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This deaf man quit his start-up career to travel the world

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Calvin Young left the start-up world to fulfill his lifelong dream of traveling the world. While he happens to be deaf, he hasn't let his disability affect his travel experiences.

Follow Calvin's travels here.

Story by Sarah Schmalbruch and editing by Alana Yzola

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These gloves can convert sign language into spoken English

A partially deaf 2-year-old had a priceless reaction when he heard his mother's voice

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kaiden-orantes-facebook-hearing-aid

Kaiden Orantes broke into a dance when a new hearing aid helped him to hear his mother's voice, ABC News reports

Kaiden, 2, was born with normal hearing but was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss earlier this year. Doctors still aren't sure why his hearing has worsened, Kaiden's mother, Caitlin Orantes, told ABC News. But they decided to fit him with special hearing aids that will enable him to learn spoken language. 

When Kaiden was fitted with those hearing aids last week, Orantes captured the toddler's joyful reaction on video and posted it to Facebook. The clip has already been viewed 14,000 times. 

June 14th, 2016: celebrating Kaiden's hearing date! I am overwhelmed with emotion right now. My baby is so happy & excited to finally be able to hear his own voice & mine! #GodIsGood

Posted by Caitlin Orantes on Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Orantes told ABC News that she hopes to someday get Kaiden a cochlear implant — a surgically implanted device that can help some deaf or hard-of-hearing people hear. Both hearing aids and cochlear implants are a controversial issue in the deaf community, where deafness is seen as a culture, not a disability. Many deaf and hard of hearing people maintain they don't need to be "fixed" to become more like hearing people. 

But it's clear that these technologies have the power to make a positive difference in many lives — including little Kaiden's. Since he was fitted with his hearing aids, Kaiden has been playing with toy guitars and getting in touch with his musical side. 

"This kid is obsessed with music," Orantes told ABC News. "I’ve had videos of him going crazy and trying to sing. He can’t form too many words...It’s so priceless."

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NOW WATCH: A 3D-printed ear will eventually help kids hear

Starbucks just opened a store that's staffed by deaf baristas

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starbucks

Starbucks's latest move doesn't involve a rainbow or a new iteration of a sugar-packed "coffee" drink. 

The chain announced on Tuesday that it launched a store location dedicated to staffing deaf baristas. The store, according to the press release, is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The store itself looks pretty similar to other Starbucks, but also displays the brand's name in sign language.

The coffee giant opened the outpost in collaboration with a non-profit called The Society of Interpreters for the Deaf, and the store has already hired 10 deaf baristas who will work alongside three hearing people. 

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

A photo posted by aleeeeehut yap (@aleeeeehut) on Jun 10, 2016 at 10:29pm PDT on

The employees were trained in standard Starbucks fashion with two sign-language interpreters on-hand to translate. The interpreters will also teach the other employees sign language to help them better communicate, the press release stated.

Customers who don't know sign language can place a written order. They can then double-check if it was entered correctly into the point-of-sale system. Once the order is placed, each customer is assigned a number which is pops up on a big screen above the counter when it's ready. 

all deaf baristas, I love this outlet even more now 😀

A photo posted by Tobias Isaac De Jong (@domidius) on Jun 14, 2016 at 4:01am PDT on

Sydney Quays, the managing director of Starbucks Malaysia, stated in the press release the the chain wants to raise awareness and creating a fulfilling workplace for people with disabilities. "We have a rich history of creating opportunities for underrepresented groups and our aim is to raise public awareness of the value people with disabilities bring to the workplace and to enrich the lives of many more Deaf partners."

Beyond raising awareness, the system might help solve one of the biggest problems plaguing the brand's baristas: Correctly spelling and saying names on orders. 

While it's commendable that Starbucks has opened a location that employs deaf people, the move leaves us wanting more. Why hasn't the chain adapted all locations to be supportive of employees with disabilities? Mic has reached out to Starbucks for a comment. 

Read more:
• Starbucks' Mini Frappuccinos Are Just a Really Adorable Rip-Off
• The Awesome Reason People Are Telling Starbucks Baristas Their Names Are #BlackLivesMatter
• Starbucks Just Released Nitro Cold Brew — A Frothy, Chilled Coffee Served on Tap

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This virtual character can translate speech into sign language

Games like 'Destiny' and 'Deus Ex' exclude deaf customers by flubbing a single, simple feature

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deafgamers tv

Video games are a wonderful, magical form of entertainment that can put you in someone else's shoes, giving you experiences that you wouldn't otherwise have in your day-to-day life.

Want to be a spy? Great, play "Splinter Cell." Want to save an old lady from a burning building using your ice superpowers? Nothing's immediately coming to mind, but there's definitely a game where you can do just that.

Most games have robust customization options, allowing you to adjust the brightness, volume, and difficulty level exactly to your individual tastes. But there's one simple feature a lot of games can't get quite right, and it's one that deaf gamers in particular need to fully enjoy a game: Subtitles.

"We need everything that’s spoken in the game captioned!" said Chris "Phoenix" Robinson in an email interview with Business Insider. "This is 2016 and gaming industries should’ve got it by now but it’s like they keep forgetting deaf/hard-of-hearing gamers are buying their games too."

Robinson, who's deaf in one ear and has severe hearing loss in the other, runs a Twitch channel called Deaf Gamers TV with Brandon "Zero" Chan, who is also deaf.

"I feel [game developers] are slacking," said Robinson. "It’s like subtitles/captioning is the last thing they care about."

In games, just like in movies or television, a vast majority of the story's information is conveyed through dialogue. When you can't hear what a character is saying — or read it in subtitles — suddenly, the simple act of playing a game and understanding its plot become nearly impossible. And even when games do have subtitles, it's often incomplete.

For example, a Redditor named Tigersharkdude recently called on Bungie, the developers of "Destiny," to add better captions for its deaf players.

You can see the problem he and other deaf players of "Destiny" face in a YouTube video uploaded by TechRaptor. Even though subtitles are enabled, none of the dialogue is popping up on screen. The only time subtitles appear in "Destiny" are during fully fleshed-out cutscenes rather than in the small, passing conversations you have with characters as you walk around.

Recently, Chan tried to play through "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided," a dystopian sci-fi game, but found its subtitles (or lack thereof) made it difficult to play.

"In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I was a little disappointed with the subtitles," says Chan. "When there are subtitles enabled during a cinematic, they put whole dialogue of what [a] character is saying on screen at [the] same time. In addition, the subtitles’ size, color, and background don’t go well together. That makes it difficult for me to read."

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided subtitles

As you can see in the image above, the subtitles for "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided" are quite difficult to read. Sometimes, the dialogue is broken up into individual lines, but other times, it's just plopped on screen in one giant block, often over other text within the game itself. 

There are several moments in the game's opening sequence that are not captioned at all. Footage from a news program that shows an anchor discussing social issues plaguing the city has no subtitles whatsoever. At that moment in the game, all you can see are soldiers shooting at unarmed citizens. Without hearing (or reading) the newscast, crucial contextual information is totally lost.

"So yeah, the gaming industry is definitely not doing a good job with accessibility to deaf people lately," said Robinson. "Either they’re not listening or just don’t care. I hope this will improve over times [sic] though."

Through their Twitch channel, Robinson and Chan hope to raise awareness for this issue. They're not alone in the fight, either. The AbleGamers charity, for example, works to improve accessibility for all types of gamers.

Because, at the end of the day, all they really want is to play the games they love.

SEE ALSO: A major video game developer is defending itself against accusations it 'cloned' Blizzard's 'Overwatch'

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This Deaf world traveler lives life as an adventure

Oklahoma City police fatally shot a man as his neighbors yelled that he was deaf

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oklahoma city police shooting witness

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City police officers who opened fire on a man in front of his home as he approached them holding a metal pipe didn't hear witnesses yelling that he was deaf, a department official said Wednesday.

Magdiel Sanchez, 35, wasn't obeying the officers' commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser on Tuesday night, police Capt. Bo Mathews said at a news conference. He said witnesses were yelling "he can't hear you" before the officers fired, but they didn't hear them.

"In those situations, very volatile situations, you have a weapon out, you can get what they call tunnel vision, or you can really lock in to just the person that has the weapon that'd be the threat against you," Mathews said. "I don't know exactly what the officers were thinking at that point."

