Deaf Sister Locked In Closet For Seven Years

Woman kept Deaf sister locked in closet for seven years while stealing benefits.

CORUNNA, Michigan -- Candy Lawson, 46, was gave her adoptive sister Diana Churchill little food, water or clothing during her seven-year ordeal in the tiny 4ft by 8ft space. She was freed in 2015 when she was discovered at the house in Corunna, by construction worker, Robert Lamar, while he carried out works on the house.

Lawson was meant to be caring for her sister following their mother’s death 10 years ago, but instead subjected her to years of abuse. The prosecutor said: ‘I think the easy answer for us is we think the motive was the benefits she was getting, the social security money that she was getting.

‘It’s too bad that somebody can be on the radar with the SOS Administration that there is no protocol in place for actual face-to-face follow up, to figure out whether or not this person is alive and well, and actually getting the benefit of their funds.

‘In this case, obviously the system let this woman down.’

Diana’s brother, who had the same cognitive and physical impairments as her, died at the age of 33 weighing just 60lbs.

Police are now investigating whether she was also responsible for his death but no charges have been brought.

Lawson claimed that the closet was a room and the reason she locked her in was to prevent her from walking off in the night.

She also said that she hadn’t deprived her of food and was free to walk around the house.

However she was malnourished and so dirty that her skin reacted badly when nurses used soap to try and clean her.

Diana is now being cared for by the state and is doing much better according to Wnem.

Speaking about the case, Mr Lamar who found her said: ‘Horrible really. It was disgusting how she left her sister. Someone that doesn’t care about another human’s life.’ She will be sentenced on October 27.

SOURCE - Metro

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Deaf Couple Pleads For Return of Dog Stolen

Deaf couple pleads for return of dog stolen from in front of store.

INKSTER, Michigan -- A metro Detroit Uber driver is hoping you can help reunite her with her dog.

Megan Nairne says her dog, Bruiser, was taken while on a walk with her significant other. They had stopped at Harrison Liquor Store in Inkster, while she was working on Opening Day at Comerica Park.

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The dognapping was captured on video, which Nairne posted to Facebook.

Nairne says she had just dropped a rider off near Comerica when she got word that Bruiser had been taken.

Narine says she and her significant other, James, adopted the 9-year-old Bruiser after James' mother, Linda, passed away in April 2015. Bruiser was originally Linda's dog.

Nairne says Bruiser is very attached to James and will get depressed if he is not around.

James had stopped at the store during their walk to get Bruiser a snack, and left him outside because the store does not allow pets inside.

Nairne says they have filed a police report, but do not feel their case has been given the appropriate priority.

She says she just wants to get Bruiser home.

SOURCE - WXYZ

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Kriston Pumphrey: Super Bowl’s ASL Performer

Royal Oak man to perform Super Bowl LI National Anthem in American Sign Language at Houston's NRG Stadium.

ROYAL OAK, MI -- A metro Detroit man is performing at the Big Game - but he won't be singing, he will be signing. Kriston Lee Pumphrey is set to take the stage in Houston at one of the most watched events in America on February 5.

"To be a part of something that 100 million people watch is amazing and nerve-racking at the same time," Pumphrey said with a sign language interpreter. While country superstar Luke Bryan sings the National Anthem and America the Beautiful, Pumphrey has been given the honor to perform the songs in American Sign Language.

"I am so excited. It is a huge honor and it is a great opportunity to represent my community," he says.

Related Story: Super Bowl LI National Anthem in ASL

With the help of an interpreter, Pumphrey, who is biracial and was born Deaf, says life hasn't been easy. He's learned to navigate his way in a judgmental, fast-moving verbal world, and has been able to overcome his disability. He now works as an online anchor for DPAN-TV, a sign language channel which delivers an internet-based news program.

"One of the reasons why DPAN-TV was established is because we feel Deaf people should have access to information. People don't realize the Deaf community misses out on a lot of things going on in the world and in the news. And, to be on a national stage, this is a huge deal for us," Pumphrey says.

It's also a huge deal for his boss, Sean Forbes, a Deaf rapper who is the cofounder of DPAN-TV.

"Myself and the whole staff at DPAN-TV, is so thrilled for him because we know that he is a skilled performer," Forbes says. "We know he has capabilities to stand in front of millions of people watching him on TV. We couldn't be more excited."

Although grateful for the opportunity, both Forbes and Pumphrey are hoping this year is different and the Deaf are given even more access to the national stage.

"In the past they have only shown a few seconds of the sign language, hopefully they will show more of it," Pumphrey says.

