The Charity Fashion Show With Deaf Models

Deaf News: 'Deaf' fashion show gets resounding round of applause.



CAPE TOWN -- Africa News Agency: Hands shot up and voices shouted as people vied for outfits at the Solidarity through Fashion auction in Newlands, Cape Town on Saturday night.



The auction followed a fashion show held on International Day for Persons with Disabilities to create awareness about deafness and raise funds for the Deaf community.



The models were Deaf and wore Binca Smith’s Zonya D collection, which was a delightful expression of summery colours and playfulness with contemporary lines and African prints. The collection included bridal gowns.



Newly crowned Mr South Africa Habib Noorbhai was a guest.



The MC, DeafSA Western Cape provincial director Jabaar Mohamed, kept the audience entertained with witty comments that were interpreted for members of the audience who did not understand South African sign language (SASL).



After two musicians played Mohamed quipped, “I’m Deaf but I can feel the vibrations.”



“I am proud to be Deaf,” he went on, explaining that he did not ascribe to the “shame factor” that some people had towards people with disabilities, as a disability did not define one’s ability.



Prizes were announced during the lucky draw and two winners received free SASL lessons with DeafSA, while one won a two-day stay at a Radisson Blu Hotel.



The concept for the fashion show came about after a few ideas were thrown about and Smith was willing to explore the concept and work with the deaf community.



Mohamed, who started up the Silent Walk in 2012 to create more awareness about deafness, said he was passionate about the Deaf community and advancing its rights.



“There are a lot of challenges in the community” and the fashion show “was a way to create awareness and an opportunity to give back to the community and raise funds for the community”.



Mohamed told Africa News Agency (ANA), “I’ve seen a lot of hearing people do fashion shows and I have seen them run the Mr, Miss, and Mrs Deaf competitions. I felt there should be a fashion show that wasn’t a competition and continued to uplift and empower all Deaf participants afterwards, and that it should be something fun.



“There needs to be more awareness about deafness and I want to see all government departments and the private sector become more involved in deaf awareness and see that they can make a difference through the Solidarity through Fashion platform.”



It was very important to raise Deaf Awareness through such platforms as “you don’t know who is deaf or who is hearing as the audience is mixed”, he said.



Noorbhai, who can sign, told ANA that “It is fantastic you can do solidarity shows like this. It is needed across many disability spheres to raise awareness and educate people about the cause. With the Deaf community, society needs to realise that the Deaf can do anything but nothing, which means we need to trust their ability.”



Smith told ANA that at the start of the project, which took two months to come to fruition, she was nervous. “I had never worked with the Deaf community.



“It was a very humbling experience as it made me realise how lucky I am to be able to hear.”



She said she enjoyed working with the Deaf models, “they walked perfectly even though they didn’t hear the music”.



“The show was very creative and beautiful,” said Kathija Khan, a Deaf project manager who attended. “Fashion is a big world and it is good to get deaf people involved and include them in this world as it opens doors for them. Deaf people can do anything and they are perfectly capable of doing something when they are given the platform.”



SOURCE

Deaf Justice In Detroit

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf people are serving as jurors in courts across the area of Detroit, Michigan.



DETROIT (WXYZ) - 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 more and more.



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.

Watch Detroit WXYZ with Closed Captions - HERE.



“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 more wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/more-and-more-deaf-jurors-are-serving-in-local-courts

Deaf Prisoner Advocacy: Lobbing The FCC For Change

VIDEO [ASL/CC] - Deaf Prisoner Advocacy Lobbying the FCC for Change: Discrimination Against Deaf, Hard of Hearing & signing users.



HEARD interns Rita Torres & Alexandre Dubsky explain how the Community can support equal communication access for all Deaf, hard of hearing, speech impaired prisoners and their family members.



On December 28, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address the long-standing issue of high prison telephone rates. Hearing prisoners' telephone calls can cost their family members as much as $17 for just 15 minutes of time. These excessive rates prevent families from maintaining contact with loved ones.

Deaf, hard of hearing, Deaf-Blind, speech impaired, and hearing prisoners with Deaf family members endure an even greater financial burden with respect to telephone rates due to a number of factors, including (1) telephone rates being applied evenly to TTY and regular voice phone calls, the former of which is much more time-consuming; (2) failure of prisons to install videophones and captioned telephones; (3) security measures that either prevent Deaf prisoners from calling relay operators or cause them to incur additional fees by requiring relay services; and (4) security measures that require Deaf prisoners to only place collect calls.



The FCC has requested public comments on whether prisoner phone rates should be reduced and capped and on Deaf & disabled prisoner telecommunications access. This video explains some of the inequities that persist for Deaf, signing & speech impaired prisoners and their families with regard to rates for and access to telecommunications in prison. Please follow the directions in the document to submit a comment to the FCC. http://www.fcc.gov/

Deaf Community Sues Welfare For Lack Of Interpreters

Deaf Pennsylvanians lawsuit welfare for lack of interpreters: U.S. judge eyeing deal to aid state's Deaf, intellectually disabled human service system clients.



HARRISBURG - A federal judge is being asked to approve a settlement of a class-action lawsuit that would ramp up the state's responsibility to individuals who are Deaf and intellectually disabled.



A key provision of the proposed deal U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Yvette Kane is weighing would require the state Department of Public Welfare to hire sign language interpreters and other specialists to improve communications with Deaf and intellectually disabled clients in the human services system.



