign language, be it ASL or BSL, there seems no area offering to sign access video output unless it is strictly an 'Deaf' vblog, something the system puts out, or it's a deaf program. OK that's the point about fair access made.

'Lessons' abound online on free captioning on how to do that, but personally on my own vblogs I find it not all that hard to do. OK it takes time, you need patience, but the end result is helping other deaf people, (And it covers up my crap sign!), you scratch their back, they might even scratch yours.... I've never understood dedicated signed output with no other access, or, people who do that, objecting to freelance transcribing of what they say. OK there 'may' be an reason 'Deaf' don't 'Do' English, but I find mostly it is political and stubborn mindedness more than an inability.

Current bugbears are Deafyou, which is some sort of 'flagship for the paranoid few', with occasional output about real issues from genuine deaf to suggest what it isn't, but there are others who resist access on the grounds they are some special exemption or something. They aren't, if you can, DO, if you can't, allow others to..... I like Carl Schroeder, I didn't always agree with him, Don G also talks a lot of sense when he isn't on the road to deafhood every other sentence... (HEY DG there's another 'road' movie there)....Carl has a lot to say, he is an very intelligent person and knows his sign as I gather, sadly he talks mainly to himself or a few that can follow him.

This will not carry the relevant message about the specialisations in sign and culture his output covers. I admire his signing ability, I do not admire him, and his fan club following the "Access unless it IS sign, is an attack on culture..." stance,it's silly,it isn't awareness, or even promoting culture/sign. You would think with so much to impart to the deaf community and bearing in mind British/world deaf haven't a clue what he is saying, or any American using ASL much, he/they would make the views accessible ? Yep we have to step up to the plate too. What Deaf.read has done is invited in world deaf to American ASL and deaf people, now it presents the issue of access to ASL.

We are in the position we can't debate views, or even learn about this aspect of American signed culture, because we do not KNOW what that view is. Yes we can read blogs, but text isn't sign is it ? and, not accessing ASL signers clearly either. Look on captioned/titled access as an awareness thing and not a threat, we can then move on...

Lip-reading, is it a lost cause ?

The current state of Lip-reading in the UK. Including one exponent that can lip read in 5 different languages... Despite near 76% of hard of hearing stating a preference to lip-read as averse to sign, lower class attendances, fewer classes, and an elite of lip-reading experts making a mint with court work is telling a very bleak story about the whole concept.

Not least, in that those who profess to want to learn, are not turning up to do that. Mostly the issue of lip-reading ignores many basics, deaf do not prefer this mode, hard of hearing class attendances are by people with residual hearing, and the success rate even for them is less than 28%,and given many are elderly and the classes ill-equipped to deal with those with hearing loss still. It's become an 'Tupperware' set up for the few.

4,700 out of an potential 9 million, you do the maths.... If lip-reading is advantageous, why aren't people turning up ? could it be the class tuition is useless and ill-formed ? I found it pointless for ANYONE with an serious loss, regardless of age or class availability, it is geared against those who most need it.. 2 hour sessions for the MOST able to hear ! Perhaps should carry an waiver "NO use if you have hearing loss..."

Quote: "Lip-reading for a court requires meticulous record-keeping, from the moment an inquiry is received, with a lengthy and detailed written report submitted to the court, supported by cross-examination from the opposing side," explains Ms Lannin, a qualified teacher of lip-reading to adults and a deaf-awareness trainer who has been working as a forensic lip-reader for eight years.

She can lip-read English, Japanese, German, Spanish and Arabic. "Lip-reading for the media requires a fast turnaround and willingness to lip-read colourful language. Lip-reading socially often involves 'live' lip-reading and reporting at an event, or lip-reading a video recording of an event."

Such expertise comes at a price: forensic lip-readers charge in the region of between £40 and more than £100 for an hour, or about £600 for a full day covering something such as a sporting event or the royal wedding.

Yet, despite the growing exposure of lip-reading as a commercial skill, the provision of lip-reading classes is falling. A national charity, is urging the Government to recognise lip-reading as a valuable skill.

The number of classes in England fell by 8 per cent this year compared with 2010. There was also a 10 per cent decrease in learners. In June last year, there were 451 classes in England and Wales, with an estimated 4,739 learners. A separate report suggested there were 63 lip-reading classes in Scotland, with an average of 11 people per class."

