Gallaudet and U.S. Naval Academy debaters to address deaf people serving in the military

The Gallaudet University debate team, fresh off a top-eight performance in the Social Justice Debates at Morehouse College last month, is now preparing for its second intercollegiate debate of the 2021-2022 academic year. They will compete with – not wholly against – the United States Naval Academy on Friday, April 29 at 6 p.m. in Peikoff Alumni House. The event will be livestreamed.

The debate topic is “Deaf people should be allowed to serve in the United States military.” The affirmative side is required to make the case that on balance, allowing deaf people to serve in the U.S. military is in the public interest of the United States. In contrast, the negative may concede that allowing deaf people to serve in the U.S. military has unique benefits but that the status quo or an alternate solution is more beneficial for the country. 

Read on at https://www.gallaudet.edu/news/gallaudet-and-u-s-naval-academy-debaters-to-address-deaf-people-serving-in-the-military.

How the ‘Hogwarts of Idaho’ helped a local teenager and hundreds of other deaf and blind students

 

GOODING — Step into a high school reading class on a weekday afternoon and you’ll likely hear teenagers chatting, laughing and telling stories.

But inside one classroom in a unique central Idaho school, around a dozen students aren’t using their voices to tell ‘The Three Little Pigs’; rather, they’re signing the story.

The teenagers are all deaf or hard of hearing and attend the Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind. The first student to volunteer to stand in front of the class and sign part of the assignment is Reagan Sermon – an 18-year-old from Idaho Falls.

“I love this school and I wish I came here my whole life,” Reagan tells EastIdahoNews.com. “ASL is my native language which I learned first before I was speaking English.”

Read the rest at https://www.eastidahonews.com/2022/04/how-the-hogwarts-of-idaho-helped-a-local-teenager-and-hundreds-of-other-deaf-and-blind-students.

‘The Simpsons’ Makes History With First Deaf Voice Actor and Use of American Sign Language

When “The Simpsons” creative team decided to use American Sign Language in this Sunday’s episode, there was one hitch: The show’s animated characters have only four fingers.

Courtesy of 20th Television and The Variety

“That was a little tricky, especially because the one thing we’re translating is Shakespeare,” says writer Loni Steele Sosthand. “But I think we pulled it off.”

Sosthand, who joined “The Simpsons” in 2020, is the writer behind the show’s April 10 installment, “The Sound of Bleeding Gums.” The episode is not only notable for featuring the first-ever use of ASL on “The Simpsons,” but it also includes the show’s first-ever deaf voice actors.

Read on at https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-simpsons-deaf-voice-actor-sign-language-episode-1235227673/.