Activities to advise checkups for the Deaf community in Osaka

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February 9, 2013

A non-profit organization, "Deaf Support Osaka," located in Osaka-shi that supports the independence of the Deaf, has started a health counseling program by health nurses.

The Deaf persons have little or no opportunity to get fully the description of the medical treatment due to the lack of sign language interpreting in the hospital.

DSO will help improve the lives and health of the Deaf people through the simple diagnosis and health counseling.

On January 23, the first event by health nurse volunteers was carried out in the "Deaf Cafe in Sign Language" in the DSO office.

This program is hold once a month; last Wednesday 10:00 am -12:00 pm.




Japanese original article:
http://mainichi.jp/area/osaka/news/20130209ddlk27040351000c.html

Teacher of Deaf children teaches subjects not included in her license

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February 09, 2013

The Osaka City Board of Education announced on February 8 that a young teacher has taught three seniors and three juniors geography and world history, which are not included in her license, for 102 hours in total until January this year from last April at the Municipal High School for the Deaf.

She was hired in April 2012, and has a license to teach social studies for junior high school and civics at the high school.

After the curriculum coordinator in the high school prepared a lesson schedule without checking the teacher's license, which she had followed.

School officials said these Deaf students would make up for getting the missing units until March.

Japanese original article:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20130209-00000528-san-soci

Deaf elite skiers lead cross country skiing class in Hokkaido

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Participants learn sliding technique from Tasaki san and Yamamoto san (from the right)
(photo: http://www.tokachi.co.jp/)

Feb 10, 2013

For two days from February 9 - 10, "the 2nd Deaf cross-country skiing class in Obihiro" was held in cross-country skiing trails in the forest of Obihiro, etc. in Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, sponsored the Japan Deaf Ski Association and Deaf cross-country ski team.

Yamamoto Tomomi san, 37, who was from Obihiro and currently lives in Fuji-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture, was a lecturer for the event. She participated in the 2007 Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City.

Tasaki Fujio san, 49, who lives in Tokyo, rushed to support the event as well. He was once on the national team for the Winter Deaflympics.

Japanese original article:
http://www.tokachi.co.jp/news/201302/20130210-0014731.php

Deaf students participate in the disaster drill with local community

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 January 25, 2013

The disaster drill against a large-scale earthquake was conducted in the Hyogo Prefecture Kobe School for the Deaf located in Kobe-shi on January 24.

Although the drill is arranged every year, about 300 local residents also participated for the first time this year, and shared the drill experience prepared for the disaster.

If one understands what deafness means at some degree, it is possible for the Deaf student to help elderly people's refuge or to get involved in activity at a shelter.

The Deaf children put on the bandanna printed "I am Deaf" or "I can sign," and joined the drill.

To make the students get the power of seeing and judging the circumference, in the drill some entrances were blocked inside, without telling the high school and junior high school students, which the drill was made close to the real situation in an emergency.

After the drill the local residents and Deaf students attended the workshop in the gymnasium and discussed about the emergency supplies, etc. to prepare better.

A high school senior aged 17 said, "Since the communication itself is not easy when Deaf persons are in dark, there was opinion that they should prepare a flashlight came out. It was a good opportunity for me to think about disaster prevention."


Japanese original article:
http://mainichi.jp/area/hyogo/news/20130125ddlk28040305000c.html

Only policewomen fluent in sign language to hold traffic safety class in Ishikawa Prefecture

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Omote Yoko san shows off using the sign language.
(photo: http://www.chunichi.co.jp/)

February 10, 2013

Omote Yoko san, 55, is the only  traffic warden who can teach a traffic safety class in sign language in Ishikawa Prefecture. She works in the police station in Kanazawa-shi.

When she was organizing crowds at the National Sports Meet of  Persons with Disabilities in the prefecture in 1991, she was not able to communicate properly with the Deaf visitors.

Omote san started attending sign language training sessions for the police, continuing hard practice with TV sign language programs, books, courses, etc.

In the spring of 2008, a traffic safety class in sign language was held for the first time in the Prefecture School for the Deaf. Since then Omote san opens the class before the spring excursion every year.

Omote san says, "The Deaf children 'heard' me while looking hard at me signing."