(WALES)

SOURCE and More

Trick,Treat or Menace ?

Halloween is an nightmare for deaf people as we get targeted by children and get flour and eggs thrown at us. We were issued with posters by police so that trick or treating people are NOT welcome to our homes, and they will be reported if they attempt to harass deaf people and refuse to leave when asked to, we had children here as young as 8 demanding money or they would cause damage to our home.

They come in gangs of 5 or 6 and very threatening they stop you on the street, and block your access until you give them money. When you go shopping you also get Guy Fawkes gangs collecting 'penny for the guy' which mostly is an plastic shopping bag stuffed with old clothes, the object is clearly to get money and has no link to anything traditional. They can stand at bus ques preventing you getting on them, or even at car park entrances, unless you give them money too, it is in reality demanding money with menace, highly organised, and very cynical... and children are getting younger every day doing it.

There were so many attacks on disabled and elderly, they banned the sale of eggs and flour at local shops. Time to call time on trick and treating I say.

You get just 3 Attempts..

To guess what this charity vblog is about.

Too easy wasn't it ! It was actually about an UK Charity who have developed an online NVQ Level 6 programme in both BSL and BSL-English interpreting in the hope of increasing the number of qualified BSL interpreters in the UK.

Of course we all knew that, even if it wasn't actually signed at all or captioned and the CC option made it complete gibberish !!!

Post a link ? You must be joking....

Hit me Baby 8m more times....

No disregard intended, just noting it has now got 8,210,884 hits, which I am not going to add to, and is 8m more hits than the top leading advocates of deaf power, 8m more than Gallaudet, 8m more than...... Are they missing the message here ? Has the social model really replaced the medical one ? looks like it hasn't..... back to the drawing board, and good luck Sarah !

French Discover their Deaf Community...

Ooh-lal-la c'est magnifique!!.....DEAFI (!), a French organization working to improve the landscape for deaf people is one of the finalists this year for Paris’ Grand Prix de l’Innovation, a city-sponsored award recognizing entrepreneurship and innovation. The company is one of the only organizations in France that helps train businesses to cater to the hearing impaired while helping deaf people gain greater access to more varied careers.

Some 4 million people in France are either deaf or hearing impaired, but services directed towards this community have not been widespread. More importantly, few organizations directly hire deaf people to work in communications sectors that deal with the hearing impaired. A law passed in France in 2005 mandates hiring a certain number of employees with disabilities but companies were not universally prepared for deaf workers.

Founded in 2009, DEAFI – a hybrid of the English word “deaf” and the French word “défi” for challenge – originally sought to help deaf people access services previously unavailable to them. The organization uses webcams to allow deaf people to communicate through a signer to a person on the receiving end, allowing the same communication available on a telephone. DEAFI helps implement this and similar strategies in major businesses.

Over time, director Jean-Charles Correa realized that the deaf were disproportionately unemployed and wanted to help them find jobs working with other deaf people. “Instead of having hearing people who can read sign language, why not train deaf people to answer questions of other deaf people?” Correa said.

The organization began in Paris and quickly started to work with other businesses to develop awareness-programs, training initiatives, communication services, and eventually a sort of work-insertion program where DEAFI helps members of the deaf community find jobs within major corporations. The idea is to create a culture of customer service that is as welcoming to people no matter how much or little they can hear. “My strategy is first to show companies that businesswise it is a good thing to open themselves up to deaf people and to encourage them to hire these people,” Correa said.

Already partnered with major communications companies like SFR and Free, Correa hopes that his employees will eventually move away from DEAFI to pursue larger careers. “We want to promote the employability of deaf people,” he said.

Certain obstacles still remain as the small team of 19 tackles a rapidly changing communications terrain. Webcam signing services are currently only available for desktop or laptop computers for practical reasons, but Correa hopes to go mobile soon. “Even though using sign language from a mobile phone is not that easy, it’s something we are considering now,” he said.

DEAFI also addresses problems that are often overlooked among the deaf community. Especially among those born deaf, reading online text is not a given. Correa explains that sign language and written language can be drastically different. “French Sign Language is very different from French; it’s closer to German. There’s no tense, no gender,” he explained.

With his colleagues Correa has implemented a DEAFTAG, an icon located next to pages of text where a deaf person can watch a video of a signer signing the text, allowing for more comprehensive understanding of the oftentimes foreign-looking language.

