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October 27, 2008
Understanding Hearing Aid Technology
If you wear a hearing aid or are thinking about getting one, you are probably confused about the terminology concerning hearing aids. Hearing aids are very complicated and are essentially computers sitting in or behind your ear. This is a 3 part story on the basic terminology of hearing aids. I hope this helps you make an informed decision about which hearing aid is right for you.
Feedback – Feedback occurs when the sound that the hearing aid is amplified feeds back into the hearing aid. This produces very loud whistling by the hearing aids. Most hearing aids are now equipped with feedback blockers. This technology will work to detect and eliminate feedback. Some hearing aid manufactures have very good feedback managers and are able to nearly eliminate feedback.
Posted @ 2:52 AM
Deaf Comic Doesn't Take Self Too Seriously
Instead, Kathy Buckley -- whom everyone dismissed as retarded when she was a little girl growing up in Wickcliff, Ohio -- diffused the serious side of life with laughter at two appearances in Muskegon Wednesday.
"I love to make people laugh," she said. "It's disarming."
In other words, if you can't laugh at what Buckley's been through, you're sure to weep. She has.
"But I want to be in the 'now,' " she said. "I don't want to miss anything by being in the negative."
Buckley, 54, was 8 years old before anyone realized she couldn't hear. Until then, school officials and her family labeled her hopelessly "retarded" and sent her to a special school for the disabled. There, isolated, she went through the motions of learning in a world of silence.
Posted @ 2:50 AM
16-year-old Arrested in Rape of 6-year-old LA School for Deaf student
Louisiana State Police have arrested a 16-year-old male for the alleged rape of a six-year-old female student at the Louisiana School for the Deaf.
The incident was reported last month and was part of a series of sexual assault allegations that led to the school being temporarily shut down. The school was closed October 8th and is not yet expected to reopen until November 3rd.
Posted @ 2:48 AM
Blood from slain deaf man found on accused, court hears
Blood from a slain Brampton man was found on the jeans and jacket worn by the man accused of murdering him, jurors have heard.
Anthony Medwid, 20, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the March 23, 2007 stabbing death of Brian Wainman, 27.
But a forensic investigator had told jurors that the jeans and jacket identified as Medwid's clothing had impact blood stains from the deceased man.
Posted @ 2:46 AM
Mentoring deaf students breaks the sound of silence
Sitting in the Lawrence High School cafeteria, an engineer at Raytheon and three students developed a quick friendship without speaking a word. The four communicated using sign language. They learned about each other's families, school, work, and the students' futures.
The engineer, Donald Slate, 26, is a key to their futures. Slate will tutor Jose Geronimo, Carmen DeLeon and Lizbeth DePena, all 21 and Lawrence High seniors, in math and English using sign language. He is tutoring them through a program called Stand and Deliver.
Posted @ 2:45 AM
Instructor who abused deaf children is jailed for 12 years
A former teacher who sexually abused deaf children in his care was jailed for 12 years yesterday.
Colin Macdonald, 61, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was found guilty of 10 charges of abusing children in Scotland between 1973 and 1983.
Macdonald, a respected instructor in outdoor activities, and who is also deaf, carried out his attacks when the children were on camping and skiing expeditions.
Posted @ 2:45 AM
Crew films documentary on 19th century deaf baseball player 'Dummy' Hoy
Sheree Goad of Evansville sat in Bosse Field's chilly grandstands Saturday morning with her 11-year-old daughter, Natalie.
They watched as California filmmaker David Risotto paced, consulted and waited to begin shooting some scenes for his headed-to-TV baseball documentary, "Dummy Hoy: A Deaf Hero."
Many of the 25 or so paid extras were still in the 93-year-old ballpark's ancient clubhouse where hairstylists slicked down men's hair and created Victorian curls for women.
Posted @ 2:43 AM
Signs of improvement at School for the Deaf, Riverside
New courses and tutoring sessions aren't the only steps the School for the Deaf, Riverside, has taken over the last two years to bring up student achievement.
Even making sure to use sign language in every conversation is a way to help students learn, according to Superintendent Mal Grossinger.