Sanchez, who had no apparent criminal history, died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun, Sgt. Chris Barnes, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Mathews said the officers were investigating a reported hit-and-run at around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. He said a witness told Lt. Matthew Lindsey the address where the vehicle responsible for the hit-and-run had gone, and that Sanchez was on the porch when Lindsey arrived.

He said Sanchez was holding a metal pipe that was approximately 2 feet (0.6 meters) long and that had a leather loop on one end for wrapping around one's wrist. Lindsey called for backup and Barnes arrived, at which point Sanchez left the porch and began to approach the officers, Mathews said.

Witnesses could hear the officers giving Sanchez commands, but the officers didn't hear the witnesses yelling that Sanchez couldn't hear them, Mathews said. When he was about 15 feet (4.5 meters) away from the officers, they opened fire — Lindsey with his Taser and Barnes with his gun, apparently simultaneously, Mathews said.

He said he didn't know how many shots were fired, but that it was more than one.

When asked why Barnes used a gun instead of a Taser, Mathews said he didn't know. He said it's possible Barnes wasn't equipped with a Taser. Neither officer had a body camera.

oklahoma city police chief shooting

Sanchez's father, who was driving the hit-and-run vehicle, confirmed after the shooting that his son was deaf, Mathews said. He said Sanchez wasn't in the vehicle when his father struck something and drove off. It wasn't a person that he struck.

A man who saw Oklahoma City police officers open fire on Sanchez says his neighbor was developmentally disabled and didn't speak in addition to being deaf.

Neighbor Julio Rayos told The Oklahoman on Wednesday that Sanchez communicated mainly through hand movements.

"He don't speak, he don't hear, mainly it is hand movements. That's how he communicates," Rayos told the newspaper. "I believe he was frustrated trying to tell them what was going on."

Mathews said the city has officers who are trained in the use of sign language, but he didn't know if Lindsey and Barnes are among them.

Jolie Guebara, who lives two houses from the shooting scene, told The Associated Press that she heard five or six gunshots before she looked outside and saw the police.

"He always had a stick that he would walk around with, because there's a lot of stray dogs," Guebara said.

oklahoma city police shooting neighbors

Guebara said Sanchez, whose name she didn't know, wrote notes to communicate with her and her husband when he would occasionally stop and visit if they were outside.

Police initially said Sanchez was carrying a stick, but Mathews described it Wednesday as a metal pipe.

Sanchez's death is the latest in a string of controversial killings by Oklahoma police in recent years. In 2015, a white Tulsa County reserve deputy fatally shot an unarmed black man who was on the ground being subdued. He said he meant to shoot the suspect with a stun gun but mistakenly used his firearm instead. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

In May, a white former Tulsa police officer, Betty Shelby, was acquitted in the 2016 killing of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man who had his hands up when she fired. Much like in the Sanchez killing, another officer almost simultaneously fired a Taser at Crutcher when Shelby fired her gun. Unlike Sanchez's killing, both Tulsa killings were captured on video.

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SEE ALSO: More protests erupted in St. Louis after acquittal in police shooting

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Noise pollution is a bigger threat to your health than you may think, and Americans aren't taking it seriously

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Noise pollution is one of the types of pollution we don't often think about. The World Health Organization, CDC, and researchers worldwide have been warning against the effect it has on human health for decades. 

We spoke with Ted Rueter, founder of Noise Free America, and Kit Frank, an audiologist at NYU Langone Health, about what they think of noise pollution and the damage it can do to our hearing and overall health.

Noise Free America has been battling noise pollution in America for years. One of their latest approaches was to publish the book "Guide to Modified Exhaust Systems: A Reference for Law Enforcement Officers and Motor Vehicle Inspectors." Following is a transcript of the video.

This is not healthy. When you hear about pollution, you might picture; exhaust fumes, littering or oil spills. But there's another kind of pollution, you might not know: noise pollution. Like any other pollution, it's a nuisance to society. Plus, everyone hates it. 

Ted Rueter: A few years ago, the US Census Bureau did a survey on what people liked and disliked about their neighborhoods. What they found was that noise was Americans' number one complaints about their neighborhoods. The number one reason why they wish to move.

But comfort isn't all that's at stake. Our hearing, overall health, and well-being of our children is in jeopardy.

In 2016, 54.5% of the world's population lived in cities. By 2030, it's estimated that that population will grow to be 60%. Noise pollution can be found anywhere, but it's especially bad in cities. Here's a map of the loudest places in the U.S. Not surprisingly, cities top the list. They have background levels between 55 - 67 decibels. That's about as loud as the hum from your air conditioner. You'll notice that's not including random spikes of noise you hear throughout the day.

The human ear can tolerate noise up to 85 decibels without damage. Anything louder poses a risk of permanent hearing loss. Yet, studies show that anything at or above 65 decibels can trigger an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones in the blood. Over time, we can get used to these sounds but that doesn't make them any less dangerous.

Kit Frank: So, I don't think we can build-up a tolerance to sound. Anatomically, there's nothing that changes that can protect you from sound in your ear just because you're around it a lot. It's probably more of a psychological effect, that you don't notice because you hear it all the time. 

In 2007, researchers released results from their study on 200,000 hearing tests worldwide. They discovered that city residents had noticeable levels of hearing loss. Their hearing was what it should have been if they were 10 to 20 years older. Once the damage is done, it's irreversible. We have microscopic hairs in our ears that relay sounds to the brain. They're fine-tuned to detect vibrating frequencies from our eardrum. If those vibrations are too strong, it can bend, break, or even destroy these delicate hairs. But unlike the hairs on your head, these don't grow back. Since we cannot see or feel these hairs, the damage from noise pollution can go unnoticed for years, even decades. According to the World Health Organization, noise is an underestimated threat that can cause a number of short and long-term health problems, such as sleep disturbance, cardiovascular effects, and poorer work and school performance.

One of the most famous studies on noise pollution was in 1974. It happened here at P.S. 98 in New York City. The east side of the building faces the subway. When trains passed, the noise pollution in the classroom went from an average of 59 decibels to 89. Teachers had to shout over the noise and this happened about every 4.5 minutes for 30 seconds at a time. The two researchers compared test scores and reading levels of students on the East versus the West side of the building. While students on the west side weren't affected, students on the east were on average; four months behind on reading level and they performed worse on achievement tests. More studies have gone on to show that children who live in noisy environments have elevated blood pressure and hormones. 

There is one silver lining to all of this. A pair of inexpensive earplugs is an easy, temporary fix to this problem. For more short-term solutions, various cities have started implementing quiet hours or ticketing people for noise pollution, under the category of "quality of life" fines. 

Ted Rueter: One great example is, Germany. There, they banned lawn mowing on Sundays. You know, Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest. So, who can rest when all of your neighbors are blasting away with their lawn mowers and leaf blowers? Also in Europe, the European Union generally, they have significant noise restrictions on commercial products like dishwashers, refrigerators, and other household items and lawnmowers and leaf blowers. I also understand that India has now banned the two-stroke gas engine. So, definitely, there are other countries that are taking this issue much more seriously than the U.S. is.

If there ever is a permanent fix to this problem, it hinges on one question: when will we start taking noise pollution seriously? 

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An Uber driver's sign telling passengers about his disability went massively viral — and sparked a major conversation online

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deaf uber driver

  • London-based model Milkie, 20, rode in an Uber with a deaf driver named Onur Kerey.
  • On Twitter, Milkie shared a photo of a sign that Kerey put up inside the car telling passengers about his disability.
  • Kerey explained that he put up the sign to help passengers understand how to communicate with him.
  • Milkie's tweet of his sign went viral and sparked important discussions about disability in society.
  • Kerey told INSIDER about some of the difficulties he's encountered as a deaf person and why he thinks everyone should learn sign language.


Most people don't call an Uber expecting anything more than a ride from one place to another. However, one 20-year-old model had a particularly memorable experience when she rode in an Uber with a deaf driver named Onur Kerey. The viral tweet she posted about her experience riding with Kerey paved the way for an important and necessary discussion about disability in society.

A Northern Irish model based in London, Rachel Hastings — who goes by the name Milkie — told INSIDER that she had called an Uber on the night of April 17 with her flatmate and two friends on their way to a club. She sat in the middle seat in the back of the car, and that's when she noticed a sign slung across the front seat. 

