Deaf

VENTURA—Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K) is an organization that fights for deaf kids to be kindergarten ready. The group recently passed a bill for special education language development. The bill (SB 210) would require state programs to provide testing for deaf and hard of hearing for children 0-5 years old (SB 210). Public relations director, Julie Rems-Smario, was interviewed...

SAN FRANCISCO—“Pizza” is one of those words that countries around the world all recognize as decadent oven-baked bread slathered in tomato sauce and tossed with all sorts of wonderful toppings. In fact, according to Google Translate, the only languages that stray from the word “Pizza” are the languages that do not write with Roman letters. With word origins of...

UNITED STATES—A friend of mine shared a link to a video that really disturbed me over the weekend. It involved a deaf woman who was denied service at a Dunkin’ Donuts establishment in Encino, California. The woman posted a tearful video sharing her tale of just feeling defeated and frustrated that a place that she frequently visited denied her...

UNITED STATES—A new app is hitting the age of technology with the capability of following conversations in real time and captioning the words. Crafted by University of San Francisco and Berkley graduate students, the Transcence app utilizes the microphones in the smart phones of the people conversing to caption and assign each speaker a colored bubble. This lets the user...

EVERYWHERE—Calling all people who know American Sign Language! Whether you're Deaf, Hard of Hearing, a CODA, a parent of a Deaf child, an interpreter, teacher or student...you're invited!  If you know ASL in any level or capacity (or want to learn), you're invited to become a part of the exciting, new online community that welcomes every and all signers, from...

OAKLAND—The Los Angeles-based ASL Cabaret will be coming to Oakland today for a free matinee show at 3:15 p.m. at the Shadow Ultra Lounge in Chinatown.  The group normally hosts an American Sign Language (ASL) show every third Sunday at Cafe NELO in downtown Los Angeles. This year, they are in town after being invited by organizers of the 2015...

UNITED STATES—Marvel, one of the tycoon companies of the comic book industry, has just released a new superhero, and the deaf community is not happy. Sapheara (aka Sap-HEAR-a) is a deaf girl with cochlear implants who aids Tony Stark’s, Iron Man in a limited edition comic book with the help of her hearing aid sidekick, ‘The Blue Ear.’ Marvel unveiled...

MARINA DEL REY—On October 5, GLAD will be hosting their 12th Annual GLAD Benefit aboard the FantaSea One Yacht. The money raised at the benefit will allow GLAD to continue providing their services to the community.   According to their Facebook page, the “event reaches far and wide to circles of influence in political, business, entertainment and organizational arenas.” The benefit...

NORTHRIDGE—CSUN will be hosting their third and final Audism lecture for this year on Friday, December 5. CSUN has had several prestigious presenters come and sign for their audiences over the past three months. Their last presenter will be Sheri Farinha, a leader and advocate in the Deaf community. Farinha grew up Deaf, was mainstreamed, and was heavily interested in politics...

LOS ANGELES—The Greater Los Angeles Agency for the Deaf (GLAD) will be hosting their 31st annual Children’s Holiday at Occidental College on Saturday, December 6 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event is for low income families with Deaf or hard of hearing children as well as CODAs under the age of 12. There will be a signing Santa, snacks, entertainment,...