Google Supporting The Deaf Community

Supporting the Deaf and HoH community: contact an ASL agent today.

Starting today, there will be American Sign Language (ASL) specialists to help people who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing through video chat on the Google Disability Support team at Google's services online.

Please visit for more details at https://support.google.com/accessibility/answer.

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Deaf Protesters Complains of Police Brutality

The police took Deaf protesters to the streets of India.

PUNE, India -- Deaf community in Maharashtra has had enough. Pradeep More General Secretary of State Level Association of the Deaf passionately voices the demands of the community.

Deaf individuals gathered outside the Disability Commissioner's office in Pune have decided they will not take no for an answer. It is high time, the government provides accessibilty and quality education to Deaf people.

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The group has decided to march to the Mantralaya to meet the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai, if their demands are not met.

RELATED: Deaf Power Of India: Fight For Your Rights!.

The Pune Police on Monday resorted to lathi-charge to disperse a crowd of Deaf students who were staging a demonstration in Pune, resulting in 35 of the students getting injured in the incident. The cops also detained around 170 activists working for the Maharashtra Deaf Association but later released them.

Nearly 11,000 hearing-impaired youths from across Maharashtra had gathered outside the Social Welfare Commissionerate in Pune near the police commissioner’s office, pressing for their long-standing demands. Among other things, the students were demanding the right to quality education, prevention of fraudulent distribution of disability certificates to able-bodied individuals and provision of trained interpreters for deaf students, reports said.

The police action against the protesters, most of whom were students, was widely criticised by opposition political parties, with many slamming the BJP government for the state of affairs. Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered the Pune police commissioner to submit a detailed report on the matter by Tuesday morning, as per reports.

The Pune Police had said that it had decided not to proceed with the FIR process against the protesters and hence no FIR was filed. On the other hand, the cops have reportedly claimed that around 7 to 8 policemen had also suffered injuries during the protest... Read More: Times Now News.

SOURCE

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Deaf Brothers' Deaths Raise Isolation Concerns

Deaf rights campaigners plead for recognition to prevent more tragedies like death of Daniel and William McCarthy.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Irish Examiner: The Irish Deaf Society said that, if given official status, Irish Sign Language would have to be used in State services and Deaf people would be less at risk of isolation.

Eddie Redmond, the society’s chief executive, said: “The Deaf community face huge barriers in accessing services due to the lack of services available through Irish Sign Language.

“Services such as social workers, home help, the HSE etc need to be more aware of the needs of Deaf people and the importance of communication and provision of information through ISL.”

Mr Redmond was speaking following the discovery of the bodies of semi-reclusive brothers, Daniel and William McCarthy, at their home in Dublin on Tuesday.

Originally from Kerry, the brothers, in their 70s, were Deaf with limited verbal communication, and lived together in a terraced home at the Millrose Estate in Bluebell, Dublin for many years.

Daniel is understood to have run the household and became carer for William in recent years. It is believed that he passed away several weeks ago and William was unable - or felt unable - to seek help.

Their remains were found by gardaí after a neighbour noticed Daniel’s car had not moved for some time and there had been no sign of either brother outside the house. Their deaths are expected to be referred to the coroner’s court for an inquest but foul play has been ruled out.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) declined to say if the brothers were in contact with any of its services in recent times or if it was reviewing any interactions they may have had.

A statement said: “The HSE cannot comment on individual cases but would like to offer sincere sympathy to the McCarthy family at this time.”

Groups working with older people urged people with concerns for their own well-being, or that of a neighbour, not to be afraid to knock on a door.

Alone said older people should be encouraged to approach their neighbours for help, while Age Action asked younger people not to worry about appearing nosy if they enquired after an older person in their community... Read More - Irish News.

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IDHHC Poor Service To Deaf Illinoisans: Critics

Agency accused of poor leadership, service to Deaf Illinoisans.

SPRINGFIELD, IL -- The State Journal-Register: A tiny state agency says in a brochure that it exists to “decrease barriers” for Illinoisans with hearing loss.

But according to critics, the Springfield-based Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission is squandering its $800,000 to $850,000 in annual state funding through inept leadership and weak oversight.

“They are incompetent,” said Corey Axelrod, president of the Illinois Association of the Deaf, referring to commission director John Miller and assistant director Janet Lambert.

“They really shouldn’t be leading this particular agency,” said Axelrod, speaking on behalf of the 500-member, all-volunteer association.

Added Alan Thomas, Deaf services coordinator at the PACE Center for Independent Living in Urbana: “I don’t think they have enough expertise to run that agency. When I contact them for information, they don’t have much to share.”

Money that is going unused by the commission should be devoted to hiring more staff, Axelrod said, while Miller and Lambert should be replaced.

"They are underqualified and overpaid," Axelrod said.

Critics of the commission launched an online petition this summer that has been signed by 235 people and calls for the commission to “commit itself to make actual systematic changes and ensure that the state of Illinois, non-Deaf individuals and service providers, not only hear, but also listen to the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community the IDHHC is supposed to serve.”

Axelrod, 30, an Arlington Heights resident who works for a nonprofit group in the Chicago area, said he and others leveling criticism are "baffled" by the responses they have received from Miller and others at the commission the past several years... Read More at The State Journal-Register.

UPDATE: Deaf commission forming task force to address some complaints - Facing criticism from a statewide advocacy group for people with hearing loss, the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission voted Wednesday to form a task force to improve the quality of sign-language interpreters.

The commission, meeting at the Illinois State Library in Springfield, also decided to hold a “retreat” for commissioners the morning of their Nov. 10 meeting and use both public events to address concerns raised by the Illinois Association of the Deaf... Read More at The State Journal-Register.

Deaf Patient Denied Terp In Scottish Hospital

Deaf patient left unable to communicate with hospital staff for 12 days after staff failed to provide sign language interpreter.

DUNDEE, Scotland -- A Deaf patient was left isolated and unable to communicate for 12 days in Ninewells Hospital because of a failure to provide her with access to a sign language interpreter, according to a report by Scotland’s public services watchdog.

The female patient who had been admitted to Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital for surgery to have her appendix removed had a very limited lip reading ability and did not have a good understanding of written English.

And it was “impossible to say” with any certainty whether the deaf patient had given informed consent for the surgery,

Jim Martin, the Scottish public services ombudsman, has ruled that NHS Tayside failed to adhere to the board’s informed consent policy and found that the failure to obtain a sign language interpreter for the patient was “unacceptable”.

He states in his report that a complaint had been raised on behalf of the patient, known as Ms A, that the board failed to provide a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter during her 12-day stay at Ninewells where she had been admitted for surgery to remove her appendix.

Ms A was a BSL user with very limited lip-reading ability. She did not use verbal communication and did not have a good understanding of written English.

Mr Martin states: “Although hospital staff took steps to try to communicate with Ms A, at no point did they provide an interpreter. This was despite Ms A repeatedly pointing to a poster on the wall, which was for interpreter services, and handing staff a BSL interpreter’s card on two separate occasions.”

He continues: “In the course of my investigation I took independent advice from my equality and diversity adviser and a medical adviser. The equality adviser said that staff had not taken reasonable and appropriate steps to obtain a BSL interpreter for Ms A in line with their legal duty to do so under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010. She said that once they had been alerted to Ms A’s need for a BSL interpreter, a clear plan should have been drawn up to try to coordinate the availability of doctors and others communicating with Ms A and a BSL interpreter, sufficiently trained to be able to communicate complex medical issues.”...

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