Deafweekly November 18, 2009

deafweekly

November 25, 2009
Vol. 6, No. 6

Editor: Tom Willard

Deafweekly is an independent news report for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community that is mailed to subscribers on Wednesdays and available to read at www.deafweekly.com. These are the actual headlines and portions of recent deaf-related news articles, with links to the full story. Minor editing is done when necessary. Deafweekly is copyrighted 2009 and any unauthorized use is prohibited. Please support our advertisers; they make it possible for you to receive Deafweekly.

SIGN UP HERE for a free subscription. Be sure to open the confirmation email and click on the link to activate your subscription. It is required by law and prevents others from signing you up without your permission.

Last week's most-read story: AS MORE TODDLERS GET COCHLEAR IMPLANTS, THEY FACE A STRANGE NEW WORLD / The Denver Post
Last week's website page views: 4,023
Deafweekly subscribers as of today: 3,370

ADVERTISE IN DEAFWEEKLY FOR AS LITTLE AS $18.46 PER WEEK.

Editor's Note: Deafweekly's open rate (the percentage of newsletters that are actually opened) is usually 60% to 70%, but last week's flash news of the VRS fraud arrests had an open rate of more than 200%. How it can be over 100%, you say? This happens when the email gets opened more than once by a large number of subscribers. We sent last week's note to 3,305 subscribers and as of this morning it has been opened more than 6,675 times. I guess our readers could not believe their eyes and had to take a second (and third) look. In addition, this week we have 65 more subscribers than we had last week, proving that bad news is good news in the news biz.

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VRS ARRESTS
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Washington, DC
FCC: INTERNET PROGRAM FOR DEAF CHEATED OUT OF MILLIONS
The Federal Communications Commission has charged 26 people with defrauding the agency of “tens of millions of dollars” from its program that lets people with hearing disabilities communicate with hearing individuals through the use of interpreters and Web cameras. Indictments were unsealed against 26 people charged with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the FCC’s Video Relay Service (VRS) program by submitting false and fraudulent claims for VRS calls, causing the FCC to reimburse the defendants at a rate of approximately $390 per hour, the FCC stated. / Network World

US CHARGES FIRMS DEFRAUDED DEAF PHONE FUND
Federal prosecutors last Thursday announced criminal charges against more than two dozen people accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from a telephone service for the deaf. Authorities said owners and employees at seven companies schemed to create bogus calls to a video service that allows the deaf to converse over phone lines to hearing people. Together, the companies represent about 15 percent of the market for such services, according to Justice Department officials. Arrests have been made in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas. / Associated Press

FEDS CRACK DOWN ON CALL CENTER SCHEME
In a widespread scheme one assistant Attorney General described as "outrageous and insidious," 26 people from seven companies in eight states were indicted Thursday for stealing more than $50 million from a government fund that provides video interpreters that translate sign language for the deaf and hearing impaired outside their world. The service, overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), allows more than 30 million hearing disabled Americans to communicate with those who can hear. "It’s not going to be tolerated," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told CBS News. / CBS News

ARRESTS MADE IN MASSIVE, $390/HOUR VIDEO RELAY SERVICE SCAM
Dealing with some technology is challenging enough for the hearing-impaired without scammers taking advantage of federal dollars meant to help them. That's exactly what has happened with the Federal Communications Commission's Video Relay Service (VRS), however, and 26 people were arrested Thursday for scheming to steal "tens of millions of dollars" from the program. / Ars Technica

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE NEWS RELEASE
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-crm-1258.html
(Sent to Deafweekly subscribers last week as Flash News)

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YOUTUBE CAPTIONS
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Mountain View, CA
GOOGLE TO CAPTION YOUTUBE VIDEOS
In the first major step toward making millions of videos on YouTube accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google unveiled new technologies last Thursday that will automatically bring text captions to many videos on the site. The technology will also open YouTube videos to a wider foreign market and make them more searchable, which will make it easier for Google to profit from them. / The New York Times

