When I say “here,” I mean Washington, D.C., where this blog is centrally located, not where I’m personally located.

I was very amused by this Boing Boing item, which reads that Satanic symbols exist within the street configuration of D.C.

Now, we all love D.C. roads, right? State streets shoot off circles at weird angles (i.e., why does New Hampshire Ave. cross Dupont Circle so tightly with respect to 18th St.?).

But the director of Cutting Edge Ministries, David Bay, praised be him, PROVED IT. If you draw lines from Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Mount Vernon Square, Washington Circle, and the White House, the resulting figure is a pentagram. THE PENTAGRAM, not the Pentagon! See the article for a clearer picture of this.

Ooo, I’m scared. I was so scared, in fact, that I went working to find other Satanic symbols.

One very disturbing configuration revealed itself by connecting Scott Circle, Thomas Circle, McPherson Square, Farragut Square, and the 18th Street Lounge at the intersection of M and 18th.

You got it–the PENTAGON! Poor Eisenhower was much too late. The machinations that would eventually give rise to the military-industrial complex was already well in place by the end of the 18th century. The USA has been one big military conspiracy all along!

And then even worse, I found this by connecting the White House and the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building.

A CHRISTIAN CROSS. Even the proportions look perfect. So much for the separation of church and state. We’ve been living in the Holy City the whole time. And! Look at the intersection of the cross…the Washington Monument. The phallic symbol of D.C.! Does this not prove the Agnostic Bible!? We have the Blade and the Chalice, the symbol of male sexuality right within the symbol of Christendom beneath the sort-of-feminine-looking Pentagon. This, not the Louvre, is indubitably the final resting place of the Sangreal, the body of Mary Magdalene. WHY do you think Pope Benedict XVI is coming here right around the same time as this revelation was made? It’s a cover-up, I tell you! WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!!

Anyone remember that ASL music video from last year, “Waiting on the World to Change”? D-PAN has done it again with Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.” According to their website, D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network), based in Detroit, “exists to bridge the existing gaps between the deaf/hard of hearing community, the entertainment industry, and the public at large.” 

After watching “Beautiful,” it’s quite clear D-PAN keeps improving their idea of how to best translate music into ASL.

I thought their first video, “Where’d You Go” by Fort Minor was awkward to say it nicely–I couldn’t even follow one line with all the lip-synching, signing, and subtitles all happening at the same time, and their cutaways were ill-timed. 

The second video,  put D-PAN on the map (they had a cover story in the Detroit Free Press among lots of other publicity). The signing was vastly improved; however, the graphics in the video left me feeling like I had just watched an amateur Powerpoint presentation. Still, the central message of struggle and liberation was clear, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the signers. 

This video, “Beautiful,” is their best one yet. Not only are the signers great, the graphics are monumentally better and are as critical an element of the video as the hands. After reading the lyrics, though, it’s clear D-PAN took enormous liberty in interpreting the song (it reads totally different in English, I think), but you know what? That’s okay! The theme is still there: that words hurt people. The ending is somewhat hokey, but overall it’s a pretty good production. 

Now I’m ready to see D-PAN try something different. Sure, I’m fine with Deaf Liberation themes–let the world change! stop putting us down!–but next, try something more edgy. A real rock’n'roll song. Something sexy. Something that isn’t about social justice. I want to see Deaf people try that. Such as Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” which is on the top of the charts this week or something. 

On a side note, the comments below the video are rather interesting; some are criticizing the producers for cropping out the signers’ heads throughout most of the video, arguing it’s a critical aspect of ASL. I think it’s fine–all in the spirit of experimentation, right? And others are saying, wow, hearing people are not all mean to deaf people. I didn’t think the video made that point, but it’s interesting to see their reaction nonetheless. 

My uncle forwarded me this New York Times article about young John Cave Jr., a deaf student, who wanted to bring his service dog, Simba, to school. There is a cute picture of a Simba, a yellow Labrador, in the article.

To summarize: the Nassau County school said no to the Cave family, “concluding that having a dog in school would provide no instructional benefit to the student, and could pose a health risk to students with severe allergies and create safety issues during fire drills and practice lockdowns.”