Struck by the sign, Milkie took a photo of it and posted it on Twitter under the username @Iilghostgirl:

"Once we had settled in the backseat, we saw the sign and read it and I just loved his comment about the bass-heavy music," Milkie told INSIDER. "I thought that was great. I had never seen a sign like this, both in that it pointed out the driver's disability but also in that it was humorous and full of personality, which is why I loved it so much."

She and her friends went on to have an enjoyable experience riding in Kerey's Uber, even playing some bass-heavy music that Kerey's sign said he enjoyed.

Kerey, 24, told INSIDER he was born "profoundly deaf." He said that he has experienced some obstacles as a deaf Uber driver.

"I really enjoy working at Uber, but I do find it a bit difficult sometimes," Kerey told us. "I can't speak, which is hard for me to communicate with hearing people. I always use my phone so people can read what I mean and reply."

Kerey put up the sign in his Uber to help him communicate with his passengers, and to make sure that they understand him. "Most of the time, people smile and understand my sign and do a thumbs up," Kerey said. "A few of them signed 'thanks' to me when the trip ended, and it made me pleased to see them try to sign for me."

Milkie said that, at the end of her ride in Kerey's Uber, she wished she could have signed "thank you and have a great night" to him.

Much to her surprise, Milkie's photo of Kerey's sign went viral on Twitter. At the time of this post, her tweet has received over 549,000 likes and 136,000 retweets.

"I did not expect it to go viral at all," Milkie said. "I wanted to share the joy that reading his sign brought me, because it truly brought a smile to my face and set a great tone for the night."

Out of the hundreds of comments her tweet received, many people were supportive of Kerey and found the sign — particularly the request for music — just as heartwarming as Milkie did.

While some people were critical of Kerey driving, believing his deafness would be an impediment to the job, many others pointed out that deafness has no effect on someone's driving ability.

Someone from Kerey's family even came across the tweet.

"This made our day!!"Levze Kerey tweeted. "Thanks for all the comments, our whole family has been having a great time scrolling through."

However, Milkie's viral tweet also came under criticism.

Her tweet, which was frequently shared by other people on social media as an example of something "pure" and "wholesome," attracted the attention of the disability activist community. The Facebook page An Articulate Autistic pointed out a potentially problematic implication of Milkie's well-intentioned tweet. 

 

According to An Articulate Autistic, this tweet could be interpreted as an example of inspiration porn.

"Essentially what you're all doing is cheering his ability to achieve victory over his ability to...drive a car," the disability activist Facebook page explained. "The picture is turning his method of communication into a spectacle to be oohed and ahhed at, when I'm pretty sure that he felt like he was just doing his job not desiring an internet applause."

The Facebook page criticized the way that many people responded to the tweet with comments such as "Awwwww my gosh id cry if we got an uber driver like this" or "LOOK AT HOW PURE IM CRYING."

"He's not a puppy doing a cool trick," the page wrote. "He's a human that learned to accomplish a basic task. We need you to support us like equal human beings, not turn us into memes and feel so happy when we learn to exist the same way as you do."

In the comment section of this Facebook post, Milkie herself clarified:

"I was absolutely not focusing the 'purity' towards the fact that he is deaf and driving and giving him a pat on the back for doing so. It was much more towards the music comment and all the smiley's and emoji's because that showed a friendliness and sense of humour that I rarely see in Uber drivers in London!"

Milkie is happy that the tweet has ignited these important discussions about the way that people with disabilities are treated in society.

"I'm so glad this has opened a dialogue about the stigma against disabled persons," Milkie told INSIDER. "It's very clear to see in the replies to the tweet that many people would not be happy about having a deaf driver, some thinking it would put them in danger. This is clearly just people lacking a bit of common sense, because you know ... lights and visual cues exist."

According to Milkie, society still has a lot of work to do when it comes to treating people with disabilities with equality and respect.

"Within society in general and the spaces in which we exist, it's clear that those with disabilities are not always greatly catered to," she said. Milkie pointed out a few examples, such as Victoria Station in London. She observed that even though it's one of the busiest train stations in London, there is "no way to access the tube station from the train station without stairs."

Milkie also commented that people with disabilities might find it difficult to attend gigs. While larger event venues have viewing platforms or designated wheelchair spots, she noticed that some of the smaller venues simply don't have those facilities.

"I definitely think there are steps to be taken in order to make the spaces in which we exist and occupy more welcoming to those with disabilities," she concluded.

One of those steps, according to Kerey, is learning sign language. "My family can sign, which is easy for me to talk to them," he told INSIDER. "It is important for parents with a deaf baby to learn sign language."

Kerey thinks that everyone should learn sign language, not just those with deaf family members.

"I want to see schools teach sign language," Kerey said. "Instead of teaching French or German, because some people never go abroad, it's better to learn sign language and communicate with deaf people in their own country."

Since most people haven't learned sign language, Kerey finds some aspects of everyday life difficult. For example, he often has trouble communicating with people because they simply don't know how to talk to him.

"I feel like nobody knows how to react properly when they meet a deaf person," he said. "They might feel awkward, but they don't need to. They can still ask me a question and I will reply — they just need to write it down." 

Kerey also spoke about the need to find an interpreter whenever he visits the doctor or goes for an interview. "Sometimes it takes a long time to find an interpreter, and I have to cancel the appointments because no communicator is available," he said.

"Lots of places don't teach sign language," Kerey concluded. "But it is definitely important for deaf people to have sign language, and to feel proud."

Here's the full caption from An Articulate Austistic's Facebook post:

In a group this was being shared as "pure" and "wholesome" and it annoyed me to the point where I felt the need to make this comment explaining the issues with it. If you've seen the original, share this one because this kinda thing is everywhere.
[image is a picture of a sign where an Uber driver named Onur says he's deaf and provides methods of communicating with him with the caption THIS WAS THE PUREST THING WE LOVE ONUR]
"In the disability activist community we have a term for this stuff
It's what we all "inspiration porn".
Essentially what you're all doing is cheering his ability to achieve victory over his disability to...drive a car.
We adapt to exist that's not something that we deserve to be lauded for and it squicks me out.
It puts us in a position where learning to be like you deserves to be put on a pedestal and it separates us from you because we're all people who find our ways to survive and calling us pure and wholesome for doing so objectifies us (where the porn part comes from).
The picture is turning his method of communication into a spectacle to be oohed and ahhed at, when I'm pretty sure that he felt like he was just doing his job not desiring an internet applause.
Also the "this is so pure""we love him""I'm crying because of this"...Gods he's not a puppy doing a cool trick he's a human that learned to accomplish a basic task. We need you to support us like equal human beings not turn us into memes and feel so happy when we learn to exist the same way as you do...and treat us as equals deserving of the same respect as you do when we don't manage to be so "inspirational" by managing to exist like you do. 
I would encourage you all to read the transcript/watch this TED Talk because it goes over this
https://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much/transcript 

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Watch an ASL interpreter sign out Eminem's raps at lightning speed

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Holly Maniatty

  • Audiences can't get enough of Eminem's ASL interpreter who was jamming along during a concert.
  • Holly Maniatty has been interpreting for many years and has also reportedly worked with artists like Snoop and The Wu-Tang Clan.
  • This isn't the first time she's gone viral for her skills.

The deaf community is often severely underrepresented when it comes to the music and entertainment industries, despite being 466 million people strong. So when an American Sign Language interpreter makes headlines for her killer skills, it's deserving of all the praise.

But really, it's no surprise that rap fans are obsessed with ASL interpreter Holly Maniatty who they are now referring to as a "rap god."

In a recent viral video, posted by Twitter user mattwhitlockPMManiatty is filmed while interpreting at hyper-speed an Eminem concert. Not only is she signing, though: she's jamming out just like the rest of the crowd and the audience was soon in love with her infectious energy.

This isn't Maniatty's first time going viral, however.

In the past, she's also interpreted for Snoop and the Wu-Tang Clan. A 2013 viral video garnered the ASL interpreter a lot of unexpected attention. When interviewed then by WPTZ, she explained, "I didn't have like any concept that anyone was like filming us. So when it came out, it was — I was really shocked."

And now, five years since the Vermont native first went viral, audiences are still in awe of her immense talent for interpretation.

