Sign2Sing is the annual fundraising event of the Deaf Health Charity SignHealth raising money to give Deaf children a brighter and healthier future in the UK and Uganda. Sign2Sing 2016 takes place from 1-7 February but you can get involved now on our website, sign2sing.org.uk.
Deaf News - Exclusive: Canadian protesters say Deaf students’ new superintendent who can hear must go - but not everyone agrees.
TORONTO STAR - A loud campaign advocating for a Deaf Superintendent circulated online and around the world, then didn’t get what it was fighting for.
The Provincial Schools Branch (PSB), which oversees the provinces four schools for the Deaf, announced last week it hired a hearing superintendent, Jeanne Leonard.
The announcement also said the branch hired Heather Gibson, who is Deaf, in a new position called “assistant to the superintendents.” Though that brings a Deaf person to an administrative level previously dominated by hearing people, some in the Deaf community say that’s not what they were asking for.
“It totally doesn’t make sense - there are qualified Deaf candidates,” Rose Etheridge, said through an interpreter at a protest Monday in front of the Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton. “They’re trying to pacify us,” added Etheridge, whose Oct. 22 video calling for a Deaf Superintendent has hit 20,000 views. (The hashtag #PSBsuperintendent2015 followed the video and generated hundreds of posts from across the continent.)
However, two of the community’s most outspoken advocates - Barbara Dodd and Zak Smith, who was arrested last year for staging a protest over concerns about learning conditions in Ontario’s Schools for the Deaf - say they are satisfied with the appointments as a first step toward more Deaf leadership ... Read More: http://thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/11/09/protesters-say-school-appointment-is-tone-deaf.html
Petitioning Deaf Superintendent Now:
We are protesting against PSB's decision to appoint a hearing person to superintendent position because we are a cultural and linguistic minority group who should be led by our own. We are also protesting for changes in their superintendent selection process, to ensure that it will be transparent, fair and inclusive. Sign up petition HERE.
VIDEO [CC] - Exclusive: Chris Wagner, president of National Association of the Deaf's board of directors, to resign from his position immediately!
This petition is to demand for Chris Wagner, president of the board of directors with National Association of the Deaf (NAD), to resign from his position since his views & special interests doesn’t align with the NAD’s mission statement along with the Deaf Civil Rights. Sign up petition HERE.
If Chris Wagner refuses to resign, with your support by signing this petition, we as the Deaf community of United States of America will demand for the NAD’s board of directors to take action against Chris Wagner and impeach him from his position. We need a leader who will support Deaf Civil Rights and take a stand against Deaf Schools, being dominated by audists who refused to respect Deaf children’s rights to education with American Sign Language.
Ever since the Hunger Strike started against Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD) for oppressing against Deaf people and taking away ASL from the rights of Deaf children, Chris Wagner has made it clear that he’s supporting Donald E. Rhoten, the superintendent of WPSD, over the Deaf community, which is a conflict of interest with NAD’s mission statement.
We have suffered oppression for over 200 years. We have had enough! Now is the time to stand up and make sure our voices are heard with support from NAD to empower the Deaf community and enable Deaf people with greater access to employment, to preserve ASL as a primary language for the Deaf children. The NAD needs to work with the Deaf community, not against itself, like Lincoln said, “A divided house cannot stand!” Sign up petition HERE.
NAD President Asks Community to Become Unified - National Association of the Deaf (NAD) President Chris Wagner asks the community to stop attacking each other and to work together.
To activate this feature, press the "CC" button.
Chris Wagner's description and transcript: This is probably one of the most difficult messages that I have ever had to give. It is evident that the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community is not unified, with all the different individuals and groups making strong comments against each other. There have been bullying incidents on social media as well. This breaks my heart. This kind of hostility is what gives hearing parents concerns about sending their children to a Deaf School.
We all know that these schools are the heart of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Though I didn’t go to a Deaf school myself, I discovered my Deaf identity and American Sign Language through my journey as I became an adult. I know that Deaf schools are important. It is true, I envy people who grew up attending a Deaf school. And I am convinced that we must focus our energy on supporting these Deaf schools... Read More: https://youtu.be/oLBUT0xMVmY
If some of you not agreed with Chris Wagner's statement, then sign up petition HERE.
The abuser was allowed to prey on the school's pupils even after he was convicted of indecently assaulting two of them, and barred by the Department for Education from being a proprietor of the school. His victims, who fought and failed to win justice, tell their story to Erika Jones.
