Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications: California

VIDEO [CC] Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program: Equipment & Services for Individuals with a Speech Disability.

This archived webinar introduces participants to the free equipment and services available to disabled Californians through the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP),



• The California Telephone Access Program (CTAP), AKA California Phones, and

• The California Relay Service (CRS) with a focus on consumers with a speech disability.

Video from Ability Tools



Learn how you can assist your speech-disabled clients to receive free phones that accommodate their needs and how to use operator-assisted relay services that allow them to have conversations over the phone even if most other people have difficulties understanding their speech.



Love Miller is an Outreach Specialist for the California Telephone Access Program, specializing in consumers with speech difficulties. Love provides outreach and information for people with speech difficulties through presentations and informational booths. She earned her BSW from San Jose State University and her MPA from National University.

Deaf Protest Athens 2015 Live Video

Deaf News: Deaf Greek protests shouting "Give money to Providence Education, go get them from the plutocracy".

ATHENS - Thousands of disabled, chronically ill, parents and guardians with disabilities from across the country of Greece, and teachers in special education and mainstream schools gathered early in the afternoon in the center of Athens, participating in nationwide pananapiriko rally.



The mobilization involved the Coordination Committee Struggle Disabled, the Single Parents Association, Guardians of Disabled Attica, the Association of Workers Unit, Foundations, Schools Special Education, and the Deputy Initiative, demanding "No more mockery, teachers in all schools" as wrote their banners.

The demonstration was attended by the KKE MP Christos Katsotis.



The disabled and chronically ill gathered at Omonoia Square and made protest to the Constitution, shouting slogans such as "Give money to Providence - Education, go get them from the plutocracy" and "euro sacks to bankers, the Special schools were doing warehouses.'



The third memorandum the lowest disability pension is 87 euros, the retirement age for disabled workers go to 67 years and 50% reduction in the state budget expenditure on Welfare, leading to the closure of institutions by loading higher cost care to families. Moreover abolished and cut disability benefits and chronic sufferers and Special Schools close, imposed alimony.



Among other claims, the SEAAN: No cut in benefits and disability pensions, extending them to groups who do not get benefits, such as Deaf, Alzheimer. No pension below 600 euros unemployment benefit of 600 euros to all unable to work disabled, chronically ill and massive recruitment with constant work. No payment for drugs and treatments. Open all Special Schools in full operation, massive recruitment of permanent staff, to repeal the alimony. Source



Related Post - @Deaf Protest

Deaf Short Film 'You & Me'

VIDEO: A short comedy film 'You & Me' now in pre-production.

A young Deaf woman meets a recently blinded man at a cafe. What follows is a funny and moving love story about life’s universal challenges and joys. This short is an excerpt from the feature-length screenplay.

Written by Hillary Baack & Alexander Baack

Produced by Alexander Baack & Hillary Baack

Directed by Alexander Baack (Hollywood Musical!)

Starring Hillary Baack (The East)

Music by D.D. Jackson



You & Me - Indiegogo Intro: The introduction of our Indiegogo campaign as well as the short film of the big meet cute!

You & Me from Force Studios. For more, visit: forcestudios.com/youme.

Dear Media: Stop Describing The Deaf As 'Mute'

VIDEO [CC] Deaf News: The phrase "deaf-mute" is problematic, and it is not an appropriate way to discuss a person.

Huffington Post by Lydia Callis - An unusual tale about a young Indian woman named Geeta has been making its way around the internet after a Bollywood film helped spark interest in her story. As a child, Geeta accidentally crossed the border into Pakistan all alone. She lived there in the care of a social welfare group for more than ten years years until last month, when she finally returned to India.

Geeta is Deaf and uses sign language to communicate, and the way the mainstream media has chosen to portray her is quite revealing. Major news outlets from CNN to CBS to Al Jazeera all decided to utilize the outdated terms "deaf" and "mute" in their stories about the woman.



For centuries, people with different abilities, intellectual skills or physical features were forced to live on the fringes of society. They were labeled "defective" or "freaks" by the mainstream, and their families were shamed by their existence.