INSIDER reached out to Maniatty but did not immediately receive a response.

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The CEO behind a new social venture fund says too many companies overlook a major talent pool, and it doesn't do them any favors

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Chris Soukup 2

  • Chris Soukup is CEO of Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), which launched a social venture fund to invest in businesses owned by members of the Deaf community.
  • It is a real problem when most diversity and inclusion efforts fail to mention or acknowledge Deaf or disabled people, he writes.
  • He finds that the companies that hire Deaf talent quickly see value in otherwise overlooked personnel.
  • This article is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.

Many of the best-performing companies or organizations are ones whose workforce is driven to solve problems, and most problems today approach a level of complexity that require a range of approaches.

There is not much difference between a high-performing corporation that pays dividends to its shareholders, and a social impact organization like Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD). The difference is that CSD directly reinvests any funding surpluses back into the company’s programs, directly to the community to further its mission. My job is to ensure we are all on track to fulfilling our mission, which is to unlock the extraordinary yet trapped value, potential, and capability of Deaf people everywhere.

Deaf leaders are already making inroads at major corporations across the U.S. Adam Novsam, a business analyst at Starbucks, helped create the first signing store in the U.S., based in Washington, D.C. and staffed by Deaf and hearing workers fluent in ASL. Scott Vannice is involved in data security as a computer forensics and electronic discovery manager at Procter & Gamble.

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There are not many people you can point at in the upper management ranks, but the companies that hire Deaf talent quickly see value in otherwise overlooked personnel. It is a real problem when most diversity and inclusion efforts fail to mention or acknowledge Deaf or disabled people — people all too easily forget that disability is diversity and need to expand their ideas about what an optimal workforce looks like. Stretching and evolving our workplace cultures can help cultivate and create favorable conditions for unlocking further value in future Deaf and disabled employees.

CSD was founded initially because nobody else saw value enough in a Deaf person to have confidence in their ability to produce benefit for his own local community or meet or exceed any challenges. My grandfather, a farmer, was denied a bank loan to save his farm because lenders did not think it was possible that he, a Deaf person, would be able to succeed either at turning a profit or paying back the loan. This limited thinking about Deaf people is not based in factual knowledge, is completely unnecessary, and does little to bolster the health of society. This sort of thinking persists even today, and this is where you come in — you have an opportunity to build a community that is inclusive and diversified, and through that, strong and robust, starting with your company.

Read More:Match Group's CEO audited the company's payroll to make sure she was paying women equally and was surprised at the results

While we are helping other businesses do this work, we are putting our own money where our mouths, or rather, hands are. In 2018, we launched the CSD Social Venture Fund (CSD SVF), one of the very few social impact investment funds dedicated to investing in Deaf-owned businesses. We have one important requirement: that these businesses need to help put a dent in the unemployment problem that plagues the Deaf community.

San Francisco-based Mozzeria is among our first CSD SVF businesses. For many in Mozzeria’s all-Deaf and hard of hearing workforce, the pizzeria is their first job, and a good number are above the food service industry worker’s average age. Mozzeria also boasts a higher rate of employee retention, indicating that Deaf employees are likely to be among your most loyal workers if you give them a fair shake. This investment in its workers has paid dividends for Mozzeria as it enters its seventh year of business, continuing its trend of increased growth and national expansion plans on the horizon.

Our other investments include DeafTax, with offices in D.C. and Hawaii and Deaf workers to work returns and bookkeeping, and reFort, a startup based in D.C. that reduces waste produced when people move into and out of offices, dorms, or homes. These successes have created positive impact for our mission and motivate us to further reduce the 70% under- and unemployment rate among Deaf people through a second round of investments, soon to be announced in early 2019.

Read More:At $49 billion company Essilor, employees are the largest shareholders — and the CEO says that's the best way to do it

CSD’s focus and mission as a social impact organization are singularly geared towards elevating the Deaf community and dissolving societal barriers that hinder the full participation of Deaf people in society. We are investing in hearing people who have the potential to be changemakers through helping them recognize the overlooked and unlocked value in Deaf people. We know that Deaf people have something to bring to the table far beyond diversity and inclusion, and the realization of that in all levels of society, including with our hearing allies, is where our investment and mission lie.

The talent is there — it’s all a matter of recognizing it, and making the initial investment to unlock it, just as one might do when exploring for oil or gold. Who knows what riches lie beneath if they aren’t uncovered and how deep the well goes?

Christopher Soukup is CEO of Communication Service for the Deaf, the world’s largest Deaf-led social impact organization. He also is an advisory committee member for Disability: IN’s Disability Equality Index; a board member of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Development Foundation; and a graduate of Gallaudet University, where he served as student body president.

SEE ALSO: Companies will hire 700,000 seasonal employees this year. At UPS, some of them are bound for the C-suite.

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'It was meant to be': A deaf man adopted a dog with a hearing impairment, and he's training him using sign language

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nick abot and emerson

They say dogs are a man's best friend, and one Maine man found his perfect match when he adopted his dog. 

Nick Abbott was born deaf, so he knew it was meant to be when he found a 12-week-old puppy, Emerson, at North Florida Rescue Maine who was also deaf.  

"He came straight to me at the door and sat right away at my feet and stayed there,"Abbott told WABI. "So you can tell he kind of picked me. And I knew right then and there that we would get along and understand each other pretty good."

Take a look at Abbot and Emerson's incredible bond.

 

Abbot first learned about Emerson's condition in a Facebook post.

"Emerson is now a healthy, awesome puppy," the Facebook post read. "We aren't sure if Emerson was born deaf and visually impaired or if it was a result of the seizures but what we do know is that neither one of those bother him one bit. He gets around quite good because he can see some. He has been given an opportunity to live life, not once but twice, so he is gonna live it!"

Whitney Sinclair of the North Florida Rescue Maine gave more insight into Emerson's "rough start to life" when the pup made an appearance on WABI.

Read more: A family has been reunited with their pet cat after it ran away 11 years ago

"Emerson was having seizures, we weren't sure why," Sinclair said. "He was hospitalized and developed [the contagious virus] Parvo. And they do believe he is deaf and maybe visually impaired."

But Emerson's setbacks are what makes his bond with Abbott so unique. In fact, Abbot has started training him using sign language and hand signals. Emerson sits when Abbott signs the letter "S" and lays down when he signs a straight line. 

"The bond that we have is awesome,"Abbott told WABI."We understand each other very well. I'd like to think it was meant to be. He's special."

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A viral video shows a Jack in the Box worker apparently mocking a deaf woman and refusing her order

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jack in the box viral video

  • A video has gone viral showing a woman who is deaf being yelled at and apparently mocked by a Jack in the Box employee at a drive-thru.
  • ReVae Arnaud-Jensen can be heard trying to explain to the worker that she could not order through the speaker because she is deaf, but the employee continues shouting at her regardless.
  • Jack in the Box told Insider in a statement that the employee has been terminated, and that the company does "not tolerate the mistreatment of any customers."
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A California woman says she was recently shouted at, denied service, and mocked for her hearing impairment at a Jack in the Box drive-thru.

A video of the interaction has gone viral on Facebook. It shows ReVae Arnaud-Jensen trying to explain to the worker in the drive-thru window that she could not order through the speaker because she is deaf.

It's unclear if the employee understands why Arnaud-Jensen drove directly to the window, but he can be seen yelling at her to leave the restaurant regardless. When Arnaud-Jensen tries to explain that she's deaf and that the employee is discriminating against her, the employee shouts, "I don't care!"

At one point, the employee even makes hand gestures, appearing to mock Arnaud-Jensen's sign-language attempts.

Jack in the Box says the employee has been terminated

 

 

In a Facebook post about the incident, Arnaud-Jensen said she refused to leave the restaurant until she had been served — ultimately waiting two hours.

"Towards the end of the video, once he realized he was being recorded he changed faces and mockingly gestured at the video," she wrote. "I refused to leave the window until I received an order. Sat there for two hours."

Read more: An Uber driver's sign telling passengers about his disability went massively viral — and sparked a major conversation online

Arnaud-Jensen's son, Malachi Jensen, filmed the incident and later told NBC News that he was horrified by the employee's behavior towards his mother.

"It was my first time seeing an employee acting like that, and honestly I was very shocked. I felt pretty mad too because deaf people very often get treated differently," he said.