The case made its way to the New York Division on Human Rights, where Commissioner Kumiki Gibson “found that students with disabilities were entitled to have a service dog with them in school under state law and ordered the East Meadow district to change its policy immediately.”

Due to the vagaries of state law, this policy hasn’t been put into effect yet because of an appeal to the State Supreme Court, but so far, so good. I’m happy with the Commissioner’s decision. Of course, schools should allow students with disabilities to bring their guide dogs to class. I do not dispute that.

My problem is: why does John Cave need a guide dog in school? His mother, Nancy, points out that he uses cochlear implants and that Simba accompanies “her son almost everywhere, alerting him to sounds he cannot hear, like fire alarms or someone calling his name.”

Millions of deaf children, including me, went to school and survived just fine without guide dogs. Fire alarms are a no-brainer. Everyone in the classroom runs for the door, so follow ‘em. Sure, it’s a little confusing, but so what?

My friend just said, “Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s the right choice.” Exactly.

There are lots of great adaptions John Cave could take advantage of. Teach people to tap on his shoulder if they need his attention. Tell the teacher she can wave her hand. Being deaf means learning those adaption skills and educating others on how to work with deaf people.

Instead, John “outsources” those skills and depends on his service dog. It’s just smacks of a very deaf=disability perspective. When I’m in a class, the last thing I think about is how people will get my attention or what I will do in a fire alarm. I’m sorry, but I just can’t see any vital use for Simba in the classroom. Can someone tell me?

I also can’t help but wonder if John Cave’s real problem are over-protective parents; you will see that the picture in the article shows him wearing a medical bracelet. As my friend said, “I hope to god it doesn’t just say ‘DEAF’ and instead lists some other serious medical condition.”

This situation troubles me. I do understand everyone is entitled to their own choice of accommodations. I know many deaf people and families have hearing dogs at home.

But what kind of humanistic message does having a guide dog in school send to John, his family, his classmates, and the school? Discuss.

Last Friday, my sister Liz and I went to the Day of Science conference by the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) in San Diego. We were in town anyway for our father’s birthday the day before, so this event was a welcome opportunity to find out the latest research in retinal degenerative diseases. We both have Usher syndrome, a genetic condition that marries deafness to retinitis pigmentosa.

The Foundation Fighting Blindness is a research-focused philanthropic organization that my family has been very involved with for many years. They’ve raised millions of dollars (between 14 and 19 million dollars in 2007!), almost all of which goes right to researchers and clinics across the country and the world. This investment in retinal degenerative diseases (retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, macular degeneration, and glaucoma among others) is paying off–there are a few treatments in FDA-approved Phase I and II trials, and a dozen more treatment strategies are poised to make the leap from animal models into human trials. Other researchers are close to unlocking the secret of protein structures and processes within the photoreceptor cells in the retina–the very cells that make us see–and whose slow deaths lead to progressive blindness in millions of Americans.

These are 21st century, Age of Biology cutting-edge stuff: gene therapy, stem cell research, nanotechnology. Tiny little capsules inside the eyeball delivering life-saving proteins to photoreceptor cells. Subretinal injections of embryonic stem cells into the retinal pigment epithelium layer. Flooding the photoreceptor layer with sixty trillion “fixed” DNA so these photoreceptors adopt the correct genes for normal function. By the end of the day, Liz and I had learned enough about retinal function, amino acids, and protein types to walk away with master’s degrees in biology.

There are sight-saving technologies being tested on humans right now. Real treatments and cures are not far off. Barring worldwide collapse of civilization due to either climate change or peak oil (or both), I know that, because of these treatments, I will not go completely blind, and even perhaps my full sight will be restored one day. It’s exciting news, and it makes me happy.

About 20,000 people in the United States have Usher syndrome. It is the leading cause of deaf-blindness–3% to 6% of all deaf people have Usher syndrome, and probably around 90% of all Deafblind people have Usher. There are large networks out there supporting Deaf-Blind people. These include organizations such as American Association of the Deaf-Blind and the Helen Keller National Center, social services programs like Lighthouse International, hearing and deaf interpreters trained in tactile sign, or the Deaf-Blind mecca, Seattle, Washington.

In a world where there are sight-restoring treatments for people with Usher, what happens to these networks and organizations? It’s an interesting scenario to consider: the loss of jobs, knowledge, and community as human ingenuity declares victory over a genetic disease.