YOUTUBE ADDS AUTOMATIC CAPTION FOR DEAF AUDIENCE
In a move that could help deaf users of the internet community to enjoy watching videos on the world’s most popular video sharing site YouTube, its parent company Google has announced that it would soon begin to roll out an automatic caption across the website. Although the captioning feature isn’t new for the website as Google had apparently introduced manual user-generated captioning around three years back, but this time the tech giant would apparently make use of its Google Voice technology to upload videos with electronically generated captions. / ITProPortal.com

YOUTUBE AUTOMATIC CAPTIONS FOR DEAF USERS
Google have announced on their blog that YouTube are to introduce automatic captions for deaf users. The machine-generated captions, at first, will be in English and only found on 13 channels including National Geographic, Columbia, as well as most Google and YouTube channels. At the moment YouTube offers a manual captioning service but it generally sits unused. The software engineer behind the technology, Ken Harrenstien, is deaf. / Geeks.co.uk

AUTOMATIC CAPTIONS ON YOUTUBE
Today [Nov. 19], here in D.C., we announced the preliminary roll-out of automatic captioning in YouTube, an innovation that takes advantage of our speech recognition technology to turn the spoken word into text captions. We also announced that if you have a transcript of your video, you can upload it to YouTube and we'll time the captions for you. This is useful for anyone who is deaf or hearing impaired, but it will have broader effects as well. For example, YouTube captions can be automatically translated, making video more accessible across languages. / Google Public Policy Blog

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NATIONAL
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Colorado Springs, CO
14-YEAR-OLD FIGURE SKATER REMEMBERED AS AN INSPIRATION
Haley Gans was known as a dedicated skater with a big heart. She died in a ski accident in Breckenridge last Friday. Witnesses say Haley was skiing fast down an intermediate trail when she hit a tree. Haley was wearing a helmet, but died from what looks like blunt force trauma to her chest. Janet Champion was Haley's coach and worked with her for 2 years. "It's a devastating loss for us and we learned a lot from her," said Champion. "Everyone loved her." Something most people did not notice about Haley was that she was deaf. She got a cochlear implant about 2 years ago. / KRDO

Mobile, AL
LOVE FILES $2M CLAIM AGAINST MOBILE
A $2 million claim was filed Thursday with the Mobile City Clerk in relation to the incident where a deaf and mentally challenged man was tasered at a Dollar General store. Birmingham attorney Tommy James, of the firm Morris, Haynes & Hornsby, represents Antonio Love, the deaf and mentally challenged man who was pepper-sprayed and tasered by Mobile police officers in the bathroom of a Dollar General store in Mobile. / Fox10tv.com

Fort Collins, CO
PARTIALLY-DEAF FORT COLLINS WOMAN BATTLES HOA OVER 'SERVICE DOG'
Pookee the Pomeranian is in the dog fight of her life. Her homeowner's association has a bone to pick with her, because there are no pets allowed in her Fort Collins condo building. "Pookee helps me with my hearing impairment," Julianna Rigby, Pookee's owner says. Rigby is deaf in one ear and considers Pookee her service dog. She says her furry companion alerts her when she isn't wearing her hearing aid. "I can't hear if someone breaks in. And she's alerted me to that kind of thing before. That's what she is specifically trained to do," Rigby told us. / KDVR Fox 31

Lakewood, WA
DISABLED MAN MISSING IN LAKEWOOD FOUND SAFE
A 50-year-old disabled man who was missing from a care facility in Lakewood was found last Friday afternoon. David Wesley Hegseth, a deaf man with diminished mental capacity, was last seen Thursday night. Lt. Heidi Hoffman of the Lakewood Police Department said Hegseth was found at a bus stop in Federal Way after a citizen spotted the man. / KIRO Seattle

Rochester, NY
RSD STUDENTS PRESENT IDEA TO JETBLUE
Four students from the Rochester School for the Deaf created a plan to make flying easier for the deaf community that involves LED message boards on planes. The students presented their findings to three Jet Blue officials yesterday morning in hopes of moving the initiative forward. The message board would be in the front of the plane and would provide all passengers -- deaf and hearing -- information about gate changes, emergencies, baggage claim, turbulence, weather or connecting flights. / Democrat and Chronicle

