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The divided culture of the Deaf10 / 19 / 2011
Outrage in the deaf community over comments made by Dr Dimity Dornan, Queensland's Business Woman of the Year, has prompted Simon J. Green to dig a little deeper into deaf culture, and ask why not everyone wants their disability cured.
Read more on ABCs Ramp Up Website

Twists in Budget Woes, Tensions Over Teaching Deaf7 / 26 / 2011
At the root of the tension is a debate that stretches well beyond Indiana: Will sign language and the nation’s separate schools for the deaf be abandoned as more of the deaf turn to communicating, with help from fast-evolving technology, through amplified sounds and speech? “Speaking and listening classrooms across the nation are known for their forced exclusion of A.S.L. and expressly forbid any contact with the culturally deaf adult role models,” Marvin Miller, president of the Indiana Association of the Deaf, who is deaf, said in an e-mail interview. “We view this as inflicting violence upon thousands of innocent deaf and hard-of-hearing babies — taking away their language and pinning their hopes on dismal success rates of cochlear implants,” he added.
Editors Note: This US debate has parallels with Australias Hear and Say Centres
Read the full article

10-Year-Old Hero Saves Best Friend Using Sign6 / 23 / 2011
In Oklahoma earlier this month, two boys -- Hunter, 10, and Carter, 9 -- were playing together like young boys will. They were giggling and eating gummy worms, when all of a sudden Hunter knew something was wrong. He knew it was wrong because his best friend, Carter, was doing the international sign for choking. At first Hunter thought he was joking, but he quickly realized it was the real deal and sprang into action.
Editors Note: Yet another reason to learn sign language!
Read more on Cafe Mom

Sign language mistaken for gang signs5 / 3 / 2011
Police say two hearing-impaired men were stabbed at a bar when their sign language was mistaken for gang signs.
Read at 3news.co.nz

WANT some sound career advice?3 / 8 / 2011
WANT some sound career advice? Ditch what you're doing and take signing. It's the growth industry of the next decade and, better still, there's a serious shortage of experts in Auslan, the language of the deaf community in Australia. Ever since Anna Bligh took charge of updating the nation on the Queensland floods in January with a signer beside her describing the calamity to the deaf, signers have become the new must-have of the live press event. Signers have been front and centre - well, just off to the side - at a number of recent press events The Wry Side has attended, and were out in force in New Zealand to help Christchurch mayor (and former NZ This is Your Life compere) Bob Parker update the nation and the world about the tragedy.
Read in The Australian

More of SignPlanet.net2 / 11 / 2011
Today over 1,000 new sign images where added to SingPlanet. "There is not only new images, but revisions of old images and a revised database - more descripitons, hints and an overall tidy-up" said Bilby Publishing Director and Founder, Lee Bilby

Deaf dog gets sign language training2 / 10 / 2011
A dog who couldn't hear has learned some sign language thanks to inmates at a US prison and children at a school for the deaf. Inmates at a Missouri prison trained the deaf dachshund named Sparky in sign language and then asked the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton to take him in. Today, Sparky is right at home with the school's youngsters, who have taught him additional sign language. And a second deaf dog, a Boston Terrier named Petie, may be on his way to the school soon.
Read more on Stuff

College 16% Increase in Study of Sign Language12 / 8 / 2010
While the number of college students studying Spanish, French and German increased only modestly from 2006 to 2009, enrollment in American Sign Language — the fourth most-popular language — surged more than 16 percent, according to a new report from the Modern Language Association.
Read the NY Times Article

Talking in signs11 / 20 / 2010
When a person uses sign language to communicate, they use their hands as well as mouth – but now a study has found out whether the two are used in unison or separately. Researchers David P. Vinson and colleagues at University College London found that the hand and lip movements are separate in the signer's brain, not part of the same sign. The team recruited both deaf and hearing signers, all of whom grew up signing with deaf parents. Each person sat in front of a monitor with a video camera pointed at them. They were shown sets of pictures and were asked to sign the name of each item. In another session, they were shown those words in English and asked to translate them into British Sign Language.
Read in The Times of India