A Jack in the Box spokesperson told Insider that the employee shown in the video was been terminated "after a thorough investigation of the incident and direct contact with the local franchise owner."

"We do not tolerate the mistreatment of any customers and expect employees to follow all training procedures, be respectful, courteous, and accommodating to all guests," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Join the conversation about this story »

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I'm deaf, and have found that transportation services have a long way to go to be more accessible. Here's how I navigate traveling.

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Sarah Katz

  • Sarah Katz is a freelance writer who covers the intersection between disability and mental health, relationships, entertainment, and public services. 
  • As a deaf traveler, she finds herself "routinely excluded" from services that nondisabled travelers have access to.
  • Katz has developed a few strategies to navigate travel, like purchasing tickets ahead of time online, reading any information available, and asking others for support.
  • But ultimately, Katz writes, disabled people should have equal access to transportation services — especially because they pay the same as hearing travelers. 
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two years ago, a high-speed train I was riding from Baltimore to my job in Virginia jolted to a stop. A voice announced the stop's name over the intercom, but it was garbled to me, because I am deaf. (My hearing aids offer some, but incomplete, access to spoken language.) So, I glanced outside the window for clues: No readily visible signs.

Suddenly, a white, gauzy veil of panic set in — I didn't know where I was and didn't want to end up in a different state entirely. I scanned the interior of the train but saw no signs there either. I questioned fellow passengers, who only shrugged. I hurried to a train attendant near the doors. As soon as he informed me what stop it was — it was my stop — the doors closed and the train's gears began cranking forward toward its next destination. 

I wish I could say that the story ended there. Instead, I asked the attendant if there was a way to get off. He pressed a red button, the doors swung open, and he motioned toward the platform, as if encouraging me to step off. Hurried, trusting his judgment, I followed his lead. I immediately regretted doing so. Although the train wasn't speeding, its momentum quickly overtook me, and my body slammed into the pavement, crushing my right wrist into six pieces. A week later, I was under anesthesia on an operating table, receiving surgery to repair a Colles' fracture.

My experience is far from unique. Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act signed into law 30 years ago, disabled travelers like me are routinely excluded from services offered to nondisabled travelers, with deleterious effects.

Whether by road, the tracks, the sea, or the air, traveling is an indispensable aspect of modern life that connects people to jobs, education, and leisure activities. Yet, many forms of public transportation remain inaccessible to 15% of the world population. This inaccessibility costs us our livelihood, mental health, and, sometimes, as my story reveals, our physical health. Research bears this out: According to a study conducted in the United Kingdom, needless transportation obstacles cause four in five disabled people to feel anxious while traveling.

As someone who has, nonetheless, traveled to far-flung countries such as Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Italy, I have noticed other troubling accessibility barriers for deaf and hard-of-hearing travelers. For instance, airports around the world often make auditory boarding announcements to flyers without visuals. If one is not paying attention or doesn't notice announcements at all, we miss important information, sometimes even missing the flight altogether. While in flight, pilots usually verbally explain safety procedures without captions or text; the visual demonstration by stewards and stewardesses only offer a sliver of the information, which means that, in a state of emergency, deaf and hard-of-hearing flyers risk not having the same resources that hearing flyers do. And on buses, deaf riders must remain alert to signage limited to the street instead of signage inside the vehicle, which is not often made available with announcements made verbally over speaker.

Although deaf and hard-of-hearing people like me shouldn't have to compensate for inaccessible travel, we do it anyway. These are some of the strategies that have worked for me. 

SEE ALSO: I've saved thousands of dollars and stayed all over the US for free by house and cat sitting — here's how to get started

Purchase tickets online

Instead of going through the trouble of speech-reading at the airport or train ticket counter, I purchase and download tickets on my phone. (Many don't know that speech-reading is an imperfect science: Studies show that only 30 to 45% of the English language is readable on the lips.



Read what's available

When I go through the security screening area, I watch the security officers' faces to speech-read their instructions. And, when I'm sitting at the gate, waiting for my flight, I peer over at the next person's ticket for their zone number, following them into the line when they get up. Once on the plane, I review the booklet illustrating the safety procedures for relevant information, or, if I'm with my husband, who is hearing, I ask him to transliterate using Cued Speech, a visual communication mode. 



Ask others for support

If the pilot makes mid-flight announcements, I ask my husband or strangers to let me know what's said. But, while it's great to be able to rely on the kindness of others, I deserve a more independent, integrated experience.

In recent years, some transportation companies have begun making their services more accessible to deaf and disabled travelers. For example, some airlines show what zone is boarding electronically. During flights, airlines sometimes share captioned videos of safety procedures. And some airlines who offer in-flight entertainment show some movies — although it should be all — with closed captions and subtitles. Newer trains also show a visual of the metro stop's name inside of the car, instead of just outside near the platforms. Some buses, too, have begun showing the names of stops electronically inside the vehicle. 

Disabled people deserve equal access to the same transportation services others enjoy. After all, we pay the same amount as hearing travelers despite having less money due to disability discrimination. According to a new report released Wednesday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 19.3% of people with disabilities are employed. In contrast, 66.3% of people without disabilities are employed.

Worse, federal law enables some employers to pay disabled people less than a $1 an hour. If nothing else, we're an untapped market — the travel industry can, too, benefit from more inclusively designed experience. In the meantime, we're doing our best with the resources we're given, which shouldn't be taken for granted.




The deaf community is facing new barriers as we navigate inaccessible face masks and struggle to follow news broadcasts and teleconferences — but the tools for accessibility are out there

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Woman in face mask

  • Sarah Katz is a freelance writer who covers the intersection between disability and mental health, relationships, entertainment, and public services. 
  • As a deaf individual, the coronavirus pandemic has been particularly difficult for her to navigate — people wearing masks obstructing their lips presents major barriers to communication.
  • Some deaf individuals have faced difficulty in healthcare — many are no longer allowed to use in-person interpreters.
  • Teleconferencing software's auto-captioning can be unreliable and error-filled, making it less accessible to the hard of hearing.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Since President Trump declared a national emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak over a month ago, I have communicated in person with only one individual outside my home: the pharmacist who handed me my prescription from the drive-through window. 

Only I couldn't really communicate with the pharmacist, because I am deaf and couldn't read their lips through the opaque white surgical mask. Still, after a laborious exchange in which I used gestures and the little residual hearing I have, I valiantly left with what I came for.

While the outbreak has upended life for everyone, deaf and hard of hearing individuals like me have encountered significant barriers to communication during this crisis. This should come as no surprise, since research shows that deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States are largely underserved during emergencies. It's deplorable, though: 48 million Americans are deaf and hard of hearing, and several federal laws mandate our protection during emergencies— but everyone keeps forgetting we exist. It's time for this country to establish a comprehensive set of national guidelines that enable state and local governments to provide access to emergency services for deaf and hard of hearing people before, during, and after a crisis.

For one, inaccessible face masks shouldn't be the standard. They hinder speechreading and present barriers for deaf and hard of hearing individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL) or Cued American English via Cued Speech (CS), a visual mode of communication that disambiguates speechreading. ASL grammar is displayed on the face, while CS uses handshapes, placements, and mouth movements. Both require facial expression to supply meaning and tone that would otherwise be conveyed through speech, which inaccessible masks hide. 

But, lest you think they're a necessary evil, accessible face masks do exist. Safe'N'Clear, Inc., a company that develops surgical masks, has created a mask with an FDA-approved, fog-resistant transparent window to facilitate clear and unrestricted communication. 

Clear masks could make everyone happier in the long run. Safe'N'Clear founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Anne McIntosh told Business Insider that, while the "The Communicator" mask does benefit people who are deaf and hard of hearing, her invention helps everyone communicate more effectively. 

image004

"The human smile is such a NECESSARY part of our ability to connect with others, especially when social distancing says we cannot hug, shake hands, kiss, or wrap our arms around another person's shoulder," she wrote in an email. "As social beings, we need to feel 'connected' and 'in relationships' with others and the smile is our way to communicate 'community' to others."

In addition to making it harder for millions of deaf Americans to communicate, opaque masks are harming their mental health. Several deaf individuals have told me that the prevalence of masks triggers significant anxiety, to the point where they avoid leaving their homes altogether for essential activities, such as grocery shopping. 