Unlike the majority of Deaf people who refuse any treatments for their deafness, I have a hunch that most people with Usher are definitely going to take advantage of sight-saving and sight-restoring treatments as soon as they become available. Hell, I would.

Here, some of you will start making comparisons to the Deaf conundrum. Would Deaf people want to be cured? Absolutely not. So shouldn’t it be the same for Deaf-Blind people?

Not really. I’m not admitting that I’m less of a person because I have Usher. But at the same time, being Deaf means you have access to a wonderful, beautiful community with an incredibly fun language. Becoming Deaf-Blind means you lose access to much of that. Remember, most Deaf-Blind people–and everybody with Usher–were Deaf first for decades.

Being Deaf-Blind is an endless cycle of loss. There’s the loss of feeling safe on your own two feet at night, the loss of independence on the highway as you give up your driver’s license, the loss of friends who are unable to adapt to your new visual limitations, the loss of spontaneity for ordinary errands as support service providers (SSPs) must be requested in advance, the loss of confidence in your future because you see less and less as time goes on. And throughout it all, you struggle to maintain an outward veneer of strength and bravery–”I can overcome this! I still can do whatever I want except hear and see!”–while this process tears your insides into pieces every day.

Not to say it’s all bad. There’s a lot of fun and freedom in having Usher, too, and while I haven’t had much experience with the Deaf-Blind community, others say it’s amazing in there with all the inside jokes, close tactile contact, and finding joy in simple daily victories.

But would most of these people in the Deaf-Blind community give it all up so they could see again? I think so. And I think that’s okay. And I don’t think it means that most Deaf people would give up deafness for hearingness.

Let’s consider another aspect: what happens to those who remain Deaf-Blind despite new treatments? Many Deaf-Blind people have lost their vision due to trauma or other sight-stealing conditions, so Usher treatments will be useless for them. And then there are those who will refuse any treatment, choosing to accept wholly their Deafblindness (much like late-deafened adults who choose to forego the cochlear implant and embrace their new Deaf identity). And what about those who have less access to treatments due to social injustice?

I’m reminded of something Michael Chorost wrote in Rebuilt, which he paraphrased in his speech to Gallaudet University:

You might think, for example, that African-Americans, being 12% of the U.S. population, would also be 12% of the [cochlear] implanted population. In fact, they’re only 4% of the implanted population. And that’s despite the fact that minorities have a higher incidence of disabilities than the Caucasian population. These numbers suggest that most white and wealthy kids will get implants and live entirely in the hearing world, while many nonwhite and poor kids will become signing deaf. The conclusion I draw in my book is that not only is the signing deaf community likely to become smaller, it will become more multiracial, and unfortunately, more economically disadvantaged.

The same could be predicted for the Deaf-Blind community. With vastly fewer Deaf-Blind people to serve, how will Deaf-Blind organizations continue to serve the remnants of the Deaf-Blind community? How can we make sure those people are not left behind even as their numbers shrink to statistical insignificance?

And probably most relevant to you, the reader: is the coming demise of the Deaf-Blind community a harbinger for the coming onslaught of stem cell and genetic treatments for the larger Deaf community?

After all, a lot of what was discussed at FFB’s Day of Science was research into the structure and function of cilia cells such as photoreceptors in the retina, and stereocilia, also known as cochlear hair cells. By looking at cilia from other parts of the body such as the kidney or the ear, researchers hope to discover more about photoreceptors. In fact, one specific study centered on the use of modified adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a vector to deliver proteins or modified DNA to the retina. That same study looked at the feasibility of using AAV for stereocilia. Guess what? This same approach to treating retinal degenerative diseases is probably going to work for treating genetic hearing loss.

More than ever, hearing and vision are linked. After all, the man who invented the Clarion cochlear implant is working on developing retinal chip implants! It’s rather ironic that finding a cure for the blindness part of Usher syndrome will probably be immediately followed with a cure for hearing loss. The Deaf-Blind community is going to change forever within our lifetimes, but not without witnessing transformational changes in the Deaf community as well.

Reddit.com is one of my favorite sites. If you haven’t check it out yet, do so. So, I was looking at it today and found this story: Here are the photos of the CNN Closed Captioning.