There are few opportunities for her to use sign language, but sometimes she communicates with deaf people who visit the station. She says yet, "If I have a chance, I would like to sign more in my future work."

Japanese original article:
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/ishikawa/20130210/CK2013021002000241.html

LexisNexis Academic webinars

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LexisNexis Academic has been redesigned with students in mind, and is providing the following upcoming webinars in February and March:
1. LexisNexis Academic: general training

•  Tuesday, February 5; 2 to 3 p.m. (EST) 
•  Tuesday, February 19; 3 to 4 p.m. (EST)  
•  Friday, March 8; noon to 1 p.m. (EST) 
•  Tuesday, March 26; 2 to 3 p.m. (EST) 

2.  LexisNexis Academic - Business:  This seminar focuses on business resources and Company Dossier.  

• Tuesday, February 5; noon to 1 p.m. (EST) 
• Tuesday, March 5; 1 to 2 p.m. (EST) 

3. LexisNexis Academic - Legal Research: This session will concentrate specifically on conducting legal research.

•  Tuesday, February 26; 2 to 3 p.m. (EST) 
•  Tuesday, March 19; 2 to 3 p.m. (EST) 

 LexisNexis Academic - NewsThis webinar will show how to search current hot topics in the news, as well as archival news information and tailor search results to fit your needs.

• Monday, February 11; 3 to 4 p.m. (EST)

Thomson Reuters Legal Solutions

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Law Librarian Jason Wilson and the Law Librarian Blog have both pointed out that Thomson Reuters appears to be rebranding Westlaw as "Legal Solutions".  The tipoff came from a url redirect from http://west.thomson.com that now goes to http://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/law-products/; watch the rather anxiety-producing video to learn more about how they provide a "better way forward" in dealing with "the new reality".  

New, revised American FactFinder

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The new online version of American FactFinder was released this week with some big improvements. There are two new search tools designed to make searching easy: 1) Community Facts, which lets you find data about a single geography (city, town, county, etc.), and 2) Guided Search, which lets you choose, in this order a) topics, and/or b) geographies, and/or c) race/ethnic group for People, Housing, and Business/Industry. For users who've had experience using the previous Factfinder it also has the options of d) search by dataset and e) search by table number or table title. Users who've had experience using the previous Factfinder will recognize Advanced Search as the previous Factfinder; and advanced users who download data have the option of using Download Options. The information and help links are very informative.

All the Yellow Books in one online subscription!

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The Barco Law Library has purchased a one-year subscription to the Leadership Library database, a powerful employment research tool. The database includes 14 Leadership Directories’ Yellow Books:
 1. Congressional yellow book
 2. Federal yellow book
3. State yellow book
 4. Corporate yellow book
 5. News media yellow book
 6. Municipal yellow book
 7. Federal regional yellow book
 8. Judicial yellow book
 9. Financial yellow book
 10. Associations yellow book
 11. Law firms yellow book
 12. Government affairs yellow book
 13. Foreign representatives in the U.S. yellow book
 14. Nonprofit sector yellow book
 The database allows searching and browsing within individual directories or across all 14 directories using single or multiple criteria, such as name, job title, industry, and geographical location. It contains contact information for federal and state courts, law firms, federal, state and local government, non-profits, and corporations. It's available to all current Pitt Law students, faculty, and staff, at Law building computers or via the wireless network. Bookmark the link and note that it is also available via the Barco Law Library databases page  and through the ULS online catalog PittCAT. You should browse around in it for a while to see how it works since it is an unfamiliar interface and has a bit of a learning curve; but it has tons of great information. 

New law app by a law librarian

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Ruth Bird, who is currently  law librarian at the Bodlein Law Library, Oxford University, has announced the creation of a new law app that she has helped design. "Lawsauce" is a useful resource for law students as well as for lawyers in practice. The app provides quite extensive coverage of many jurisdictions, and includes many free sites, Francophone sites, subscription sites and quite a number of foreign language locations, though most are in English. Ruth says that "It is a work in progress and we will add data on a regular basis... I welcome any feedback." The app is available in the iTunes Store for iPhones and at GooglePlay for android; cost is $4.99.

Aomori Prefecture School for the Deaf wins top place in national music national contest

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Deaf students demonstrate the drum performance.
(photo: http://cgi.daily-tohoku.co.jp/)

February 14, 2013

In the Aomori Prefectural Hachinohe School for the Deaf located in north of Japan's mainland Japanese drumming has been introduced in the music class since about eight years.