"I've had my husband do all the shopping and errands for us," said Courtney Poole, a deaf home health care manager in Locust, North Carolina, "mainly due to my fear of not being able to talk to or understand anyone wearing masks and standing far away. Basically, I don't want to deal with it."

The barriers transcend face masks: As confirmed cases of the coronavirus overwhelm hospitals, deaf and hard of hearing patients are reporting inadequate accommodations in hospital settings. 

For example, many medical professionals are treating patients from behind a barrier and not allowing in-person interpreters. On April 16, The Los Angeles Times reported that Jennylee Bruno, a deaf author and mother of five, received an American Sign Language interpreter over video conferencing software, but the feed froze multiple times while Bruno received her feared diagnosis of COVID-19, heightening her anxiety. 

"I feel like they were giving me a death sentence," she told the Times. "I wanted to ask, am I going to die, what can we do, is there a cure, what about medications, what's the plan?"

Sandi Sinnott, a deaf Navy retiree in Havelock, North Carolina, shared a similarly horrifying story. She told Business Insider that she went to the local emergency room in March for a "simple CT scan" for pneumonia and ended up hospitalized for a week with only choppy video access to a remote interpreter. She said that she was not told why she was admitted, adding, "I believe they said as little as possible because of communication barriers."

Sinnott also said that she was not initially tested for COVID-19, because she didn't have a fever; however, she later received a test that came back negative.

Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are also reporting unsatisfactory access to information about the outbreak. 

"Many government press briefings were not accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people, and to address this issue, we have been focused on advocating for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and accurate captioning in all broadcasts of such emergency briefings," said the National Association of the Deaf's Chief Executive Officer Howard Rosenblum. "We have received many complaints from deaf and hard of hearing people unable to understand from the briefings what they are supposed to do or avoid to stay safe and healthy, and we have given them tools to advocate for their communication access."

Rosenblum explained that while live national broadcasts must provide captioning under federal law, live news broadcasts from local new stations aren't required to provide captioning and are "only live captioned in the top 25 markets." Those that do provide captioning are "usually" not accurate, he said, "as most of them recycle the teleprompter script as captioning, and that does not include breaking news which is what most emergency broadcasts entail."

Calls for social distancing have also affected deaf and hard of hearing people in many other areas, including in K-12 education, universities, workplaces, and courtrooms. While teleconferencing platforms enable many people to continue learning and working from home, many don't know that auto-captioning through these platforms is often unreliable and riddled with errors, which makes it all the more important that those in positions of power employ truly inclusive measures informed by the realities faced by the deaf community.

To address these problems, the NAD is urging all government agencies to implement the recommendations detailed in their emergency communication position statement, and for hospitals to utilize their guidelines. The NAD and other advocates have also created a guide for deaf and hard of hearing individuals who may need to visit the hospital.

Experts and resources on disability-inclusive emergency management abound. It's time to use them before it's too late.

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Lawmakers ask that a sign-language interpreter be added to the White House's popular coronavirus press briefings

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Rep. Mark Takano

  • Sarah Katz is a freelance writer who covers the intersection between disability and mental heath, relationships, entertainment, and public services.
  • The Congressional Deaf Caucus, chaired by Reps. Takano and John Rutherford, sent a letter to Mike Pence urging that the White House have sign language interpreters at its public health press briefings.
  • The Caucus includes 28 members of Congress, including 2 Republicans and 26 Democrats.
  • While governors and local officials in all 50 states have had sign language interpreters at their briefings, the White House has not.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Congressional Deaf Caucus is fighting to have sign language interpreters at all televised White House public health press briefings.

The chairs of the caucus, Reps. Mark Takano and John Rutherford, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence today urging him to have sign language interpreters at all White House press briefings on COVID-19 so that deaf and hard of hearing individuals have equal access to information related to the coronavirus. It was also signed by six additional members of the Caucus, including Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa), Alan Lowenthal (D-California), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.).

"The use of sign language interpreters is crucial to ensuring that this unique population is provided with the same information as the rest of the country to help slow the spread, flatten the curve, and ultimately prevent loss of life,"the letter reads.

Governors and local officials in all 50 states are now providing sign language interpreters during their briefings since the National Association of the Deaf — the largest deaf civil rights organization in the US — shared its press release responding to member concerns about access to briefings last month. But the White House has never provided sign language interpreters during its own press conferences about the virus, even though several federal laws mandate the provision of access to emergency services to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals during a crisis, including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The caucus's letter joins multiple other letters sent to the White House, including letters sent by Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), and Rep. Donna Shalala (FL-27), the NAD, and the National Council on Disability last month.

Deaf celebrities, including Marlee Matlin, have also urged the White House to include qualified sign language interpreters at its briefings.

"Dear @WhiteHouse news & press conferences around the country during this Corona Virus Emergency have sign language interpreters standing next to the speakers, providing ACCESS for millions of deaf Americans," Matlin, the Academy Award-winning actress, tweeted. "Can you do the same, PLEASE?"

Rep. Takano and former Rep. Kevin Yoder founded the caucus in 2013 to "help bridge the communication divide between Members of Congress and their Deaf and Hard of Hearing constituents, as well as empower these individuals by promoting equal access for all," Rep. Takano said in an exclusive email interview with Business Insider. It has 28 members of Congress, including two Republicans and 26 Democrats.

"[E]veryone deserves to have equal access to the government and I am glad to see that this effort is only getting stronger," Rep. Takano said. "As the representative for the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, California, I want to make sure that all of my constituents' needs are taken into consideration and are advocated for in Congress."

He added, "During this pandemic, we are witnessing how important it is for all communications and public briefings to be accessible to everyone. We cannot allow any gaps in relaying information to the American people, and that's why we are urging the Trump Administration to have ASL interpreters at every public briefing on COVID-19 … The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community should not be waiting any longer to be up to speed on the latest developments surrounding this pandemic."

The NAD's chief executive officer, Howard Rosenblum, told Business Insider that, while White House briefings are live-captioned, and captioning provides crucial access to information about the coronavirus for many deaf and hard of hearing Americans, American Sign Language is a primary language for some of them, whose grammar is distinct from English.

"For this population, it is not enough to share emergency communications in English," he said. "The same information must be shared in ASL. Unfortunately, for many emergencies in the past, press conferences have failed to use qualified professional interpreters to render the shared information in ASL."

He added that the exclusion of sign language interpreters from White House press briefings is barring deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans from receiving vital information, putting them at higher risk of contracting the virus as well as making them a risk to others.

"We have received many complaints from deaf and hard-of-hearing people unable to understand from the briefings what they are supposed to do or avoid to stay healthy and we have given them tools to advocate for their communication access," he said.

At least 48 million individuals in the US are deaf and hard-of-hearing, and they use different communication modalities in addition to sign language, including Cued American English (via Cued Speech) as well as spoken and written English. The NAD encourages all government agencies and media entities to review its position statement on how to make emergency communications accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, and to implement its recommendations.

It's important to note that while many briefings at the state and local level have included sign language interpreters, they aren't without accessibility barriers for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was sued for not having sign language interpreters at his live press briefings

According to Rosenblum, Gov. Cuomo has had interpreters during his web broadcast, but not during his televised broadcast.

"Doing so leaves out deaf and hard-of-hearing people who may not have internet access but have TVs and were unable to have access to his broadcast," Rosenblum said.

Members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community can communicate issues to the Congressional Deaf Caucus by reaching out to members of Congress, including the chairs, on their official websites.

SEE ALSO: The deaf community is facing new barriers as we navigate inaccessible face masks and struggle to follow news broadcasts and teleconferences — but the tools for accessibility are out there

Join the conversation about this story »

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Apple's iOS update comes with a new accessibility feature — but big tech still has a long way to go if it wants to be truly accessible (AAPL)

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iOS 14 (homescreen)

  • Sarah Katz is a freelance writer who covers the intersection between disability and mental health, relationships, entertainment, and public services.
  • At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that iOS 14 will have a new accessibility feature that can alert deaf and hard-of-hearing users to 14 different sounds.
  • This type of technology isn't new: Companies like Wavio have been creating comprehensive sound recognition technology for years.
  • Still, many in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community are excited for the new update — and it could lay the groundwork for further sounds to be incorporated.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

I was born deaf more than 30 years ago, so I consider myself skilled at navigating an inaccessible world. But despite my visual attentiveness and high-powered hearing aids, some events escape my notice. For instance, as I was sleeping a couple weeks ago, my bathroom and office flooded with an inch of water after I accidentally left the sink running overnight. It caused costly water damage in the ceiling of my neighbor's apartment below.