Little Falls, MN
COLLEGE STUDENTS TO HONOR CRASH VICTIM
Central Lakes College students of American Sign Language will help celebrate the life of the late Melissa Wooden, a member of the central Minnesota deaf community from 4-8 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Little Falls VFW. Wooden died in a car accident this fall. She was a Little Falls resident who taught ASL in Brainerd. The Dec. 4 event is a spaghetti supper and silent auction that will be co-hosted by family and friends. Proceeds are dedicated to the Melissa Wooden Memorial Scholarship endowed in honor of Melissa Wooden with the CLC Foundation. / Brainerd Dispatch

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INTERNATIONAL
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Vatican City
POPE BENEDICT CHALLENGES THE DEAF TO BRING THE GOSPEL TO OTHERS
Last Friday morning, the Holy Father received 400 participants in the international conference "Effata! Deaf people in the life of the Church." In his address to them the Pope explained the reason the theme of "effata" was chosen for the meeting. "It is," he said, "a paradigm of how the Lord works for people with hearing impairment," and he went on to refer to the passage from the Gospel of Mark in which "Jesus takes a deaf man aside and, having performed certain symbolic gestures, raises His eyes to heaven and says: 'effata,' that is, 'be opened.' In that moment ... the man recovered his hearing, his tongue was loosened and he spoke plainly." / Bangor to Bobbio

Durban, South Africa
DEAF GIRL 'RAPED' AT LEADING SCHOOL
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has launched an investigation into the rape of a 12-year-old deaf and dumb pupil allegedly by an employee of a top school for the hearing-impaired. This week the girl's mother, who cannot be named to protect the identify of the child, said she was outraged by the rape and wanted "justice for my baby." The Pietermaritzburg woman, whose two daughters are boarders at the Durban school, said: "Can you imagine what it felt like when I was told that one of my children was sexually abused?" / Times

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
INTREPID TEACHER REFUSES TO BE SILENCED
Le Thi Thu Xuong runs a free weekend school for the deaf in Ho Chi Minh City. Twenty years ago, Xuong was a normal kindergarten teacher at a temple in the district. Her happy life as a kindergarten teacher was cut short at the age of 33 when she was struck down by an illness that robbed her of the ability to speak. She cried so much that her hair turned white and she began to worry about her future. But she did not want to live a life of misery or be a burden to her parents and relatives, who were already suffering from the death of her sister, so she decided to find a job. / Viet Nam News

Dimapur, India
SONG IN SIGN LANGUAGE ENTHRALLS GLOBAL GATHERING
Twelve children from the School for the Deaf, Naharbari, run by the Deaf Biblical Ministry, Nagaland, enthralled an international gathering on November 14 evening in New Delhi, with presentation of a special song in sign language and Naga folkdance. The occasion was the 3-day Sambhav 2009, an international event on performing arts and physically and mentally challenged persons, which was earlier inaugurated in the morning by Union Minister for environment & forests, Jairam Ramesh, at the India International Centre, New Delhi. / The Morung Express

Manila, Phillipines
LENDING AN EAR
Only a few have heard about a report that almost 40 percent of Filipinos suffer from hearing loss. Little do people know that half of these cases are preventable. The latest study conducted by the UST-Medical Hospital shows that some 28.1 percent of Filipinos suffer from hearing impairment, while 8.1 percent are totally disabled from hearing. Dr. Raymond Belmonte says that in most cases, cleaning the ears with cotton buds more often than necessary leads to hearing impairment. “Proper hygiene is very big in the Philippines. As they [children] grow older it becomes a habit like almost every after bath, they would use [cotton] buds to clean their ears,” Belmonte notes. / Manila Times

Barclay Close, Watford, England
FIVE SIGNERS FOR THUMB BITE TRIAL
A court has been forced to employ FIVE interpreters for a hearing of a deaf and mute defendant. Asfaq Shah, 34, denies GBH by biting his mother-in-law Robina Kuesar's thumb in September 2007. But because he is unable to communicate St Albans Crown Court has been forced to draft in three British signers and two Urdu signers for the case. / The Sun

Straffordshire, England
PAYOUT IS MUSIC TO EARS OF DEAF POTTERS
Solicitors have been inundated with calls from former pottery workers who believe noisy machinery made them deaf. Earlier this month, The Sentinel revealed ex-ceramics workers suffering hearing problems could be in line for compensation if they were exposed to more than 80 decibels of noise -- equivalent to the sound of an alarm clock -- at work. Since then, solicitors have received more than 100 inquiries. / The Sentinel

