Deaf Couple use Internet and Technology to Run Restaurant

Today’s New York Times reports on a Deaf couple that have opened a pizzeria restaurant in San Francisco. Russ and Melody Stein, who are [D]eaf, own Mozzeria, a restaurant in San Francisco. Workers use sign language, pen and paper, bulletin boards and the Web to communicate. What strikes me, is something that I’ve been saying

George Whitmore Dead at 68

George Whitmore died in anonymity and poverty, at the age of 68. In 1963, Whitmore was wrongfully convicted in the double homicide of Janice Wylie, 21 – a magazine editor, and Emily Hoffert, 23 – a schoolteacher. He was 19 years old. The interrogation by a group of all-White detectives lasted 22 hours. Whitmore, a

Crossing the Line: Guest Post by Cynthia Dixon

Cynthia Dixon is a Blogger and a huge supporter of DeafInPrison.com. She’s been invaluable to us with her efforts on behalf of the Felix project – #JusticeForFelix. Her musings on life within the Deaf and HoH communities can be found at: http://www.4ears4eyes.com/ and of course, her RSS feed is available in our Sidebar. From the

NAD Advocates for Deaf Youth in Foster Care

In a recently published position paper, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has issued a position paper that targets the special care Deaf children require in foster care. According to the NAD paper, Deaf children require foster care that is both linguistically and culturally accessible, including appropriate medical, psychological, educational and mental health services.

Abandoned Youth

When we abandon our youth, they have no option but to abandon themselves. Lives are wasted, dreams cast away in trade for an existence of solitude, bitterness and victimization. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the man hanged by the Gestapo in 1943 for treason against the Nazi regime said, “The test of the morality of a society is

This Guy’s Been Reading My Mail

Christopher Petrella is a columnist for Nation of Change. On BusinessInsider.com (which is a much better site than its name would lead you to believe), he offers a trenchant and insightful article about ways this country can reduce its burgeoning prison population. He didn’t miss a beat with this article. These are the things we’ve

A Disturbing Trend: Deaf Youth and the School to Prison Pipeline

“The School to Prison Pipeline” is a disturbing trend found in Deaf Education today. A metaphor coined by the Harvard Civil Rights Project, the “School to Prison Pipeline,” refers to two parallel concepts. For one, youths are being removed from school environments and are sent off campus to alternative schools or incarcerated in juvenile corrections

Bloomberg Reports on Business of Hearing Aid Tech

Hearing Aids can cost as much as 4,000 dollars, and apparently more and more businesses are seeking to get a slice of that pie. Bloomberg Businessweek reports: The confusion for buyers of alternative devices is pervasive: Over-the-counter analog or digital amplifiers have been available for decades. In recent years, a handful of established manufacturers like

Nevada-CURE Documents Prisoner Abuses

http://sfbayview.com/2009/nevada-prison-board-hearing-part-2-shocking-public-comments/ NV-CURE for the past year has been gathering information on abuses within the Nevada prison system. These abuses include, but are not limited to, physical beating of prisoners in restraints by staff, denial of adequate medical care, retaliation for use of the grievance and judicial process, housing assignments made without regard to prison realities,

Probation: A Cycle of Despair

Probation for the deaf offender can be a cycle of despair. It is a tangle of complex and confusing rules with heavy consequences if the rules are not followed.  This is ever so certain particularly if the deaf individual has poor sign skills, a low reading level, a poor educational history.  Interpreters are often provided