When Deaf children are abused, they can have extra difficulties in letting people know what has happened. One incidence of abuse from an east London school for Deaf children has demonstrated the problem in a See Hear and Newsnight investigation which has named the perpetrator for the first time.
With limited vocabulary and lack of awareness, many children at Woodford School for Deaf Children tried to tell people they were being sexually abused by the husband of the headmistress, without success.
"There was a busy road with a playground and there'd be people walking past but we had no communication because we couldn't speak, we couldn't sign and they couldn't understand our voices," says James, not his real name, a pupil at the school in the early 1960s. "We'd try and write notes but our vocabulary was limited. The only word we knew was 'rude'."
It is difficult for a child to tell an adult that they have been touched inappropriately, sexually assaulted or raped. If that child is Deaf and can't speak well, or if they use sign language, then communicating even the simplest things can be a challenge... Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/disability
NOTE: Woodford school for the Deaf' social media is shutting down include a web-site as well. What a shame, hearing Brits!
VIDEO [CC] Deaf News: #PSBSuperintendent2015 - Canadian Deaf President Now Movement - Superintendent Search: Elite Deaf Schools.
TORONTO - This special discusses the movement for a Deaf Superintendent in Ontario, Canada - George Postlethwait, our Board President, made several comments on the latest community concerns related to the Provincial Schools Branch - Superintendent selection process - #PSBsuperintendent2015.
Postlethwait want to share with you that the Ontario Association of the Deaf is in full support of Rose Etheridge's advocacy efforts for the next incumbent of the Superintendent to be a Deaf individual. Rose is the mother of two Deaf children. We fully endorse the work she has done to engage the community thus far.
Both Donald Prong and Rose Etheridge have had separate meetings with Dr. June Rogers. OAD was left with the impression after these meetings that Dr. Rogers was student centered and whether or not this was her first time engaging with Deaf students, she seemed to have a genuine interest in listening to their issues and concerns... Read More: https://facebook.com/ontariodeaf/videos/
Led by Rose Etheridge, a Deaf mother of Deaf children. She's saying now is the time for a #Deaf president. She's saying there has been no #DeafSuperintendent in Canada for the entire country's history.
[Clarification: PSB = Provincial School Branch, not Board.]
One by one, Canadians are mobilizing to demand a Deaf president and end audism for once and for all. There is no alternative. And we have much to learn from their fight against oppression.
Rose Etheridge on twitter: "Thank YOU to Deaf teachers and Canadian communities for supporting #DeafSuperintendent" ... she tweeted.
VIDEO [CC] - The Power of Sign Language - Human Rights Watch: Deaf children have a right to a quality education, like all other children, in a language and environment that maximizes their potential. Sign language is critical for Deaf people to be able to communicate, express themselves, and learn.
SYDNEY, AU – Deaf children have a right to a quality education, like all other children, in a language and environment that maximizes their potential. In a video released on October 18, 2013, in conjunction with a global conference in Sydney on equality for Deaf people, Human Rights Watch shows some of the challenges faced by Deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them.
Worldwide, Deaf children and young people are often denied an education, including in sign language. There is a lack of teachers well-trained in sign language, and in many cases parents do not know that their children have a right to go to school and that they can learn if only given the opportunity.
“Sign language is critical for Deaf people to be able to communicate, express themselves, and learn,” said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Depriving Deaf people of the opportunity to learn sign language can condemn them to devastating isolation.”
Hundreds of Deaf people, their families, government officials, and disability experts have gathered in Sydney for a major conference on October 16-18 organized by the World Federation of the Deaf.
Human Rights Watch documented cases of Deaf children and young people in Nepal, China, and northern Uganda who were denied their right to education in sign language. Some Deaf children and young people interviewed did not attend school at all. Teachers and parents often have the misconception that Deaf children lack the intellectual capacity to learn.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: India government school teacher doing massage by Deaf student.
AKOLA - The Deaf community and parents in India outraged when the video leaking into the public of a government school teacher forcing student to doing massage which it was not a part of the education in school.
The teacher, Shital Avchar, working at a government run school for Deaf students, was also found guilty of taking nap in the classroom during school hours and harassing the pupils. Slavery are incompatible and it was part of a slavery re-enactment that discriminate to the students - some parents said crossed the line.