It’s not every day that closed captioning is a story on Reddit’s front page, so off I clicked, and found these images.

Apparently, the captionist accidentally typed “Al Qaeda” when it should read “Hillary Clinton.” As is the immutable nature of the internets, a firestorm ensued in the comments section on both DemocraticUnderground and Reddit, with dozens accusing the captionist and CNN of bias.

One self-righteous commenter wrote:

I could *perhaps* forgive “Osama” if “Obama” was meant. As a proofreader, I know that shit happens. But how can you explain typing in, correctly, Al Quada, if you meant HRC? Somebody was trying to be either malicious or “funny,” and my money is on the former rather than the latter.

This, combined with MSNBC’s “accidental” display of a photo of Osama bin Laden while Tweety was talking about Obama is just too frigging coincidental and inexcusable.

Media have lost ALL credibility now. And it’s only gonna get worse should Obama win the nomination. Guaranteed.

Please. Thankfully, there are some rational people out there, who responded with reason.

but if you knew anything about the process and what captioners have to do, and how good they really are at what they do, you’d know it wsn’t intentional. The best captioner in the world doesn’t have the ability to know ahead of time what a person is going to say and think up something witty and devilish like that, in less than a fraction of a second, and make it flow with the rest of what a person said.

It’s impossible.

And from AnteChronos on Reddit:

They actually use a stenotype machine hooked up to a computer. It converts the phonetic information they type into readable text. The problem is with proper nouns, which require special dictionary entries. Those entries may not even be completely phonetic based on the word being used, to avoid collisions with possible homophones. A good stenocaptioner will have hundreds (or even thousands, depending on what they’re going to be captioning) of personalized shortcuts memorized.

It’s easy to imagine that a sudden “brain fart” could cause the captioner to hit the wrong chord on the stenotype machine. Especially if the custom dictionary isn’t being strictly phonetic. Also, I’d imagine that a captioner for a huge media outlet like CNN would have a huge number of shortcuts. The names of all of the presidential candidates; congress-critters; supreme court justices; US states and major cities; foreign countries, capitals, and major cities; foreign heads of state and dignitaries; major historical people and events; major corporations and organizations; etc. Frankly, I’m astonished that this type of thing doesn’t happen more often.

If you clicked on that link to AnteChronos’ comment, you’ll see another one bringing up Hanlon’s Razor. Essentially, it is a truism which reads: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

That’s an important point to remember, and Hanlon’s Razor can be applied to so many situations. I sometimes wonder if we, as marginalized people, are far more quick to accuse people of oppressive or malicious actions when, in reality, the offenders are just being stupid. Gallaudet. AGBell. Captionists. The VR counselor. The list goes on.

In any case, it’s funny to see hearing people work themselves into a tizzy over a closed captioning typo–something we deal with on a daily basis. Nothing to see here, people. Move along.

I went to MacWorld last week! As a Mac user and a newly-minted resident of San Francisco, it was my holy and solemn duty to go. I made especially sure to go the day after Steve Jobs’ keynote so I could see new Apple machines on display. While my hopes for a MacBook Pro update was dashed, I was intrigued by the updated Apple TV and the MacBook Air.

First, obligatory picture of the MacBook Air. You may now ooh and ahh.

Now, I spent far more time with the Apple TV. What a great product…buy or rent movies. Watch Flickr photo feeds. Along with iTunes Movie Rentals, I could unlatch myself from the tyranny of Netflix’s 3-day wait for DVDs and recapture the holy grail that is every American’s birthright: instant gratification.

Alas, we are all deaf people here, and require captioning or subtitling to enjoy movies. Remember how Apple added closed captioning support for iTunes and iPods? I wondered if this applied to the Apple TV as well.

I talked with one of the Apple floor guys, and sure enough, the answer is yes. It’s in the Video menu in the Settings screen.

So far, so good. Now are any of the movies closed captioned? None of the movies available showed the [CC] symbol. So for our first try, we watched Ratatouille (SD) (standard definition, which is like normal TV compared to high-definition, HD).

Sure enough, it’s captioned! And it looks so pretty too–like rectangular black bubbles illuminated by soft blue light.

However, this was dumb luck. The other three movies we tried–Blades of Glory (SD), Live Free and Die Hard (HD), and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (HD)–did not display any captions.

