A grant of $225,00 to do research upon Deafhood

A grant of nearly £140,000 ($225,000 US dollars) by the Leverhulme Trust has been awarded to the University of Bristol’s Centre for Deaf Studies (CDS) in United Kingdom to conduct research upon the new concept of "Deafhood." It will examine the Deaf people's concerns upon the advancement of Genetic technology.

I am quite curious to see what CDS will come up with. This is an exciting century for all of us. Technology and Medicine are starting to merge into a new field of science and it will eventually transform the way we live. It won't be long before we can actually FIX genetic defects....

Now the question is :

Should the Deaf communities across the world embrace the new changes or fear it?

Some definitions you may need to know: before you can read and understand the article.

• Deafhood => the identify of being d/Deaf culturally than just a person with hearing loss.
• Hegemonic / hegemony => the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others;
• In this example : Medical deaf vs Cultural Deaf (or Hearing vs Deaf)
• Eugenicist / eugenics => the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species.
• "Survival of Fittest" where we pick "perfect" human beings to make the best, strongest, smartest babies.

Article : Research study to examine genetics, power and Deafhood

Deaf Mugger

Everyone GOTTA SEE THIS!!!!!! It's hilarious!

The paradox about this is

I am not fully familiar with the laws in United Kingdom, but I think there is a law in UK where the government is required to provide sign language interpreters to any Deaf individuals and pay for it (through taxes). There are no agencies or such. All the interpreters work for the government, thus they are employees of the British Government. So we have a Deaf mugger who requests an interpreter to help him to break the law.....

(Laughing out loud) You gotta love the irony! Enjoy the video!

Man's deafness cured after a TOOTH is removed from ear!!!

For more than 30 years Stephen Hirst was in constant pain and partially deaf because of excruciating earache.But that is all in the past now after doctors found a TOOTH lodged in the former miner's ear.

Okay! Ladies and Gentlemen, start pulling your teeth!!!! (smile)

I cannot say if this is an actual prank or not.. But it seems to be true according to several sources online. Read for yourself.

Read more:

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1321482/Mans-33-year-earache-mystery-solved-doctors-pull-tooth-ear.html
• http://sify.com/news/uk-man-s-33-yr-old-ache-was-due-to-tooth-stuck-in-ear-news-international-kksrksaheaj.html
• http://www.medindia.net/news/Doctors-Remove-Tooth-from-Ear-75535-1.htm

On Friday, Oct 8, 2010, 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act will be signed into LAW!!!

NAD Applauds Passage of 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

On Friday, October 8, President Barack Obama will sign the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 into law and deliver brief remarks on the impact of this law on individuals with disabilities. Bobbie Beth Scoggins, President of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) with Chief Executive Officer Nancy Bloch and Law and Advocacy Director Rosaline Crawford will be on hand to witness this historic event at the White House, which will be streamed on whitehouse.org/live.

The NAD applauds Congress for passage of this landmark legislation will improve access to communication, television, and the Internet for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened and deaf-blind.

“The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act is one of the most significant victories for our community since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed 20 years ago. It will enable 36 million deaf and hard of hearing people to participate in the Internet age by ensuring captioning of television programs on the Internet, a closed caption button on television remote controls, hearing aid compatibility for Internet telephones, and communications equipment for individuals who are deaf-blind, and more,” said Bobbie Beth Scoggins, NAD President. “While we fell short in some areas, such as requiring web TV episodes distributed only on the Internet to be captioned, this is a step in the right direction to make
the web accessible. For many of us, the quality of our lives depend on an accessible Internet and we appreciate Congress’ recognition of this essential civil right.”

The passage of this Act culminates a legislative process that has involved congressional hearings, intensive discussions with various companies and trade associations, and extensive advocacy by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) of which the NAD is a co-founder, leader, and steering committee member. COAT, a coalition of more than 300 organizational affiliates, promotes full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. Other COAT co-founding organizations include the American Association of People with Disabilities, American Council of the Blind, American Foundation for the Blind, and Communication Service for the Deaf.

The Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (S. 3304) will significantly increase accessibility for Americans with disabilities to the indispensable telecommunications technology tools of the 21st century by:

Making access to the Web possible through improved user interfaces for smart phones
Enabling Americans who are blind to enjoy TV more fully through audible descriptions of the on-screen action
Making TV program guides and selection menus accessible to people with vision loss
Providing Americans who are deaf the ability to watch new TV programs online with the captions included
Mandating that remote controls have a button or similar mechanism to easily access the closed captioning on broadcast and pay TV
Requiring that telephone equipment used to make calls over the Internet is compatible with hearing aids
For low-income Americans who are both deaf and blind, providing up to $10 million per year to purchase communications equipment to access the telephone system and the Internet so these individuals can more fully participate in society.
“This Act was achieved through bipartisan support.” said NAD President Scoggins. “The NAD looks forward to working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the rulemakings expected over the next several years to fulfill the requirements of the Act. With the continued support of our members we will ensure that the final regulations provide the access that deaf and hard of hearing people need.”