SOURCE/MORE

Why are emergency numbers not deaf accessible ?

Background: Imagine you are visiting an EU country or at home and you need to contact an ambulance, the fire brigade or the police. Would you know which emergency number to call?

As Europeans are increasingly travelling for business or leisure, millions of people could be faced with this problem. Fortunately, there is no need to look up and remember the emergency numbers for each EU country you are visiting. Just remember 112!

112 is the European emergency number, reachable from fixed and mobile phones, free of charge, everywhere in the EU.

except deaf say it isn't !!

Calls to test language skills of all non-UK health staff.

Whilst on the face of it not relvant to deaf, I have to ask why nursing and medical staff in UK hospitals are still unable to communicate to deaf people ? Clearly their training with the 'bedside manner' ignores the fact an patient could have communication issues. This situation has existed 60 years, and not addressed.

What they said: "Patients face “unacceptable risks” to their safety as a result of laws that allow medics to practise anywhere across the EU", peers have claimed.

Such risks in fact, deaf people experience every time they attend an Hospital or an GP or picked up by an ambulance or the police, once again it takes 'topical' and profile issues before the system of Health makes a decent comment. What do deaf people have to DO to be either ?

In a recent report they claim the wrong balance is being struck between allowing healthcare professionals to operate freely with the Union’s borders and protecting the safety of patients. So deaf are not only faced with UK and English-speaking medical staff who cannot communicate effectively, but foreign ones too, and here is the downer.

If you complain, you are racist and abuse human rights of others...... Clearly deaf haven't any,.

If you are Deaf, HONK !!!

Deaf people are aware they cannot hear behind ! so should they should adopt some form of identification so people know ? However, this type of 'road rage' is unacceptable. The issue goes beyond the road as I often get bruises to my legs whenever I go to town shopping, as disabled (Yep them too), in wheelchairs/buggies, and mothers with prams ram me from behind because I didn't hear them ask me to stand aside for them.

It happens in shop ques, bus ques, on the street, anywhere, and I've had people walking into the back of me oblivious to everything on a mobile phone, so 'mobile rage' too, a few will just push you out of the way, or hit you on the back and shout at you, It's hell out there. Is it our fault for not letting people know we can't hear ? how can we let people know from behind ? perhaps put an sign on our backs ? To be scrupulously fair they won't know will they ? or is it theirs for being rude ? It isn't hate crime I don't think, as this poster suggested, just sheer bad manners and ignorance. Anyone out there with an cure for ignorance ?

Suggestions please on how to let people know you are deaf when they aren't facing you... if only to save me the bruising and aggravation.

Free sign lessons..

For deaf Filipinos, OK it's the Jehovah people my Dad used to set his dogs on, and I do the same in the UK but....... Deaf people, whose families could not afford to send them to special education classes, have been learning sign language for free and beyond classroom walls. Sign language volunteers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been bringing classes right at the doorsteps of the hearing impaired since 1994, preferring to educate them in the comforts of their homes.

Some sign language teachers are themselves deaf. All of them have been spending their own time and money to reach out to the deaf community. More than 2,000 volunteers, from the mountain town of Buguias in Benguet to the coastal villages of Mindanao, go from house to house to seek out the hearing impaired.

If the deaf family member has not undergone formal schooling but is willing to learn sign language, volunteers would be assigned to his or her home. Once the deaf learns the basics, he or she can also take part in Bible classes offered by Jehovah’s Witnesses for free. Among the students who successfully finished home schooling program is Rosemarie Peralta, 21, of Caloocan City.

Peralta is the only deaf member in a family of six. Her parents could not send her to a special education school. Her father, Rodolfo, is paralyzed so the household relies on mother, Jocelyn, a factory worker. “When I was growing up, I did not go to a regular school. I was left alone in my own quiet world because I could not communicate my feelings. I was extremely shy. I felt isolated,” Peralta said in sign language interpreted for the Inquirer.

In April 2005, two volunteers knocked on her door and offered sign language lessons, but Peralta said she felt embarrassed to admit that she was illiterate and could write only her name. She was convinced that sign language can open up her world. Peralta agreed. “I wanted to read, write and express my thoughts. I wanted to have friends who understand me,” she said.

