Big Brother is back with Season 25. And while it has been exciting from the very beginning, the production is still falling short. Specifically, with one contestant.
Matt Klotz is one of the contestants and the only deaf person in this season’s cast. The show is supposed to be accommodating to his disability.
Instead, he is being forced to rely on his hearing aids to understand each challenge and the other houseguests. And rightfully so, fans are not happy with this at all.
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 30, 2023 (HealthDay News) — It’s time for everyone to change the words we use when we talk about kids who are deaf or hard of hearing.
This is one of the main messages from newly updated guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics on hearing in infants, children and teens.
“The removal of deficit-framing terminology such as ‘loss,’ ‘failed’ and ‘impairment’ was to reflect that children who are deaf or hard of hearing are equal, healthy and whole,” said report author Dr. Charles Bower, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Arkansas Children’s Northwest.
Words like hearing-impaired or loss focus on what people can’t do, he said.
“The terminology needs to change because kids who never had hearing from birth have not experienced a loss. It is their normal. They are not impaired,” Regina Zappi added. “Their hearing is simply different.” Zappi is the associate director of audiology practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in Rockville, Md.
A difference in hearing does not define a child’s ability to be successful in life, she said. “We now use the terms of deaf, hard of hearing, or atypical hearing to identify a difference, but not as a way to identify their ability or likelihood of being successful or able.”
These changes have been a long time coming, Zappi noted.
Ryan Cuevas, through his attorney Andrew Rozynski, alleged in a federal lawsuit that the municipal court violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by failing to provide him a sign language interpreter in a timely fashion.
In short, Cuecas claimed that he received a parking ticket on August 22, 2019 and was informed in January his license would be suspended for failing to present proof of liability insurance.
“Just days before that hearing, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission informed Plaintiff in a letter dated January 17, 2020, that it was suspending his registration and driving privileges because of a separate infraction—his failure to present proof of liability insurance,” Wigenton wrote in her 21-page decision.
“Although Plaintiff promptly resolved the liability-insurance issue, the NJMVC refused to reinstate his driving privileges until JCMC adjudicated the Ticket.”
According to the suit, Jersey City Municipal Court only offers an “interpreter day” on the first Wednesday of each month, and while he was initially scheduled to be heard on January 22, 2020, a sign language interpreter wasn’t available until August 5, 2020.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will be the highlight of the music world’s year. Yet, hard of hearing and deaf people will not be able to experience it in theaters because there are no open captions.
Let Taylor Swift and her production company know you want open captioned showings of the concert.
Hard of hearing and deaf people listen to music but can benefit from open captions on theater screens. Hearing people also often enjoy having captions on screens to better understand the film.
Please sign this petition for open captions on screens for screenings of the Eras Tour.
Read on or sign via https://www.change.org/p/open-caption-taylor-swift-s-eras-tour-in-theaters
SHAKOPEE, Minn. (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is about to kick off its seven-weekend run in Shakopee. But members of the deaf community feel like the festival is excluding them.
For 30-plus years, volunteers carried the load of making the festival accessible for the deaf community. But when they told the festival’s ownership the interpreters should be getting paid — and not just in turkey legs — they got nothing but silence as a response.
The Amazing Race is going Hollywood and for the first time ever, 13 teams will start the journey of a lifetime at Los Angeles’ very famous white-lettered sign.
Season 35 is set to premiere Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 9:30/8:30c with its first 90-minute entry of the season. (Every episode will, in fact, be super-sized.) The new cast (see photos below) includes a Deaf dad and his son (Rob and Corey), a pair of college besties (Malaina and Andrea), two young veterans (Liam and Yeremi) and more. The show’s new globetrotters will endure a 23,800-mile adventure around the world and visit a new country, Slovenia, known for its beautiful landscape and dramatic scenery. There, teams will fly in a gravity defying glider, 2,000 feet over Lake Bled, cross-country ski indoors and climb 1,110 steps to the top of Planica’s tallest ski jump.
The entire play uses ASL along with spoken English to make the show accessible to everyone. More info: https://www.zigarts.com
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Medical students at Strong Memorial Hospital got a one-of-a-kind experience Friday.
The hospital hosted its ‘Deaf Strong Hospital’ event for the first time since 2019. It brings hearing and deaf people together to illustrate to students what deaf individuals, people with hearing loss, or any people who don’t speak English go through when navigating health care systems.
How do they do it? They staff the hospital with members of the deaf community and have hearing individuals who have limited to no knowledge of sign language try and get through an appointment.
“For example, when you go into a waiting room and a deaf person is waiting, they’re constantly watching to see that they’re not missing the person reading their name verbally, since they can’t hear,” National Center for Deaf Health Research’s Kelly Matthews said. “So, they’re trying to read the person’s lips and are constantly watching. So here, [students] watching and waiting for their names to be fingerspelled. So, this is the first time they’re experiencing not knowing when their name is actually being called.”
Students also received a lecture about deaf culture and health care disparities. Officials with the hospital say the combination of the lecture and the simulation give students a good idea of the challenges deaf individuals go through.
Upcoming Public Meetings on the New Newark Library
The Newark Free Library will be experiencing a major upgrade in the next few years. The present building will be torn down, and a two-story facility twice its size is being designed for the current site.
New Castle County has scheduled public meetings about the new library for
Sept. 14 and 16. The county values your input, and an American Sign Language interpreter will be provided at both events.
At the meetings, the architectural firm engaged for the library project, will hold interactive sessions to gather information about the design features most important to library patrons. For more information, see the graphic below.