SOURCE - WJBK

Check this out at Hollywood Life:
Kriston Lee Pumphrey: 5 Things About Super Bowl 51’s ASL Performer.

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Will Be Deaf Grandparents For The First Time

Deaf Parents learn they will be grandparents for the first time goes viral on the Internet.

A Deaf couple in Michigan receive gift bags from their daughter and her husband in Florida containing a framed ultrasound of their first baby that is on the way. While connected over FaceTime, their heartwarming reactions are captured on camera. What a special moment!

Kimberly Lynn, sister and her husband live in Florida and their Deaf parents live in Michigan. They are expecting their first baby in June and wanted to make the moment special.

They invited them to her house for dinner, set up a face-time with Kristy and Timmy, and then gave them gift bags that contained a framed ultrasound.

SOURCE

Deaf Movie Fans Sues Celebration! Cinemas

Deaf News: Celebration! Cinemas sued for failing to accommodate Deaf, Hard of Hearing in Michigan.

BENTON HARBOR, MI -- West Michigan movie fans who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing are suing Celebration! Cinemas for discrimination, alleging their Benton Harbor theater fails to provide widely available captioning accommodations.

Graham Forsey, 23, a St. Joseph resident who is Deaf, alongside the National Association of the Deaf filed a lawsuit Monday against Loeks Theatres, Inc., also known as Celebration! Cinemas. Forsey says he asked the Benton Harbor theater multiple times in writing to provide captioning and Celebration! Cinemas failed to accommodate, according to the lawsuit.

Read the full lawsuit here.

“It’s about access," said Mary Vargas, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. "It’s about Mr. Forsey and members of the National Association of the Deaf being able to go to the movies.”

A non-profit representing more than 137,000 Michiganders who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the NAD is suing Celebration! Cinemas with Forsey stating this failure to provide captioning technology violates a basic civil right as specified under the Americans with Disabilities Act among other laws. Meanwhile, Forsey says he is forced to drive about an hour to another movie theater which accommodates him.

Celebration! Cinemas responded to FOX 17 Monday and confirmed their Benton Harbor theater does not have any captioning accommodations, releasing this statement:

"We’re fully aware of the issues surrounding this complaint and new technologies will help resolve it very soon.

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has been working actively with advocacy groups to clarify updated standards for supporting the Deaf community. These standards are currently being reviewed by the Department of Justice, and we expect a ruling from them in the very near future.

Celebration! Cinema is committed to continuing to improve services for all of our guests, and we are looking forward to the approval of these standards so we can continue to invest in closed captioning technology. Currently, we have assisted listening devices in all locations and closed captioning in our Grand Rapids and Lansing, MI markets. Benton Harbor and other locations will receive captioning equipment in the coming months upon the adoption of the new standards.

Technological solutions for visually and hearing impaired guests are evolving at a rapid rate. We look forward to working collaboratively with NATO and advocacy groups both locally and nationally on this topic.

Steve VanWagoner, VP of Marketing & Public Relations, Celebration! Cinema"

Closed captioning technology is readily available at other movie theaters. It ranges from open captioning an entire audience would see, to captioning glasses, or individual devices that fit onto a theater seat.

"It's frustrating because it’s been so many years since this was a legal requirement for theaters," said Vargas. "There are roughly 137,000 people in the state of Michigan who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and guess what? They’re just like everybody else. They like to go to the movies.”

SOURCE - FOX NEWS

Mastyl Signs - A Deaf-Owned Business Interview

Exclusive interview with a Deaf-Owned business of the Mastyl Signs company in Flint, Michigan.

The Daily Moth is a new ASL radio show, delivers news in video using American Sign Language. The Deaf host, Alex Abenchuchan, covers trending news stories and Deaf topics.

Exclusive interview with a Deaf-owned business-Mastyl Signs is a small family owned custom sign business located near Flint, Michigan.

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Feel free to explore this site and see what we have to offer, check out his shop and order your custom sign at www.mastylsigns.com

Mastyl Signs specialize in small sandblasted signs for home and businesses, do also provide other types of custom signage.

Deaf people can sign. This Deaf man can also make signs.

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Poisoned Water At Michigan School For The Deaf

WATCH [CC] - Lead found in water at Michigan School for the Deaf.

FLINT, MI –- A building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf has tested positive for the first time for lead in the water, according to a letter issued by the school Wednesday, Jan. 20 to parents and guardians.

"Yesterday (1/19/16), we received the first lead positive water test for the Stevens Hall dormitory (the school building continues to show no lead detected)," reads the letter from Michigan School for the Deaf principal Cecelia Winkler and administrative manager Mark Bouvy.