Regardless of the degree and on-set-age of hearing loss, all the twenty children from elementary through junior high school practice the Japanese drum performance.

In the 24th National Music Concert Contest for the Deaf Students, sponsored by the Association of Educational Welfare for the Deaf, the Hachinohe School shone with the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology prize.

This is the highest prize which the Deaf students won after three-time challenges, and as a result of passing along two recording and video examinations.

More than 20 schools for the Deaf in the whole country participated in the contest.

On February 14, the children demonstrated the drum performance dignifiedly in front of the association president, Santo Akiko san, who visited the Hachinoe School for commendation. Big applause was given from the local residents and parents who gathered.

Japanese original article:
http://cgi.daily-tohoku.co.jp/cgi-bin/news/2013/02/14/new1302142301.htm

Video link:
http://cgi.daily-tohoku.co.jp/cgi-bin/movies_list/player/movie_player.htm?y=2013&m=02&mid=20130214_001

Teachers of National School for the Deaf visit Paris School in France

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January, 2013

The group of teachers of the School for the Deaf, the University of Tsukuba located in Chiba Prefecture visited Paris School for the Deaf in January, 2013.

Both the schools signed the memorandum of the sister school tie-up in September, 2003.

Photos of Paris School taken by the group are on the following links:

http://www.deaf-s.tsukuba.ac.jp/topics2013/Paris20130113.htm

http://www.deaf-s.tsukuba.ac.jp/topics2013/Paris20130117.htm

http://www.deaf-s.tsukuba.ac.jp/topics2013/Paris20130122.htm

http://www.deaf-s.tsukuba.ac.jp/topics2013/Paris20130131.htm

http://www.deaf-s.tsukuba.ac.jp/topics2013/Paris20130205.htm

Job refusal:ex employee was deaf with poor speech.

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Alpha Public School officials allegedly discriminated against a deaf employee by not rehiring the woman this school year, according to a suit filed in New Jersey Superior Court in Belvidere.
Melinda Walsh alleges that the Alpha Borough School Board and Superintendent Greg McGann didn’t renew her position as a part-time instructional aide largely because of her disabilities, which include being “profoundly deaf” and having an “obvious speech impediment,” according to the complaint.
The Easton resident worked for the district for five years.  The district hired Walsh in 2005 as a part-time instructional aide, but she also assumed substitute roles as a teacher, nurse and library aide, according to the complaint. She’s worn two hearing aids since being diagnosed at age 4, and qualifies for Social Security Disability benefits, according to the complaint.
She alleges that the school was aware of her disabilities and worked to accommodate her condition. McGann did not return calls for comment.  McGann told Walsh in May that she would not be offered a position this school year because three aide positions were being eliminated, according to the complaint. But the school board allegedly hired several other instructional aides at McGann’s request and rehired five out of seven aides employed during the 2011-2012 school year.
In July, the board also posted job openings for one full-time aide or two part-time aides, according to the complaint.   “The reason the superintendent gave does not make sense,” said John McDonnell, Walsh’s attorney. “Her performance evaluations were excellent. And then we get a new superintendent.” The district hired McGann in August 2011. He recommends potential school employees, which are then approved by the board, according to the complaint. McDonnell said that his client received stellar performance evaluations every year, but did not receive an evaluation after McGann started working at the school.
By not being rehired, Walsh also is cut off from receiving a Public Employees Retirement System pension, according to the complaint. She needed to work two more years to qualify, and now that she is a Pennsylvania resident, she is barred by state law from working in a New Jersey school district.  The main reason Walsh wants to return to the school, however, is because she loved her job, McDonnell said.
“My client just looks to get her job back and to be made whole,” he said. “She loved working with the kids.”
SOURCE

Deaf Dancing star finalist

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St John’s finalist Helen Willis will be the star of a new BBC documentary as part of their See Hear programme.
Willis, who will complete her degree in Physiology and Psychology this year, is deaf following a meningitis infection when she was two years old. She was filmed for the programme during 5th week.  Willis was one of the first people in the UK to receive a cochlear implant, a technology that aims to restore hearing to those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. It has successfully given her some hearing ability.
Commenting on her involvement, Willis said: “It was an amazing experience and I felt very privileged to be part of it. I’m flattered that they deemed me a worthy subject to film.   “I now only hope that I have done the university and the college justice, because without my tutors and my friends, my university experience would be nowhere near as enjoyable or special.”
The BBC crew followed a day in Willis’ life. This took in a lecture, dance practice and St John’s dinner with her tutors.
SOURCE

Deaf Comedian: Rethinking funny.

