Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Deaf Winners About To Lose Home

By Bug

Is your area one of the country’s hardest hit areas for foreclosures? Is there a foreclousre next door? Your neighbors suffer. Today, many homeowners are facing foreclosures. Deaf couple is losing a home. They are suffering too.

Four years ago, a popluar U.S. reality T.V. show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, featured a home makeover for a Deaf couple Larry and Judy Vardon in Oak Park near Detroit and their two sons, both of them were hearing and one of them is blind and autistic. The Extreme Makeover crew and the team assembled worked to give this family high-tech communication and safety solutions currently available to individuals who live with deafness.

Now Larry, Judy, and their children are about to lose their home because they are deep in debt. They hope to stay at their beautiful home for Thanksgiving for the last time. It might be their last Thanksgiving this year.

Local 4 News Anchor Devin Scillian went to their home and interviewed. Here’s a video but unforuntely, there is no closed caption.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/18033655/index.html

In case you miss the Extreme Makerover: Home Edition Deaf Winners show, you can click these links to view the T.V. show:

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86TN0bA2QnI&feature=related

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKhd3HVLcpg&feature=related

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxrRIihtObo&feature=related

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7H30CVttsc&feature=related

Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h32STho7-WE&feature=related

Part 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5308Rog1qI&feature=related

Part 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6c16Xu1vqs&feature=related

Part 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6pKF-cMQgs&feature=related

Poll: Video Relay Service (VRS) company Part Two

The poll talks about the whole of general services like in tech support, customer service, interpreter, etc. The poll has multiple choice.

Baghchehban, first teacher of deaf in Iran

Iran-Baghchehban-Commemoration

November 24 marks the 42nd death anniversary of the ‘father of Persian sign language’ and founder of the first kindergarten for the deaf in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan province.

Jabbar Askarzadeh, known as Jabbar Baghchehban, was among the industrious devotees of Iranian culture. He began teaching in Marand, East Azarbaijan province, in 1911.

He introduced audio-visual teaching method to Iranian education system and wrote several books on teaching the deaf as well as improvise a number of devices to aid their learning.

Baghchehban, who was born in 1884, is considered the first publisher of children books in Iran.

He set up the first kindergarten for the deaf in Tabriz and named it ‘Children Garden’. For this reason he became known as ‘Baghchehban’ or gardener.

Following the suspension of the kindergarten in Tabriz, he pursued his job in Shiraz for six years. He created a new method for teaching Persian alphabet, which was unique and innovative.

He died on November 25, 1966 at the age of 82 in Tehran.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0811234589181055.html

(note from Fookem and Bug…….see a picture of Iranian Deaf Education Teacher and related story at http://www.payvand.com/news/07/nov/1248.html )

Jimactor & Jflmad Italy Vacation (part 3)

By Jimactor

Summary:Visited the Colosseum

Poll: Video Relay Service (VRS) company

Snowman signed, ‘I Love you’ on the cover of the catalog

By Fookem,

At my work, my mom came to me and wanted to show me something. She said, “Look at the cover of the catalog.” I looked at it and smiled because she loved to collect the snowman things. But she reminded me again and said, “look at it very careful.” I looked at it again and realized that the catalog showed the picture of the snowman signed, ‘I Love you’. The catalog was from the Land’s End. I told my brother, Jason to take pictures of it since he had iphone with him.

Me with the catalog

Close-up catalog

So, I told my mom that I would try to contact one of the representative at the Land’s End store to find out why they chose the snowman signed, ‘I Love you’ on the cover of the catalog. I got email from Mary. Read this.

Dear Dino Lomanto,

I’ve verified with the creative department that the hand signal on the snowman is not intended to represent anything specific. The photograph was done while the glove just happened to take that shape.

Thank you,
Mary Kay McNeill
Lands’ End – Marketing
mary.mcneill@landsend.com

Your opinion about her message that she wrote?

Another success for the annual 24 Hour Sign Language Services’ Bonfire Party

By Bug

Geez, my face is still roasting, and I might have melted a camera lens. Many Deaf and Hearing Signers/non-signers continued the tradition of attending the event in winter clothes and warm hats could be spotted among the crowd on Saturday evening. About 150 people attended a party. Debbie Grace, the owner of 24 Hour Sign Language Services hosted a party at her home in the city of Eaton, Colorado.