The NAD would like to recognize and thank a number of members who played a key role in moving the legislation forward. In the U.S. Senate, the bill was championed by Senator Pryor (D-AR), with the support of Senator Kerry (D-MA), Senator Rockefeller (D-WV), Senator Hutchison (R-TX), and Senator Ensign (R-NV).  In the U.S. House, it was authored and championed by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), with the support of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA). In addition, the NAD would like to recognize AT&T, Verizon, USTelecom, and Windstream who provided early and staunch support for the legislation. Furthermore, the NAD would like to thank the COAT steering
committee representatives -- including NAD Law and Advocacy Director Rosaline Crawford -- who provided amazing dedication and commitment in shepherding this legislation through Congress.

Courtesy of NAD

Movie made by Deaf and Dumb to premiere on Oct 9

"The movie Amir=Garib, to be premiered on October 9 in the Town Hall Auditorium, has all the essentials of a Bollywood flick, but one fundamental element — sound. The movie has been made by deaf and dumb people."

"Why are India still calling people with hearing loss as 'Deaf and Dumb"???"

I thought the Deaf communities across the world got rid of "Dumb" about 50 years ago?

What are your thoughts!???

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Movie-made-by-deaf-and-dumb-to-premiere-on-Oct-9/688214/

Verizon Awards $55,000 to Nonprofits That Use Technology to Help Individuals With Disabilities

Verizon Awards $55,000 to Nonprofits That Use Technology to Help Individuals With Disabilities

"Technology is the pipeline to opportunity, especially for people with disabilities.  That's why the Verizon Foundation, which is committed to improving access to information and services that address the needs of people with disabilities, is awarding $55,000 to five Massachusetts nonprofit agencies that are dedicated to improving accessibility."

5 Non-Profit Organizations that received grants are:

1. Lowell Association for the Blind
1.  Help the Visually-Impaired children to do radio shows
2. Children's Hospital Deaf and Hard of Hearing program
1. Develop a series of webcasts that cover a wide range of topics important to caregivers and parents of children with hearing loss.
3. Easter Seals Massachusetts
1.  Enable people with disabilities to participate in all aspects of their lives through the use of assistive technology
4. National Braille Press
1.  Develop a refreshable Braille PDA (personal digital assistant) that will give blind students of all ages access to e-mail, the Internet, text files and digital textbooks.
5. New England Homes for the Deaf
1. Train individuals, all of whom are over the age of 50, have minimal experience with computers and are not comfortable with technology. 

I think it's awesome for those organizations to focus on incorporating technology with our everyday lives. Technology has already changed some people's lives, but at same time there are still millions of people out there who still are not exposed to all the benefits technology can offer. We need to improve that. Right!?

For more details; 
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-awards-55000-to-nonprofits-that-use-technology-to-help-individuals-with-disabilities-101378594.html

DEAFNATION WORLD EXPO IN LAS VEGAS A SMASHING SUCCESS

The Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas was buzzing with activity and hands were flying everywhere you turned during the week of July 18-23, 2010. More than 23,400 unique visitors from 73 different countries came to Las Vegas for the DeafNation World Conference and Expo (DNWE). With special thanks to the Platinum sponsors, Sorenson Communications and Purple, DNWE was a smashing success.

DNWE welcomed signing crowds from every corner of the world, communicating in a blend of native sign languages and International Sign Language. The week saw over 300 booths ranging from fashion to sign language dictionaries to Video Relay Services to deaf films, and over 70 workshops including topics like the future of deaf telephony, environmentally-conscious living, and cultural exchanges.

The week-long celebration of Deaf culture kicked off on Sunday, July 18 at the Fremont Street Experience with a canopy video created by DeafNation. Live entertainment previews included the Finnish band Signmark and contestants in the Miss Deaf International pageant, which had its finale on Friday, July 22 crowning Miss Deaf France as the new Miss Deaf International.

During the week at Sands Center, special appearances were made by deaf Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, and deaf UFC fighter and the person the movie “Hamill” is based on, Matt Hamill. Thousands upon thousands lined up to buy books, T-shirts, pictures, and to have them signed by Marlee and Matt, before taking a picture with the stars.