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Signed/captioned (ASL) vblog.  Some are blessed with ease when it comes to public speaking. They can enter a room and grab the attention of everyone. They can give a speech and have people falling out of their chairs with laughter. But what if you could do all of these things, just with your hands?
CJ Jones, an internationally known deaf entertainer, does just that. For over 25 years, CJ has been making audiences of all ages laugh through sign language, and HooplaHa - Life with a Smile is here to spotlight his story.  Check out the fabulously talented, CJ Jones:  Through his work, CJ hopes to remind people that 'life is good."

Award-winning British photographer and triple amputee Giles Duley returns to Afghanistan

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From Newstalk in Ireland.

Giles Duley was an award-winning photographer whose work took him to south Sudan, Angola and Bangladesh.

But it was on a trip to Afghanistan that the British photographer’s life changed completely.

Giles stepped on an IED in 2011 and the blast blew off both his legs and his left arm.

Speaking to Orla Barry last year, Mr Duley said he was determined not only to work as a photographer again but to return to Kabul.

Feb. 18 Giles Duley reappeared on The Green Room to talk about his return to Afghanistan, a journey which was documented by the Dispatches programme on Channel Four.

Paralympics refocuses on future without Pistorius

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From The AP:

As Oscar Pistorius offered his first defense against a murder charge, the head of the Paralympics was trying to reassure members Tuesday that the organization has a strong future even without its star athlete.

International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven told The Associated Press he has been in a state of "shock and disbelief" since Pistorius was arrested Thursday in the shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Having been central to plans to maintain the momentum from the record-breaking Paralympics last year, Pistorius has now been forced to pull out of all future races.

The South African helped to generate unprecedented interest in disability sports by becoming the first double amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics. Now Craven is acting quickly to ensure the Paralympics' progress is not damaged by the fallout from Pistorius' high-profile case.

"We've got so many stars coming through that this will not be an issue," Craven said.

"Even since this tragedy happened, it's still been 'London, London, London' and what happened there — a unique moment in times that still continues in the hearts and minds of people."

And in a letter to IPC members on Tuesday, Craven sought to shift attention from the "difficult and traumatic day" regarding Pistorius to remind how the London Paralympics succeeded in creating "a whole host of young world-class, medal-winning athletes."

Craven pointed to British sprinter Jonnie Peacock, who deposed Pistorius as 100-meter champion at the Paralympics, and Alan Oliveira, who took the 200 title in front of a crowd of some 80,000 in the London Olympic Stadium.

"It's upon their shoulders that the Paralympic movement will be moving forward and it's still continuing to be the most exciting times after London," Craven said by phone from the IPC winter sports championships in Spain.

Craven has experienced a "roller-coaster of emotion" since he was awakened Thursday with the news of the killing. Pistorius said at a bail hearing Tuesday that he mistook his girlfriend for a robber and the shooting was an accident, not premeditated murder.

"Shock and disbelief," Craven recalled of his initial thoughts. "I could not believe what I was hearing ... because of this total difference between Oscar, the person I knew — I won't say very well but I had interacted with him on many occasions in press conferences etc. and seen him compete — and the Oscar we were hearing about now in the media and with what happened."

Craven said he had not witnessed any change in Pistorius' mindset at the Paralympics even when the runner created a storm by suggesting rival Oliveira was gaining an unfair advantage by using lengthened blades.

"In the heat of competition — I remember when I was a wheelchair basketball player — the redness would come down particularly if I didn't agree with certain refereeing decisions, and I've seen it in other athletes," Craven said. "I think it's something that happens all the time in athletic competitions.

He said the dispute about the blades didn't bother him, and "didn't make me think there was anything different in London (with Pistorius) to what there had been before."