How dare teachers doing that to the students and call it an educational experience? Obviously this school district has taken education to a level it never needed to go to. Teaching children how to slavery and act inappropriately is never the job of a teachers.
VIDEO: Auslan Version - Deaf students break language barriers in Australia.
When Heidi Beasley-Ellich sits her written VCE exams this month - whether in media studies or further maths or textiles - she will read the questions in English and write her answers in English, too.
This would not pose a problem were it not for the fact English is not Heidi's first language, because she is profoundly Deaf.
Heidi attends Forest Hill College in Burwood East, which helps Deaf children enter mainstream education by providing them with in-class resources including real-time captioning and interpreters.
Facility manager Amanda Purcell, winner of a 2013 Victorian Teacher of the Year award, believes passionately in the learning system but not the rigid form of assessment that puts Heidi and others at a major disadvantage.
''Say they've been learning and absorbing VCE biology for two years in Auslan,'' Ms Purcell said. ''It defeats the purpose of allowing them to learn the subject in their first language if you're going to assess them in their second language.''
Ms Purcell returned this month from a research trip to Scotland, where exams for the Deaf work differently. There, an interpreter signs each question to a Deaf student, and the student signs their answer while being filmed.
''The interpreter will then watch the film, and translate everything that the student signed into English,'' she said. ''That's what goes off to be assessed. And that's what I'm really hoping to get here.''
Ms Purcell is compiling an options paper for the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority based on her consultation with researchers and curriculum authorities abroad.
VIDEO [CC] - Human Rights Watch: Offer Deaf Children Education in Sign Language. Sign language is critical for Deaf people to be able to communicate, express themselves, and learn.
SYDNEY, AU – Deaf children have a right to a quality education, like all other children, in a language and environment that maximizes their potential. In a video released on October 18, 2013, in conjunction with a global conference in Sydney on equality for Deaf people, Human Rights Watch shows some of the challenges faced by Deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them.
Worldwide, Deaf children and young people are often denied an education, including in sign language. There is a lack of teachers well-trained in sign language, and in many cases parents do not know that their children have a right to go to school and that they can learn if only given the opportunity.
“Sign language is critical for Deaf people to be able to communicate, express themselves, and learn,” said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Depriving Deaf people of the opportunity to learn sign language can condemn them to devastating isolation.”
Hundreds of Deaf people, their families, government officials, and disability experts have gathered in Sydney for a major conference on October 16-18 organized by the World Federation of the Deaf.
Human Rights Watch documented cases of Deaf children and young people in Nepal, China, and northern Uganda who were denied their right to education in sign language. Some Deaf children and young people interviewed did not attend school at all. Teachers and parents often have the misconception that Deaf children lack the intellectual capacity to learn.
VIDEO: Parents of Deaf children encouraged to learn sign language.
KENYA - Parents of Deaf children need to learn sign language in order to communicate with their children.
This is the proposal by the undugu society of Kenya, who maintain that most Deaf children, especially those from poor backgrounds, live most of their formative years in silence because both their parents and the community at large cannot communicate with them.
The society also faulted the education system for not being accommodative enough to enable effective learning by Deaf children.
VIDEO [ASL/CC] - Ontario Deaf Schools: Stand ups and speaks out. Students protest outfront Deaf school. Almost two dozen students protest outfront the E.C. Drury School for the Deaf, staff cuts,that they say will impact their education.
The layoff of 56 full-time staff from Ontario’s Provincial Schools will hurt the province’s most vulnerable students with disabilities and severely impact the families’ rights to accessible education.
Deaf Canadians: Stand Up and Speak Up.
Ellen Support ECD Protest.
This is regarding ECD Deaf school protest in response to Ontario Government's recent decision to lay off staff at Deaf schools in Ontario.
Deaf Children Value Deaf School and Staff.
Vaylena Sauve 6 years old and Owen Sauve 9 years attend Sir James Whitney for the Deaf School. Value all Deaf school.
VIDEO [ASL/CC] - The layoff of 56 full-time staff from Ontario’s Provincial Schools will hurt the province’s most vulnerable students with disabilities and severely impact the families’ rights to accessible education.
TORONTO - Vulnerable students in Provincial Schools to suffer from layoffs. The Ministry is moving this work to contingent part-time workers, and away from support workers who have over 20 years’ experience and who have made significant impacts in the lives of parents and students with disabilities, Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President.
