Deaf Girl's Costume For School Photo Goes Viral

VIDEO: Deaf News: 3-year-old Deaf toddler becomes internet's hero with this epic class picture day outfit.



ROCKLIN, CA -- CBS News: When 3-year-old Kaylieann Steinbach picks out her school outfits every morning there are no mismatched socks, bright colored blouses or pajama-like pants.



Instead, the little girl sticks with her favorite theme: superheroes.



That’s why the preschooler’s parents weren’t surprised by their daughter’s outfit choice on picture day at her school, Merryhill Preschool in Rocklin, California.



For two straight weeks, the little girl had been running around in her bright blue velvet Superman dress and matching red cape. In fact, she wore it so much, her parents even had to sneak into her room to wash it while she was in the bath.

But they still got a good chuckle when they opened up their mail a few weeks later and saw her adorable ensemble -- superman figurine included.



Kaylieann’s dad, Alex Steinbach, posted the hilarious school picture to Reddit, and it received nearly 5,000 upvotes.



“As proud as any parents can be we do our best to support her with everything, including outfit choices,” Steinbach told CBS News. “We always let her dress herself and her choices show her personality well.”



Every day, Kaylieann makes sure everyone in her class gets a friendly “hello.”



They often try to guess which outfit she’s going to go with that day.



Her parents say it’s safe to assume it will be some version of a superhero costume.



“Since we’ve always let her choose her outfit we will continue to let her,” Steinbach said. “She loves expressing herself with her choices.”



Steinbach can’t wait to hang the photo, which perfectly sums up Kaylieann’s spunky personality, on the wall.



“She’s already smarter than all of us parents combined! She surprises us everyday and leaves us speechless and with tummy aches from laughing,” Steinbach said.



SOURCE

The Deaf Body in Public Space - NY Times

Deaf News: The Deaf Body in Public Space from New York Times.



NEW YORK CITY -- “It’s rude to point,” my friend told me from across the elementary-school cafeteria table. I grasped her words as I read them off her lips. She stared at my index finger, which I held raised in midair, gesturing toward a mutual classmate. “My mom said so.”



I was 6 or 7 years old, but I remember stopping with a jolt. Something inside me froze, too, went suddenly cold.



“I’m signing,” I said out loud. “That’s not rude.”



As the only Deaf student in my elementary school, I had already stumbled across the challenges of straddling two languages and two modes of communication. My family was hearing, but they still empowered me by using both English and sign language at home.



A sign language interpreter accompanied me throughout the day at school, and my teachers created a welcoming environment for me to learn, but finding a place to belong with kids my own age often felt more difficult. I tried to speak to them, and occasionally they reciprocated the effort by learning some basic signs. But usually I felt separate.



I went home that day and asked my mother about what my friend had said. “Don’t worry,” my mother said, “she doesn’t know the social rules are different with signing. You aren’t being rude.” With that, matter-of-fact as always, she brought the conversation to an end. But I still felt a lingering self-consciousness, entirely novel and difficult to shake.



This was perhaps the first time I realized that other people could see me as obtrusive, as taking up too much space, when I was simply communicating just as I was.



When I reflect on this memory two decades later, I recognize how my childhood friend, whom at the time I had found to be so accusatory, had really gaped at me with a sort of wonder. My signing challenged the rules of social conduct she’d absorbed from adults, and to her I must have seemed ignorant or radically rebellious, or perhaps both. But pointing was a truly fundamental act for me; it was how I expressed what my grown-up scholarly self would call relationality - the idea of being in the world in relation to others. Through sign language, a properly poised finger allowed me to say you and me and he and she and they. If I did not point, how could I make a human connection? ... Read More at New York Times.

Deaf Girl Teaches Deaf Puppy Sign Language

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News: Deaf girl teaches puppy sign language in heartwarming video encouraging people to embrace being different.



LOS ANGELES, CA -- ABC News Today: Meet Julia and her four-legged best friend Walter.



Julia was born Deaf, and so was Walter - but the two don't mind being different. In fact, they embrace it, according to the Pasadena Humane Society and SCPCA in California.



A heartwarming video showcasing the special bond between Julia and her puppy was recently posted to the humane society's Facebook page. The video, produced with the help of 1620 Media, has received more than 246,000 views and hundreds of positive comments since it was shared last week.



In the video, Julia can be seen teaching Walter sign language, including sign commands for "sit," water" and "food."



"I love Walter," she says in sign language. "Walter is my best friend."

Walter first came to the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA last December, according to Jamie Holeman, community relations associate for the organization.



A Good Samaritan had found Walter and his littermates abandoned and brought them in, Holeman told ABC News today. Walter was only 6 weeks old when he was found, she said.



Once the resilient pup was old enough to be put up for adoption, the shelter posted a photo of Walter to its Facebook page, Holeman said. Julia and her mother saw Walter's photo on the page and immediately fell in love.



The love at first sight only grew stronger when Julia and her mother went to meet Walter in person.



"When I first held Julia, since she couldn’t really hear my voice she would smell my neck and when I first held Walter, he did almost the same exact thing," Julia's mother says in the video recently shared by the humane society.



"I remember just looking at him, and I just knew that he was meant to be ours," she adds. "They’re the same."



Holeman said she hoped that the video would remind people that "there's always someone out there for everyone."



Julia's family asked not to be identified by their last name.



SOURCE

Deaf - A Short Silent Film

VIDEO: Short silent film - What would Deaf girl's life be like without sound ?



Triptych Productions - Deaf is a conceptual short silent film. It focuses on a recently Deaf girl and the horror of learning to live without sound. The film features dramatic lighting and visual sound cues that are never answered and highlights the experience of living in silence.

Cast:

Heroine - Natasha Home

Sister - Senta Achee

Drummer/Guitar - David Levesque

Bandmates - Evan Galbicka, Tristan "Stany" Whitehall

Produced by Caitlin Elsesser

Directed by John Heath