The main stage was the center of all the activity. Three distinguished keynote speakers were invited to DNWE to present in front of thousands. The first speaker, Mark Wheatley, is the current Executive Director of the European Union of the Deaf, and he presented “The European Perspective of the Deaf Community in EU Member States.”

Donalda Ammons, an international sports leader and former president of Deaflympics, discussed “Deaf World Sports: The Power of Internet-based Media.” Bernard Bragg, an international deaf entertainer and the founder of the National Theatre of the Deaf, presented “We’re the World.”

Also on the main stage was the wedding of Robert McClay and Katrina Green, both Americans, who wished to hold their wedding ceremony on Wednesday, July 21. Deaf rapper Sean Forbes from D-PAN performed to cheering crowds, and Signmark gave a preview of what they would play on Monday and Tuesday nights at the Treasure Island pool party. For cinema-goers, DNWE had two surprises for them: screenings of films from two different deaf production companies, ASL Films from the United States, and Awi Film from the Czech Republic.

During the week, DeafNation received honors from two different organizations – the International Service Award from the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, and an award in honor of DeafNation’s 10-year-long partnership with Deaflympics, Inc. as its media partner. Many other countries honored DeafNation with various paintings, fabrics, and trinkets that are culturally priceless.

The World Deaf Art Gallery had over 20 pieces from international deaf artists, including the famous Chuck Baird, and a series of beautiful batiks created by deaf students from Ghana. Mannequins were donned with pieces by deaf fashion designers. Next to the art gallery was one of the main attractions at Sands that drew crowds – the Deaf Wax Museum.

Deaf wax sculptor Don Baer is well known for his series of historical deaf figures, and it was a honor for DeafNation to have his latest piece unveiled at DNWE – a sculpture of Bernard Bragg in his heydays, as a mime. Bragg was extremely touched, and the first words he said were, “That’s me!” amid flashes from the crowd.

DNWE had something for everyone. For those who were itching for some sports action, a corner of Sands Expo Center was reserved for the World Deaf Darts Tournament. Teams and singles participated in the tournament, with Curtis Cote coming out on top in the 301 singles, and Curtis Cote and Mike Cope winning the 501 double slot. Sean Byrum and Gary Burke won the cricket double, while Mike Cope, Curtis Cote and Jason Hurt sweeped the team-of-3 slot.

DeafNation partnered with Deaf Sports Academy to provide flag football and basketball games for children and teenagers, and the Las Vegas Charter School of the Deaf had childcare activities that included the popular moon bounce.

After the week at Sands Expo Center and DNWE wrapped up, DeafNation hosted a World Deaf Golf Classic at three different courses over three days, for $15,000 total prizes. After playing at the Arroyo Golf Club, the Siena Golf Club, and the Red Rock Golf Club, John Ramirez III came out as the winner of the 2010 DeafNation Golf Classic.

The success of DNWE would not have been made possible without the hard work of our committee, volunteers, and the sponsorship of our Platinum-level sponsors: Sorenson Communications and Purple. Special thanks also go to our Bronze-level sponsors: Deaf Missions, Sprint Relay, The Z, Gracias VRS, ASL Pre-Paid Legal, and ASL Dream Team.

DeafNation’s philosophy is that free admission brings a diversity of attendees who can share our culture, needs, language, and information. Overall, our goal is to give everyone the chance to meet new people from all the corners of the world, ranging anywhere from historical regions like Europe, the Americas and Africa to exotic regions like Asia and Australia, and learn new languages, new cultures and new traditions, which was all done under one great roof!

VIDEOS AND PHOTOS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER ON WWW.DEAFNATION.COM
-----------------------

Do we want another DeafNation World Expo? If yes, then when and where??? Any suggestions?

(courtesy of DeafNation through email subscription)

American Disability Act (ADA): How far have we really come?

Today marks the 20th anniversary of American Disability Act (ADA). I congratulate everyone for all their hard work. It's truly an accomplishment.

However, I do wonder how far have we really come? Have we made a lot of progress or is it still all talks?

How many times have we heard or see this?

"Your disability isn't significant enough." 

"A number of Supreme Court cases (have) greatly weakened the law. Many cases have focused on the degree of an individual's disability, rather than whether discrimination took place." Often times people are being told, 'your disability isn't significant enough,' even though they need accommodations to work." "We have many, many strides to make. It hasn't solved everything for us, not by a long shot. But it certainly has made a dent in equal access." (Link 1)

"Since the ADA was passed, studies have shown that the unemployment rate remains very high for people with disabilities compared with people without disabilities, according to Disability Rights Director John Herrion of the state Division of Human Rights." " (Link 2)

"The biggest challenges that the state continues to face are old attitudes and stigma" (Link 3)

Lastly, many people are saying that ADA itself is simply outdated. The definition for "reasonable accommodations" are no longer acceptable. We have newer technology that have a much significant impact upon people with disabilities. Yet, they are rejected because they weren't simply stated or included in the ADA 20 years ago. (I.E. TTY over Videophone for the majority of Deaf population). 