For that matter, neither did any of the TV shows (also available on Apple TV) that we tried: Scrubs, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, or Family Guy.

Clearly, there is some work left to do. Apple did its part by building in closed captioning support, so now the burden appears to be on the content providers–the major Hollywood studios–to ensure their online offerings are closed captioned. But my blog doesn’t stop here.

I went home after MacWorld thinking maybe I’d rent a movie via the iTunes Movie Store. I picked Ratatouille even though it had no [CC] symbol in iTunes because, hey, I knew it was definitely captioned (via my experience with Apple TV at MacWorld) and it’s supposedly the same rental system as used on the Apple TV.

Imagine my surprise when Ratatouille didn’t display any captions (and I made sure to turn it on via Preferences). It turns out Ratatouille’s not captioned if you rent it on your computer. But it is when you rent it through Apple TV. Huh?

So either Apple is serving up different movie files for Apple TV rentals and iTunes Movie rentals separately, or it’s the same movie file, but each system reads closed captioning encoding differently. Neither approach really makes sense. I strongly feel that if one movie displays captions on one system, it should display captions across all Apple systems, especially since they all support closed captioning.

I kept an eye on deafmac.org because I knew they’d talk about this issue sooner or later, and sure enough, Chad Taylor blogged about his experience renting a movie in iTunes.

Chad says with glee that he rented Team America: World Police on iTunes and it displayed captions beautifully. What’s more, he transferred it to his iPhone and captions were also displayed on there, too.

I ran to Team America’s page on iTunes and, sure enough, there is a [CC] symbol there. Awesome. That’s a step in the right direction. But how the heck do I find other movies that are also closed captioned?

One person at deafmac.org figured it out. Johnathan, in comment 13, says:

You can go to iTunes, go to Browse and click Movies then you can pick any under Genre. You will see CC logo under Name and next to ratings

I’ll rephrase here. iTunes gives you two ways of browsing for movies–through its flashy graphical interface, or through the Browse screen. You can go to the Movies page, and then click on “Browse” in the upper-right. An easier way is to just go to the View menu and click on “Show Browser” (Command-B). This is what it looks like:

Notice the [CC] symbol next to Clockstoppers and Dragonslayer. Nice. But there really aren’t that many closed captioned movies available. Out of 1,195 movies available for purchase or rental on iTunes, a paltry 23 are closed captioned (I counted them).

What’s interesting about these 23 movies? They’re all distributed by Paramount Pictures. Kudos to them for taking a step which all the other movie studios haven’t done yet.

Captioning among Apple’s products is not perfect yet. It certainly seems farther along than any of the other movie-on-demand websites such as Netflix’s new Instant Viewing feature, which doesn’t even work on the Mac yet. What’s more, there’s no legal requirement for any of them to do this…yet.

The law which requires closed captioning applies only to television content transmitted by cable or satellite broadcasting. Instant gratification will have to wait. Fortunately, NAD is working on this issue and has supported draft legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives titled “21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.”

Let’s hope this gets passed soon so we don’t have to keep writing blogs like this and instead be able to simply trust that anything we buy or rent–whether it’s at Blockbuster, through Netflix, or downloaded at iTunes, be closed captioned.

You know, like how it used to be before.

DeafHope, a non-profit organization founded and run by Deaf women, will be featured on CNN on Tuesday, November 27 and again on Thursday, December 6. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, DeafHope’s mission is “to end domestic and sexual violence against Deaf women and children through empowerment, education and services.”

Currently, DeafHope provides peer counseling, advocacy, support group, children’s art therapy, youth violence prevention and awareness, community education, technical assistance with placing Deaf survivors in shelters, and a 24-hour email hotline.

Why is DeafHope on CNN? Out of more than 7,000 viewer-nominated persons in 93 countries, 18 finalists–three each in six categories–were selected to be featured on “CNN Heroes,” a special report showcasing ordinary people worldwide who have accomplished extraordinary deeds.

One of those finalists is our own Julie Rems-Smario, DeafHope’s executive director and one of their founders, in the “Community Crusaders” category. Each finalist will receive $10,000 to be used towards their causes.