These labels kept people isolated, and they opened the door for abuse and neglect. People who were Deaf were never even given the opportunity to learn or socialize. They were denied humanity just because they were a little bit different... Read More: http://huffingtonpost.com/lydia-l-callis/how-the-media-mutes-deaf-voices.html



Related Post - Deaf Indian Woman Returns Home After 12-Years

Archives Tag: #Deaf Indians

Deaf Woman Sues NYPD For Wrongly Arrested

VIDEO [CC] - Exclusive Interviews: Deaf woman arrested by NYPD settles case against city for $750,000.



NEW YORK CITY - A Deaf woman who said she was wrongly arrested by cops who ignored her disability settled her case for $750,000 Tuesday, a figure her attorneys say is the largest of its kind.



Diana Williams charged in her suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court that the New York City Police Department officers who slapped her in cuffs ignored police guidelines requiring them to request a sign language interpreter when interacting with Deaf people.



“Deaf individuals have rights, and they do not have to tolerate discrimination and injustices of any kind,” her attorneys Andrew Rozynski and Eric Baum said in a statement.



“Ms. Williams hopes that the settlement will send a message to all law enforcement agencies across the country that they should adopt proper policies and procedures to ensure full communication access for Deaf individuals.”

Two New Yorkers who can't hear or speak and communicate only by sign language claim they were wrongly arrested by NYPD officers in two separate incidents.



Williams’ ordeal began Sept. 11, 2011, when she called 911 for assistance evicting a difficult tenant from her Staten Island home.



Most of the people in the house were Deaf, but cops allegedly ignored training requiring them to request an interpreter.



Without being able to explain to Williams what was happening, Officer Christian Romano arrested her and the tenant for allegedly getting in a fight, and for the next 24 hours police ignored her attempts to communicate, the suit said.



Williams was so panicked she even wrote the letters “HOSP” on the window of a police cruiser in an effort to tell them she needed to go to the hospital, the suit says.



Romano checked the “No” box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was needed, according to documents. He later checked “No” on different paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.



Williams’ attorneys, who run the Eisenberg and Baum Law Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said they believe their client has received the largest payout ever to an individual alleging Deaf discrimination by a public agency. A Deaf advocate at the firm, Sheryl Eisenberg-Michalowski, also worked on the case.



“Settling was in the best interest of the city,” a Law Department spokesman said. Source by New York Daily News

Ethiopian Immigrant's Role Model For Deaf Inmates

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News - Ethiopian immigrant is a role model for Deaf inmates in the United States.



West - Welfare Society Territory: A Deaf Ethiopian immigrant is the new champion for US inmates with hearing impairments. Abreham Zemedagegehu, 41, whose case is causing debate in the US, is suing the powerful sheriff of Arlington, Virginia, for failing to take into account his disabilities during his detention following a theft in 2014.



“In prison, no one could communicate with me,” Abreham Zemedagegehu told the magistrates. This caused him to suffer inhuman and degrading treatment, to the point that he often missed lunch and dinner because he couldn’t hear the bell for mealtimes. Not to mention that he couldn’t communicate with the outside world because there was no phone equipment to meet his needs. Neither was he given access to a doctor who could understand the medications he required.

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Moreover, according to some of the major human rights organisations, Abreham Zemedagegehu is no exception. He’s just proof of a prison system that is not equipped to provide the basic services for prisoners with hearing disabilities, who represent between 5% and 7% of the entire prison population.



Non-governmental organizations say that even small changes would be enough to change things drastically. Some state prisons in the US even state-run prisons in Virginia have become role models to imitate. Arlington prison, where Abreham is detained, is under federal jurisdiction, however, so doesn’t fall into this category. Many state prisons now provide access for the Deaf to electronic message boards for announcements and video phones for calls to family and friends. While there are sign language interpreters for circumstances such as professional courses, disciplinary hearings or medical visits. Source



NOTE: Deaf YouVideo has learned, the West Welfare Society Territory web-site posted an error picture of Kenneth Felix Jr aka KenX50 instead of Abreham Zemedagegehu as seen on HERE.



Related Post:

Deaf Man Jailed With No Access To Interpreter

Deaf Protest 2015 - Petition | Employment Act Bill

Campaign: Deaf Protest 2015 - Petitioning President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON - Deaf Protest 2015 wishes your participation in making bill into law. We will unshelf the 2012 bill intended for disabled including Deaf and move on with the progress. Sign up petition HERE.