But Apple's new accessibility feature, which will debut in the iOS 14 update of the operating system when it releases this fall, could prevent such a thing from happening again. The feature, announced during Apple's virtual Worldwide Developers Conference, will alert deaf and hard-of-hearing users by text to doorbells and door knocks; fire, smoke, and siren alarms; and other specific environmental sounds (14 in total), including shouting, a baby crying, a dog barking, a cat meowing, and — lo and behold — running water.

Sarah Katz

Other deaf and hard-of-hearing people share my excitement about the new feature. Haben Girma, a disability rights lawyer, speaker, and the author of "Haben: The DeafBlind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law," told me that the feature "has the potential to increase independence and freedom for many people." 

"Imagine Deaf and Deafblind parents moving around their homes with the assurance that they'll immediately receive an alert when their baby is crying," Girma said in an email. (Some Deaf people who consider themselves a member of the signing community capitalize the word "deaf.") 

Given Apple's use of Haptic Touch technology, which provides tactile sensations in the form of vibrations for other features, Girma hopes the company will also incorporate custom haptic alerts for distinct sounds, including on the Apple Watch: "We should be able to know if the doorbell is ringing or the baby is crying through a distinct touch on our wrist. Hearing people moving around listening to music, vacuuming, and engaging in other noisy tasks could also benefit from Sound [Recognition]." 

Apple isn't the first electronics company to incorporate non-speech sound recognition technology into its products; Samsung added a similar feature to its devices years ago. The company's efforts also build on the work of previous innovations by sound recognition technology companies including OtoSense, Audio Analytic, and AbiliSense. 

Wavio, founded five years ago by three Deaf individuals, is another sound recognition company that has forefronted accessibility. Its CEO Greyson Watkins said that the team's experiences as Deaf people and their consumer research have influenced their development of their sound recognition technology.

Wavio's technology, which goes much further than Apple's feature, recognizes over 500 "critical and convenient household sounds that we are prioritizing based on consumer research and unmet needs." That includes beeping, coughing, crashing, crying, fire, gunfire, cries for help, ringing, and shattering, among others — a list that will continue to grow as its dataset develops.

Wavio's technology can also pinpoint a sound's location, while Apple's feature may not. Wavio's CEO said that's an important factor in capturing sounds in spaces where people are not present, including when they aren't at home. 

"We heard so many stories about people accidentally leaving the car idling, water running, or stove on and then leaving the room," Watkins said. "So Apple's use of their internal mic is absolutely helpful for sounds nearby a device, but may not be as efficacious when it comes to capturing sounds outside of the immediate room the user or device is in."

Girma added that the feature could also come in handy when she's in an unfamiliar environment. 

"One of my greatest fears is that I won't hear a fire alarm. Before the pandemic, I traveled all the time for book talks and other events," she said. "I have the ability to hear loud sounds in the same room as me, but I've stayed in hotels where the alarms were in the hall rather than in the rooms. Accessible alert systems exist for hotels, yet many still don't use them. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to rely on my Apple watch to notify me of fire alarms."

Apple's move shows the potential for broader adoption of assistive technologies at bigger firms.

Although Apple's update will only include 14 sounds, it lays the groundwork for additional sounds to be added in the years to come. If successful, the feature could potentially replace other existing assistive devices for deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers, like flashing fire alarms, reducing the costs that they bear to make their homes more accessible to them.

Howard Rosenblum, chief executive officer at the National Association of the Deaf, a civil-rights organization for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, said he appreciates the efforts of Apple and other companies that seek to improve the accessibility of everyday life. But he also noted that they would benefit from employing deaf people. 

"We encourage all companies to retain deaf and hard of hearing employees as well as consult with deaf and hard of hearing organizations to assist with all technological advancements and ensure it is designed with accessibility from the start," Rosenblum said. "It is of paramount importance that all companies establish accessibility-focused positions to coordinate and oversee all accessibility-related matters and ensure accessibility is not overlooked internally." 

The technology could also potentially transform the lives of people who have service animals that currently alert them to various sounds in their environment. Cara Miller, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Gallaudet University Clinical Psychology doctoral program who is deaf, has a hearing dog, and studies human-animal interaction, said she welcomes the new feature. 

"[A]ny assistive 'technology,' whether digitally-powered or with a cold nose and warm heart, that has the potential to bring about greater ease in daily living is a welcome addition to the ways we as humans seek to be more aware of the environments around us," Miller said.

But Miller added that, in some cases, hearing dogs will alert owners to sounds which a dog has not been trained in, like an oncoming car — which is not something the new Apple feature will be able to do in its current iteration. 

"[H]earing dog partnerships offer some supports, both anticipated and unexpected, that may meet really essential needs for safety, security, awareness, and companionship," she said.

Apple has also added other accessibility features to iOS 14 that will affect deaf and hard-of-hearing users — like Real Time Text conversations, which will enable callers to text chat during a voice call, and an update for FaceTime to allow for a larger screen when users are communicating in sign language. 

The company also added "Headphone Accommodations," which will essentially turn AirPods Pro into hearing aids as it "amplifies soft sounds and tunes audio to help music, movies, phone calls, and podcasts sound crisper and clearer," according to the press release.

The company is making major inroads in the area of accessibility: something deaf and hard-of-hearing people — and my neighbors — can celebrate.

SEE ALSO: The deaf community is facing new barriers as we navigate inaccessible face masks and struggle to follow news broadcasts and teleconferences — but the tools for accessibility are out there

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A step-by-step guide for supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing employees, including tips for online meetings, instant messaging, and office logistics

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Person having sign language conversation via video call on computer deaf hard of hearing meeting interpretor

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Does your company offer enough support for deaf or hard of hearing employees? Around seven in 10 deaf people report feeling isolated at work because of their hearing loss, according to leading UK charity Hearing Link. 

What about your customers, patients, or clients? One in six people is deaf or has another form of hearing loss. I am moderately deaf and rely on lip-reading and hearing aids to communicate. There are so many ways your workplace can better support someone like me. Here is advice from some of the experts, and from me.

Employees

Action On Hearing Loss, Britain's leading hearing loss charity, provides a full set of resources for help communicating with hard-of-hearing employees. This is an excellent place to start, giving you enough knowledge to communicate smoothly with all your staff.

According to the charity, hearing loss affects "around 12 in every 100 employees" and "one-third of business leaders said they were not confident" they could communicate well enough with a deaf employee. The resources Action on Hearing Loss provide cover simple communication tips, such as facing the person you're talking to, which can change a deaf person's understanding of your speech. Another great tip is to hold all important conversations in a quiet room. 

Meetings

Anyone on the hearing loss spectrum will struggle with face-to-face meetings, let alone virtual ones, where it is harder to lip read. Most online meeting tools have some closed captioning, but usually hosts must select this. You may also have to nominate someone to type the captions, but for someone with hearing loss, captions are the difference between participating in a meeting and merely being present for one. 

Virtual or face-to-face, your deaf employee may have a much easier time in meetings if you buy a transcription device or software. Your employee can then follow the meeting on their laptop screen.

There is government help on offer to fund speech-to-text equipment in the UK: The Access to Work Grant Scheme will award money to employers seeking speech-to-text devices or software for deaf employees. The process involves filling out a simple form, either online or by phone. Access to Work can also fund British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters. The amount awarded will depend on the support required.

An alternative to text-based support is professional interpretation. Someone who uses sign language may find having a BSL interpreter — a  professional or someone the employee knows personally — helpful. Professional lip speakers are also available for hire. Just don't assume your employee can understand sign language or lip speaking.

Read more: The deaf community is facing new barriers as we navigate inaccessible face masks and struggle to follow news broadcasts and teleconferences — but the tools for accessibility are out there

Office chatter

Most of the many ways to assist a deaf employee in the workspace are easy and inexpensive. Many deaf people use texting to communicate quickly and easily outside the office and, while this may work in the office, you can also use Slack. Slack offers a direct notifications on desktop and mobile, so it is a good way of getting someone's attention if they can't hear you.