Efforts to improve student performance at the school may not show results for years. Many students arrive at the school after years in traditional public schools, often lagging far behind.
Posted @ 2:43 AM
Teacher beats up 2 deaf and dumb kids
In the first-ever incident of corporal punishment in the deaf and dumb school here, a teacher is alleged to have mercilessly beaten up two students of Class III. The school is being run by the Red Cross Society. Both students, bearing scars on their body, narrated the incident to mediapersons today with sign language.
Posted @ 2:42 AM
'Survivor' Star Gives Lesson to Deaf Children
It looks like fun and games, but these kids are learning a very valuable lesson.
As hearing impaired students at Rochester's School of the Deaf, they're being taught how to live in a listening intense world - something Christy Smith knows all too well.
The 30-year-old Smith was born deaf. Smith said she's never let her disability stop her, Including her run on the CBS show "Survivor." She applied, accepted and made it 33 out of 39 days on the reality series.
Posted @ 2:41 AM
Deaf Short Film Festival gets $6000 grant
In May next year, Wellingtonians will have a chance to experience the world from a hearing-impaired perspective when the New Zealand Deaf Short Film Festival takes place.
Coinciding with New Zealand Sign Language Week, the festival will be comprised of two parts – a short film competition for local filmmakers and a showcase of deaf films from New Zealand and around the world.
Posted @ 2:40 AM
Jury Awards $400,000 to Deaf Patient for Denial of Interpreter Services
A Hudson County jury's $400,000 verdict for a deaf patient whose doctor refused her an interpreter may be a wake-up call for all professionals -- including lawyers -- that they risk liability for disability discrimination.
Worse, malpractice liability insurance does not usually cover such liability, says plaintiff's attorney Clara Smit.
Smit's client, Irma Gerena, claimed she repeatedly asked Jersey City rheumatologist Robert Fogari to hire an American Sign Language interpreter. Fogari said that as a solo practitioner, he couldn't afford the estimated $150 to $200 per visit an interpreter would cost.
Posted @ 2:40 AM
Robbers leave man deaf, blind
He had always been the heart and soul of a party, but now Clint Kerr, 44, from Johannesburg is blind and deaf and his family is desperate to get him to communicate again.
"He wants to know why we won't talk to him. He really doesn't seem to realise that he has become deaf and blind," his son Darren said on Thursday.
After robbers tortured Clint at his house in Glenvista in March and hit him on the head with a hammer, he contracted meningitis and lost his sight and hearing.
Posted @ 2:39 AM
Deaf people feel silenced by telecoms
A consortium of deaf organisations have come together to launch a campaign to improve telecoms services for deaf people by demanding better services at affordable prices.
TAG, which represents all the main UK deaf organisations, is taking its case direct to Parliament. As part of the ‘Bringing Deaf Telecoms into the 21st Century’ campaign, TAG called on the Government and telecoms regulator Ofcom to put deaf people on to an equal footing with hearing people in their use of the telephone.
Posted @ 2:38 AM
Deaf get new hope with IT training
Ten previously unemployed deaf youth are about to be given new hope for the future after embarking on an internationally certified IT training course which will give them key skills for employability.
The 10 will receive their Microsoft Certified Application Specialist training from two deaf trainers, Kabelo Moloi and Nandipha Jongizulu, who are employed by the Johannesburg-based Employ & Empower Deaf (eDeaf), an entrepreneurial service provider to the deaf community in South Africa.
Posted @ 2:37 AM
Parents of LA School for the Deaf students frustrated about post-closure plans
The shock over the shutdown of the Louisiana School for the Deaf in the wake of an investigation into alleged sexual conduct is now producing a different kind of confusion.
Parents with children in the school say they are having trouble finding out where to go next. An information hotline has been set up so parents could get information about alternative classes and transportation.
Parents say they are frustrated from getting the run around. Also, the students themselves are having a hard time adjusting to the sudden changes in their routines.
Posted @ 2:36 AM
Deaf people lobby MPs over phones
Deaf campaigners fighting for equal access to the telephone are lobbying MPs at a reception in Parliament.
Consortium group TAG said deaf people were being held back in their jobs and lives because phone technology was no longer easily available or affordable.