It is the time and opportunity to stand together at the front of the White House, that everything is not okay. Education, oppression, effective communication, segregation, harassment of disability, American Disability Priority Employment, Deaf Community Protection Act Bill proposal and more... Read more: https://www.change.org/p/adam-stoffer-deaf-protest-2015



More information on Facebook - https://facebook.com/thedeafsociety



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Deaf Protest at White House in Washington DC

Deaf Protest Rally At The White House In D.C.

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Deaf Lives Matter

President Obama Engages With Youth Deaf People

Stop Discrimination Deaf People

Deaf Worker Lawsuit BioLife For Discrimination

Deaf News: Deaf worker whose job offer was rescinded wins bias appeal.

Business Insurance - Deaf employees are allowed to use alternate alerting devices to perform their job, says an appeals court that reversed a ruling Monday in favor of a Deaf job applicant who had a job offer rescinded after being offered the position.



Kelly Osborne filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, Wyoming, against BioLife Plasma Services, a blood collecting facility located in Cheyenne that operates under Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter Healthcare Corp. Ms. Osborne’s case stated the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against a qualified individual on the basis of disability.



Ms. Osborne, who is Deaf but can read lips, applied for a plasma center technician position that required monitoring the donor area’s plasmapheresis machines that remove blood from a donor, separate the plasma and return the red blood cells to the donor. The machines emit audible alarms when something goes wrong. She was offered a position, but BioLife’s human resources department determined Ms. Osborne was not qualified, and the offer was rescinded, according to court documents.



The District Court decided May 30, 2014, that Ms. Osborne did not identify reasonable ways that she could monitor the donor blood machines using other methods to alert her and granted summary judgment to BioLife... Read more: http://businessinsurance.com/article/news



Related Post:

Deaf Lifeguard Be ‘Qualified’ Under The ADA ?

Stop Discrimination Deaf People

Deaf Football Lawsuit For Discrimination

Deaf Worker Sues BioLife For Discrimination

Deaf Man Beaten To Death In His Home

Deaf man beaten to death in his home. His nose was broken, his larynx crushed and clumps of hair ripped from his head.



AURORA, Colorado. - Jonny Braning did a hilarious impression of Elvis. Though he was Deaf, the 48-year-old man had lived a full life.



The simple pleasures Jonny lived for seeing his granddaughter and making people smile were all taken from him between Feb. 26 and March 7, 2002, when someone bludgeoned him to death in his small Aurora apartment.



Robbery may have been the intent, according to a story by former Rocky Mountain News reporter Sarah Huntley. But it was hard for investigators to understand why.



Jonny was living on disability and didn’t have much money, Huntley reported.



Over the years he had worked for King Soopers, Jolly Rancher and as a janitor for a telecommunications company. But he was unemployed and lived on his monthly disability check. He would go to a corner store and write a note for a clerk when he needed something.



He lived in a small apartment at 1097 S. Evanston Way.



It appeared that whoever killed Jonny first attacked him in his bedroom, possibly with some type of blunt weapon, which was never found. Apparently a battle continued into his living room.



His body was found lying on the floor in his living room by maintenance workers who became worried when they realized they hadn’t seen the man, who was a fixture of the complex, in days. The carpet was soaked with blood. Read more: http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2013/08/31/deaf-and-mute-aurora-man-beaten-to-death-in-his-home/7198/

AmeriCorps Persons With Disabilities

VIDEO [CC] - AmeriCorps: Shows how people with disabilities can make profound differences in others lives through AmeriCorps service work.



Footage includes a person with cerebral palsy working with elderly and "locked in" patients, a Deaf person as part of a team that restores old houses, and a blind woman as the director of an at-risk outreach group.

Deaf and Disabled Children In Sport

VIDEO [CC] - Hearing athletes including Deaf and disabled children in sport.



Ade Adepitan returns to his home of Newham and asks local disabled children to tell him all about the local sporting provision's pros and cons for a young disabled athlete.

AG Bell & Cochlear Implant Companies

Deaf Advocates responses on issue of the Advanced Bionics and Cochlear Americas are featured on the AG Bell Association front page as being their Circle Alliance. Cochlear Americas was in the news yesterday as the Dept of Justice announced it has been found guilty of kickbacks and must pay $880,000.