Peralta’s teachers combined gestures, notes, drawings and pictures to convey a word or expression. They taught Peralta how to name everything she saw through sign.
Soon, she learned to interact with the deaf community in her neighborhood. She was taught how to commute from her house, learning to explore Metro Manila on her own after several weeks.

SOURCE

Disclaimer: Whilst this is an deaf report, the blog owner does NOT endorse any religious grouping. (Certainly not this lot !), but news is news..

Deaf Brothers rack up $201K phone bill.

A South Florida woman got a shock when she opened a recent cellphone bill: she owed $US201,000 . It was no mistake.

Celina Aarons has her two brothers on her plan. They are deaf and cannot speak, so the easiest way for them to communicate is by texting. Normally, that's not a problem. Aarons has the appropriate data plan and her bill is about $US175

But her brothers spent two weeks in Canada and Aarons did not change to an international plan. Her brothers sent over 2000 texts and also downloaded videos, sometimes racking up $US2000 ($NZ2507) in data charges.

T-Mobile told Aarons the bill was correct. She called Miami TV station WSVN, which contacted T-Mobile. The station reports that T-Mobile cut Aarons' bill to $US2500 and gave her six months to pay.

SOURCE

UNcaptioned video

Why loss awareness still fails (II)

Read my latest input to an leading UK charity that acts as advocates and supplies support to those with hearing loss.

"HEAR to Help depends on ENT not doing their job properly. Basically ENT diagnose clinical level of loss then you are on your own. Most have no loss aware doctors who can communicate and if we are to believe AOHL Cymru, patients leave not knowing which ear to put an hearing aid in or know how to remove wax in tubes either, even to the point if you use 2 hearing aids you have to mark them L&R. i.e. left and right.

Statistics re ENT are available online somewhere, and an FOI request can tell you how many are diagnosed with loss and get hearing aids. Any correlation would achieve nothing, the ENT job is to determine level of loss and if necessary suggest which aid will help. -X decibels will mean Y aid is best to address that, end of.

After care and follow up is left to others. I'm dubious about American statistics being compared here, as British are notoriously coy about loss, and we are told 3 million are already in denial, with an further 2 million more young people who won't listen to any warning. British stiff upper lip has an lot to answer for.

Here I think the RNID approach the issue the wrong way in flooding online with hearing tests and talking about noise. If you are an young person with an ipod or whatever, you are NOT going to listen (Literally !). 'Better deaf than old' was an recurring theme I read. 'Loud and proud' another.

The RNID will never connect to or warn this sector. You need legislation on equipment and noise levels enforced in law, in fact the law IS there, but nobody is following it up. Clubs/pubs can be closed if too noisy, how many actually are ? equipment (Including a lot of sound advantage equipment), far exceeds safety levels on volume. This appears to show that the RNID doesn't understand noise/loss issues. More volume is detrimental to hearing loss, so, you just do not manufacture noisy equipment, right ? NHS Medresco hearing aids created more deaf people and Tinnitus than any loud noises did.

As regards to ipods, and music equipment, the Americans laugh in our face re regulating volume output, their courts rejected the RNID claims, all we can do is put an decibel limit on imported stuff, which I am surprised they haven't done, given the RNID has insisted the levels are dangerously abused.

Be it CD/TV or any other sound equipment I find it ludicrous you can easily buy and use this equipment at 60 watts plus in your own home. I used to play in a band many years ago and used a 25 watt amplifier, we've home TV systems that can push a hundred, and in quad speaker format and more, most basic band amplification is now at 25,000 watts output and up.

We're losing the noise war in a big way. Next RNID campaign should go along these lines, an ban of equipment that exceeds safety decibel limits, simples, if you cannot turn it up loud it's sorted. It will be unpopular, but what is worse people not liking you, or being deaf ? I think its time to TELL people not ask them because the effect isn't localised just to them. New York's roads are amongst the noisiest in the world with an average we are told at centre of 86db up EVERY day, and that is just cars. You would have to be deaf to live there."

Superhero SONAR to the rescue !

A new superhero calls on young people to join his mission: to improve the world for people with hearing loss (And he wears an CI too)....

"Sonar is a research scientist who happens to be Deaf. He also has extraordinary powers including superhuman intelligence and super strength. Like many young Deaf people, Sonar wears a Cochlear Implant but Sonar’s Implant has a very special “super” feature – it warns him of impending danger. Sonar has a new mission – he has pledged to find ways to improve the world for people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing and he wants young people, including other Deaf young people, to help him by contributing their ideas on new avenues of research, new technologies and inventions that could help improve life for people with hearing loss."

