Category: Advocacy

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Rose Parade Princess Salia Baligh is the first to represent the deaf community

Salia Baligh (Courtesy of Tournament of Roses)

Flash forward to Jan. 2, 2023: It’s Princess Salia Baligh on the float carrying the 134th Tournament of Roses Royal Court. She is perfectly coiffed and prettily made up, gowned and crowned, a wash of flowers in her arms.

Somebody saw this day coming.

“Growing up in Pasadena, I watched so many Rose Parades,” the 17-year-old said. “My dad would wake me up at 6 a.m. and tell me, ‘That’s going to be you one day.’”

She turns her head, and look: Her position on the right side of the float gives maximum exposure for the cameras to catch the simple headband she wears attached to a small black box.

Read on at https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/12/27/rose-parade-princess-salia-baligh-is-the-first-to-represent-the-deaf-community.

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World Cup skier hid that he is deaf. Now he wants to break the silence.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Professional skier Robin

Park City • The howling wind and falling snow were the least of Robin “Bino” Gillon’s problems as he stood in the starting gate for a 2014 FIS Freestyle World Cup event at Colorado’s Breckenridge resort. His main problem was the cold. Everyone had their face covered to fend off the frosty bite of the minus-10-degrees air, and Gillon couldn’t read their lips. Plus, the batteries in his hearing aids kept dying.

For most of his career, Gillon, a professional freestyle skier, hid the fact that he was deaf. Not just a little hard of hearing, but truly, severely deaf. Until he was diagnosed at the age of 4 and received his first pair of hearing aids, he had never heard the crunch of gravel under his feet nor the trill of a songbird or the sweet shoosh of his skis on the snow.

In the 20-plus years after, he rarely heard about anyone with a hearing impairment doing anything cool.

Read on at https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2022/12/26/world-cup-skier-hid-that-he-is.

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Free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program (Newark – May 19/20, 2023

NCC Department of Emergency Management
The City of Newark in cooperation with the New Castle
County Office of Emergency Management will be
conducting a Basic CERT training course on Friday, May
19 from 4:30 – 9:30 p.m and Saturday, May 20 from 8 a.m. –
4 p.m. This 12-hour training program will be provided free
of charge at the Newark Senior Center, located at 200
White Chapel Drive.

During this two-day, 12-hour course of instruction,
students will learn a variety of hazard awareness and
emergency preparedness skills which will make them and
their families better equipped to deal with all hazardous
emergency situations, as well as assist first responders
and emergency management officials in certain aspects
of response and post event recovery activities.

Course curriculum includes American Heart Association
CPR/AED Certification, basic first aid, hazardous materials
awareness training, basic family preparedness strategies,
proper use of home and office fire extinguishers, search
and rescue, and more. Students also receive a CERT
participant’s training manual and a CERT backpack with
basic personal protective equipment including hard hat,
gloves, safety glasses, and a flashlight.
Students will be provided a light dinner at the Friday
evening session, and breakfast and lunch at the Saturday
session at no cost.

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Program educates people about disaster preparedness
for hazards that may impact their area and trains them
in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light
search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical
operations. Using the training learned in the classroom
and during exercises, CERT members can assist others
in their neighborhood or workplace when professional
responders are not immediately available to help. CERT
members also are encouraged to support emergency
response agencies by taking a more active role in
emergency preparedness projects in their community.
Pre-registration is required.

REGISTER AT
www.newcastlede.gov/158/Community-EmergencyResponse-Team
Activity #: 3359-103 Fee / RDF: Free
Dates: May 19 & 20
Days: Fri. & Sat. Hours: Fri. 4:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Sat. 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location: Newark Senior Center

Source: https://newarkde.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16827/2023-Winter-Spring-Activity-Guide – page 27

DAD Note: ASL Interpreters available if requested as Feta Fernsler, current DAD President is CERT certified.  These classes are offered every year or so if the dates do not work for you. 

Kent County: not listed, instead contact local office for details, see https://www.co.kent.de.us/public-safety/emergency-medical/community-and-outreach.aspx

Sussex County: Citizen Corps is used and works similarly to CERT.  See https://sussexcountyde.gov/citizen-corps.

Other similar groups of interest: https://preparede.org/volunteer