Frank Bowe, advocate for deaf

--Frank Bowe, a deaf professor who helped win civil rights protections for the disabled and advised Congress on how to better serve people with disabilities, has died. He was 60.Bowe, a Hofstra University special-education professor, had been battling cancer, one of his daughters said.

Bowe, deaf from childhood, was the first executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, helping to direct the 1977 sit-ins that led to federal enforcement of the first major law to bar discrimination against the disabled. -- associated press read more

Veteran rider in desert bike trek

Denis, who has hearing difficulties, is undertaking the ride across Jordan to raise money for the National Deaf Children’s Society.

“Challenge is certainly the word,” he said.

“It will be six days of intensive cycling, taking in Petra and down to the Red Sea.

“That will work out about 60 miles a day, which in normal circumstances would be do-able, but it will be very hot out there and what with our weather this summer I haven’t been able to get the miles of training done I’d have liked.

“It has been difficult to find the conditions for logging up the miles – a little heat by way of conditioning would have been welcomed.” read more

Filmmaker's moving story of parents' journey into the hearing world

HOLLYWOOD — In fall 2004, documentary filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky was caught off guard when her 65-year-old parents, both profoundly deaf since birth, announced that they had made a life-altering decision: They both would undergo cochlear implants. In three weeks.

In the film, Paul remembers his mother pushing him in his stroller weeping, because, as he puts it, "I would never speak ... I would never have a life." She needn't have worried; he became a college professor and engineer who helped invent a technology that would help deaf people communicate by phone. read more

Learning to read if deaf—how?

[First of all, I am not completely aware of the politically correct terms of people with different disabilities, so I'm just using the word I know here, deaf. If some of you feel it is offensive, please forgive me. I mean no offence.]

I've been wondering about this for a while, but... how do the deaf learn how to read? Lately I've been studying reading in literature (which is my minor) and learning to read was one part of those studies. The POV varied from a child with no disabilities all the way to children with mild-to-mildly-serious mental disabilities, but deaf children were omitted. read more

Defying deafness

Born hearing-impaired, the 21-year-old Mei Mei, as she is affectionately known, has not allowed deafness to stop her from pursuing her dream of studying overseas.

“Many parents of the deaf do not send their children abroad for studies because they are afraid the deaf won’t be able to cope. I am thankful that my family, mentor and friends were very supportive of my dream to study in Canada,” she says.

Disability Studies at the college is a two-year diploma course that focuses on integrating the disabled into the community. Subjects include advocacy and communication, and leadership skills as well as nutrition, health and fitness.

So far, Mei Mei has completed subjects on the mentally challenged, the physically handicapped and those with learning disabilities. read more

Nice Pro-Gun Article in Worcester Telegram

NEADS, Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans, is a nonprofit organization established in 1976 to train and provide rescued dogs and donated puppies to assist people who are deaf or physically disabled in leading more independent lives at work, home or school. With headquarters in Princeton, NEADS has trained approximately 800 assistance dogs since its inception.

Those who would like additional information about the program, or who would like to make a donation, can contact NEADS by visiting the Web site www.neads.org or by calling (978) 422-9064 (voice or TDD) or by writing to NEADS, P.O. Box 213, West Boylston, MA 01583. read more

Activities expand at Aspen camp for deaf kids

ASPEN — Kids psyched up for an adventure speak the same language, and “Me first!” looks the same in American Sign Language as it sounds coming in shrieks from an 8-year-old who wants to climb a sheer rock wall.

The Aspen Camp for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Old Snowmass is celebrating 40 years of getting deaf children involved in those and other activities. The camp is also entering something of a new era of expansion into winter and opening its door to more campers. read more