SOURCE AND MORE

Gibraltar launches BSL..

The Gibraltar Hearing Impaired and Tinnitus Association has welcomed the launch of British Sign Language in Gibraltar.

A spokesman for GHITA said: “Following a meeting of the Gibraltar Hearing Impaired and Tinnitus Association and The Gibraltar Disability Society at the request of a group of profoundly deaf people, it became apparent that there was a total absence of British Sign Language in Gibraltar and that there were many people in our community who would benefit greatly from BSL as the first language of deaf people”.


“The Minister for Family, Youth and Community Affair graciously agreed to open the first day of the course at Bleak House, on Monday 10th, where he commended the hard work put into making the dream of Gibraltarian woman, Jacqueline Jarman-Brugada, a reality.

“This the Minister felt meant that Gibraltar is moving with the times and will be able to provide BSL trained interpreters to “hearing impaired and deaf residents” of Gibraltar as well as any Care Agency Services Users. The Minister concluded by stressing the need for this sector of our community to be able to feel a part of the community and be afforded a fundamental right with regard to accessing all services available as and when the need arises.

SOURCE/MORE

Petition to have Dornan Prosecuted

Petition to have Dimity Dornan prosecuted. Opened on October 12, 2011

A petition is being organised to stop the Deaf Culture Genocide due to Dimitry Dornan's goals for Deaf people and deafness in the future.

It is said Dornan is breaching UN Conventions. Australia has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 24.3 states that “States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including..

24.3:b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community..”

Deafness is a scourge that can be eradicated and consigned to history, just like polio, according to Queensland's newly crowned Business Woman of the Year.

Petition HERE

Scottish MP SIGN-VIDEO first

An Scottish politician has provided sign access for his constituents to discuss issues with him without language, or communication barriers, one down, 629 more to go!

Mike Crockart MP for Edinburgh West is the first elected member in the UK to make Deaf Action’s SignVideo available at his constituency office.

The service provided through Deaf Action in collaboration with SignVideo, means that Deaf BSL constituents are able to visit Mike to discuss their concerns without having to worry about a language barrier. The latest technology means that a translator joins the meeting via a webcam and provides simultaneous translation.

The online interpreting service for deaf people will provide instant access to experienced SASLI registered BSL/English interpreters using the most advanced technology in the field.

Commenting Mr Crockart said:

“Throughout the UK there is a shortage of British Sign Language/English interpreters; this is a particular problem throughout Scotland with the ratio of qualified interpreters to sign language users estimated at around 1 interpreter for every 200 sign language users."


SOURCE and MORE

The Scourge of deafness

Oh dear !!!! Fodder for the purists....... Deafness is a scourge that can be eradicated and consigned to history, just like polio, according to Queensland's newly crowned Business Woman of the Year.

Dimity Dornan was awarded the title in a gala luncheon this afternoon at the Sofitel in Brisbane. She earned the award for her work in founding Hear and Say, which helps deaf children hear through early diagnosis, advanced hearing technology and therapy.

Dr Dornan used her speech to talk about her hopes for the future – a world where deaf children are able to hear. "I think deafness is at the same stage polio was..." she said. "It is a scourge in our world but it can be almost completely eradicated. I believe we can truly make this happen ... thank you for your help."

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BBC Subtitling ludricous

The BBC has been criticised by deaf groups over "ludicrous" computer-generated subtitles which have labelled the Labour leader "Ed Miller Band" and announced "a moment's violence" for the Queen Mother.

The subtitle blunders have become so regular that a dedicated website has been set up by bemused viewers. Hard-of-hearing viewers have been left "utterly perplexed" by errors in the live captions – which have also renamed the Ireland rugby team "Island". Deaf people have expressed their shock at being told a town was expecting a visit from the "Arch b**** of Canterbury" during one local BBC news broadcast.

In another embarrassing faux pas, a reporter visiting a farm spoke of how the pigs "love to nibble anything that comes into the shed, like our willies." Unfortunately the subtitles alongside the report changed the last word to to a rather childish homophone. After one viewer captured it on screen the error became an internet sensation.

During the Queen Mother's funeral, the solemn words "We'll now have a moment's silence for the Queen Mother" became "We'll now have a moment's violence for the Queen Mother" in one BBC broadcast.

