US Education Budget Cuts For Gally & NTID

Betsy DeVos' Education Department budget cuts to Special Olympics, Gallaudet University and National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday defended deep cuts to programs meant to help students and others, including eliminating $18 million to support Special Olympics, while urging Congress to spend millions more on charter schools.

"We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to invest in systems and policies that are not yielding better results," DeVos said in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee considering the Department of Education's budget request for the next fiscal year.

It was the first time that DeVos, a wealthy former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman and school choice advocate, had been called before a Democratic-led panel in the U.S. House to explain President Donald Trump's spending priorities.

While proposing to add $60 million more to charter school funding and create a tax credit for individual and companies that donate to scholarships for private schools, DeVos' budget proposal would still cut more than $7 billion from the Education Department, about 10 percent of its current budget. President Trump proposed a $4.7 trillion overall budget this month with an annual deficit expected to run about $1 trillion.

It calls for eliminating billions in grants to improve student achievement by reducing class sizes and funding professional development for teachers as well as cutting funds dedicated to increasing the use of technology in schools and improving school conditions. In many cases, DeVos said the purpose of the grants has been found to be redundant or ineffective.

In the case of the $17.6 million cut to help fund the Special Olympics, a program designed to help children and adults with disabilities, DeVos suggested it is better supported by philanthropy and added, "We had to make some difficult decisions with this budget."

"Do you know how many kids are going to be affected by that cut?" asked U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, while also pointing out a recent report by a nonprofit group that concluded the U.S. government has spent as much as $1 billion on charter schools that never opened or they closed because of mismanagement or other reasons.

@BetsyDeVosED is making serious cuts to special education programs Americans rely on like the Special Olympics, special education grants to states, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, & Gallaudet University.

@MarleeMatlin - Please RT. The benefits of Special Olympics, which I have seen first hand as volunteer are IMMEASURABLE. DeVos proposal to cut their funding will adversely affect thousands with developmental disabilities. Don't let this happen! I support SpecialOlympics.

DeVos has been a longtime supporter of charter schools - independently run, publicly funded schools that typically aren't as closely regulated as traditional schools - and school choice for public school students, arguing that parents should be able to put their children into the schools of their choice and that funding should follow them.

Many public school supporters have argued that government support of charter schools and private schools can undermine traditional schools, which educate most students.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who is chairwoman of the subcommittee that held the hearing, called the budget proposal "cruel and reckless," saying it "will hurt the middle class and low-income families that most need our help."

"How can you support this budget? I mean that genuinely," she said. "As secretary of the Department of Education, how can you support, even boast, about taking 10 percent away from our teachers and students?"

It's unlikely that any of the major reductions, or any major proposals to boost school choice, are headed towards passage, however. Even with the Republican in the majority in the U.S. House the last two years, most of DeVos' strongest proposals for cuts or spending were turned back. Now with Democrats in the majority, they are far less likely to gain traction.

SOURCE - USA TODAY

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#WheresTheLove Ft. Deaf Community In ASL

#WheresTheLove Ft. Deaf Community - Black Eyed Peas.

This an American Sign Language interpretation of "#Whereisthelove" by Black Eyed Peas Ft the World. We Are a World of Color. One Family. One Bond.

Thank you to Dyer Art Center & SLT for your support from the National Technical Institute of the Deaf and community in America.

A new version "#Whereisthelove" by The Black Eyed Peas featuring The World was released on August 31, 2016, in collaboration with a great number of artists within the music industry. The proceeds of the charity single will go to educational programs.

Produced & Directed By:
Tina Banerjee
Reena Banerjee
Keith Bonilla
Louis Albano

From National Technical Institute of the Deaf.

NTID/RIT Facutlty & Staff Open Letter To AG Bell

Open letter to the AG Bell Association from NTID/RIT facutlty and staff.

ROCHESTER, NY -- National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Rochester Institute of Technology facutlty and staff share the American Sign Language video letter to the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) - Recently, there is an appalling wave of reaction by the Deaf community in regards to AG Bell's response to Washington Post's "The Reliable Source" who accuses Nyle DiMarco dispelling the myths about deafness.

