Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category

Transcript of the August 24, 2010 Proceedings of the California State Senate, as it relates to AB 2072

August 26th, 2010 by moderator

FLOREZ: Senator Simitian may I interrupt you just for one moment to recognize Senator Alquist for a very quick presentation for a bill that has a time constraint on it? Senator Alquist? And then we’ll go back to Sen. Simitian for two items and then we’ll go back to the files. Senator Read More

CDNIAS’ Letter to Mendoza Regarding New Position on AB 2072

August 26th, 2010 by moderator

August 26, 2010 Dear Assemblymember Mendoza, This is in response to your email inquiry (8/25) of the CDNIAS coalition’s new position on AB 2072. An overarching goal for all of us: Setting the foundation of success for children who are Deaf and hard of hearing in homes, schools, communities and Read More

Community

July 7th, 2010 by Hearing Elmo

I don’t exactly blend into the background… Recently Chloe and I were at our neighborhood grocery store. I rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a young boy approximately 6-years-old. His eyes grew wide as saucers and his mouth dropped open. Curious, I looked around quickly to Read More

HR 3101 Gets Cosponsor 52!

June 11th, 2010 by Caption Action 2

52 The dust hasn’t quite settled from yesterday’s flurry of two new cosponsor announcements. We’ve got our 52nd cosponsor! Emerging from the dust comes New York Representative Yvette Clark (D-11). Democrats – 50, Republicans – 2 We’re on a roll! Keep Read More

iPad Fail? Say It Ain’t So!

April 5th, 2010 by Caption Action 2

Yes, you heard right… Something’s missing on Apple’s iPad. Amy Cohen Efron put out a vlog, iPad #fail!, demoing this problem. What’s the problem? It doesn’t show YouTube/Google captions/subtitles. Is it a software glitch or an incompatibility? Read More

Unexpected Twist

February 15th, 2010 by Cacophony to Symphony

The day came, and we were armed and ready.  Both of my parents went to the meeting, which is a pretty big deal since usually it’s jut me and my mom. My dad went around asking each person their name and job description, and there was a strong feeling of tension in the room. My dad, a Read More

Wake Up, Kentucky! Rally’Round the Cause!

February 10th, 2010 by Smashing Down The Door

Friends: The time is now. Senate Bill #102 (sponsored by State Senator Ray Jones) has been introduced in the state legislature for more access to captioned movies in Kentucky, with a state House version (sponsored by State Representative Leslie Combs) to follow hopefully this week….. And Read More

How you can help stop cuts to audiology training

February 9th, 2010 by Campaigning for deaf children

Image courtesy of www.childhealthbc.ca For the past month, the National Deaf Chidren’s Society (NDCS) has been looking into what’s going on with the Government’s plans to reform audiology training. What have we found out? 1) The cuts are definitely happening. We’ve seen a letter (though Read More

More Proof That HR 3101 is NEEDED!

February 8th, 2010 by Smashing Down The Door

Folks, Like millions of Americans tonight, I settled in to watch the Super Bowl, along with my daughter (who loves football). I didn’t have a “dog in this fight” so to speak, being a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, but I decided to take part in the NVRC Super Bowl ads survey, for Read More

Deaf woman not told she was dying of cancer

February 6th, 2010 by At The Rim

David Nelson got the bad news about his wife in December 2005. He just didn’t know it. For three months, the Nelsons met with doctors at North Memorial Medical Center, but they weren’t aware Mary Ann was dying of cancer. In fact, they thought she was doing well enough in her battle Read More

Four-Year-Old Has Interpreter Taken Away, and More

February 6th, 2010 by About.com Deafness

Are there any American parents who can identify with this one? In the U.K., a deaf four year old child had his school interpreter taken away. The reason given? “…He does not initiate conversation.” Come on, this is a four-year-old deaf child! Another interpreting story in the Read More

Ofsted failing to inspect education for deaf children?

February 1st, 2010 by Campaigning for deaf children

Image courtesy of www.cartoonstock.com Tomorrow, a recurring issue around Ofsted inspections will be under the spotlight again in Parliament… The issue? Why Ofsted inspections of schools that cater for deaf children, for example, those with a unit or resource base, so often seem to be Read More

Debating ‘new politics’ at NCVO campaigns conference

January 27th, 2010 by Campaigning for deaf children

Originally uploaded to flickr by Benjamin Ellis I spent most of yesterday at a conference by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations – or NCVO – all about campaigns. With such a heavy concentration of campaigners all in one place, I half expected the universe to collapse in on Read More

Shortfall in care for deaf-blind people in Somerset

January 26th, 2010 by the DeafBlog

An investigation by BBC Somerset has shown the needs of thousands of deaf-blind people are not being met. Read More

Undercaptioning: Beyond subtitles in Curb Your Enthusiasm

January 17th, 2010 by Accessible Rhetoric

Read More

Why do you Hate me ?

