Deaf Connecticuters Wants Terps Jobs Back

WATCH VIDEO - Deaf News: The Deaf community is converging at the capitol to file a complaint in an effort to get interpreters their jobs back.



NEW HAVEN, CT -- WTNH Connecticut News: The Deaf community is converging at the capitol to file a complaint in an effort to get sign-language interpreters their jobs back.



Many in the Deaf community say they’re losing a vital resource for them. As a cost-saving measure, the state laid off about 40 interpreters.

We spoke with one of those interpreters last week, she says not only is she concerned about making ends meet for her family, she’s also worried about her clients.

The group ‘We the Deaf People’ told us this has thrown the Deaf population in the state into turmoil. Deaf people relied on these interpreters in schools, emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices. The state expects to save money by contracting with private agencies which can be found by calling 211.



So, on Monday members of ‘We the Deaf People’ will file a complaint at a hearing. It’s being held by the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities or OPA. That’s scheduled to start around 10 a.m.



SOURCE

Deaf Football Lawsuit For Discrimination

VIDEO: Family of Deaf child sues football association for discrimination in Minnesota.



MINNEAPOLIS, MN - A Fridley family filed suit this week against the Spring Lake Park Panther Youth Football Association over their Deaf son’s participation in the league. They believe the nonprofit should’ve paid for interpreters and allowed the family to use a special drum to signal the start of play.



Nine-year-old Dov Nathanson says he loves to play football. “I just think it’s cool. I love to tackle people it’s exciting,” he said.



Dov and and his brother Galvin are both Deaf, and they’ve played football with hearing children for years. But last year, the football association said he and his brother Galvin could no longer use a special drum that helps them know when the play is starting.

“Without it, I couldn’t feel it i couldn’t feel the vibration,” Dov said. “I was never ready for the play.”



Parents David and Gloria Nathanson are also upset that the association said they wouldn’t pay for an interpreter for their son’s last year. They say it’s the association’s responsibility.



“We were very frustrated nobody would listen,” David Nathanson said. “It was like we didn’t have a voice.”



Phil Richard, President of the Spring Lake Park Panther Youth Football Association, says the drum made it interfered with the game for other players, and that the family should be responsible for providing their own interpreter.



“It really just comes down to funding. It’s expensive,” Richard said. “We finished out year with $4,000. The cost of an interpreter is double that, and the law, we feel, protects us from that.”



Both Dov and Galvin plan to register for football again this year. The family says they want the policy changed–to allow Deaf players fair play.



“We’re just hoping that in the future that we will feel included,” Gloria Nathanson said.



Also mentioned in the lawsuit is a claim that David Nathanson was denied the opportunity to coach either of his sons teams last year, which he believes is because he’s also Deaf. He had coached three previous years. SOURCE

Deaf Man Jailed With No Access To Interpreter

VIDEO: Deaf News - Deaf immigrant jailed for stealing iPad that wasn't stolen and no access to interpreter service in Virginia.



ARLINGTON, VA -- He knew he was in jail, but he didn't know why. Eventually, Abreham Zemedagegehu learned that he'd been accused of stealing an iPad, an iPad whose owner later found it. He spent the next six weeks in jail, unable to communicate with his jailers because he is Deaf. He described a frightening, isolated experience in which medical procedures were performed without his consent and he feared for his safety.



Zemedagegehu sued the Arlington County sheriff last month in federal court, saying his treatment failed to meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.



"I felt like I was losing my mind," Zemedagegehu said through an interpreter in an interview at his lawyer's office. "I thought Virginia would give me an interpreter and they said no. That's why I felt lost."

Zemedagegehu, who is homeless, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia. He grew up using Ethiopian Sign Language. He has learned American Sign Language, but he has never learned more than rudimentary written English.



Maj. Susie Doyel, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, which runs the jail, declined to comment on the specific allegations. She generally defended the jail's ability to handle Deaf inmates and others with disabilities, and said several deputies in the jail are proficient in sign language.



But she also acknowledged that communication with a Deaf inmate is more problematic in cases where the inmate can't communicate in written English.



In court papers filed Monday, lawyers for the sheriff ask a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that even if Zemedagegehu's allegations are true, they fail to show intentional discrimination because they attempted various different ways to communicate with him, including handwritten notes.



And even if the discrimination were intentional, the lawyers write that it would not violate federal law because there is a rational basis for the discrimination: "it takes extra resources and creates additional security considerations to bring in an ASL interpreter," they write... Read More - ABC News.



Related:

Ethiopian Immigrant's Role Model For Deaf Inmates

Deaf Immigrant Awarded $250K Settlement

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