Craven has not made contact with the 26-year-old Pistorius since the Valentine's Day arrest. The Paralympic chief has expressed the organization's condolences to the family of Steenkamp, the model and law graduate who was cremated Tuesday at a memorial service in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Craven wants IPC members to "respect" the justice system.

"This is a police case and we have to remain impartial at all times," he said. "The South African law courts will decide Oscar's fate over the coming months and only then will the full story of what actually happened emerge."

The case has delayed planned announcements on television rights sales for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The IPC has yet to find a U.S. network to show its competitions live after NBC was criticized for broadcasting only 5 1/2 hours of Paralympic highlights from London.

"Meetings have taken place with U.S. television stations with a view to things being put right, definitely by Rio, if not by Sochi," Craven said.

Nike says it plans to drop ads with Oscar Pistorius

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From the NY Daily News:

Nike and other corporate sponsors are running away from "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee Olympian who South African prosecutors charged with premeditated murder on Feb. 19.

A Nike spokesman told The Associated Press that the Oregon sportswear company had no plans to use Pistorius, who is accused of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in future advertising campaigns.

The company has already pulled an ad that shows Pistorius, breaking out of the starting block, with a tagline that says, "I am the bullet in the chamber" (pictured).

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Pistorius fired four shots through a locked at Steenkamp as the woman cowered in a bathroom at the runner's home.

"Nike felt it was appropriate to take the ad down from Oscar's website recognizing the sensitivities of the situation," spokesman KeJuan Wilkins said.

Nike, still reeling from its relationship with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, had responded cautiously immediately after Steenkamp's death. The company offered sympathy to the families of everybody involved in the incident but said it would not comment any further.

Nike and other companies began distancing themselves from Pistorius just hours after his agent Peet van Zyl told reporters that sponsors were standing by the alleged murderer.

"All sponsors are still on board, and they have give us their commitments toward Oscar, based on the relationships that they have formed with him over the past years," van Zyl said. “They are quite happy to allow the legal process to take its course before they make any other further and formal announcements on the relationships that they have formed with him over the past years," van Zyl said. “They are quite happy to allow the legal process to take its course before they make any other further and formal announcements on it.”

Oakley, meanwhile, announced on Monday that it was also cutting ties with Pistorius.

“In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately," the sunglasses company said in a statement.

The French fashion house Thierry Mugler announced that it would withdraw all products featuring Pistorius, including a cologne launched last year to commemorate the London Paralympics. The company has also deleted references to Pistorius from its website.

"Out of respect and sympathy to the families involved in this tragic case, Thierry Mugler Parfums has removed all campaigns featuring Oscar Pistorius," the company said in a statement.

New bionic hand prosthesis called first to give amputees sense of touch

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From The Huffington Post:

In what some are calling a bionic hand breakthrough, scientists in Switzerland reported the development of a "smart" artificial hand that lets amputees feel what they're touching or holding.

The experimental prosthesis connects directly to an amputee's nervous system, providing realistic sensory feedback -- giving amputees "dexterity and the sensation of touch," according to a written statement.

"We could be on the cusp of providing new and more effective clinical solutions to amputees in the next years," lead researcher Dr. Silvestro Micera, head of the Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, said in the statement.

The scientists recently tested the system by implanting electrodes into the median and ulnar nerves of an amputee, who was then able to control a prosthetic hand that was not physically attached to his arm, according to the statement. The amputee was able to wriggle the fingers of the prosthesis, make a fist, and hold objects -- and was able to "feel" needles jabbed into the palm of the prosthesis, news.com.au reported.

Later this year, the artificial hand will be fitted to an unnamed man living in Rome who lost the lower part of his arm following an accident, Dr. Micera told The Independent. If all goes well, a refined version of the prosthesis will be ready for testing within two years, Dr. Micera said.

Dr. Micera discussed the research at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held Feb. 14-18 in Boston.

Miami DJ Laz says being born with a disability led him to his music

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From NBC News Miami:

It’s 10 a.m. and while most people are just getting settled in at work, Lazaro Mendez, most commonly known as DJ Laz, has finished his Miami radio morning show and is onto his second show of the day.

Mendez, who has 18 singles, eight studio albums, a syndicated radio show, and has even received kudos from President Obama for discovering Flo-Rida and Pitbull, continues to push forward without forgetting the hardships his family overcame to guarantee him a better life.