A blue ribbon panel–including “distinguished leaders, luminaries and humanitarians” such as Lance Armstrong, Deepak Chopra, Jewel, Téa Leoni, Dikembe Mutombo, Jerry Yang, and Muhammad Yunus–will select one person from each category to be honored during the December 6 live telecast and receive another $25,000. The global telecast will be hosted by Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour.

It’s a big deal to have one of our own Deaf leaders to be so honored on a global scale. But it’s an even bigger deal for DeafHope–and their partners nationwide such as ADWAS in Seattle and DAWN in Washington, D.C.–have the crucial issue of domestic and sexual violence in the deaf community be featured on CNN.

That’s a victory for everybody who’s ever had a family member or friend affected by domestic violence.

So, once again, it’s Tuesday, November 27, at 10PM Eastern/7PM Pacific on Anderson Cooper 360º–that’s the program that will feature the three finalists for the Community Crusader category, including Julie Rems-Smario and DeafHope.

Now, to be fair to my readers, I was actually there at the CNN filming last week so you might just see me on TV! Also, photographer Chris Hamilton has posted some wonderful snapshots from that day (as well as past DeafHope events) at his blog, www.hamiltonphotographer.com/wordpress/. It’s also an excellent opportunity to see ASL used in front of the camera, with voice-overs provided by interpreters.

Then the two-hour global live telecast will be on Thursday, December 6 at 9PM Eastern/6PM Pacific to see who will be the six honorees selected by the blue ribbon panel. While all 18 finalists are all heroes, let’s hope DeafHope gets to shine through on that night!

According to an article in The Annals of Family Medicine, the answer is yes. The lead-in to the New York Times article that cites this study reads,

Children who have hearing problems are much more likely than other children to end up in an emergency room with a wide variety of injuries, researchers say.

Score one for deaf children! Or, as I should really say, children with hearing loss–the degree of loss here isn’t mentioned (but hey, this is the Age of Deafhood, who cares about degree of loss?).

The conclusion is that the child’s hearing loss puts them at risk of injury. The study looked at “138,000 injuries in children treated at South Carolina ERs in 2003. The injuries included fractures, sprains and strains, burns and cuts.” Perhaps they should have thrown in accidental scratchings at DBC protests.

And why is this so? Because, as the researchers suggest, children with hearing loss can’t hear important auditory signs like the sound of an approaching car, footsteps, or their parents’ warnings to “watch out!” Eek. It’s dangerous to be a deaf child these days–or has it always been that way?

I’ve never really been to the ER as a kid. The only time I came close was when I was a free-wheeling CID youngster playing at that playground across the street from the parking lot (Hey CID alums, remember that one!? The one with the massive yellow slide?). Somehow I fell and bit my tongue, which promptly began to bleed very profusely. My housemother took me to the hospital, but I’m not sure if we went through the ER or just saw a doctor. All I got was a small hand towel to soak up the blood and orders to put ice on it and wait a couple days for the wound to close.

Ah, but was it hearing loss-related? I think not, unless you account for the fact that I was at a school for children with hearing loss, so you could argue that in an alternate reality, a hearing Adam Stone would have never been a CID student playing at that playground and thus his near-tongue piercing wouldn’t have happened in the first place and then temporal paradoxes pop up and the universe goes awry ajs..f.wsf…..

Nevertheless, the point of this blog post is to elicit funny and crazy ER stories from you, the readers. Yeah, I know you’ve got one. So share it with us!

Alas, deaf people! How tragic our collective disability is! We are lacking in hearing, and because of this, the world of radio is a mysterious realm. FM 98.1 has as much meaning to us as coriander does to a person who cannot taste.

How many of you know about NPR–National Public Radio? According to my dad, it’s simply the biggest thing I’m missing out on because I’m deaf. It’s a national radio station piping out stories full of very interesting things about the world we live in. Their programs, such as “All Things Considered,” or “Talk of the Nation” are widely-known in the hearing world. People who like to learn every minute of their lives often listen to these and other NPR programs. My uncle writes occasionally for NPR.

I always told myself, if I ever woke up hearing (and you know you’ve thought about such a day, too), the first thing I’d do is listen to NPR all day long. But it’s what it is, a dream. NPR and the world of radio and podcasts remains out of my reach.