London, England
THE LOUDEST TELEPHONE EVER, AT 149 DB, IT'S LOUDER THAN JET TAKE-OFF
A new phone from Geemarc claims to be the loudest in the world. Intended for the hard of hearing, the AmpliPOWER50 phone rings at to 81dB, 3 times the volume of a standard phone. This can be amped right up to an extremely loud 149dB, louder than gun muzzle blast and jet engines which sound at around 140dB. The handset is supported by the Royal National Institute of Deafness but they warn that unaware users should not be exposed to the phone. / Shiny Shiny

London, England
WHEN IS DEAF APARTHEID ACCEPTABLE?
This question is prompted by two conversations I had on the same night whilst attending The Magic Hour screening at The Lighthouse Cinema in Wolverhampton on Tuesday (17th Nov 09). The first I was told that organisations are deliberately not including Deaf people in their events because of the cost of booking British Sign Language Interpreters (BSL). In contrast Justin Edgar’s commitment to make sure The Magic Hour is accessible to Disabled and Deaf audiences even involved stopping a screening -- because the subtitles were not working. / Pesky People

Lindsay, Ont., Canada
HEARING SOCIETY, FIRE SERVICE JOIN FORCES FOR 'FIRST OF ITS KIND' EXPO
Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Service and the local branch of the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) teamed up this past weekend to put on what organizers called a "first of its kind" event. The two organizations teamed together to present the Fire Safety Expo in Lindsay on Saturday. The event was targeted specifically to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Brian McCuaig, a fire prevention inspector, said they had often been approached by residents who are deaf or hard of hearing with questions about how fire safety applied to them specifically. "So along with the CHS, we came up with the idea of having a trade show." / The Lindsay Post

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Sorenson Video Relay Service® (SVRS®) is an industry leading communication tool for the deaf community provided by Sorenson Communications. Created with high-quality video technology, SVRS brings life into the conversations of our customers as they call family, friends, and business associates at no cost through a professional SVRS sign language interpreter and a cutting-edge videophone. SVRS is provided 24-hours a day, and 365 days a year, connecting the deaf and hard-of-hearing to anyone at their convenience. For more information, visit the SVRS Web site at www.sorensonvrs.com.

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LIFE & LEISURE
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Bowling Green, OH
SIGNING SANTA STOPS BY SKATE BOX
Regina Priddy was making her usual winter-to-spring transition in her closet when she came across her husband’s Santa Claus suit and had an idea. For years, the Western Kentucky University student has watched her husband chat with children about what they would like to see under the Christmas tree. And the American Sign Language Organization treasurer for WKU quickly realized there are some children who never have that chance. On Saturday, a special Santa put on her husband’s suit and talked about Christmas with about 20 children from the area -- but in some cases, not a word was ever spoken. / Bowling Green Daily News

Internet
T-MOBILE DEAF USERS, MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
The great thing about having this platform is allowing others to occasionally share their voice. I’m always willing to let individuals use our site to get their message out or ask for help. One of our readers, Robert Barrett, asked us to find out if T-Mobile has any plans to offer data only plans on Android phones for their deaf customers. Currently they are required to purchase a voice plan which often goes unused. We asked T-Mobile USA to clarify their policy for deaf customers with Android phones and received the following response. / Android and Me

Springfield, MA
STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THE DEAF
Fourth graders at Academy Hill School recently finished a unit on understanding deafness with a visit from an American Sign Language interpreter. Their studies, under teacher Sharon L. Desjarlais, included a visit to the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, reading stories about deaf children and even wearing earplugs for a day to simulate what it is like to lose hearing. Academy Hill is a private independent day school serving bright, motivated students in kindergarten through eighth grade. / The Republican

Dayton, OH
STUDENTS REACH OUT TO DEAF COMMUNITY AT DAYTON CENTER
Their little fingers were in constant motion as they glue and drew, and talked with their new friends. On Nov. 7, youngsters at the Deaf Community Resource Center in Dayton helped with a holiday decorating project with Centerville High School students enrolled in Jean Adkinson’s American Sign Language classes. “My biggest joy is seeing the ASL students realize that they are making a difference when they interact with the deaf kids,” Adkinson said. / Dayton Daily News