The school has been purchasing bottled water since September 2015 and had no positive tests for lead prior to the recent result, according to the letter.

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The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has been going on for almost two years. A national disaster has been declared, but we look back at what caused the problem, what has been done to fix it, and what is expected next.

Winkler said the information in the letter was true when reached by phone Wednesday evening, but she forwarded all other comment to a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education.

A call and email to the Michigan Department of Education spokesman were not immediately returned Wednesday evening.

It's unclear in the letter what the positive test showed in terms of the amount of lead found in the water or how frequently tests had taken place prior to the positive result.

The letter further states "Our research shows that lead is not absorbed thru the skin but ingested," with the school exploring the option of filtering water for showers in the dormitory.

Students will have the option for the time being to shower in the school locker room, which the letter states is "presumed lead-free pending further testing."

All faucets in Stevens Hall will be replaced in the next two weeks, with the letter stating "A lot of lead in the city water has been deemed to be coming from the sink faucets installed before the 1990's and copper piping soldered with lead solder."

Read The Full Story.

UPDATE:

Faucets replaced at Michigan School for the Deaf after positive lead test. All faucets at the Michigan School for the Deaf were replaced over the weekend after a test showed positive for lead at the campus' Stevens Hall dormitory building.

Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said independent testing showed a level of .028 parts per billion -- well below the 15 ppb allowable under federal guidelines -- at the dorm that houses 75 of the 167 students that live on campus full-time.

"This is a very important issue and the school wanted to make sure the parents knew about the testing," he said, after a letter was issued to parents and guardians about the positive test. "They wanted to inform the parents of that and that remediation was taking place immediately."

Crews were in the school over the weekend to replace all 62 faucets in the dorm, a building that was constructed in the late 1940s, Ackley said. Students have received bottled drinking water at the school since September 2015 as a precautionary measure.

Ackley said the school had been on a waiting list to get the building tested by the state Department of Environmental Quality in mid-December, but the landlord and school administration decided to speed up the process. Read The Full Story.

Related Posts: #DeafSchools

Deaf Wrestler Sues Over Interpreter Rules

WATCH [CC] - A high school wrestler who is Deaf is suing MHSAA to have an interpreter with him on the mat.

DETROIT -- A Royal Oak High School wrestler who is Deaf has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

The senior at Royal Oak High School says he is Deaf, and that shouldn’t be a problem. It has become one during meets because the MHSAA is restricting his use of sign language interpreters.

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“It is not fair,” said Ellis Kempf, of the rule.

Kemp says at meets sponsored by his school his sign language interpreter is allowed to move around the outside of the wrestling mat. At MHSAA sponsored meets that is not allowed. The MHSAA says the interpreter must be in Kempf’s coach’s designated corner. “That’s not going to work. I can’t see,” said Kempf.

“They are saying Ellis can have an interpreter he can’t see. He can have an interpreter if the interpreter stands behind his back. That does Ellis no good,” said Attorney Jason Turkish.

So why does the MHSAA have this rule?

The MHSAA says it is for the safety of interpreters. At tournaments there are often several wrestling mats lined up next to each other. While it is rare for wrestlers to go outside the boundaries and collide with each other as an official can stop the action, the MHSAA says an interpreter circling the mat likely would not see competitors from another mat coming toward her or him.

"The MHSAA allows and always has allowed interpreters for the Deaf in wrestling,” said Geoff Kimmerly, an MHSAA spokesperson. "This student has been competing in high school wrestling with the aid of an interpreter for three seasons. There are some limitations on where interpreters can move during competition, especially at large tournaments with multiple mats in close proximity, so the interpreter does not get in the way of coaches, officials and competitors. This is a safety concern. These accommodations have been used for other Deaf wrestlers without problems in the past."

Ellis says the only person getting hurt is him. He points to the fact his record shows he is more likely to win wrestling tournaments that allow sign language interpreters.

“There have been times I lost first place because I didn’t know what was going on,” said Ellis.

SOURCE - WXYZ

Deaf Justice In Detroit

Deaf people are serving as jurors in courts across the area of Detroit.

DETROIT, Michigan -- Justice is supposed to be blind, but what if it’s also Deaf? The 7 Investigators have learned that jurors who are Deaf are serving on juries.

Judges say in the past, Deaf jurors usually did not make it onto a jury to render a verdict. They’re thrilled that the courts are becoming more inclusive, and as we discovered, Deaf jurors are also changing the dynamics of deliberations.