Chairman Ruth Myers said it was vital services keep pace with technology.
Posted @ 2:36 AM
Funds may stall HIV/AIDS awareness for deaf persons
Few days to the kick off of the awareness week on HIV/AIDS for deaf persons being organize by the Bayelsa State Association of the Deaf (BSAD) for its members; all appears not well as members of the body are worried over alleged government silence on their request for assistance.
Bayelsa is one of the few states in the federation where persons living with Aids are placed on N10,000 monthly subvention by government as part of measures aimed at encouraging every Bayelsan to known their status and to also augment their income.
Posted @ 2:35 AM
October 3, 2008
Deaf School Abuse
Fourteen years ago, 13-year-old Daniel Lewis enrolled as a boarding student at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, a place that was supposed to give him the skills to engage with the world.
That August, Daniel — with bright blue eyes and blond hair, but borderline mentally retarded and smaller than his peers — moved into a room in the middle school dorm on the school’s Baton Rouge campus with three other boys.
Posted @ 7:57 AM
Concord Hospital to award deaf patients $100k
Concord Hospital will pay $100,000 in a settlement with six deaf people who say the hospital did not provide them with the services they needed to communicate with hospital staff, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The hospital will also establish a new program to provide more effective communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Although the U.S. attorney determined that the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the hospital did not admit to any liability as part of the settlement.
Posted @ 7:55 AM
Deaf adults have lifetime literacy needs
Emerging through the awakening phase of their adulthood, some deaf people face difficulties with literacy and feel inferior when using English. Their English skills are not equal to those of some hearing students receiving a Grade 12 diploma when they have graduated.
I often hear the statement, "I have poor English," made by the deaf adults with minimal literacy, and they don't feel confident to write sentences to communicate with the hearing.
Posted @ 7:54 AM
School for deaf changes name, mission
The Louisville Deaf Oral School, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has changed its name to the Heuser Hearing & Language Academy.
The school is merging boards with a sister organization, the Heuser Hearing Institute. The board includes representatives of the University of Louisville, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare and Norton Healthcare.
Posted @ 7:53 AM
Maryland School for Deaf student plans plea in rape case
A Maryland School for the Deaf student accused of raping an acquaintance in a dorm basement at the school has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that moves his case to juvenile court.
Kaeshaun Malik Wills, 17, will admit next week to conduct included in a new criminal petition filed in juvenile court, Assistant Public Defender Stephen Musselman said Thursday in Frederick County Circuit Court.
Posted @ 7:52 AM
Project documents unique Inuit sign language
Dr. Jamie MacDougall likes to joke that he "discovered" Inuit Sign Language the same way Christopher Columbus "discovered" America - by getting lost.
The joke, of course, is that neither of these were real "discoveries," for anyone besides the Qallunaat.
The indigenous peoples of the Americas knew where they were, and knew intimately the land they still call home. Likewise, deaf Inuit have always made daily use of their own sign language, and continue to use and develop it regularly with family and friends.
Posted @ 7:48 AM
Teachers at Riverside school for deaf demonstrate for higher salaries
Teachers at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside Thursday protested the state's budget compromise for failing to raise their pay and dragging out negotiations.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell acknowledged their concerns, although he said he was not aware of their protest plans.
"The salaries are below where they should be," he said in a phone interview before the demonstration. "This state budget is not going to help."
Posted @ 7:47 AM
Bristol University Milestone for Deaf People
This week the University of Bristol celebrates 30 years of work with Deaf people. In 1978, Deaf people were a poorly understood, ignored minority. Now, after extensive research, their profile is enormously raised in academic research, in social policy and directly through special services from the University itself. Uniquely, in Europe, Deaf people themselves have been at the heart of the development since the beginning.
Posted @ 7:46 AM
Teachers learn to instruct deaf, hard of hearing
An unusual program at California Lutheran University is training teachers to work with deaf and hard of hearing students.
The Thousand Oaks university started the program last year because there is a shortage of those trained teachers in California, said Maura Martindale, the program's director.
"This started at the request of parents of deaf children," Martindale said. "The real drive comes from parents."