What do you think? 
 

Sign Language in Space!!!!!

That's right! We have an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and she is sending us a video message in sign language! Pretty nifty huh!?

"Ultimately, this isn't really about me learning or knowing ASL," stated Caldwell Dyson. "This story should be an avenue for deaf students -- from children in kindergarten to college undergraduates to doctoral candidates -- to see themselves belonging to this amazing thing called NASA and participating in scientific research and space exploration."

What's next now??? How about Mars??? (smile)

Music for Deaf people, is this possible???

Well, this is quite interesting. German designer Frederik Podzuweit invented a device that  "promises to make hearing music a reality for the deaf community based on synesthesia — a type of sensory stimulus evokes the perception of an entirely different sense." In other words, it will allow the Deaf community to experience the same emotions as Hearing people do when listening to music. You simply place the device around your neck like a scarf and the device will do the rest.

 Music for Deaf people

Music for Deaf people

This really does lead to many questions. For example, are Deaf people really capable of understanding and feeling the true meaning of music? Or is it like trying to teach a fish how to walk? (ergo: it's impossible?)

Another question to consider is how can we prove that Deaf people will experience the same sensations as a Hearing person might while listening to music? Or is it synthetic like in the example of cochlear implants... We already know it is not the same as a Hearing person.

Overall, this seems like an interesting experiment, as the creator states, to allow the Deaf community to experience a "different sense".

Finally, Captioning for Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Sports Venues!!!

Here is some exciting news for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community! Finally, I can go to a baseball stadium and enjoy Closed Captioning (CC) on the jumbo screen. Finally, I can go to Deaflympics and enjoy the CC. Finally, I can go to the Air & Space Museum and enjoy subtitles.

Debra Joyce, President of NJCaptions , and Jennifer Bonfilio, , President of Team Captioning, combined with more than 30 years of experience in providing captioning, have decided to work together and founded a new company, Coast 2 Coast Captioning… Coast 2 Coast Captioning will “provide Communication Access Realtime Technology (CART) and Open & Closed Captioning services to sports and entertainment stadiums, arenas, auditoriums, and other public venues, as well as meeting and conference centers nationwide.”

http://www.c2ccaptioning.com

"There has been a significant jump in the number of hard-of-hearing consumers who are requesting captioning." 

Coast 2 Coast Captioning works closely with organizations such as Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) and Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), to adhere to the parameters of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in public places, and to provide the best experience and optimal communication for public safety.

Superbowl, here I come!!!!! haha.

So do you think Deaf or Hard of Hearing can dance???

Hey! So you think you can dance??? What about Deaf people??? Can Deaf people dance? Can they even feel the music? Well, Jarrell Robinson, a Deaf contestant from Glenwood, Illinois , seems to think so! He competed for a chance to be the best dancer on the show, "So You Think You Can Dance".

"I"m doing this for all the deaf community. I want them to know that deaf people can do anything. What they really want...if you put in your mind, you can do anything! As long you stay positive."

All the judges have agreed that Jarrell did a great job and is an inspirational role model for everyone else. Mad props to him.

So my question to you.

Where are the other Deaf dancers? Do we know any others?

Oh I See! News in ASL !!! www.oicmovies.com

Don't you hate it when you're watching the news and the Closed Captioning (CC) is behind, incorrect, or even doesn't show up??? I hate it too! I finally found a good website where I can watch everyday news in American Sign Language (ASL). www.oicmovies.com. 

www.oicmovies.com. 

"Our vision is to provide the best available resource for news, information and entertainment in American Sign Language. We do this by producing original programming in ASL and organizing available ASL content from the web."

Lastly, I got the opportunity to interview with the founder of www.oicmovies.com. See below for the script. 


------------------------


1) Is www.oicmovies.com Deaf owned?

     Yes. My name is Mary Luczki, I'm deaf, and run the company with two hearing partners, Carrie Lezotte, and Diane Cheklich.  Carrie and Diane have business and production experience (they own oneofusfilms), and used their money to get us going.  I manage all the content, what stories are important to the Deaf, what videos are good enough ASL for the site, and I make sure we are Deaf and ASL in our overall viewpoint, focus and vision.  I also want to make sure there is a variety of ASL signing styles for everyone.  Even though it is my partners who have provided the money for this, they have made it clear that this is for the Deaf, it's our community, and they never even think about telling me what to say or do on the site. 