The layoff of 56 full-time staff from Ontario’s Provincial Schools will hurt the province’s most vulnerable students with disabilities and severely impact the families’ rights to accessible education. Ontario government reduces full-time workers who teach students with disabilities.
“The Ministry is moving this work to contingent part-time workers, and away from support workers who have over 20 years’ experience and who have made significant impacts in the lives of parents and students with disabilities,” Thomas said. “The move to part-time work will cheapen important programs that accommodate students in Ontario. Meanwhile, full-time social workers, residence counsellors, maintenance workers and support staff will be forced out the door.” ...READ MORE: http://www.nupge.ca/content/5866/vulnerable-students-provincial-schools-suffer-layoffs
A Hearing Mother Speaks out in Support of Deaf Children in Ontario.
Hi! My name is Jeanette and I am a mother. I have a deaf son-he is 10 years old and he attends the school for the Deaf. I am not deaf as you can tell because I am speaking but I am choosing to send out this message-MY message in a video format to plea to other parents like myself that have chosen to send their child to a Provincial School. I think it is time that WE as a collective start a dialogue and have a discussion about important changes that will be coming down and have an impact on our children.
First of all, I just want to commend you on sending your child to a deaf school because I am sure it wasn't an easy decision for you. I know first hand how difficult it must be to be hearing and send a child to a deaf school and have them learn a different language probably different than the one you are speaking at home. So, you are very brave and as I I said I know how it feels because I do have a deaf child attending the school for the deaf and actually living in residence... Read more: http://youtu.be/K1Bbf8vB7n0
Something Fishy with the Ontario Deaf Education Today ?
VIDEO: [CC] - American Sign Language storytelling of the Deaf Schools 'Home'
Deaf Institutions, Since 1950, over 67 percent of our homes are disappearing in America. - In this day and age of economic cuts, the closure of educational programs and schools for the deaf has been viewed as a convenient way to reduce budgets. Over the past 63 years, several schools for the deaf have been closed and numerous others have experienced cuts as well as the threat of closure.
Closing such schools actually result in increased long term costs for states rather than serving as a cost-saving measure and, more importantly, result in severe educational deficits for many Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.
VIDEO [ASL/CC] - Stephanie Nogueras: Inspiring Deaf Community Puerto Rico.
Stephanie Nogueras, is an actress who plays Natalie on the show ‘Switched at Birth’. Stephanie is issuing a call to action, inviting community to be part of the solution to explain why she is doing a good cause, to raise Deaf awareness in Puerto Rico for a better future.
My volunteers & I plan to travel to a Deaf school in Puerto Rico to raise Deaf Awareness & Culture. We will be interacting with Deaf Puerto Ricans within the Deaf Community. We hope by sharing our personal stories of accomplishments, we hope to inspire them to believe that they can aspire to achieve anything they dream! My mother is hearing, Puerto Rican, and a perfect role model for the hearing parents of Deaf children. She is fluent in English, Spanish and American Sign Language. My mother will be educating and inspiring families on building relationships and better communication with their deaf child through lectures and presentations.
Would you kindly consider making a small donation for the Deaf community in Puerto Rico? Our goal and purpose is to encourage a better education system and a better Deaf awareness so that we can ensure a better future for every child within the Deaf communities of Puerto Rico! Nothing is too small. $5 can make a huge difference in other’s life. ...Read more details at http://www.gofundme.com/fundesd.
It is time to raise Deaf awareness for a better future!
In appreciation of your donation, you will receive a small "Thank You" gift in return! Share this on Facebook, Twitter, and even email your friends and family. A donation of $5 can make a huge difference in each child's life.
‘Switched at Birth’: ABC Family’s The teen soap Switched at Birth explores self-expression and the communication gulf between the hearing and Deaf communities. List of Switched at Birth characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Switched_at_Birth_characters
VIDEO [ASL] - Switched at Birth actress asks community to help raise funds for ESD (Evangelical School for the Deaf) for a better future. An important message from her heart for the Deaf community.
Look at USA, already have a several Deaf organizations, events, clubs, sports, etc. A strong Deaf community which is close knit. Many Deaf Americans are proud for who they are, socializing with Deaf/HOH people often, and supportive each other. What about Puerto Rico? Where is that? Secondly, less than 5% Hearing families with Deaf child who can communicate in sign language in Puerto Rico (Documented by David and Marsha.) Can you believe that? 2013?
