January 2020 top news
Maritime Sign Language is a dying sign
language in the Atlantics region of
Canada. Older deaf people use it but
younger deaf people use ASL. To preserve
that sign language, there is an effort
by linguistics people at Saint Mary’s
University. DeafDigest editor saw a
display of that sign language on
video – and it is beautiful.
February 2020 top news
Did Beethoven create his best symphony
work while deaf? A music historian disagrees,
saying he was hard of hearing at that time!
March 2020 top news
A task force will be established to study
the future of Indiana School for the Deaf.
The school will not close up but faces an
uncertain future – to remain as is on the
campus with extensive renovations or to move
to a new location.
April 2020 top news
MacMurray College, Jacksonville, IL, is closing
up for good. This college had a well respected
Deaf Education program which produced teachers
and educators for the deaf over the years.
Some deaf school superintendents have graduated
from MacMurray.
May 2020 top news
The National Zoo in Washington, DC has two new
Bison, and offered Gallaudet University an opportunity
to name one of them. The Bison is the Gallaudet
mascot, hence the opportunity.
June 2020 top news
A police officer was asked what should he do
when he encounters a deaf person during a
traffic stop. He said he would use the
communications card to point at drawings
with the deaf person. Interestingly enough,
the card lacks a drawing of “interpreter
requested.”
July 2020 top news
There is fear among some freelance interpreters
that California’s notorious AB5 law will spread
across USA, creating copycat laws that would
treat interpreters as non-essential employees.
August 2020 top news
An administrator of an interpreting agency
said that ASL interpreting is a profession,
where as many hearing people thought it is
a hobby or a personal interest.
September 2020 top news
Russian biologist Denis Rebrikov continues to support
CRISPR genome to edit out deaf genes, wanting all
babies to be born with normal hearing. Critics
are still saying his method is not safe.
October 2020 top news
How was Beethoven able to compose the world’s best
music while he was deaf? Evelyn Glennie, a deaf
percussionist, who is considered the world’s best,
said that his inner ear for music is separate and
apart from his ability to hear!
November 2020 top news
Linkedin, a social media network that connects
professionals with each other, stressed the
importance of captioning their videos. In other
words, if is not captioned, don’t dare think of
posting that media!
December 2020 top news
A newspaper story was headlined as follows:
Not all disabilities are visible, but everyone has at least one
For years we have known that deafness is one of the world’s
most invisible disability.