About 250 such clients have been identified so far in the state's system of group homes and other service providers, according to filings in the case. Also, DPW would have to pay $450,000 to the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, which filed the lawsuit against DPW in 2010 on behalf of a disabled client identified in court papers only as Harry M.



In seeking approval of the settlement, the rights network stated that DPW officials also have signed off on the proposed deal. The rights network claimed in its lawsuit that the state is not properly helping intellectually disabled Pennsylvanians who are Deaf, because service providers often cannot effectively communicate with them.



Clients who would be affected by the settlement receive services from their home counties through the state-funded Home and Community-Based Waiver, also known as the Consolidated Waiver program. ... Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/02/us_judge_eyeing_deal_to_aid_st.html

Deaf Gay Man Sues D.C. Jail For Mistreatment

VIDEO: Deaf gay man alleges mistreatment at D.C. jail.



WASHINGTON, DC - A former inmate in the District of Columbia correctional system is suing the city for alleged mistreatment. The D.C. man is Deaf, and the lawsuit claims he was unable to effectively communicate during his period of confinement. It also alleges his treatment got worse when he complained.



44-year-old William Pierce is profoundly Deaf. He wound up with a 60-day sentence in the city's correction system after an altercation with his partner resulted in a conviction for simple assault.



At the order of the judge, Pierce actually wound up in the Correctional Treatment Facility to get help. The CTF adjoins the city jail.

Arthur Spitzer, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital, said in an interview: "There was no interpreter there for [Pierce] at intake, or at any of his medical appointments, he had some medical problems or at any of his classes. He was taking an anger management class, and he didn't know what was going on. He didn't know what people were saying. He couldn't participate in the group discussion(s)."



The lawsuit says, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, accommodations for the Deaf must be made so inmates can communicate. Things got worse for William Pierce when he complained, according to his attorney. ... Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/20943928/deaf-man-alleges-mistreatment-at-dc-jail#axzz2KD4UbjPN



Washington Blade - Gay Deaf man sues city for mistreatment.



WASHINGTON, DC - In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Feb. 1, a former D.C. jail inmate who’s Deaf and gay, accuses the city’s Department of Corrections of engaging in disability-related discrimination by refusing to provide him basic services required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.



William Pierce, 44, who was sentenced to two months in a city jail for an assault conviction, charges in the lawsuit that jail officials repeatedly refused to provide a sign language interpreters as required by law and retaliated against him for complaining about his conditions by placing him in solitary confinement.



Pierce, who has HIV, was given only three of the four HIV medications he had been taking at home and was unable to understand why prison doctors changed his medication regimen because of the lack of a sign language interpreter, the lawsuit says.



It says the emotional distress Pierce suffered due to the alleged discriminatory treatment was heightened when jail guards handcuffed him shortly before his mother arrived for a visit, preventing him from communicating with her in sign language.



“The District of Columbia needs to be held accountable for its outright discrimination and reminded that people with disabilities cannot just be locked away and ignored,” said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital, which filed the lawsuit on Pierce’s behalf in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.



Spitzer said most of the alleged discriminatory actions against Pierce took place at the D.C. Jail’s Correctional Treatment Facility. The CTF is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company under contract with the city.



“D.C., in turn, needs to hold the Corrections Corporation of America accountable for its continued disregard for the wellbeing of the individuals the city has placed in its care,” Spitzer said in a statement. ... Read more: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/02/06/gay-deaf-man-sues-city-for-mistreatment/

IRS Dog Talks In American Sign Language

VIDEO [ASL/CC] - Where taxpayers with disabilities can find online help from the IRS.



Lex and Lucy, the Tax Time Canines, introduce taxpayers with disabilities to accessible products and services from the IRS.

Visit http://www.irs.gov/uac/IRS.gov-Accessibility for more information.

Deaf Awareness: Discrimination People of Asian

VIDEO [ASL/CC] - Storytelling of discrimination towards the Deaf Asian people.



General Education: This is a photo essay from the perspective of a volunteer at The Singapore Association for the Deaf.



This is a photo essay produced as part of an assignment on discrimination in Singapore. It seeks to highlight the plight of victims and people who fight against discrimination from a first-person perspective.

The producers of this video declare that:

*permission has been sought from the people featured in this photo-essay.

*All sources have been cited and no part of this photo-essay has been plagiarised.

Deaf Cambodians, A Punishment ?

VIDEO [CC] - A punishment for being Deaf in the state of Cambodia.



PHNOM PENH - According certain beliefs in Cambodia, any disabilities is the result of a bad karma due to bad actions in a previous life.



The NGO Aide et Action runs a project which aims at changing people's behaviours, mentalities and integrate Deaf and Blind children into society. Through education, Aide et Action fights against exclusion and discrimination.

In Cambodia, the percentage of the population living with disabilities is one of the highest in the world. At least 650,000 Cambodians live with a disability, and the exact count may be as high as 1.4 million.



The incidence of disability is also expected to increase in the future. Despite the fact that many Cambodians have at least one disability, the country does not have adequate legal provisions to protect the human rights of people with disabilities.



There are no comprehensive laws that address disability issues. The few existing laws provide only implicit protections and some directly discriminate against people with disabilities... Read more: http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/handle/1773.1/521



Related:

Deaf Cambodian Frees From ‘Prison’

Deaf Girl Forced Into Sex Trafficking

National Geographic - Deaf Culture in Cambodia