Category: ASL

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Black and Deaf family sues school district alleging abuse and discrimination

A Black and Deaf family has filed a lawsuit against a school district near Seattle with serious allegations of abuse, discrimination, and retaliation. The family prefers to keep their names confidential but wanted the public to be aware of this lawsuit.

I will summarize the complaint.

The plaintiffs are a deaf mother and a deaf grandmother to a seven-year-old girl who is hearing and has developmental disabilities. The family uses ASL at home. The mother authorized the grandmother to act in the place of the child’s biological father regarding educational decisions.

The child attended Lockwood Elementary School within the Northshore School District in the fall of 2021 at the age of six. The majority of the students are white with only 1% of students identifying as Black. The child was placed in a classroom at Lockwood for students with disabilities.

The mother and grandmother wanted to observe the classroom, but the child’s teacher denied the request to observe. The attorney said the school is supposed to provide parents of special education students the opportunity to observe.

Read on at https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/black-and-deaf-family-sues-school-district-alleging-abuse-and-discrimination.

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‘Prison Within a Prison’: New Mandate Offers Lifeline for Deaf People in Custody

videophone (left side) with bills running between a signer by SARAH ROSE WEITZMAN FOR THE MARSHALL PROJECT

  The new Federal Communications Commission rule will require all prison phone companies to provide video communication services for deaf and hard of hearing prisoners.  

For four years, while incarcerated in Maryland state prison, Alphonso Taylor, 49, said he was the only deaf man in his unit. And he had no way to call or communicate with his loved ones outside of prison, who used sign language.

“I feel really alone,” he told advocates in a September 2020 videophone call from a Baltimore County jail. “I’m constantly holding back a rage from deprivation of information.”

During the pandemic, phone calls became an even more vital lifeline for people in prison. But many deaf incarcerated people were still cut off from meaningful communication, as few had access to the technology needed to sign with family at home.

In a major step in the fight over accommodations for deaf people behind bars, the Federal Communications Commission will soon require all prison phone companies to provide video communication services for deaf and hard of hearing prisoners. The new order, which goes into effect in January 2024, also applies to people in jails, immigration detention, juvenile detention, and secure mental health facilities nationwide.

“Incarcerated people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or who have a speech disability are in a prison within a prison,” wrote Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the FCC, announcing the new rule last September.

Read on at https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/03/21/deaf-prison-fcc-video-calls.

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CODA filming (Georgetown, March 31, 2023)

If you missed seeing the movie “CODA” the Best Picture of the 2022 Oscars, you can see it this Friday March 31st at 6 00 pm at Sussex Central High School in Georgetown. Free admission. Donations accepted. Sponsored by the ASL club

CODA ASL Movie, Free Admissions at Sussex Central High theater, March 31, 2023 at 6pm

Note: CODA = Child Of Deaf Adult

– Thank you Barbara White/DDSC for sharing the news!