January 7th, 2010 by At The Rim

Recent TV coverage of hate crime in my area by the BBC, but why still noacytion by the police against these crimes committed agsinst deaf people ? Do we need a a wheelchair, or to be balck first ? My respsonse to the British Police: It’s 2010 so you are finally accepting what happened in Read More

Lords speak out about access to exams for disabled students

December 22nd, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

Day 23 – Exam hall Originally uploaded by jackhynes If you’re wondering what the Lords were doing on the 15th day of December, they were having a big debate on equality. Maybe leaping around as well. The Equality Bill had its first debate in the House of Lords last week, just before Read More

Hotels and the ADA: Information for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Travelers

December 20th, 2009 by Speak Up Librarian

If you are traveling this holiday season and will be staying in a hotel, you may want to be aware of what services a hotel is required to provide you by law. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hotels and motels must provide Read More

Double Standard in DeafRead

December 19th, 2009 by Please face me, I read lips

Not that I mind being on the “extra page” at DeafRead, but once again I’m left wondering about editor bias.   Yesterday this was posted on the front page, while my post about holiday parties ended up in ‘extra’. My post here discussed why office parties that included a fun activity Read More

BBC news online still failing deaf children

December 11th, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

I decided to conduct a little scientific experiment today. It was very illuminating. But depressing. If you want to try out my experiment, repeat the following steps. 1) Take what is probably the most famous online news website in the world – BBC news online – and insert the word ‘deaf’ Read More

Up! Captioning Issue Update

December 9th, 2009 by Smashing Down The Door

Folks: Just an FYI, Here is the email I received from WDHE, who is apparently handling the matter pertaining to Disney’s failure to include captions on rental versions of their Pixar movie, Up! No changes made to the email other than redacting my personal email address from it. Up Read More

Raging 8th Nerve 2009-11-30 02:36:00

November 29th, 2009 by Raging 8th Nerve

Fenced Out I spent Thanksgiving thru Saturday visiting my brothers family. Sadly, it has become more awkward for me to participate in family events. It isn’t too bad when we are actually doing something, like star-gazing last summer. But being stuck inside the house during a cold rainy Read More

In with the new: Queen reveals new education laws

November 24th, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

Image courtesy of BBC news online She may not been the musical theme on the X Factor (though it was fun to see John and Edward clarify that they were performing the hits of Queen, the group, and not Her Majesty), but the Queen had her annual fun day out last week on the 18th, when she paid a Read More

Out with the old: Apprenticeships Bill becomes law

November 23rd, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

Image courtesy of www.politics.co.uk The parliamentary year ended earlier this month on the 12th. Squeaking its way into law on the same day was the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill, which aims to make a range of changes to post-16 education. After several days of long Read More

Two Ladies – 1 Fully Grown/1 Not Fully Grown – Make Strides on HR 3101

November 16th, 2009 by Caption Action 2

Recently, two deaf ladies with a huge stake in the matter, did their parts for HR 3101. One lady is fully grown up, the other lady is not quite fully grown up yet. Both of them were dynamic in their accomplishments. Marlee Matlin The fully grown up deaf lady is Marlee Matlin. Marlee Matlin Read More

New survey on TV subtitles: have your say

November 4th, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

Image courtesy of RNID When I ask deaf young people what their pet peeves are, invariably they mention the quality of subtitles on TV. So I was pretty pleased to see that RNID have commissioned some research to look at what people think about subtitles. And they’re currently asking deaf Read More

Kentucky Deaf Activism

October 30th, 2009 by Smashing Down The Door

Hello Folks: I know I’ve been quiet for a while, but I had my personal reasons.  Hopefully everyone is gearing up to have a happy and safe Halloween! I’m writing this post tonight to talk about an issue that is near and dear to me, namely, the deaf and hard of hearing community Read More

Lobbying Conservatives on deaf children: day 2

October 6th, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

If I’ve learnt one lesson today, it is not to travel to Manchester without a very good umbrella. It’s been a wet day at the Conservative party conference. But also another good opportunity for MPs, Lords and prospective parliamentary candidates to hear from a deaf young person that deaf Read More

Senate inquiry into hearing health launched in Australia

October 1st, 2009 by Kate's Cochlear Implant

This is an important shout-out to all my Australian readers with a hearing loss. The Australian Federal Government has launched a full Senate Inquiry into deafness! Is there anything about having a hearing loss or being deaf that frustrates you? Have you ever felt annoyed at the cost of buying Read More

NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 2

September 28th, 2009 by Campaigning for deaf children

Louis Kissaun with MPs Ed Balls and Mary Creagh Every now and then I get paranoid that deaf young people want to steal my job… Louis Kissaun has now joined that list of people to fear. Here’s what Louis had to say at lunchtime today about his first morning of the Labour party Read More