2) Tell me a bit about yourself and how you came up with this idea?
     I have an interesting story for that. Everyone in my family is Deaf and I was born hard of hearing. My family always asks me questions; "What's going on? What are they saying? What are they doing?" and so forth. I was almost like an interpreter or perhaps a reporter, always explaining everything to them. Eventually, I became fully Deaf when I was around 13 years old. If you don't mind me saying, that's when I became "normal" with the rest of my family.  Yet I still enjoyed gathering news and explaining it to my family and friends. That led me to the idea of signing out the news.  Another hearing friend came up with the idea of putting it on VHS tapes, and distributing it via a subscription system. We tried it out, but it was difficult to do that because we didn't have enough technology back at that time time around the 1990s. Fortunately, technology is now easy for all of us. We also have the Internet. Anyone all over the world can access it. So I decided to give it another try! My friend, Fawn Alleyne, who happened to work for oneofusfilms.org, contacted me and suggested setting it up for the internet. She was kind enough to set up a meeting with Carrie and Diane where I could pitch my idea to them. They loved it and here we are as a result.

3) How long have www.oicmovies.com been up and running?

     Just a bit more than a year now.  I met Carrie and Diane about two years ago through Fawn, and we met and worked on the site, shooting videos and talking about it, for about a year before we launched, in April of 2009. 

4) May I ask, in what ways are the sponsors helping you?
     They gave me all the equipment needed to do this. They literally are paying for everything including the website.  We actually are earning nothing from this. This is all volunteer-based.  They have even provided a mini-studio in my home to make it easier for me to generate the news videos at home, then upload to be edited and put on the site.

5) That is very generous of them! Do you have any plans to bring in any revenues to help reduce the financial burden from your sponsors?

     Oh yes. We truly appreciate everything they have done for us. In fact, we are thinking of ways to pay them back as our token of appreciation. We have some ads on our website, but that doesn't pay much yet because we haven't reached the #s of members needed to make a significant difference. As we continue to build our membership by providing the best ASL resource on the web, our ad sales will help generate the money we need.  We've been steadily growing for a year, and we've found out about half our audience are people learning ASL, so we're going to offer a reasonably priced captioning option that those learning ASL can pay for monthly. OICmovies has just been spending money to get to where we are, and so this service will turn us into a real business that can create jobs for more people. We really want to publish new stories every day and have a variety of reporters, but it will take a bit of regular money to do that. Additionally, we just released our first dvd, "Best of OIC Movies 2009: ASL only edition" for $19.95. Also, people can support us by purchasing shirts, hats & caps, bags, cups, buttons, magnets, and mouse pads on http://www.cafepress.com/oicmovies.  we plan to have a Best of Cassie DVD available soon as well.  Cassie is our star Deaf comedian. 

6) I noticed you did say you need #s of members needed to make a significant difference, what kind of #s are you talking about? 
     Well, we now have about over 10,000 members and and that was one of the milestones we needed to hit, then revenues generated from the ads will increase. So the # of hits which means the # of people that visit www.oicmovies.com can be used to attract sponsors and advertisers. Think what it would be if we could have 100,000 members!

7) As you may or not know, there are other websites such as DeafNewspaper., iDeafnews and etc, how are you different?
     I prefer to focus on the news happening around us. Often enough, Deaf people would watch the news, but they don't understand it quite well. Sometimes the Closed Captioning (CC) are out of sync, far behind, or doesn't even appear or is just plain inaccurate. That really hurt the Deaf population. Also, in Deaf culture, we do not only want to know the story, but we want to know why and how. For example, the earthquake in Haiti; the news about people getting hurt and millions of dollars in damage is not enough for Deaf people. Deaf people want to know how did it happen? What caused it?  Also, sometimes Deaf people are not familiar with their terminology such as Richter magnitude scale, aftershock, and etc. In my videos, I make sure to explain the terminology, "why" and "how".  I think Deaf people really benefit from it.
     Also I would like to add one more thing. iDeafNews seems to focus on the Deaf-related events. DeafNewspaper like to talk about Deaf personal stories. Finally, OIC Movies are about the daily news that you see on television. So I think with three of us, we complete the world of news. That's a good thing in my opinion. 

8) What's the biggest opportunity you predict for your business?

