Deafness Blog

Tonight I came across the new Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Odyssey, published by the Clerc Center. The cover story is on autism in deaf children. There are six articles on autism and deafness, including two personal stories and advice from another parent. Deafness and autism is so rarely written about, that I recommend this magazine for parents of deaf children with autism. It can be downloaded free from the Clerc Center Odyssey website.

Direct download link. These articles about deafness and autism are in this issue:

• Deafness and Autism - by Diane D. Morton
• When Autistm and Deafness Coexist in Children: What We Know Now - by Christen Szymanski and Patrick J. Brice
• With Little Research Out There It's a Matter of Learnign What Works in Teaching Students with Deafness and Autism - by Lee Ann Bradley, Brandi krakowski, and Ann Thiessen
• Bringing Books To - and Sharing them With - Children with Autism: Janet's Tips - by Janet S. Weinstock
• Selah, a Previous Mosaic: A Mother's Journey Through Autism with Her Deaf Child - by Stefanie D. Ellis-Gonzales
• Brady, Our Firstborn Son, Has Autism - by Mei Yeh-Kennedy

Newsweek reports that a solar-powered hearing aid has been developed. The batteries it uses are rechargeable solar batteries. I have not finished reading the article yet so I can't comment further. It certainly sounds like an exciting development that will make hearing aids more available to people in poorer countries.

The Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper, reports that the only deaf high school in the country, Dhaka Bodhir High School, is struggling to survive. Not only is the school in poor physical condition, it is having difficulty getting enough qualified teachers skilled in sign language. They are often forced to hire teachers who do not know sign language yet.

Here is another glimpse into my deaf life: tonight we went to a show by Trix Bruce at Northern Virginia Community College. She told a series of vignettes (short stories) about growing up deaf and living as a deaf person, along with performing some poems in ASL. There was plenty of laughter in the audience of deaf and hearing people. Quite a few people came to enjoy the show. One vignette I could easily identify with was the one she told about the time she was asked to "get" a ball. Turned out it was not a ball, but a man named Paul.

On About.com: Profile of Trix Bruce

Everyone knows that journalists should avoid the term "deaf and dumb" as much as possible. What about the phrase "falls on deaf ears?" Does it convey a positive or negative image of deafness? How does it affect you when you see headlines like "Pleading Falls on Deaf Ears" or "911 call falls on deaf ears?"

Today, InSight Cinema, the nonprofit organization that had worked to promote open captioned films and carried listings of open captioned film showings around the country, said goodbye. In a letter posted on their website at www.insightcinema.org, Nanci Linke-Ellis, the founder and president, announced InSight Cinema was ending its activities. Open captioned films will still be available however, as the provision of open captioned films was and is separate from InSight Cinema's activities. Hat tip to Bill Creswell, who has been captioning trailers, music videos, and more, for alerting the deaf community to this news.

An About.com visitor wrote: "My stepdaughter has been in the US for the past two years. She has an 85% hearing impairment. Basically, she relies on reading lips. The did not teach her sign language overseas, in fact, she seems to think it's for 'deaf' people. She had a speech therapist work with her for several years, so her speech is excellent.

She is in Honors english classes (sophomore in high school), but her Speech/English appears to be getting worse. I really feel like she needs speech therapy and assistance to help her learn to be aware more aware of her surroundings and stop pretending she can hear most of the time, when she clearly cannot. Our younger child has been injured and put in some dangerous situations because of the communication problems. Socially, she's a wreck. She says a lot of inappropriate things at inappropriate times. Her manners are very poor. We try to talk with her and cannot imagine how her mother is not noticing these things. All this is getting worse, and her father and I don't know whether to laugh or cry half the time."

*** I commented that it sounded like the girl needed counseling, and the fact she is a teenager may be playing a role in her attitude. Or does it sound like she is denying her hearing loss?

Only a couple of weeks ago, we had gone to an ASL film festival. Saturday afternoon found us back at Gallaudet University, this time to see the ASL film "Wrong Game." This was a well-acted film and the ASL was for the most part, understandable. Lack of captions meant that we did miss bits and pieces. Overall, the acting, clear and simple signing, and visual cues enabled us to get most of it, and we did enjoy the film.

There will be another ASL film, VPMan, in Northern Virginia the weekend of June 27, but unfortunately we have a conflict and will miss that one. There is an uncaptioned trailer at www.vpmanfilm.com.

This is beginning to look like the year of deaf cinema. The deaf movies we see are more professionally produced, and even have commercials (Wrong Game had commercials by Sprint Relay) before the feature. It was a treat to see Bernard Bragg in one of the commercials.

Lettitia asks on the forum if there is any website that she can print the signs for words off of. She needs this to help her communicate with a deaf woman she works with.

This fall, a new charter school for the deaf opens in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Sun. It is a bilingual school, as reported:

The new school for them will offer “bilingual-bicultural education,” a model followed by many of the nation’s top schools for the deaf. Teachers are fluent in American Sign Language, and students also learn to read and write in English.

The new school will start off small, renting two classrooms. Eventually they hope to grow large enough to buy a building. Keep up with news on the Las Vegas Charter School of the Deaf at their website.