To the President, CEO, Board, and Members of the AG Bell Association,

We have a wealth of knowledge today from both historical scholarship and the collective, lived experiences of Deaf people about AG Bell. We know that AG Bell was a strong supporter of the eugenics movement. He supported language oppression, leading to a legacy of linguicism in Deaf history. Eugenics began and was practiced here in the United States before being adopted in Nazi Germany. Thus, Bell was part of the development of the notion of a “better stock of human beings” which clearly indicated that Deaf people were unacceptable. Bell’s ideology shows repeated pattern of language oppression, systematic destruction of Deaf people’s culture and way of life. Such systematic ways of destroying any culture needs to be stopped right now.

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) organization has reported that 70 million Deaf and Deaf Blind people around the globe use sign language. Additionally, WFD has worked closely with the United Nations in developing the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The UNCRPD focuses on the rights of Deaf people including recognition of the human right to sign language as a first language. The CRPD, therefore, recognizes and promotes the sign languages of Deaf people worldwide. A related CRPD principle reaffirms the education of Deaf children through sign language followed by reading and writing skills in the language of their home countries. The recent letter from the AG Bell Association mentions sign language as simply one of many “options.” Thus, the AG Bell Association has blatantly denied Deaf children the human right to sign language that has been asserted by WFD/UN CRPD.

I’ve noticed among Deaf students here at NTID that they tend to communicate most successfully through sign. These students are diverse: many from international countries and from various states; their educational backgrounds include experiencing mainstream schools and Deaf schools. When they all come together and need to communicate effectively in the moment, they all use sign. Speech doesn’t work well because many of the international students do not lipread English nor use spoken English. When they come together, they all can sign and smoothly collaborate. This experience is evidence that it is signing which allows diverse students to be successful communicators.

For many years, AG Bell has reinforced the concept that speech is equated with the ability to learn language which is misleading and erroneous. Focusing on developing literacy is different from speech training. Being able to use speech may be a convenient way to communicate with many people, but it does not lead to literacy--that is, skills such as the ability to think, reason, negotiate, read and write. Research has indicated that in America today there are about 30 million people who use speech fluently, but who cannot read and write. When you give your child language, you need to remember that Deaf children always are bilingual or multilingual. Today in 2016, we have a lot of research that AG Bell’s assumptions have been wrong.

In 2008, the President and CEO of AG Bell Association wrote a letter to the Pepsi Company chastising them for having shown a commercial which included Deaf people signing. It was just one short commercial shown on one day out of a whole year’s worth of commercials. Yet, the President and CEO of AG Bell were so upset that they felt they needed to respond. At NTID/RIT, the students, faculty, staff, community members and members of the Orange and Brown Coalition decided that we must confront you about this injustice. We demanded that you rescind your letter to the Pepsi Company and apologize for offending and misrepresenting Deaf people. At the same time, people at NTID/RIT began to question the integrity of having a building named in honor of AG Bell on our campus. Students began to study Bell’s history and notice his pattern of oppressing Deaf people’s language and culture as well as his destructive impact on the individual lives of Deaf people. Because of this history, they felt NTID/RIT should not show honor much less tolerance for people who represent such actions. After much discussion, the name and plaque honoring AG Bell was finally removed from our campus. That was in 2008.

Now, in 2016, you have again written a letter publically insulting Deaf people, Deaf culture, and ASL. You seem resistant to learning. Your pattern of harassment and insults to our culture and our language is unacceptable and must stop. It is harmful to parents, children, and adults. We have had enough.

NTID/RIT Faculty/Staff members from the Department of Cultural and Creative Studies:
Dr. J.Matt Searls,
Mr. Joseph Hamilton,
Dr. Deirdre A. Schlehofer,
Dr. Aaron Kelsone, and
Ms. Patti Durr

Related: AG Bell's Letter About Nyle DiMarco Controversy

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New Classroom Technology Helps Deaf Students

New classroom technology helps Deaf and Hard of Hearing RIT students.

ROCHESTER, NY -- New technology is being used at Rochester Institute of Technology to help students learn and communicate in and out of the classroom.

The new technologies include voice recognition apps, video remote-interpreting and captioning services, just to name a few. This is technology that students say is changing the way they're communicating both in an out of class.

To activate this feature, press the "CC" button.

The ability to fully hear is something some of these RIT students do not have, but the ability to communicate is something they do, and it just got a whole lot easier.

“The world is becoming more accessible to Deaf people,” says Rico Petersen, Assistant Dean and Director of the Department of Access Services. “Typically they might not know sign language, or they might prefer English instead of sign language, so we have a provider that is trained in specialized software. They go into class and type live what is being said.”

