#deaf-rights

#deaf-rights

Max Bearden begins each school year the same way. 'Hey, guys, I'm Teacher B!' That simple, gender-neutral title Bearden uses with their students is the target of a new bill introduced by Republicans in Tennessee.

The president spent the weekend celebrating the death of one of his political foes, former special counsel and FBI Director Robert Mueller, posting, 'Good. I'm glad he's dead,' on social media.

A federal judge has blocked RFK Jr.'s dangerous changes to childhood vaccine policy. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former senior CDC official featured on The Advocate's January/February cover, called the ruling "big news" and a win for science and the law.

We support gays, but they throw gays off the buildings" - President Trump's statement in an interview with Jake Paul, invoking Iran's treatment of LGBTQ+ people as justification for military action while the administration simultaneously pursues deportations of gay couples to countries where homosexuality is illegal.

When I moved in here it truly was my last resort. Since living here I feel like I have the same independent life that my friends have and I just don't want to lose that. The guide dog run is probably the most important thing for me. It's a safe and confined area where I feel comfortable taking my dog out, especially at night.

I didn't want to get hearing devices because, to me, there was a horrible stigma. People who wore hearing aids were doddering. They didn't listen, they said, 'what, what,' over and over. Worse, the hearing aid would make this squealing sound. I worried that it was the beginning of the end of me.

The design of classrooms, childcare facilities, community centers, and public spaces directly shapes how sound is perceived, how communication unfolds, and how inclusion is experienced. Acoustics, spatial configuration, lighting strategies, and material choices can either reinforce barriers to participation or foster environments that support diverse auditory experiences.

President Donald Trump's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education has created a crisis that critics long feared: leaving marginalized students vulnerable to misconduct with little federal intervention. A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan arm of Congress, paints a damning picture of how mass layoffs and the slashing of resources at the agency have significantly impacted the civil rights of students.

He then lowered his fists, extended his thumbs and little fingers, and moved them up and down by his chest, as though milking a cow. Finally, he laid the fingers of one hand flat on his chin and flexed his wrist forward. Hartwell, who has no hearing problems, had just used BSL, British Sign Language, to order his morning latte with normal milk at the deaf-run Dialogue Cafe, based at the University of East London.

It's rare for interpreters' cultural background to reflect the music itself, says AV Vilavong, a Deaf concert interpreter who performs at major music festivals across the country. "The fact that Celimar is Puerto Rican, there are cultural nuances that are already embedded in how she, as a Deaf interpreter, will match the tone, the cultural aspects, the songs, the significance behind the slang for particular vocabulary," Vilavong says through an interpeter. "It's embedded in who she is as an individual."

When I was growing up, people liked to join. People joined churches or clubs or dance groups or singing groups. Those still exist, but their membership has quite declined. People just don't want to join anymore. It's certainly down from the '50s and '60s. And before, if you got on the bus you could say hello to everyone. Now, if you did that, they'd rush you off to the looney bin. It's a sad state of affairs.

At first, Michelle Tetschner thought the person on the other end of the phone was joking. It was 2023, and the call came from the University of North Florida, where her son Raymond, who has Down syndrome, was enrolled in a life-skills day program. The woman on the line sounded alarmingly serious. Raymond was being suspended, and Tetschner was told she needed to come pick him up immediately.

"Here's the reality: When you come to the table prepared with smart and dedicated people that are focused on a clear goal, you can move quickly and intentionally without sacrificing the thoroughness and the careful deliberation that this process deserves,"

When I take a walk in my neighborhood, my white hair, dark glasses, and white cane shout to the world that I am an older blind man. Some passers-by assume that I am lost and ask if I need help. It is true that blind people sometimes need help when using a mobility aid (a white cane or guide dog) to navigate their physical environment. However, once a person becomes proficient at traveling with a mobility aid, they typically need much less help.