Teens Assaulted Deaf Student, Filmed Incident

Atlanta teens face long suspension after assaulting hearing-impaired student at mainstream school.

ATLANTA, Georgia -- An Atlanta mother says a group of high school students who attacked her hearing-impaired daughter could be suspended from the school for one year or one semester.

Mother Kimberly Flournoy says her 18-year-old daughter Jacqueline was recently cold-clocked out of the blue on campus at Maynard Jackson High School.

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“He just turned around and slapped me. I was like, ‘OK, what just happened?’” Jacqueline Flournoy said.

Right before that, another student pulled the 18-year-old’s hair.

A third student recorded the attack, which happened Nov. 30, egging the other two students on.

"I think it was hate. They were just being spiteful and mean. They wanted to make a video about it and go viral,” Jacqueline Flournoy said.

Jacqueline Flournoy says the two brothers and a female student made vulgar comments about her relationship and her speech.

The 18-year-old, who is black, has a white boyfriend. She is also hearing-impaired.

Jacqueline’s mother posted the video on social media to raise awareness about bullying and to make sure the students are punished to the fullest extent.

The attackers were initially suspended for one day and forced to apologize.

"I want them expelled from school,” Kimberly Flournoy said.

The two brothers will face a tribunal Wednesday where they could be removed from the school for one year or one semester, according to the mother.

The girl who recorded the video could face cyber-bullying discipline, Kimberly Flournoy says.

Jacqueline Flournoy wants to turn the incident into something positive. She and her mother have created an anti-bullying campaign.

"It shouldn't be happening. If it is happening, you should speak up to somebody,” Jacqueline Flournoy said.

The 18-year-old says people have to learn to treat others with respect.

Kimberly Flournoy also has a message for the parents of kids who bully.

"Parents, [you] need to talk to your children. I mean, it's bad enough that adults treat each other like this, but for kids to do it, they're learning it from someone,” she said.

Atlanta Public Schools has not yet released a comment about the video.

SOURCE - KFVS

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Learn American Sign Language For Deaf Student

Deaf News: Signing club helps Deaf student feel at home.

PEORIA, IL -- WMBD/CNN: Inside the library at Mark Bills School, class begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. But here, they’re doing things a little differently.

Students are using American Sign Language to say the pledge.

“It’s like they want to be like me,” said fifth-grader Rhemy Elsey, who was born almost completely Deaf. A set of cochlear implant help him hear, but he relies heavily on sign language and his interpreter, Tammy Arvin, to communicate.

“It’s tough for a kid that has an interpreter,” Arvin said. “Following them around all day, you know, especially if the rest of the class can’t really communicate.”

Rhemy’s classmate Dexyrae Clarke said, “I wanted to be able to talk to Rhemy, and I wanted to be able to communicate with him.”

That’s how the American Sign Language Club was born at the school - with a group of students who wanted to be able to talk to a friend.

“I was thrilled that they were interested and that they wanted to learn some sign language,” Arvin said, “and that they were taking some initiative to able to communicate more effectively with one of their classmates.”

And this is not like their Spanish or French classes - students say they are finding there’s a lot that goes into learning this language, and things aren’t always easy. Tabria Smith explained the difficulty.

“Sometimes you really want to talk while you’re signing, but then you have to get used to just using your hands instead of your mouth to communicate with other people,” Tabria said.

But in Rhemy, they have a teacher and friend, showing them that so much can be said without saying anything at all. “It makes me feel, like, happy,” Rhemy said.

SOURCE - WDAM