It starts with captioning services for entire classrooms - lectures scrolling on a screen in front of the students in real time. The technology can even be brought out of the classrooms and into the lives of the students at home, or with friends thanks to the Ava app, making group face-to-face conversations that much easier. People looking to download the AVA app can email Hello@ava.me and ask how to sign up or get more info.

Even for those one-on-one studying sessions, new video remote interpreting, or VRIS used.

“It's much easier and more clear using your expression and so forth rather than writing back and forth,” says Bryan ward, RIT gradute.

With 130 interpreters on staff and more than 4,000 hours of interpreting done a week at RIT, this new technology is needed. “It really is having an impact on the Deaf world because it makes access easier to come by,” says Peterson.

The entire Deaf community has access to this new technology. Professors say there are still some situations where interpreters work best, but the new technology is simply a way to make every-day actions easier.

SOURCE - WHEC-TV

Forbes: Changing Technologies For The Deaf

Deaf News: The Forbes Report: 4 Game-Changing Technologies For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are more than 360 million people worldwide with a disabling hearing loss, including 32 million children and one-third of people over 65 years of age. Hearing loss may result from genetic causes, complications at birth, certain infectious diseases, chronic ear infections, the use of particular drugs, exposure to excessive noise and aging.

Related - New Technology of Communication for the Deaf

One of the main impacts of hearing loss is on the individual’s ability to communicate with others, since spoken language development is often delayed in children with deafness. Limited access to services and exclusion from communication can have a significant impact on everyday life, causing feelings of loneliness, isolation and frustration, particularly among older people with hearing loss.

Recent advances in technology have the potential to improve the quality of life for those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Here’s a look at four products in this space that caught our attention.

MotionSavvy UNI: MotionSavvy, founded by a team of students from Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, announced “the world’s first two-way communication software for the Deaf.” UNI translates American Sign Language (ASL) into speech, and speech into text. It utilizes a special camera to track the location of both hands and all ten fingers. Graphic representations of the hands provide live feedback to make sure gestures are being captured correctly. The software’s dictionary can be expanded with customized signs added by the user. There’s also an option to upload those signs to the Internet, to share with others. The more an individual uses the system, the more accurate and tailored it becomes. To facilitate the Hearing-to-Deaf half of the communication, the package also includes Dragon Nuance Pro, one of the leading pieces of voice recognition software. Interested customers will have to wait for MotionSavvy UNI, but not long.

The company is planning to release it in September 2015. The video below gives a high level overview of the concept...read full story with videos, HERE.

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New York City’s First Deaf Taxi Drivers

Interviews: Meet one of New York City’s first Deaf uber drivers.

NEW YORK CITY -- Pin Lu was an accountant before ferrying passengers; ‘Deaf people are good drivers because they focus and pay attention’ Many initially convey surprise or concern when they discover he can’t hear, but he said being Deaf gives him an advantage in honk-filled. In many ways, he is a typical UberX driver.

He uses his own car, complete with a crocheted owl dangling from the rearview mirror, to ferry passengers who hail him via the popular ride-sharing app.

He often works long hours, saving to start his own business someday. And he takes pride in his user ratings, saying he has earned 4.82 out of a possible 5 stars. But when New Yorkers step into Mr. Lu’s green 2011 Honda Accord, many are surprised to be handed a note asking them to type a destination into the GPS.

Mr. Lu, the note explains, is Deaf.

“Let me know if you have a preferred route by using your hand motion as direction,” it reads. “If you have any questions, knock your hand to my shoulder. Write/type note to me as communication.”

Uber Technologies Inc. estimates it has about 40 Deaf “driver-partners” across the U.S. and predicts that number is likely to grow as the company expands into new markets.

Mr. Lu, a spokeswoman said, is one of its first in the New York area.

Mr. Lu, 29 years old, was born without hearing in Fuzhou, China, and immigrated to Queens, New York with his family when he was 10.

After earning an accounting degree from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2011, he spent about two years doing accounting work for the Defense Department in Rome, N.Y., but he grew tired of small-town life “in the middle of nowhere,” he says.

Mr. Lu moved back to the New York area and switched paths, becoming a driver for Uber and occasionally for its competitor Lyft, earning his Taxi and Limousine Commission license in July.

Most weeks, he said, he now spends five to seven days a week seven to 10 hours a day behind the wheel.

Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing people in New York can get a driver's license with a restriction specifying they need a hearing aid or a full-view rearview mirror, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

“If I can do it, so can you.” Larry is Deaf and on a mission to follow his dreams. Find out how partnering with Uber made it possible for him to move to LA and support his family while starting a new career.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission doesn’t register or track the disabilities of its licensees, a representative said... Read The Full Story.

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New Technology of Communication for the Deaf

MotionSavvy introduces Uni - a two way communication tool for the Deaf and Hearing.

ROCHESTER, New York -- With recent advancements in gesture recognition technology, it is now possible to provide the millions of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people worldwide with a affordable tool to communicate with their peers.

Related - Forbes: Changing Technologies For The Deaf

UNI uses advanced gesture recognition technology called Leap Motion, this allows users to see how their signs appear on camera, which helps to make sure signs are input correctly and avoid missing important information.

What UNI does for you ? First of its kind device translates sign language into audio and spoken word to text, finally empowering the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to lead full lives and boundless careers. More details at www.motionsavvy.com

Sign To Speech - Powered by motion gesture recognition technologies, UNI translates signs into audible speech for hearing individuals.

Speech to Text - Using voice recognition technology, UNI identifies audible speech and converts it to text for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. Leap Motion V2 Tracking Developer Beta - Demo:

Developer beta of Leap Motion's V2 tracking. Learn more at https://developer.leapmotion.com. More details at www.motionsavvy.com.

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Changing Research of Deaf Education

Professor Marc Marschark, Editor Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education helps Oxford University Press to changing research of Deaf education in the United States.

ROCHESTER, New York -- Marc Marschark, Ph.D., is a Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, Editor of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, reflects on how a partnership with Oxford University Press has helped the journal to fundamentally change research in the field of Deaf studies, language, and education.

Professor Marschark is the founding Editor of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education and Series Editor for Perspectives on Deafness , both published by Oxford University Press.

Professor Marc Marschark's primary research and teaching interests focus on language and cognition among Deaf and Hearing Adults; interactions of language, cognitive, and social development of Deaf children; and links between cognitive processes (e.g., memory, problem solving) and literacy among Deaf students. He is now developing a research program concerning several aspects of sign language interpreting.

Read the full article: https://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org

Subscribe Oxford Academic

Deaf Population Boom In Rochester, New York

Need to know about Rochester: Can Rochester reverse the talent drain.

ROCHESTER, New York -- It's well known that Rochester has a large Deaf and hard of hearing community.

While the community is large, the job prospects for the Deaf and hard of hearing are not. What can the business community in Rochester do to reverse the talent drain?

SOURCE

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Lydia Callis - Bloomberg's Interpreter Goes Viral

Meet Lydia Callis, the mayor's sign language interpretor who became the city's newest hearthrob.

NEW YORK CITY -- A Rochester Institute of Technology graduate skyrocketed into fame while providing American Sign Language interpretation during New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nationally watched news conferences.

Meet Lydia Callis, the mayor's sign language interpretor who became the city's newest hearthrob. Stealing the show with her passionate facial expressions and signs.

Clearly there is nothing funny about mass casualties and a region under water. But Lydia Callis has at least given people something to smile about in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

The sign language interpreter for Mayor Michael Bloomberg has gone viral. Mayor Bloomberg addresses the public while his signer feels the beat of the hurricane mane! as seen on YouTube.

The stories of devastation and destruction on the local news lately have not provided much in the way of relief unless, that is, you happened to catch sight of a sign language interpreter named Lydia Callis.

And she was pretty hard to miss. Ms. Callis has been a fixture at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s news briefings, gesticulating, bobbing and nodding her way through the words of city officials as she communicates for the hearing impaired... Read More at NY Times.

She has inspired a tribute Tumblr page: Lydia Callis’s Facial Expressions, which has compiled images of her expressions as she signs. In one photo, Mr. Bloomberg looks on from behind, seemingly fixated on her hands.

ASL is the American Sign Language.

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Deaf People Grateful For Steve Jobs' Creations

Apple gadgets help Deaf community to communicate.

ROCHESTER, New York -- The RIT/NTID college students have grown up with cell phones in their hands, but for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing cell phones and other text-based gadgets have provided another way to communicate. For students at NTID, using an Apple iPad and iPhone have changed their lives.

iPod Shuffle Commercial With Sign Language:

Ipod Shuffle commercial with American Sign Language (ASL), demonstrating hands free operation. (Imagine iPod Shuffle attached to beltloop).

SOURCE

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