I loved reading this Fox News story because the owner of an auto shop took the initiative to create a new product because he wanted his shop to communicate with customers who were deaf. As a result, he saw business go up from 2 or 3 deaf customers to 30 per month! It’s a great example of how making your business or Web site accessible can boost a business.
JobEnable.com
JobEnable.com is a new site that connects disabled job seekers with job opportunities. Matt Lawrence and the NetworkIP team started the site to help people with disabilities find employment. Matt is an employee of NetworkIP who happens to have a disability. He developed Dystonia when he was 13. It’s a progressive neurological disorder that gradually progressed to affect his speech and fine motor movements.
Girl Teaches Sign Language to Deaf Dog
Another aww … story for you. Girl Teaches Deaf Dog Sign Language
Voting Rights for People with Disabilities
This is focused on Texans, but the information could be valuable to those outside of Texas. The information comes from DeafNetwork.
Texans with Disabilities Know Your Voting Rights!
Accessibility – State law requires all polling places meet strict accessibility standards.
Private Ballot – It is your right to cast a private and independent ballot.
Voting Assistance – You have the right to assistance — from any person you choose — when registering to vote or when voting if you can not read or mark the ballot or application. You have the right to an interpreter. It is illegal for the person assisting you to try and influence your vote.
Vote By Mail – If you requested a mail in ballot you must return in by 7:00 on Election Day.
Cat Helps Deaf and Blind Dog
As proof that cats and dogs can get along, Libby plays the role of seeing-eye cat to Cashew, a 14-year-old deaf and blind yellow lab. What a sweet story! [Thanks, Dogster]
Aww…
Testimonies of Deaf Holocaust Survivors
“Simon J. Carmel’s lecture, ‘Silent No More: Testimonies of Deaf Holocaust Survivors’ related the unheard stories of the persecuted deaf Jewish during World War II.” The article reports that roughly 25,000 deaf Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust and that 20 deaf survivors remain today.
Hitler’s soldiers not only killed Jewish people, but also people with disabilities, gay people, black people, and Gypsies. So it’s a miracle that any deaf person survived. Also German doctors sterilized many deaf Jewish people to prevent them from having deaf children. But statistics show only 10 percent of deaf couples bore deaf children.
Teen Who Sees with Sound
What a fascinating story of a teen who can hit the target with pillows, play video games, rollerblade effortlessly, and identify objects on the street — and he can do all this even though he doesn’t see like we do. The videos show him in action and the article gives all the details.
Found a misspelling in the article. With web “site” becoming a frequently used term, the person writing the article slipped and wrote “site” instead of “sight.” See the screen capture below.
Companies Team up for Online Captioning
From DeafNetwork:
In an effort to overcome technology and production barriers, the leading providers of Web-based video have joined with media access pioneer WGBH/Boston to develop solutions that will increase the amount of online video accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have asked WGBH and its Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) to establish and manage the Internet Captioning Forum (ICF). The ICF will initially address the technical challenges presented by online video repurposed from broadcast or other previously captioned sources, as well as video created specifically for the Web.
Inspiring Teen Dancer's Story
I loved reading this first person story from a teen who is doing well in school, which includes AP classes and loves dancing. Former Miss America, Heather Whitestone, made an impact in her life.
Freedom Scientific Ignores Deaf Audience
Access Accessibility gives a rundown on its run in with Freedom Scientific, a big name in assisted technology as the manufacturer of JAWS (screen reader for the visually-impaired). Apparently, the company won’t provide transcripts of its podcasts.
Sure, we’d love for every podcast to have transcripts, but is that realistic?