You can also use it to post updates and policies, so that someone like me, who will inevitably only catch half of the material if delivered orally, receives all the relevant information.

It's crucial your staff receive some deaf awareness education, even if this is via free resources from a provider like Action on Hearing Loss. There are both face-to-face and online courses available. You can also access free posters for the office or staff room, with communication tips, like ensuring there is low background noise, and the finger spelling alphabet. 

Office logistics

Allowing your employee to use Slack or email to book leave and report lateness or absence can improve their work life. 

Discuss with your deaf employee how they use the phone at your earliest opportunity. Find out if they use the text relay service to make and receive calls. To use this, all you do is dial 18002 in front of their number to call them. Make a note of the text relay number on your employee's account somewhere, so that any manager who calls knows what to do.

You may also need an alternative to loudspeaker announcements and voiceovers, such as  allowing your hard of hearing employee to keep a smartphone on their person while working, if this is forbidden for those without hearing issues. The phone means you can text relevant announcements to them. 

Customer service

It's not just your employees who need support within your business. Customer service covers an array of communication systems. Many companies offer customer support through email and online chat. The ability to communicate with a company's agents via chat or email is a lifesaver for me, and makes my shopping experience so much better. It's an easy feature to add to your business, and it will serve all your customers.

If there are aspects of your business that have to be discussed on the phone, such as a finance issue, you can support deaf customers by offering to call them back via the text relay service, allowing someone else to speak to you on their behalf, or offering to provide an agent in an empty room rather than a busy call centre. Make sure they are prepared to be patient and repeat things a few times. You can also provide a text phone line for hard of hearing customers to call you on.

Face-to-face service

There are some very easy communication skills you can get frontline staff to use with a hard of hearing customer. Here is what Action on Hearing Loss says of three things it recommends to help them access your services:

  1. T-Loop or induction system: "For induction loops to be effective they have to be maintained, staff have to know how to use them and there should be a sign to show people with hearing loss where they are."
  2. Background noise: "It can be very difficult for people with hearing loss to distinguish speech from background noise."
  3. Frontline staff with deaf awareness: "Facing the person you are talking to and speaking clearly and slowly." It is important not to distort your face or the sound from your mouth too much, as this makes hearing more difficult and hinders lipreading." 

It can be challenging to navigate life with hearing loss, but by providing some level of support in your workplace, you can make a huge difference. 

Melanie Jayne Ashford is a moderately deaf writer from Wales. She is building a portfolio of deaf and hard of hearing journalism and hopes to be a voice for the community. Special thanks to Action on Hearing Loss.

SEE ALSO: The National Association of the Deaf is suing the White House for not including sign-language interpreters during its televised coronavirus press briefings

READ MORE: https://www.businessinsider.com/ios-14-accessibility-feature-alerts-users-of-sounds-via-text-2020-7

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A deaf woman's 'dehumanizing' surgical experience led her to start a clear face mask company that just shipped 12 million units in 7 months. Now her team is scaling to keep up with demand.

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Imagine lying on the operating table under bright lights, about to undergo surgery. You can tell that your doctors are speaking to you, but you can't hear a word they're saying; and you can't lip-read because they're all wearing surgical masks.

Allysa Dittmar, who was born deaf, had this experience in 2015 when her sign-language interpreter didn't show up in time for her surgery.

"It was a very dehumanizing experience" and caused "a lot of anxiety, confusion and fear," Dittmar told the Wall Street Journal.

It was a nightmare she never wanted anyone to experience, so two years later she and her three cofounders invented a solution: ClearMask, a transparent face mask that is now FDA-approved. 

ClearMask is experiencing a surge in demand this year as individuals don face masks for protection during the pandemic, effectively closing off communication for those who rely on lip-reading and facial expressions. The company went from $0 in revenue in 2019 to more than 12 million masks sold worldwide since April, Dittmar told Business Insider via email.

(Dittmar declined to share exact revenue figures for the Baltimore-based business, but a box of 24 medical masks typically costs $108.) 

"It's not just traditional deaf people," who could benefit from clear face masks, said Gerry Buckley, the president of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, through a sign-language interpreter. "You have military vets who are experiencing hearing loss and grandparents who are having communication problems. When they go into their doctor's or financial advisor's office, communication becomes a barrier."

Now, as ClearMask looks to scale the business and meet the increased demands of the pandemic, its cofounders say the challenges they face today could provide solutions for millions, even after masks are no longer a daily necessity.

'We couldn't fix the problem because no one had invented the solution yet'

Dittmar is one of the 48 million people in the US who are deaf or hard of hearing, according to the National Association of the Deaf. While transparent masks can help someone lip-read, they're also helpful for understanding sign language and interpreting facial expressions, said Howard A. Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf. 

For instance, a facial expression can help modify the signs someone makes with her hands. 

ClearMask team

After Dittmar's own scare in the hospital, she relayed her experience to fellow students at Johns Hopkins University, including Aaron Hsu, who would become CEO and one of ClearMask's four cofounders. Hsu was planning on attending medical school after Johns Hopkins but withdrew his application to create the company. 

"We couldn't fix the problem because no one had invented [the solution] yet," said Hsu, noting that his parents, who emigrated from Taiwan to the US and are not fluent English speakers, also rely on facial expressions for communication. "That was what really drove me, the fact that it was so obvious."

Dittmar and Hsu recruited classmates Elyse Heob and Inez Lam, who now serve as COOand CTO respectively, to form the founding team. 

120 interviews in 6 weeks

The cofounders recognized they had three stakeholders who'd be interested in transparent face masks: the medical staff who'd need to wear them, the patients who'd benefit from doctors wearing them, and the administrators who'd buy them.

The cofounders then worked with the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps — a program that teaches researchers about entrepreneurship — and interviewed more than 120 people in six weeks to gain insight into what those specific groups needed and wanted.

They learned the masks needed to be mass-produced, comfortable to wear, provide enough value to patients that administrators would buy them, and designed in a way that shows as much of the wearer's face as possible, Hsu said. 

One of their most surprising insights was that masks with ear loops can cause feedback for people who wear hearing aids. So the cofounders designed ClearMask with an adjustable strap behind the head. 

They also added foam to the part of the mask that rests on a person's face, to avoid discomfort, and built the clear shield with a proprietary plastic that won't fog up and prevent lip-reading. Hsu declined to share more details about the type of plastic used in ClearMask, as to avoid tipping off competitors. 

FDA emergency authorization arrives right on time

Since ClearMask's inception, the cofounders wanted the masks to be FDA-approved for use in medical applications.

"I don't know if we necessarily needed it, but we wanted to do this the right way," Hsu said. "We wanted to show that the masks are safe and effective because there are masks out there that aren't." 

The team submitted its application to the FDA in late 2019. By early April, as coronovirus cases began to surge, the mask was approved under the FDA's emergency use authorization. 

ClearMask's cofounders built the majority of the business with $150,000 in grant funding before receiving a $300,000 investment in March from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation. 

The team scaled operations rapidly as demand increased, going from making one million masks a month to four million. Existing relationships with suppliers and using a form of plastic that wasn't in high demand for personal protection equipment helped the company avoid supply chain issues, Hsu said.

Then came issues of scale.

For starters, the team hadn't yet opened a bank account beyond the "bare bones" one they initially set up, Hsu said. So they opened a proper business account.

They also turned to their manufacturing and logistic partners for help, finding that many were eager to provide advice or services to help propel the cause forward. 

"When we were starting to burn out, it really boosted our morale to get random emails or messages saying, 'let me help you,'' Hsu said. "To this day, some people still haven't asked for compensation." 

The team worked until the early morning hours every day, racing against the clock and surging demand. "Every single day mattered," Hsu said. "We were in an all-out sprint." 

Looking toward a mask-free future

Today, the company sees a future in expanding production outside of the US and getting ClearMasks into schools. 

While the pandemic emphasizes the need for transparent face masks today, Hsu said ClearMask will continue educating individuals on the importance of its device after the crisis is over. For instance, ClearMasks are especially helpful for younger children who may be hard of hearing. 

"A lot of people don't understand how much children rely on visual communication," Hsu said. "When you take away that innate part of an interaction, they don't understand as much."

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