Deaf Awareness Week – Day 6, Felix Interview Section 7

I’m glad to be able to finally bring you the 7th installment in our series with Felix Garcia, in prison, and being interviewed by Jim Ridgeway and Pat Bliss. As always, this intellectual property is under the explicit copyright of Jim Ridgeway and cannot be shared, downloaded or reblogged, but you are by all means,

“Our goal is to protect both sides of the badge.”

“Our goal is to protect both sides of the badge.” Sheriff Lt. Robert Henry of the Houston Police Department made these thought provoking remarks in this morning’s Houston Chronicle’s front page article, “Keeping calm in face of crises: Harris County sheriff’s team trained to defuse irrational behavior, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, p. A1, A14). Lt.

Deaf Awareness Week – Day 5 **Happy Birthday, Felix!**

The following is a letter that will be sent to the Attorney General, two influential cabinet members and the Governor of Florida regarding a full pardon for Felix Garcia. Those of you who have been following this site, know that Felix is an innocent Deaf man who has served over 30 years for a crime

Deaf Awareness Week – Day 4

A member of HEARD, or perhaps a visitor to their site, wrote an interesting piece on the fact that emergency horns – to alert residents to everything from hurricanes to invasions – cannot be heard by the Deaf, and that there’s nothing in place to provide for their safety. It reminded me of something I’ve

Individuals with Disabilities and the Issue of False Confessions

False confessions are more common than expected. The most common explanations are that the suspect experiences fear, intimidation, frustration and “just wants to go home.” Deaf individuals as well as other vulnerable groups are at risk for making false confessions because of their communication differences and disabilities, youth, and personality characteristics.  In one case I

Deaf Awareness Week – Day 3 PetFinder.com

PetFinder.com has set up a whole Web site devoted to finding homes for deaf dogs and cats, in celebration of Deaf Awareness Week. Page after page of wonderful, loving, rescue animals that need a little extra attention, because they’re deaf. Research has shown that teaching deaf dogs to follow basic Sign language commands isn’t difficult

Deaf Awareness Week – Day 2: Deaf Art Exibit – From Jean F. Andrews

This is a PowerPoint document, containing art works by Deaf artists in Texas. The exhibit was funded by the National Endowment of the Arts, VSA Arts, Southeast Texas Arts Council and the Texas School for the Deaf, in Spring 2008 at Lamar University and Texas School for the Deaf. [scribd id=108563101 key=key-1fa57uapoimtygxxh3h mode=scroll] Randy Garber

Editorial Recommends More Police Training in Dealing with Disabled Suspects

In a scathing editorial in today’s Houston Chronicle (Tues. Sept. 25, 2012, the editor urged the Houston Police Department to undergo more training in the handling of suspects with mental illness. Referring to a tragic accident where a police officer shot an unarmed double amputee in a wheelchair who also had mental health issues who

Day 1, Deaf Awareness Week

Did you know this is Deaf Awareness Week? Well it is. One thing that I wanted to do to help commemorate this milestone in Deaf Culture, is to post this little spelling test. The test comes to DeafInPrison.com, courtesy of Dan Schwartz via Lipreading Moms and Dads. It’s an mp3 file of a simple spelling

It’s Not All Bad

ABC News reported on the growth and progress of Community Courts. I got the article from AnotherBoomerBlog – Marsha Graham. The idea, albeit quite new, is simply stellar. These are small local courts set up to deal with low level crimes – vandalism, drunkenness and prostitution. Here’s the article link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/courts-handle-low-level-crimes-us-17301887#.UF97GWfi6Sq Instead of dolling out