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callVRS has a new facelift and continues to give you the "freedom of choice"! callVRS allows you to find your favorite interpreter for your many needs. Keith Wann is now showing his serious side by bringing us a VRS company that his parents would be proud of...and one where interpreters want to work. You have seen him do silly commercials for other VRS companies, but he is also a Nationally Certified Interpreter, NIC Master and CI CT and calls himself a profesional Coda interpreter. "For the other VRS companies, I was a paid actor, with callVRS my true voice can be heard... It's time we have a VRS provider focus on the interpreters along with the callers to make the VRS experience better for everyone" www.callVRS.org - dial callVRS.info on your video phone.

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WORKING WORLD
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Waterbury, CT
SCIENTIST'S LOVE FOR BIRDS LEADS TO RECOGNITION
A childhood love of birds had blossomed into a prestigious career for Richard Prum, but a major hearing loss in his early 30s effectively ended his days of tracking rare birds in African and South American jungles. To find a specific bird in a jungle filled with hundreds of different species is virtually impossible unless you can hear them singing to one another. And you have to be able to find them before you can study their feathers, nests and courtship displays much less their songs. "The hearing loss has changed my work in a profound way," said Prum, a professor at Yale University in New Haven. / Hartford Courant

Long Beach, CA
HEARING ASSISTANCE DOGS COME IN ALL SIZES, INCLUDING CHIHUAHUAS
Leah isn’t your typical assistance dog. When the 4-year-old Chihuahua hears a knock at the door, her ears perk up and she runs toward the sound. Then she races to Anne Proffit, her owner, and places both of her paws on Proffit’s knees. As the first purebred Chihuahua certified hearing dog placed in a home by the Sam Simon Foundation in Malibu, Leah is the right size for someone with a hearing disability who lives in an apartment, like Proffit. / Gazettes Town-News

Washington, DC
DEAF UNIVERSITY SELECTS FIRST JEWISH PRESIDENT
Alan Hurwitz, who made his mark as a trailblazer of sorts years ago in his own family, has carved out yet another new path, this one at Gallaudet University. The 67-year-old native of Sioux City, Iowa, was named the new president of the university for the deaf in Washington, D.C., making him the first Jew to head the institution in its 145-year history. He starts Jan. 1. All four finalists for the position were Jewish, all were born deaf and all had deaf parents, according to Hurwitz, who grew up in an Orthodox environment where tradition taught that deaf people are exempt from the obligation to learn Torah. / Jweekly.com

Reading, PA
MOM STARTS BUSINESS TO TEACH OTHER PARENTS HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR BABIES
When Jodie A. McCaffrey, 32, takes her 15-month-old daughter, Abigail, to a restaurant, there is no question about what Abigail would like to drink or eat. That's because McCaffrey has taught Abigail to communicate with her by using baby sign language. A program known as My Smart Hands, based in Ontario, Canada, is helping parents all over the world teach their preverbal babies to use sign language. McCaffrey of Flying Hills was so impressed with the concept that she became a certified instructor and has started her own business, My Smart Hands Berks. / Reading Eagle

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Burnaby, BC, Canada
THE INCREDIBLE LOU FERRIGNO
At six foot five and with muscles literally bursting out of his clothes, it’s hard to believe that people used to make fun of Lou Ferrigno, mocking the future Incredible Hulk star as “Deaf Louie.” Ferrigno, a former Mr. Universe who rose to iconic status as the raging, shirt-shredding star of the TV show The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982), was in Burnaby last night to share his story of living with significant hearing loss. “Basically, I tell them that they’re not the only one,” said Ferrigno. / Metro News

Rochester, NY
RIT SPONSORS NATIONAL ARTS COMPETITION
Rochester Institute of Technology is accepting entries in its fifth annual Digital Arts, Film and Animation Competition for deaf or hard-of-hearing middle and high school students. Students in grades 9 through 12 can use their creative talents and artistic expression in six categories. Students may submit up to two entries. Entry forms, contest rules and other details are available here. The deadline for entries is Jan. 15, 2010. / NTID News