Inside the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit, judges hold more than 500 jury trials every year. In this recent armed robbery trial, not everyone inside Judge Timothy Kenny’s courtroom could actually hear the witnesses.

That’s because for the first time in more than 18 years on the bench, Judge Kenny had the opportunity to seat a Deaf juror to help decide this case.

“I think it’s important for people who do have disabilities to think that this is not a segment of their life that they’re shut out from,” said Judge Kenny.

The court had two highly trained and certified sign language interpreters ready to go the day Juror #13 arrived for jury duty. University Translators Services provided the interpreters for the trial.

They are sworn in and the judge gives them clear instructions that when they’re interpreting inside the jury room for deliberations: they can never express their own views on the evidence.

“They recognize that's what their role is, and they’re not there to provide any editorial comment,” said Judge Kenny.

After 4 days of testimony, juror #13 - the Deaf juror was chosen to deliberate with 11 others. They found the defendant in this case not guilty. “I think every Deaf person has the ability to serve on a jury,” said Leah Scarpace...

Read The Full Story.

Facundo Element: The D: Detroit Deaf Education

Facundo Element: The D: Detroit Deaf Education Film.

Facundo Element: An organization that actively works to remove oppression and misrepresentation of D-E-A-F people through the means of mass media and non-violent activism.

The project film documentary of a narrative of Deaf students and parents' experience with Detroit Public Schools.

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Sign Language Interpreter Rules Criticized

Reform for sign language interpreter rules criticized in Michigan.

LANSING, Michigan -- In April 2005, a Deaf Roseville woman confessed to police to killing her boyfriend without knowing she had a legal right to have a lawyer present and remain silent through an interpreter.

The Michigan Supreme Court later tossed out the confession, concluding Mary Ann McBride's unqualified interpreter failed to communicate through sign language McBride's Miranda rights.

McBride was later convicted in the stabbing death of Robert Adelsburg, but the case and other incidents of sign language miscommunication in legal and medical settings prompted a 2007 law requiring more stringent education and testing requirements for interpreters.

"Unfortunately, situations like that continue to happen," said Sheryl Emery, director of the state Division on Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Six years later, the new rules are beginning to go into effect, but not everybody is happy with the reforms as Michigan imposes some of the toughest testing requirements for Deaf interpreters in the country intended to prevent interpreter mistakes. Some longtime professional interpreters and graduates of college-level sign language programs say the new state licensing test is difficult and too focused on English language concepts not used in everyday interpreting with Deaf people in community, educational, medical and legal settings.

Robina Anderson, an interpreter from Trenton and the daughter of two Deaf parents, has used sign language for 55 years, but has twice failed a new state exam that places a heavy emphasis on antonyms, synonyms and reading comprehension. Her state certification will become invalid this year under new licensing requirement set to go into effect in June... Read The Full Story.

Deaf Lifeguard Be ‘Qualified’ Under The ADA?

Deaf lifeguard be ‘Qualified’ under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

OAKLAND COUNTY, Michigan -- What would you do if you were hiring a lifeguard for a community wave pool and the applicant was Deaf, but he was also certified as a lifeguard? A new court ruling this month shows how mistakes made in assessing the applicant's medical condition can leave an employer drowning in litigation.

Case in Point: Nicholas Keith, 22, was born Deaf and communicates using sign language. He also uses a cochlear implant that helps him detect noises, such as whistles and people calling for help. Keith received his junior lifeguard certification and then successfully completed lifeguard training. A Michigan county provided a sign-language interpreter to relay verbal instructions to Keith during both training programs.

Keith then applied for a lifeguard position at the county's wave pool, requesting that a sign-language interpreter be present to relay verbal directions during staff meetings. The county offered Keith the job, conditioned on his passing a pre-employment physical. The doctor failed him, citing his inability to hear. Plus, the county’s safety and risk management consultants expressed concerns over Keith being unable to do the job, despite numerous accommodations the county was offering. So the county rescinded the job offer... Read The Full Story.

Deaf Lifeguard's Disability Claims Against Oakland County Go To Jury:

The Sixth Circuit has reversed the decision of a lower court and held that a Deaf individual should be permitted to proceed to trial on his claim that a prospective employer discriminated against him on the basis of disability by failing to hire him as a lifeguard. Keith v. County of Oakland, (6th Cir. Jan. 10, 2013).

In reviving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim, the Court found that a jury should be permitted to determine whether the individual was otherwise qualified to be a lifeguard, with or without accommodation, that is, whether hearing is an essential function of the job and, if so, whether reasonable accommodations could have been made... Read The Full Story.