Sign language recognized in Sri Lanka9 / 23 / 2010
Sri Lanka has accepted sign language as a recognized language in the country. The recognition of sign language will guarantee the hearing impaired in the country access to information and equal opportunity in the society. The Minister said the public officials would be encouraged to learn the sign language.
Read more

Woman who chats with chimps in sign language9 / 18 / 2010
Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold of Central Washington University works with chimpanzees, she doesn’t just observe them from behind a glass window. She signs to them in American Sign Language (ASL). And the chimpanzees sign back.
Read in the Eagle News

ASL third most popular language in US9 / 14 / 2010
Sign language, although often overlooked as a foreign language, is the third most widely used language in the United States. Out of every 1000 Americans, two to four are either severely or functionally deaf by the age of 18, making sign language a necessary tool to understanding others in society.
Full article

Engineers test sign language on cell phones8 / 16 / 2010
Engineers at the University of Washington are testing a tool called MobileASL that uses motion detection to identify American Sign Language and transmit images over U.S. cell networks
Read about it on cNet

Kinect to recognize American Sign Language8 / 7 / 2010
Microsoft's forthcoming $150 full-body motion-, facial-, and vocal-recognition technology, Kinect, will read lips, track toe movement, and recognize sign language for those who cannot speak. According to a Kinect patent filed by Microsoft recently, those capable of communicating through American Sign Language standards will be able to input letters, words, and phrases using the imminent technology.
Read full article on Gamespot

'Don't ban sign language' says Deaf at Vancouver7 / 23 / 2010
Thunderous applause and tears greeted presenters at the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED 2010), which was held in Vancouver this week, when they called for countries around the world to embrace sign-language-based educational programs for deaf students. Congress participants, both deaf and hearing, celebrated the July 19th statement formally rejecting the resolutions made at the ICED 1880 Congress in Milan, which "removed the use of sign languages from educational programs for deaf around the world". After over a century of fighting to have sign languages acknowledged and supported by educational organizations, the Deaf community sees the ICED 2010 statement as a groundbreaking step. While previous attempts to reject the Milan 1880 resolutions failed, many say the years of restricting deaf children's access to sign language robbed them of the ability to reach their full potential. This week's history-making statement, called "A New Era: Deaf Participation and Collaboration", rejected the idea that sign languages should be banned from educational programs for deaf students. It also expressed regret at the detrimental effects of the Milan 1880 resolution, and asked educators all over the world to "ensure that educational programs accept and respect all languages and all forms of communication".
Read in the Vancouver Observer

Sign Language Legalized as First Language-Iceland5 / 31 / 2010
Members of the Icelandic Association of the Deaf celebrated the legislation of Sign Language as their first language on Friday. Among those celebrating was six-year-old Andri Fannar Ágústsson, who will now be able to use Sign Language as the first language in his education and other preparation for the future Icelanders are frontrunners in the development of Sign Language and such a conclusive recognition as the government has now given Sign Language has not been made anywhere else in the world, according to Dadi Hreinsson, managing director of the Icelandic Association of the Deaf.
Read in the Iceland Review

Local first responders learn sign language3 / 21 / 2010
The Hidalgo County Judge’s Office Division of Emergency Management is teaching first responders the basic sign language they need to communicate with the Rio Grande Valley’s estimated 8,000 to 9,000 deaf and hearing impaired residents. Cameron County is also hosting the classes, which teach police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders practical phrases and words like, “What’s wrong?,” “Show me your license,” and “Calm down.”
The training gives first responders the basic lessons they need to communicate with deaf people. Where an interview is needed, the police department brings in an interpreter, but emergencies necessitate a faster method of communication.
Read the Article