Omaha, NE
REVIEW: UNO'S 'MIRACLE' ACES THE TESTS
The mark of a great play is that it stands the test of time, continuing to move audiences decades after it was written because its message remains relevant. “The Miracle Worker,” William Gibson's 1960 best-play Tony winner, passes that test in telling how a stubborn Irish girl teaches blind and deaf young Helen Keller the concept of language. The mark of a solid revival is the level of quality, skill and creativity that bring it alive for a new audience. The University of Nebraska at Omaha's production, which opened last Friday, had patrons at a Wednesday preview buzzing at intermission about how good it was. / Omaha World-Herald

New York, NY
OPEN MIC INSPIRATION FOR DEAF BROOKLYNITES
Brooklyn’s deaf community has united thanks to a series of open mic nights. It all began when Mandie Muscato, a sign language interpreter and Bensonhurst resident, performed at a Monday evening open mic event at Circles Cantina, 8001 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge. “My friends who are deaf would come see me,” she explained. “I would end up interpreting these events and the music for my deaf friends.” One of those friends, Steve Martinez, who is deaf, decided he wanted to perform. / YourNabe.com

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Keith Wann's ASL Comedy Tour 2009-2010

Keith Wann, renowned for his hilarious, sidesplitting comedy performances, is now producing and hosting the ASL Comedy Tour 2009, which will travel the U.S. this year. With American Sign Language (ASL) artists presenting solo performances incorporating comedy, skits, songs, improvisation, and stories, each show lasts two hours. Sponsored by www.CallVRS.org, the multi-city tour is designed to be affordable for each location - making it ideal as a fundraiser for participating organizations.

“We really want to reach out to all communities, so we are sharing in the costs and profits at each location. We will work closely with booking parties to maximize profits for their organization and to bring in as many people as possible for a night of laughter, socialization and fun,” Wann said. “We also offer workshops by some of our performers, which can be held the day of the performance. People can come to our workshops, and then unwind by attending the comedy show that evening.”

www.aslcomedytour.com
Contact KemiProductionsInc@gmail.com.

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SPORTS
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Richmond, CA
CSD EAGLES WORK THE FIELD WITHOUT WORDS
While Richmond Confidential’s loyalties would ordinarily land us on the home team’s sidelines during this football season, we decided to breach that tradition and pursue another question -- how does a deaf football team play a hearing team? So, last Friday, we spent some time with the opponents. During the junior varsity match between the Salesian Mustangs and the Fremont-based California School for the Deaf (CSD) Eagles, we hit the visitors’ stands and sidelines to snap some photos and grab some stories from CSD players, parents and siblings. / Richmond Confidential

Indianapolis, IN
HEART, PERSONIFIED: TAMIKA CATCHINGS CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF THE WNBA
All too often, the term ‘heart’ is thrown around in professional sports to describe an athlete’s personality and demeanor. In doing so, perhaps, the phrase has lost a bit of its luster and prestige. It’s quite unfortunate, really, because there is simply no better term to describe Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings. In terms of her basketball prowess, her resume speaks for itself. But the road to her already legendary career was far from smooth. Growing up, Tamika faced the daunting task of overcoming a hearing disability that first showed up in a standard preschool test. / SLAM

Columbia, MO
COLUMBIA COLLEGE ATHLETE DOESN'T LET HEARING SLOW HER DOWN ON BASKETBALL COURT
Sometimes for Kirsti Wilkerson, it is OK that she can't hear everything that is going on around her. "I always wonder what it would be like to hear 100 percent, but then I feel like I'm lucky because there are things I don't want to hear," Wilkerson said. Wilkerson, a sophomore on the Columbia College women's basketball team, has 58 percent hearing loss. Wilkerson said it is difficult to give a cause of her deafness, but by the age of 5, she gradually started to lose her hearing. / Missourian

Staunton, VA
VSDB BOYS TURNING DEFENSE INTO OFFENSE
The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind's boys' basketball team is expecting big things this season. And if the first couple of games are any indication, it's going to be a good year for the Cardinals. Cliff Watson has moved up from assistant coach to take the reins as head mentor, and his team is off to a 2-0 start. Coming off a 6-10 season, the Cardinals have 10 players in their blend of newcomers and veterans. "It's a mixture," Watson said through an interpreter. / The News Leader

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READER COMMENTS
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[Re VRS arrests] I hope the Government will confiscate all their money, homes and cars. Send them to prison for 20 years! This is very embarrassing as well as destructive to the Deaf people!! / Lois Diamond

What sad and shocking news! A big round of applause/hands waving to Deafweekly for the expose and information. / Mary E. Wambach, Executive Director, Corliss Institute, Inc.