SOURCE/MORE

Two Munich-based social entrepreneurs have developed a new smartphone transcription service that allows people with hearing impairments to communicate without relying on sign language or live interpreters.

The motto for Michaela and Robin Nachtrab's company could very well be 'life with subtitles.' Using technology they have developed over the past three years, the couple hopes to give the more than 300,000 hearing impaired and deaf people living in Germany the ability to communicate in an everyday environment – without sign language and without interpreters.


The system is useful for doctor's appointments
"When I was 19, I did a social work year and my heart went out to deaf and hard-of-hearing people," Michaela said. "I saw that more needs to be done to integrate these people into our society and I wanted to do something against these barriers."

Michaela then spent eight years helping unemployed people with hearing find jobs.

"I saw that there are many problems, especially getting the right interpreter for the hearing impaired on the right day, at the right moment and at the right place," she said. "So finally, I went home to my husband and told him about the problem. He said 'how about doing it via the internet?' And that was it."

Finding a solution

The technology Michaela and Robin eventually developed uses smartphones to help people with hearing impairments communicate with others who don't understand sign language.

At the doctor's office or in a class, for example, the user can simply press a button and the voice of the speaker will be transmitted to a central location where a transcriber "re-voices" the content word by word for a speech recognition program that is trained specifically for his or her voice. The software then transcribes the words spoken into written form and transmits them back to the smartphone for the user to read.

SOURCE & MORE

Lipseakers NOT reasonable adjustment ?

Often we read about sign users not getting BSL or ASL access, spare a thought for the lip-reader, who unlike the sign user still does NOT Have their mode of communication seen as reasonable or essential access. So how do we follow lips ? guess ?

Jane Cordell, a former diplomat with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), whose appointment as the United Kingdom's deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan was revoked after the FCO said that hiring a lipspeaker to support her was too expensive, has lost her appeal against the original findings of the Employment Tribunal.

Ms Cordell is profoundly deaf, and is assisted in her work by "lipspeakers". She was told that the cost of providing lipspeakers was not reasonable and could not be justified.

AOHL criticised for downgrading effects of Tinnitus.

An irate poster to the AOHL's Tinnitus open forum has complained of the sanitising of the effects of tinnitus, and promoting only 'good news' via lesser affected sufferers of this condition. No link can currently be provided as the site appears to have continuous looping problems that is now preventing people logging in.. Logically the poster should instead contact HERE as the AOHL charity is NOT qualified to give out advice. Far too few who use this site understand they are not centres of support or knowledge but act only as a link to those that DO. This charity needs to stop being ambiguous about what it does and send people where the help is.

"I have come to the conclusion that this site has been hijacked by people with mild T and only “positive” things to say. I hardly see posts by people in dark places battling to cope and when there has been the odd cry for help by and large it is ignored. Gone are the days when a post of that nature would solicit an almost instant barrage of people wishing the person well and offering kind words of encouragement.

It irks me because not everyone has T that lightly and softly that they can hardly hear it at times and can indulge themselves in back patting pronouncing that they have habituated and by implication anyone who cannot or does not is in some way lacking. I have even heard it said on here that some people will never habituate because they are always negative about their ailment, as if it is a given that if you have the right attitude all will be swept away eventually.

Nonsense!

I suspect that most of these people actually have very soft / mild T in the first place and have allowed themselves to work themselves into panic mode thinking that they have it badly. Then over time get a grip on their outlook and realise actually it is not so bad and miraculously habituate to a point where they can hardly hear it....I ask you! They probably never had it badly in the first place.munity, at a time when someone needs to be surrounded by others who understand, we allow this forum to be sterile and cold, not providing the platform many of us true sufferers of T need.

It is high time we took it back and make it perfectly acceptable for it to be used as a place to rant and rave when we feel down and then share in some of the crazy banter we used to enjoy when things were more open in the past."

Good News Week

Hot on the exposure of the recent successful implant here is another. A BOY who survived five bouts of meningitis but was left deaf can now hear for the first time in years thanks to computer-activated implants.

Troy Probert, seven, broke his skull as a toddler and was left prone to the deadly illness, which robbed him of his hearing. But the little fighter – a green belt in karate – is enjoying the sound of his mum’s voice again after his ­cochlear implants were switched on. Delighted mum Nicola, 32, said: “They activated the implants from a computer. When they switched it on his face lit up. It was like a miracle.