Deaf schools and mainstreamed schools are in need to improve education system for the Deaf children. I asked a teacher about the Deaf children, she mentioned that most Deaf children have no self esteem or no role models to look up at. They need to grow their self esteem to love themselves. They need to have a role model to look up at so they can achieve anything they dream.
It is time to raise Deaf awareness for a better future!
My volunteers & I are looking forward to visiting Puerto Rico on this Fall. We will be interacting with Deaf Puerto Ricans within the Deaf Community. We hope by sharing our personal stories of accomplishments, we hope to inspire them to believe that they can aspire to achieve anything they dream!
My mother will be educating and inspiring families on building relationships and better communication with their deaf child through lectures and presentations.
In appreciation of your donation, you will receive a small "Thank You" gift in return! Share this on Facebook, Twitter, and even email your friends and family. A donation of $5 can make a huge difference in each child's life.
"We are like one water drop on the surface ocean and make a big wave all over." Make a big impact. :) You can check the video and make a donation through here: www.gofundme.com/fundesd.
‘Switched at Birth’: ABC Family’s The teen soap Switched at Birth explores self-expression and the communication gulf between the hearing and Deaf communities. List of Switched at Birth characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Switched_at_Birth_characters
VIDEO [CC] - Deaf people are cheated by oralism in American Sign Language.
Support bi-lingual education for Deaf children. Stop Indiana HB 1367.
Please share this video clip from the 1994 PBS documentary 'For A Deaf Son'.
This documentary is no longer available to view or purchase anywhere. I wish it would become available to view publicly. So many good things in this film. Jack Gannon's words are inspiring, touching and timeless.
The concept of Space Camp for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children was pioneered in 1986 by Dr. John Tiffany, principal of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega, Al. Dr. Tiffany asked John Thomas Wheeler who worked at NASA if he would be interested in speaking to the students about NASA and science related jobs, he accepted.
The first group to attend Deaf Space Camp had 21 Deaf and HoH students from around the United States.
In the fall of 1997, Amy Newland, who taught at the Western PA School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh PA, independently took over the coordination of the program as the director. The director of this program has been on a volunteer basis since it's conception.
Since 1987 there have been over 2,000 students and staff, from the United States and Internationally, who have attended the program Space Camp/Aviation Challenge for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
This video was created by Ohio School for the Deaf students.
VIDEO: Learn about Deaf people and their culture video in American Sign Language.
Learn and improve your ASL while learning about the people who use it! Deaf Culture Autobiographies show you some of the leaders in the Deaf community who said so much... without uttering a word! Want to be an interpreter?
Learn from one of the best. Lou Fant interprets this one. If you'd like to see more of this or other DVDs from Sign Enhancers: www.SignEnhancers.com OR you can see sign language instructional videos online and on demand! www.SignEnhancersOnDemand.com
VIDEO [CC] - 7 Things I Hate About You in American Sign Language music video.
My Theatre 1 students at Texas School for the Deaf performed in this music video.
Edited and captioned by (JoAnn Benfield) with a little bit of help from Bradley Gantt (blue background changes) Copyright by Miley Cyrus and gave their ASL interpretation on the song. Credits are on the video.
This petition is to demand for Chris Wagner, president of the board of directors with National Association of the Deaf (NAD), to resign from his position since his views & special interests doesn’t align with the NAD’s mission statement along with the Deaf Civil Rights. Sign up petition HERE.
SYDNEY, AU – Deaf children have a right to a quality education, like all other children, in a language and environment that maximizes their potential. In a video released on October 18, 2013, in conjunction with a global conference in Sydney on equality for Deaf people, Human Rights Watch shows some of the challenges faced by Deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them.
When Heidi Beasley-Ellich sits her written VCE exams this month - whether in media studies or further maths or textiles - she will read the questions in English and write her answers in English, too.
TORONTO - Students from the E.C. Drury School for The Deaf are in their second day of protesting the layoffs of 56 full-time support and residential staff, including nine locally at their Ontario Street campus of Ontario’s Provincial Schools.
Deaf Institutions, Since 1950, over 67 percent of our homes are disappearing in America. - In this day and age of economic cuts, the closure of educational programs and schools for the deaf has been viewed as a convenient way to reduce budgets. Over the past 63 years, several schools for the deaf have been closed and numerous others have experienced cuts as well as the threat of closure.