THANK YOU so much for this information. I did hear about the arrests but this is the first details I have seen. Thanks again. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. / Sammie Elser

I really just want to congratulate the creators of "Deafweekly" -- Good job, and thanks for bringing us the News! / Rose Flynn, St. Louis, MO

Greatly appreciate your work many thanks ilymabs / Mabs Holcomb

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EMPLOYMENT
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You can advertise your job openings here for just $20 a week (up to 100 words, 10 cents each add'l word). Start spreading the news! To place your ad, send the announcement to mail@deafweekly.com.

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EXCITING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AT GLAD, INC.

* Job Developer / Interpreter - Pacoima, CA
* Job Developer / Interpreter - Rancho Cucamonga, CA
* Community Interpreter - Los Angeles, CA

To learn more about these positions, please visit our website, www.gladinc.org.

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Seeking Applicants For:
NTID Director of Student Life Team

National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY

The Student Life Team (SLT) coordinates co-curricular programming for deaf and hard-of-hearing students attending the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. A team of seven professionals and two support staff in the SLT work collaboratively with the student community, academic programs within NTID, and with Student Affairs programs at Rochester Institute of Technology to provide a wide range of experiential learning opportunities in campus and community settings.

Description:

-- Hire, train, supervise, and guide a staff of seven full time professionals and two support staff, servicing the 1,200 deaf and hard-of hearing students attending all eight colleges of NTID.

-- Oversee the general office operations, including reservations procedures, reception area support, and budget management and administration.

-- Establish, foster, and maintain key partnerships with institutional areas servicing deaf and hard-of-hearing students, offering program design, student community networking, and/or creative support to these departments.

-- Oversee programmatic direction and support for the Center for Intercollegiate Athletics & Recreation Support Team.

-- Direct the implementation of an annual first-year co-curriculum designed specifically to enhance and support the transition of deaf and hard-of-hearing students from high school to the college environment.

-- Regularly review and synthesize information regarding national current and future trends in college student data as well as in education of the deaf and hard of hearing student community, and provide recommended models for application of both.

-- Provide student community advocacy and liaison, creating an educational environment conducive to and supportive of student development and growth opportunities.

-- Serve as Administrative Advisor to the NTID Student Congress (NSC), maintaining ultimate accountability for their budgetary operations.

-- Direct the NTID summer residential program, supporting four to six summer seminar experiences for students aged 12 through 19 years. This includes partnerships with several offices coordinating the curricular and administrative functions of the programs, while hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating seven professional and 30 paraprofessional staff for this effort.

-- Utilize regular evening and weekend commitments year-round to provide role-modeling and support and connection for students.

-- Master’s degree required

-- Program and curriculum development experiences, especially in application to underrepresented communities
Knowledge and demonstrated application of student development theory in practices and programs

-- Three to five years of supervision experience

-- Ability to communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing students

-- Demonstrated commitment to fostering diversity in all forms, particularly an understanding of Deaf culture and deaf/hard-of-hearing students

-- Budget management and administrative experience
Knowledge of residential community program administration strongly preferred

The hiring process for this position requires a criminal background check and/or motor vehicle records check. Any verbal or written offer made is contingent on satisfactory results, as determined by Human Resources

Ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the college’s continuing commitment to cultural diversity, pluralism, and individual difference strongly preferred.

The Rochester Institute of Technology is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All individuals with the ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the university’s continuing commitment to cultural diversity, pluralism, and individual differences are encouraged to make application.

Review of applications will begin November 20, 2009
Must be eligible to work in the US
This position is subject to available funding

Your application information and any relevant documentation such as resume and cover letter should be uploaded via this website http://mycareer.rit.edu in order to be considered for any positions you are interested in. Search using KEYWORD IRC33668.

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