     Well, the beauty of news is that we'll never run out of news. There'll always be something going on in USA and in the world. As I said before, if we can figure out how to generate revenues, I think we can finally start paying people for reports than asking them to volunteer. That'll help us to increase the amount of news and even broadcast it 24/7. 

9) What's the biggest challenge OIC Moviesis currently facing? 

     Probably generating revenue so we can accomplish more. We've been able to get a lot accomplished without a lot of resources, so, like any new small business, managing our growth is a challenge. There's so much we want to do, so many stories to tell, and probably the hardest thing is to stay focused on one thing, delivering the news once a week, when there are so many things that need to get done. We want to be neutral and unbiased and factual. We just want to deliver the news and let the Deaf think for themselves. We have a small staff, the three of us and a few other volunteers, so we can't make big things happen quickly, but we are thinking big!
     In addition, we are working on being family friendly, so that any one of any age can watch us.  I have had schools who contacted me and told me how much they enjoyed showing OIC Movies to their children. The children really benefit from it. However, I did have one school who contacted  me and told me they couldn?t show my website because unknown to me, one of the google ads was showing a dating website and it was not allowed in their school. I had to contact the website host and ask them to block those kind of ads. Go figure. Those kind of things are sometimes unexpected obstacles that we face, but that?s part of business. We can't always react as fast as we want to, but we were able to make the chance.

Deaf scamming Deaf, Can This Be True?

This is really sad. Deaf people are scamming their own people??? I would like to warn everyone about this scam so no one is tricked! Here is what happened, I got an email from Deaf Peter Desmond through Facebook and he told me that I had won US$100,000.00... I had no idea who he was, but his Facebook profile said he was from Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD). Nevertheless, I knew it was a scam right away but I was still curious to see how he was going to try and scam me? I responded back to him and asked him "what is the procedure?" He replied back and asked for my personal information and my address. I was surprised he didn't ask for my credit card number, my bank account number, my SSN, or even my phone number.

Although, I wonder perhaps his account was hacked??? Maybe this Peter Desmond is really innocent?

Nevertheless , watch out for scams and be careful about what you say or do.

Below is a copy of the scam. (I have highlighted some obvious clues that indicates it is a spam). 

==============================

Deaf Peter Desmond May 25 at 7:00am Report

My name is Desmond A Full Deaf Man from Face Book Office. I am one of the Face Book Agent, am here to announce to you a very good news.We want to inform you that your Screen Name is Lucky to be among one of the Lucky Winners during the Face Book Anniversary 2010 and am so much happy to inform you that we shall be giving you the sum of US$100,000.00 for been one of our Lucky Winners.
We really appreciate you for joining our website and for been one of our Yearly Anniversary Lucky Winners, so we want you to reply us back right away as soon as you receive this message to claim your US$100,000.00

Thank you and God Bless!.

Claims Manager
Desmond Peter
deaffundslottoclaim@gmail.com
Face Book Public Relation Office.

--------------------
Drew's response: "Sure. What's the procedure? "
------------------

Yes this is real, I am the claims manager of powerball and facebook funds for deaf (PFFD). PFFD is a charity organization that helps deaf and hard of hearing. PFFD is in collaboration with the governing body of FACEBOOK by selecting all the people that are active online. Among the millions that subscribed to facebook, we select TEN people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, and your profile name has won you the sum of US$100,000.00 we congratulate you for being one of the people selected. To claim your winnings you fill the form below and send to the email address:

deaffundslottoclaim@gmail.com

Full name........
Full Home Address......
Your Age.....
Married/Single.....
Mobile Number.......
E-mail........
What do you do for living.........
Do you Own a house or Rent Appt........
Do you have YAHOO IM or MSN IM......

I am working on your winning prize and it will be ready after you complete process, you can check our related lottery website there you find many people who won same lottery : www. powerball .com


Best wishes

Claims Manager
Desmond Peter (above it says Peter Desmond ???)
deaffundslottoclaim@gmail.com
Face Book Public Relation Office. 

The man behind iDeafNews

Recently I had an interersting interview with the creator of iDeafNews, Seth Gerlis. The following is a summary of our conversation.

 

http://ideafnews.com/new/

1) Is iDeafNews Deaf-owned?
Yes. It is owned by me, Seth Gerlis.

2) Could you tell me a little bit about your background and where  you developed your skills in starting the iDeafNews?
I worked with DeafNation for one year - I learned how to use the equipment, editing machine, the video cameras and the tools to learn to how to film correctly.I do not have any background in film making nor journalism, it is all from scratch. I learned how to set up the news program by myself.