Blog has past quotes from Advanced Bionics and Cochlear Americas explaining what their role in AG Bell Association's Circle Alliance has been. A plea to AG Bell Association to reconsider who it keeps company with.



AFA Petition for an Independent Investigation of CIs: http://www.petitiononline.com/AFA62509/petition.html



Dept of Justice announcement of the settlement against Cochlear Americas: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/June/10-civ-673.html



Notice of the suits against Advanced Bionics: http://www.weitzlux.com/failed-cochlearimplants_1937570.html



In March I had vlogged about Advanced Bionics being the top banner on the AG Bell Homepage. Advanced Bionics had been sued by a law firm which has a Deaf lawyer who has a CI but was representing cases of Deaf adults and children who had gotten shocks and other adverse reactions to failed CIs manufactured by Advanced Bionics due to moisture leaks and faulty CIs.



Since that time AG Bell has removed Advanced Bionics from its top banner. Great news. Perhaps the cochlear implant is only for the MONEY as the dirty business? as seen on Cochlear Business Is Dirty Business! with captioned.

Deaf Chinese Is The Best Art Performance

VIRAL VIDEO: Deaf Chinese People's Performing Art Troupe, "Thousand-hand Guan Yin" Guan Yin is a Chinese Goddess.



BEIJING - Feeling music through speakers and guided by hand gestures, a troupe of Deaf dancers in Beijing, China take steps to champion the rights of disabled people across the world.



"Being Deafness, these disabled female performers endure pain and suffering in vigorous training, simply to deliver a message of love to mankind."

Guanyin or Kwanyin (aka), the Goddess of Mercy also known by Westerners as the Chinese Goddess of love and compassion has long occupied a unique place not only in Buddhism, but also in Chinese culture. The Chinese word "Guanyin is an abbreviation of "Guan shi yin" which denotes" seeing the voice of the world if rendered literally. Such a deity can be called as the deity who looks in every direction or the "Regarder of the cries of suffering beings".



According to legend, Guanyin, the youngest daughter of a king, defied her father when he sought a husband for her. The angry king sent her away to a monastery with instructions that she should be compelled to obey. This only strengthened her resolve. So the king set fire to the monastery and ordered her execution when she was caught sitting erect reciting sutras. As she was about to be beheaded, the sword broke into two and a tiger from nowhere carried her away to a forest.



One day from afar she saw the king was sick and not responding to treatment, so she severed her arms and eyes to sacrifice them for him. The grieved king besought heaven and earth to make his daughter whole again. Soon, Guanyin had arms and eyes by the thousand, and bowing before her father, she urged him to practise good deeds to which the king readily agreed.



Actually legends have Guanyin in various forms. But the story of the Goddess in this one-thousand-hand form has had an immense appeal. Thus the thousand-hand deity is no longer an exclusive religious symbol but has become a popular cultural icon to religious followers and common folks alike.



The legendary Thousand-hand Guanyin as interpreted by the special artists plucked the heartstrings of the audience. In their rendition of the legendary goddess, they not only demonstrated their superb dancing skills in perfect unison with elegant and forceful movements, but attained a ye higher level to turn it into a live myth full of artistic appeal and stirring power on the stage.



Though we only saw one leading dancer on the stage, we saw in our mind's eye a whole collective where 21 troupe members fused together as one human being with one shared heart. What we saw on the stage was the one Thousand-hand Guanyin, serene, holy and beautiful, that existed in each of the dancers' hearts. While enjoying the colourful performance, we experienced a profound sense of tranquility and composure, a process of cleansing and purification of our souls.



We spetators can hardly imagine how much time and effort these artists must have invested in bringing about such a unique work of art. And only a collective with all its crew members bound together in unity, harmony and friendliness could make it.



The image of the Thousand-hand Guanyin is symbolic of maternal love and infinite compassion.



And the enlightenment we gain from the performance itself is that people with disabilities are also creators of both material and spiritual wealth. Such a spirit of perseverance in pursuing and creating a better life in the face of adversity should be followed by all of us.



Any copyrighted material in this video is copied for educational purposes only !