Posted @ 7:46 AM
Beverly School for the Deaf 'rebranding' is underway
After 132 years, changing your name isn't easy.
But the Beverly School for the Deaf — or what is now The Children's Center for Communications — is doing just that.
"It's going to really help broaden and communicate what we do on campus," Executive Director Mark Carlson said. "So many people don't realize what we do."
Posted @ 7:45 AM
Music for the Deaf
For many of us, going to see live music on the weekend is something we take for granted. We obsess over a band, listen to their music and go to their shows.
There's a smaller segment of the population that has been mostly ignored by musicians, but they're just as passionate about the music: the deaf and hard of hearing.
Sean Forbes is a music fan, even though he hears about 10 percent of what most people hear. He's been partially deaf since he was an infant.
Posted @ 7:42 AM
Deaf panel offers personal perspectives on daily life
Deaf Redbirds hosted a panel of deaf adults to discuss different perspectives on the day-to-day lives of hearing impaired individuals on September 22 at 7 p.m.
Jessica Strohfeldt, co-president of Deaf Redbirds Association, participated in the panel. She is a second year graduate student in special education with a focus on deaf and hard of hearing students.
Strohfeldt grew up in oral education and really struggled to listen because she only used a hearing aid in one ear. She did not learn sign language until she attended college in California, but she is now learning more about the deaf culture and really loves it.
Posted @ 7:41 AM
Deaf Awareness Week: Striving for Quality Education
On this second part of the Deaf Awareness Week posts (part one), we bring you a perspective on education for the deaf, and the different challenges it implies. First, from the Central African Republic, a school that after funds stopped, has continued fueled only by love. Second, from the Philippines, deaf students created and produced a video showcasing the struggles many of them face after they graduate. In Venezuela, teachers for the deaf explain the importance of a bilingual and bi-cultural education. And finally, a visual example of how different sign languages from two countries can be.
Posted @ 7:40 AM
Deaf children aid battery recycling
Deaf schoolchildren are supporting Bradford Council after it became one of the first local authorities in the country to trial a new system to recycle old batteries.
The authority has joined a consortium of battery manufacturers and importers, major retailers and other stakeholders to take part in the UK’s only free national recovery scheme for all types of batteries, called Battery Back.
Posted @ 7:40 AM
Having the sense to follow a dream
Mary Regan became profoundly deaf at the age of five, when she was struck by meningitis. Here she describes how she overcame her condition
IT IS understandable for any parent to be alarmed when discovering for the first time that their child is deaf, and believing there are few future career opportunities to be followed; just as my own parents did. That is something I proved wrong.
Posted @ 7:39 AM
Special school helps deaf students shatter stereotypes
The tables and chairs are piled in the corner and the fourth floor of the Learning Center for the Deaf (LCD) still smells of fresh paint. But soon these facilities in Baabda's Brasilia neighborhood will be ready to host one of Lebanon's most unique high school programs. Since 2003 the LCD has offered the only high school program for deaf students in Lebanon that is recognized by the Education Ministry.
The LCD, founded in 2001, is based on a private initiative run by Hussein Ismail and his wife Nadine. Although the right to education for disabled people became law in Lebanon in 2000, institutions like the LCD are still heavily dependent on private initiatives - financially and in terms of the effort required to run the school, Hussein told The Daily Star.
Posted @ 7:38 AM
Deaf and blind students get on-the-job training
About 65 percent of deaf adults are unemployed. For blind adults, the unemployment rate is about 80 percent.
The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind is trying to change that grim employment outlook for its students with an internship program funded by an $80,000 state grant. Building on its program for at-risk students, it is working with area employers to give seniors on-the-job training four afternoons a week. The school pays the salary and on Fridays helps the students with life skills such as banking and budgeting.
Haylie Johnson, a 17-year-old senior at the school for the deaf, landed a job at Ancona, a Colorado Springs welding shop. Under the watchful eye of shop foreman Ron Norton, she's learning to cut metal and clean machinery and will eventually learn welding. Owner Jim Thiessen said Johnson is being trained as any other apprentice to the trade.
Posted @ 7:37 AM