3) How did you come up with the idea for iDeafNews?
There are already several services out there that provide news and current events, but most of them are shown in Closed Captioning instead of in sign language. According to Gallaudet, there are about 600,00 Deaf and 30 million Hard of Hearings in the USA. Many of them want to see news in sign languages. In other words, I want to give them "colors and pictures" for them to enjoy aesthetically and visually.

4) How will iDeafNews be different than other existing services?
I noticed some services are either too personal such as focusing on marriages, obituaries, and so forth. Others focus on hearing news. What I mean by that is the daily news we see on tv. iDeafNews will focus only  on Deaf-related news. IDeafNews' goal is to eventually deliver all kinds of Deaf-related news 7 times a week. FYI, iDeafNews has a Facebook page and all the videos are posted there as well.

5) Would it be challenging to find Deaf-related news on a daily basis?
IDeafNews will not just focus on daily news, but it will also deliver all kinds of features such as sports, politics, social events, expo, interviews, and many more. I do not think it'll be a challenge. I am currently delivering  2 times to 4 times a week. Additionally, there is only one of me. I cannot be at more than two places at the same time. I am hoping to build a network of local reporters on site everywhere in the USA. They will go out, get the report, and I'll deliver it on iDeafNews. I will admit that I do not want to be signing all the news 24/7. I prefer to give everyone their 15 mins of fame. I believe in working with Deaf communities everywhere.

6) You mentioned about having a Facebook page. Why do you post it on both your website and your Facebook page?
Originally, we opened up for business on November 12th with our original website, but I wasn't satisfied with my original design. So I switched to Facebook for the time being until I develop a better design for the website. Ironically, by the time I redesigned the website in January, the Facebook page grew at a rapid pace. I realized there are some people who prefer to spend all their time on Facebook while some other people don't like to use Facebook. So this gives the audience the ability to choose where to view the news.

7) What's the biggest opportunity for iDeafnews?
I'm hoping to establish iDeafNews to be the  #1 media worldwide for any kinds of viewers. I want the subtitles to be uploaded instantly and translated in every language. Additionally, it would be nice to have a reporter sign news out in their native language such as BSL, FSL, or even Universal Sign Language.

8) Do you plan to eventually tap into the television market?
Probably not. I don't think there'll be enough demand to justify it. The internet should suffice.

9) What is the biggest challenge you currently foresee for your business.
Currently, I need more manpower and equipment. It would be great if we could do live news, but I'm unable to do that due to lack of money.And if it happens there are too many news going on at same time, that's great! IDeafNews can post news several times a day. We'll see.

Thank you, Seth Gerlis, for taking the time to chat with me. It does sounds like an exciting business endeavor. I wish you the best of luck.

And for your entertainment, here's a sample of iDeafNews

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DeafWeekly - Where do you find Deaf-related news

I am impressed with http://deafweekly.com/. It gathers all kinds of news relating to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community from all over the world and puts the news on a central website. That is really neat. I took the liberty to contact Tom Willard, the founder of DeafWeekly.com and conduct a short interview with him via emails.

deafweekly

Here is what I have learned.

1) Is Deafweekly.com Deaf-owned?
Yes, I am the owner and I am deaf. I went deaf slowly between the ages of 8 and 22. I didn't have much exposure to the deaf world until I went to college at NTID/RIT but that was 30 years ago and I've been involved with the deaf community ever since..

2) How did you come up with the idea for Deafweekly?
I have a long history in deaf journalism going back to when I was editor of the NTID student newspaper. I was also editor of Silent News and Newswaves, two national newspapers for the deaf. When I started Deafweekly, there were some web services that listed deaf-related articles, but who had time to read them all? I decided that I would provide this service so that others could easily keep up with the deaf news just by reading Deafweekly. The first issue came out in Oct. 2004 and last October we marked our fifth anniversary. The first 4+ years, I wrote the whole thing myself, reading each article and writing capsule summaries. It got to be too much, and last July I switched to a different format and now I just include a brief portion of the stories with links to the full articles. By the way, most of the deaf-related print publications have gone out of business, killed by the Internet. I am glad to not have to pay printing and postage bills, as that was always a challenge.

3) Do you have any plans to expand or perhaps hire other employees?
No, as I don't think it is necessary. Sometimes people will suggest ways to improve Deafweekly but I always ask, will this help sell more ads? If not, then it comes down to me doing more work and getting paid less. Our only source of revenue is advertising, since it is free to subscribe. There are not a lot of companies interested in advertising in deaf publications and it's always a challenge to sell ads but we're doing okay ..

4) What is the biggest challenge you see coming up regarding Deafweekly and news regarding Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities across the world?
I don't see many challenges because deaf people will always be making news in one way or another. One small concern: if news websites start charging money to access their content, it would make it more difficult for me to alert people to links of deaf news.