“He said my voice sounded like music – like the beating of a drum.

“He kept laughing and saying, ‘Talk to me mummy – I can hear you’.”

Read more

Afraid of deaf people...

Snowboarder: Michael Easton

A deaf personal trainer who represents England at snowboading has told of how he is unable to attract clients because they are “afraid” of his disability. Michael Easton, who will be part of Team GB’s attempt at a medal at the Deaf Snowboarding World Championships next year and represented England at the National Squash Deaf Association, gained a distinction in a National Diploma in Sports Studies at Cambridge Regional College as well as a Level 3 CYQ personal trainer certificate and qualifications in nutrition, swimming, basketball, football and sign language.

But the 22-year-old, who was born profoundly deaf and wears a cochlea implant to aid his hearing, says clients coming to his business, Back to the Fitness, often turn him down after the first meeting without “giving him a chance” after they realise he is deaf. The Bassingbourn resident, who has speech difficulties but has overcome them with a specialised sports-based vocabulary course, told the Weekly News he “wants to work hard and make Britain proud” but is astounded he can’t find enough employment in his own country to turn his talent into a full-time career.

The former Bassingbourn Village College student said: “I can teach anyone any sport that they like and help them improve their fitness. I have about seven clients but I need more. “When they meet me, often they don’t come back. Don’t be afraid of me because I am deaf.”

The reds under the bed.

"deaf extremists does exist in deaf community... the holism-barry sewell, candy-gina sutton, kokonut pundit-mike mcconnell, ironteeth27-richard roehm, mm from wales uk, many more ... thats who they are the deaf extremists in our community."

So this anonymous raving idiot carries on in defence of the indefensible. He (No woman would type thus), attacks the leading academic deaf people on deaf.read, (I don't consider myself in that catagory), those who over many years and considerable personal involvements in the American deaf community, and who take an constant and genuine interest in exposing people like 'Anon' and the hypocricy of any unity led by these people. God forbid they are ever seen as their voice.

And yes the UK has its extremists too, except they tend to just evict everyone they don't agree with and that's it. We invented class issues and the deaf here are not immune to doing away with people whose faces don't fit either, we were told in the age of the internet that was over, but it didn't take long for some deaf to realise they could still operate closed shops and sites and even use moderation to make sure their boat was never rocked.

It is THEY who bring signing deaf into disrepute, bring ALL deaf into disrepute by continuing this divide. and lose no time in taking an genuine vblog concern by some other deaf person and then turn it into an rant against anyone in visual range. This vblog simply asked "Are there extremists in the deaf community", yes there ARE, and they are alive, well and being given complete freedom to be extreme at deafyou. Sadly we do not have an 'in' to why he sees that, or we could respond and try to answer his concerns.

It's called communication. I know some ASL vbloggers do not like their site under scrutiny, we don't have this issue in the UK because the UK has nothing like deafyou. Had it not been for some American bloggers translating, we would all be sitting here being attacked with no knowledge it is going on. No wonder some of them are very reluctant to be identified with an view and refuse captions, and no wonder the shield of invisibility via anon services these extremists so well, there you go vblogger, the site you are on, you sit next to them.

A word to the wise (Or not so) anon, do not even BOTHER to post your bile on my blog, then you can stay anonymous in real time. That's me exercising MY right.

Lib-Dems inaccessible to the deaf

What do the Fukushima Earthquake, Christchurch Earthquake, Queensland Floods, Libyan Revolution, Egyptian Jasmine Revolution and the ongoing struggle in Syria all have in common? If your answer was death then unfortunately you would be correct, however, a more inspirational and uplifting answer would be Sign Language!

In all of these cases, the elected officials of Public Office have been broadcasted with a Sign Language Interpreter at the side of them as they make statements on life and death events. This breakthrough in accessible information is crucial for Deaf people who need to know what to do in an emergency and how to survive.

With this in mind, I am still perplexed as to how no provision of Sign Language interpretation was presented during Nick Clegg’s Leader’s Speech in Birmingham or Ed Miliband’s in Liverpool. What’s more ironic is the fact that trained professionals, only metres out of view from the party leaders, interpreted both speeches.

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Registering your mobile for SMS emergency help.

The Classsroom Terp

Complete with politically incorrect information....