Until yesterday when my friend tells me about this website called Podlinez.com. It assigns telephone numbers to podcasts so you can just dial in and listen, instead of using the radio or iTunes.

Good for hearing people who want to listen to radio on their mobile phones. Better for deaf people who want to listen to the radio at all…because we have relay services!!

That’s right. Use your favorite VRS to dial up one of those phone numbers (I must, of course, recommend the NPR shows), sit back, and watch your VRS interpreter sign away an entire radio program. Out of courtesy, make sure to ask the interpreter in advance if he or she is fine with this assignment. You can also use internet relay services (i.e. IP-Relay) for a text transcript but be careful, they will probably get stuck on “recording, please hold.”

Have a podcast you want to listen to but not listen on Podlinez.com? Get its RSS feed and submit it through the website and you’ll get a phone number you can dial in immediately.

When I tried this for the first time, I wondered–is it okay? Can we use VRS interpreters to relay radio programs to us? All in the name of equal access, right? Radio is regulated by the FCC like relay services, so maybe it’s okay. Or it could be a function that exceeds the relay services mandate written by the FCC. Who knows. Who cares?

What are you waiting for? Go listen to the radio!

Time to wind up the good ol’ RIT vs. Gallaudet rivalry again.

Except that, this time, distinguished Gallaudet President Dr. Davila, not a bunch of drunk, obscene adolescents at a pep rally, started it.

I refer to this video clip from the September 6th Town Hall meeting posted on Gallaudet’s website. It’s a rousing speech, a call to action on the part of students and alumni to say great things about their university. Say no negative things! Reasonable enough.

At first glance, I can understand why this particular snippet, out of everything else Dr. Davila had said during that meeting, was picked for the website. The message is relevant to anyone who considers themselves a part of the Gallaudet community.

But! Towards the end of the video, he says:

We need good students…I found them when I was working at NTID and I intend to look for the students again to find them and bring them to Washington, not Rochester!

Ouch!

I will here now reveal my disclaimers. I love this guy. He’s from my hometown area in southern California. I first met this man when I was 15 years old. He personally got me my second co-op, with which I needed to graduate on-time. As the highest-serving hearing-impaired person in Federal government, Dr. Davila is an incredible role model for deaf people everywhere. I am so proud that he was the vice-president of NTID, and I am thrilled beyond belief that he is now the ninth president of Gallaudet University. He is quite possibly the most distinguished deaf person alive. It’s almost too bad his particular presidency comes with an expiration date.

But…this statement, this “Washington, not Rochester!” statement. Now, now, was it really necessary to say that, Dr. Davila?

The easiest conclusion to draw is that people apparently were still wondering if Dr. Davila was still “loyal” to RIT/NTID, and that Dr. Davila made this statement to allay any fears of a Sinister Conspiracy between him and his former employer.

Such fears are ludicrous. If you have actually shared this concern–or even worse, voiced it out loud–shame on you. By doing so, you had temporarily lost perspective of how things work in the real world, and worse, elevated what is a nice, cute intercollegiate rivalry into something it really shouldn’t be. But back to the president.

Another conclusion could be that Dr. Davila really is a gung-ho Gallaudet alumnus and wanted to prove it.

Fair enough. The Gallaudet community trashes RIT/NTID on a regular basis. I’d love to take the higher road and say we (as in the RIT/NTID community) don’t do it, but we do it, too. It’s fun when meted out in small portions with a friendly smirk on the side. It’s undiplomatic, but we’re just students and alumnus from rival colleges. It comes with the job.

Dr. Davila isn’t just an alumnus, however. He’s a president. That means he needs to be diplomatic. So…nope. It wasn’t okay to say that at the Town Hall, nope.

Dr. Davila, everything you said before that was great, and I’m pretty sure you would have made an equal impact had you not said what you said at the end. I’ll be honest here. What you said hurt a little.

But shucks, we can’t un-say things. Don’t worry. We at RIT/NTID are still proud that you were our leader at one point. I believe that most, if not all, of us are equally proud that you’re now serving Gallaudet’s community as well. We’re supporting you all the way.

So, please don’t slap our faces just to stir up a rivalry or to strengthen your position with those who question your commitment to your job.

Speaking of which, you seem to be doing a nice job. Keep it up, Bob!