The 26-year-old has been deaf since the age of four but has already forged a successful career as a horse groomer and had a book published. Now she wants to see how far she can go in the world of acting.

She told BBC Radio Derby’s Aleena Naylor: “There are lots of inclusive theatre companies around at the moment, which is brilliant. “But there’s definitely a gap on television for deaf and disabled actors…Source

Jul 26, 2010: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass the bill, needing a two-thirds majority. This usually occurs for non-controversial legislation. The totals were 348 Ayes, 23 Nays, 61 Present/Not Voting. Vote Details….Read More

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded a US$15 million broadband grant to Communication Service for the Deaf, a nonprofit focused on providing deaf and hard-of-hearing U.S. residents with communications services….Read More

When I received a jury summons a few years ago, I opened it up excitedly, conjuring up scenarios casting myself as a female version of Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men, heroically leading my jury through society’s murky prejudices to deliver a landmark decision and liberating an innocent in the process. (I had a rather romantic notion of jury service back then.)

But something stopped me in my tracks. I saw that deaf people were included among “incapable persons” under the list of ineligible people. I was stunned…Read More

DALLAS — Through a sign-language interpreter at the Dallas County Jail, Stephen Brodie cops to all sorts of crimes save the one that put him behind bars for 10 years: sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl.

He insists he is innocent, and there’s support for his claim.

A fingerprint at the crime scene matches another man convicted in the sexual assault of a child. Brodie’s confession came during 18 hours of questioning and included admissions to fictitious crimes made up by investigators to test his credibility. Also, Brodie is deaf and doesn’t speak clearly, but police didn’t use an interpreter for about half of their interviews.

“I want people to know that I’m not a bad person,” said Brodie, 38, straining to be understood as he signed and spoke in a recent interview. “I want to be a law-abiding citizen.” …Read More

Shum Khan, a man both deaf and unable to speak, lived in the remote border hamlet of Malekshay, 7,000ft up in the mountains. When a heavily armed squad from the CIA barrelled into his village in March 2007, the war logs record that he “ran at the sight of the approaching coalition forces … out of fear and confusion”.

The secret CIA paramilitaries, (the euphemism here is OGA, for “other government agency”) shouted at him to stop. Khan could not hear them. He carried on running. So they shot him, saying they were entitled to do so under the carefully graded “escalation of force” provisions of the US rules of engagement….Read more

Michael Parkinson is still haunted by the isolation experienced by his grandparents, who were both profoundly deaf. The chat-show host says we must all do more to help the hard of hearing.

NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins sent a letter to the 21st International Congress on Education of the Deaf urging them to recognize sign language as a civil, human and linguistic right.

Officials announced a $50,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed a Fairfax High School basketball coach in January.

Eddy Hernandez, 30, was a coach for a team of deaf students. Hernandez, who was also deaf, was walking in the 3700 block of South Main Street around 10:40 p.m. when he was killed by a single gunshot, police said.

Because he was found in an area with a lot of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, Newton Division homicide detectives sought the public’s help in finding his killer….Source

Anyone with information about the murder was asked to call detectives Louie Calzadillas at (323) 846-6556 or David Torres at (323) 290-6063.

Seven hearing-impaired patients say Baptist Health violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

One deaf hospital patient in Jacksonville Beach said she was given a stuffed monkey instead of the sign-language interpreter she requested for hours. Feeling isolated, she finally asked nurses for something to hold.

Another said she thought she was being denied medical care because there was no interpreter to explain why they needed her to wait in a hallway at Baptist Medical Center South. She later learned hospital staff lost a list of sign-language interpreters her mother had given them.

A third woman couldn’t hear when emergency workers at Baptist Medical Center downtown called her name.

The three women are among seven hearing-impaired emergency-room patients suing Baptist Health Systems for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by failing to provide qualified sign-language interpreters. The lawsuit was filed in federal court last week by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid….Read more