5) Have you ever consider or foresee the possibility of establishing some sort of News station where reporters would sign out different news and events including yours? (FYI, there are few websites that are already doing this).
No, not at all. Deafweekly is what it is. It's for people who like to read as opposed to those who prefer to get their info via sign language. And as you said, there are already websites doing video news so what is the point of Deafweekly doing it too? It would just be a lot more work with no corresponding increase in income.

Thank you Tom Willard for your excellent work on finding Deaf-related news from all over the world and putting the news into a nice format that makes it easy to read. Thank you again.

Why is it so difficult to accept American Sign Language (ASL) as a Foreign Language?

"One of the worst things you can do to a human being is to say, ‘Your language doesn't count...." That's a powerful statement. Anyhow, some educators argue an indigenous language by definition can't be considered foreign. Indigenous means originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country (dictionary). For example, if you live in Spain and its native language is Spanish, then you cannot consider Spanish as a foreign language. Only non-Spaniards (like Americans or the  French) who do not live in Spain may refer it as a foreign language.

Is American Sign Language (ASL) an indigenous language?

Others say a language must have literature for proper study. That means in order to be a true language, it must have some kind of written form. We have ABC's. Egyptians have hieroglyphics. Chinese have logograms. What about ASL? There are many ASL gloss, SignWriting, for example.

Does American Sign Language lack a true writing system?

The reality is the definition of the word, "foreign" is changing slowly. In fact, many foreign language departments all over schools in the USA were renamed or in the process of renaming the departments to "world languages" or "classical and modern languages." The reason they are doing this is because they realize how there are countless numbers of languages that are indigenous or may not have a written system, but at same time they are still being accepted as a true language. Did you know that most languages around the world, including many African languages, do not have a written system?

So let me ask you again.

Why is it so difficult to accept ASL as a foreign language?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-sign-language-20100416,0,2337497.story

Hearing and Deaf now can drink from the ocean!

1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, but that's not going to be a problem in the future. We figured out how to purify the salty water from the ocean into fresh water. How awesome!

A quick background:
70% of the world is water. That is equal to about 300 quintillion gallons. That's a lot of water, but we couldn't drink most of it because it comes from the ocean. The ocean water is too salty for us to drink. It'll make us sick.

California actually established the first full-scale seawater desalination facility last year, but it wasn't until this year that the California Department of Public Health finally approved the water for public use. How exciting! That means we'll never have to worry about running out of freshwater.

How it works:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/californias-first-full-scale-desalination-plant-lets-residents-drink-pacific-ocean

First, the plant will filter all the dirt and chemicals out of the water. Then it will go through a special layer of a membrane consisting of millions of holes. The holes will be big enough to allow water go through, but not for the salt. That's probably the simplest explanation you'll find. The reason why we haven't established this technique all over the world is because it is expensive, but then again our technology is finding ways to make it cheaper and affordable.

Cool huh? :)

Can Deaf Animals Really Be Taught To Read?

We can teach animals tricks, including sign language. We can teach animals to become our best friends or guides. We might as well finish the circle of life by teaching them how to read...

Hutto

Lucy McVey, the principal at Bluebonnet Elementary, is the owner of a bulldog named Hutto.

"McVey has taught the 6-year-old dog to read 10 words and phrases on flashcards, she said. The words include high five, touchdown, sit and profile. McVey and Peaches do demonstrations at schools and other organizations to encourage children to read, McVey said. The white dog, who has been deaf since birth, also serves as an example of how disabilities can be overcome, she said."All of us have something of value to contribute," the Round Rock principal said."

Anyone else out there have Deaf dogs, Deaf cats, Deaf parrots, or Deaf fish that can read?

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/deaf-bulldog-shows-off-her-reading-abilities-to-514236.html

Can planes cause Deafness???

Widespread deafness is a major problem for the villagers of Santhali, in the Kalchini Block of Jalpaiguri district of the Northeast Indian State, West Bengal. At present, the number has crossed the limit and reached more than 2 to 3 thousand. Now it seems that the entire village has turned into 'a village of the deaf.'

What is the cause?

Airplanes. More specifically, airforce planes and fighter-aircraft (especially, Mig-21, Mig-27, Ground Attack Fighters and some Mig-23UB)s, They can produce up to 500 decibels of sound...

A human hearing's pain threshold where sounds start to cause pain is around 120 decibels.

500 decibels is a whopping can of worms!

http://newsblaze.com/story/20100327123118shan.nb/topstory.ht