Signing off on the Olympics2 / 27 / 2010
Nigel Howard was scheduled to do sign language interpretation today for a University of Victoria play. That all changed when the 2010 Winter Olympics Games asked him to sign the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Moments Explained2 / 26 / 2010
It's one of the most frustrating feelings: You know the word exists, and you know what it means, but you just can't spit it out. Researchers tested people who speak two languages, as well as deaf people who use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. Emmorey and her colleagues found that yes, signers did experience tip-of-the-fingers, and about as often – roughly once a week – as speakers do.
One of many articles under the research title

An engineer's quest to caption the Web2 / 9 / 2010
The Internet used to be a place where Ken Harrenstien could do anything. The Google engineer, who has been deaf since childhood, loved the Web because he could e-mail and chat without the aid of a sign language translator. But as the Web evolved and got faster, online video started to flood in. And all of a sudden, this place that once allowed for limitless communication started to feel walled off to Harrenstien. But Harrenstien isn't sitting back and complaining. He's dedicated his career at Google to developing technology to bring closed captioning to the Internet.
Read the article

SignPlanet.net launches Photo Bank1 / 27 / 2010
Chris Bilby, Chief Programmer, said "Now you can have coloured photo's instead of clipart appearing in the worksheets you make, plus we've changed the worksheet generators so that you can have just the photos or clipart, without sign images. You can make resources for use with other special needs kids, or general students who don't use any sign language at all."
Go to SignPlanet.net

Deaf dog learns sign language9 / 6 / 2009
BEING a border collie, Pixie is blessed with natural smarts - all the better to help the eight-week-old pup learn sign language. Professor Stanley Coren from the University of British Columbia found the average dog can understand about 165 words, signs and signals, while the cleverest dogs could grasp as many as 250 words and signals.
Read the full article

New Technology for Deaf-Blind People8 / 23 / 2009
A two-piece portable device has been recently released by the Canadian company HumanWare. It is called the DeafBlind Communicator and allows easier communication between Deaf-Blind people and non-signing individuals. The DeafBlind Communicator is a laptop-sized device that features two keyboards, one of which is in braille, and a second smaller device that resembles a PDA. The smaller device is given to the non-signing individual and the deaf-blind individual sends the message "Hi, I am deaf-blind (I can't hear or see). To communicate with me, type a message and press the return arrow." The return message is then converted into braille and displayed using the braille keyboard.
Link to corresponding article

Foilek wins X Games8 / 2 / 2009
Deaf teenage motocross contestant Ashley Foilek has placed first in the Women's Moto X Super X on Saturday night. She spent most of the race neck and neck with award winning Jessica Patterson, only to overtake on the last lap. Foilek was delighted with her win, signing "This year I was really motivated. I came out here and had a great race."
Editors Note: Here is a link to the X Games article: http://espn.go.com:80/action/news/story?id=4372102
New York Times Article

So you think the deaf can't dance? Beat it3 / 31 / 2008
To elitists, it's just not dancing. To an army of krumping, breaking, freestyle-popping dancers in the deaf community, So You Think You Can Dance Australia is essential viewing. .... "Some deaf people were amazed when they saw us perform at a conference dinner because they assumed we would be a professional hearing hip-hop group," Onley-Zerkel said.
Read the Full Article

Slides: A Playground Menace6 / 8 / 2006
For most kids, the static electricity that builds up as they go down playground slides does little more than make their hair stand on end. But for thousands of hearing-impaired children, static can shut down their cochlear implants in an instant. One idea is to coat the slides with an antistatic material. For the time being, however, children with cochlear implants should stay away from plastic playground slides. (Metal slides don't pose a great risk -- at least one playground designed for the disabled has installed them to protect implant-wearing kids -- but they get hotter in the summer.)
Editors Note: American article with worldwide relevance
Read the full article on Wired

Deaf children create new language9 / 20 / 2004
Children with hearing disabilities, thrown together in a school in Nicaragua without any type of formal instruction, have invented their own sophisticated and evolving sign language, researchers report. Their observations show that children, not adults, are key to the evolution and development of language, the researchers reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
Read more on AlJazeera

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