Right before sunset, the lighting of the bonfire was the best part of the event. It was so dry that it just went up straight away. There was practically nothing left of it on Sunday morning.

The first 24 Hour Sign Language Services’ Bonfire Party took place in 2001 and it was the Deaf Community’s involvement that made the event so popular. Since then most people wanted to return every year. Most people came from the far cities such as Denver, Colorado Springs, Vail, Grand Junction etc. Also, many people came from Wyoming, Texas, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

Karl Orlander, the Secretary of Colorado Association of the Deaf (CAD) enjoyed himself at the party. He said,” I thought it was very good despite cold weather. The crowd seemed to be less but enjoyed time. I had a fun time socializing friends too.”

A student of American Sign Language (ASL) Shawn Summa said, ” I had a great time chatting and meeting other people. (It) was lot of fun to be immersed in the culture and learn. Food was good and the fire was hot. Being able to chat and socialize with more people was the best part of it”.

Another ASL student Rebecca Cooper brought her family to the bonfire party. Her mother was teased while roasting her hot dogs over the fire. I asked her if she was cooking her pet dog. They laughed.

If there is one thing that children of all ages love, it is a bonfire. There was about 40 children attending. Without a doubt, the best campfire treat in the world! Children opened a bag of marshmallows and got ready to roast some dessert. After cooking marshmallows to a toasty brown over the open fire, smush onto a graham cracker and add some chocolate. Top off the sandwich with another cracker and squeeze together. The chocolate melted into the marshmallow, and the creamy go makes the crackers stuck together. There was simply no better way to enjoy chocolate in the wild.

It was another success for the annual Bonfire Party. Many party goers and I send its heartfelt thanks to Debbie Grace the owner/interpreter coordinator of 24 HOUR Sign Language Services for the warmly bonfire party.

24 Hour Sign Language Services (24HRSLS) has been in business for over 10 years and they provide 24/7 interpreting services. They have over 75 interpreters. For more information about 24HRSL, click: http://www.24hrsls.com/

Jimactor & Jflmad Italy Vacation (Part 2)

By Jimactor

Summary: We took an indept tour of Rome, including Forum, Captol Hill and much more

John McCain was a chair of the Gallaudet University board of trustees

By Bug

John McCain is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republician candidate in the 2000 and 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. He used to be a chair of the Gallaudet University board of trustees.

In November 2006 McCain stepped down from the board because he disagreed with the decision to end the appointment of incoming Gallaudet President Jane K Fernandes. He was unhappy with Gallaudet protests. He felt that decision to terminate her appointment was unfair and not in the best interests of Gallaudet University.

Jane K Fernandes was an unpopluar provost. They say that she does not appreciate the primacy of American Sign Language at Gallaudet and in deaf culture and that she lacks leadership qualities. One Gallaudet student said that Dr. Fernandes did not say hello when she ran into students on campus.

“I cannot in good conscience continue to serve the board after its decision to terminate her appointment, which I believe was unfair and not in the best interests of the University,” McCain wrote to outgoing President I. King Jordan.

McCain did not give much explainations why he resigned as a chair of the board of trustees.  If he did, maybe he would get more votes and supports from the Deaf Americans. Many Deaf Gallaudet students feels that John McCain was not loyal to Gallaudet for some reasons. He rarely attended to the meetings. They feel that McCain did not care about what was going on at Gallaudet when there were some issues. He made a choice by not having the opportunity to hear the issues surrounding the protest.

Did he really care about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans? Many people did not know that John McCain was a strong advocate of telecommunication legislation benefitting Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. He introduced the Telecommunications Accessibility Enhancement Act of 1988 and also he was a chief co-sponsor of the T.V. Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990. The federal law requires most new T.V. sets to have built-in decorder circuitry capable of receiving closed captioned programming.  McCain was also a chief co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

John McCain failed to capture enough votes to win to be U.S. President. The next U.S. President will be Barack Obama.

Good news is that Obama knows basic American Sign Language.

CORRECTION: John McCain was a Gallaudet University’s board of trustees not as a chair. Brenda Jo Brueggemann was Board Chair. Good news is that Obama knows a couple American Sign Language signs.

Jimactor & Jflmad Italy Vacation

By Jimactor

Summary: Arrived at Rome then walked in the city center (seeing Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona, Patheon, and more)