The “DJ Laz Morning Show, Coast to Coast” airs in both Miami and Los Angeles. Mendez, who has been on the Miami air waves for over twenty years says he’s on a mission to become a national sensation. “I’m Cuban Latino, they are Mexican Latinos but we are all Latinos. So we can relate in one way, shape or form,” Mendez said when asked how he appeals to both East and West coast Latinos.

Appealing to the West Coast Latino after success with his native Miami crowd has not been too difficult a challenge for him — because behind the turntables is a man who overcame a serious disability to pursue his American Dream.

Benita Mendez, his mother, left Cuba with her three children and with the hope of a better life. But she had no idea what she would encounter once in the United States, when she became pregnant with her fourth child.

“And the doctors come in and let my mom know, ‘It is going to be physically impossible for your son to walk.’”

Mendez was born with the bottom of his feet touching his chest; he describes himself as a human “pretzel.” He was diagnosed with Arthrogryposis Multiplex. According to the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, Arthrogryposis Multiplex is a disease where newborns suffer decreased flexibility in their joints.

“She had it super rough, not only — obviously in Cuba and everything else, having to leave and — but for the baby to be all messed up…she went through it,” Mendez says in his studio, sliding his sunglasses on as his voice begins to crack.

Benita was a headstrong Latina mother who fought the odds and let her faith be her driving force. While kids were playing outside, Mendez asked his dad for some speakers and turntables and that’s how his craft began.

After 17 surgeries, Mendez went from wheelchair to knee braces, and was able to walk — albeit with a limp, that he now considers normal.

“If I didn’t limp or have that disability I wouldn’t have the personality or I would not have had the opportunity that I have had in life,” Mendez explains.

The Deaf Mortician.

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A new slant on that old 'deaf'-dead' aspect that isn't just confined to the qwerty key board.
Lisa Jones is a mortician at the Staffordshire NHS trust. She works alongside the Forensic Service in special cases such as Home Office murder inquiries. She's deaf and is profiled on this week's See Hear programme. Here she tells us about her job and how she got there.In the mortuary, no one can hear you scream, well, I know I can't anyway.
Being deaf hasn't stopped me choosing a career as a mortician, or to be politically correct, an Anatomical Pathology Technician.
It wasn't my first option, though. I announced to my parents when I was six years old: "When I grow up, I'm going to work with plants and explore the jungle."
It was to the same tune that I graduated from Durham University with a Biological Sciences degree under my belt. I had planned to be a botanist and was looking forward to finding new plants in exotic places. My final uni project was about insect interactions with sunflowers.
I was ready to take on the world of botany ... but an impromptu work experience stint at a local hospital laboratory completely changed my life forever. Plants be damned.
I've been working as a mortician for nine years, and for 15 as a biomedical scientist for the NHS Trust. I am profoundly deaf and even though my main communication method is speech, I also use Sign Supported English - or a dodgy style of British Sign Language, for those that know me.
Obviously being a mortician is not for everyone. Despite all the crime dramas such as CSI and Silent Witness, people think that working in an autopsy room is all high tech and glamorous. I can tell you now it isn't. Specialist tests do not take minutes to reveal the identity of a murderer, nor does a retinal scan of a detached eyeball reveal what the victim had for breakfast.
SOURCE

Emergency text service for Deaf people

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What is the Service?  80999 is an SMS service for Deaf people and Speech impaired people.
This service is provided as a specific access service for people who cannot use voice telephony and is not an additional service for general contact. Voice contact to the 999 service remains the choice for those able to access it.
Text 80999 when:
There is a danger to life or risk of injury being caused, such as a serious road accident or assault.
A crime is in progress such as robbery, burglary, criminal damage, theft and the offender is still at the scene or has just left the area.
The immediate attendance of a police officer is necessary – such as someone acting suspiciously or about to commit a crime.
How does the Service work?
Text messages are received directly in to the police control room at Hampshire and they then notify the relevant force. The controller then calls for assistance as required from any of the emergency services, including police, fire, ambulance, coastguard, mountain and cave rescue.
SOURCE

Matlin

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Awareness USA style with a celeb.  Shame the UK hasn't a celeb deaf of any kind....  I'd like to see her ask the same questions here !  If she asked us would we take a hearing pill, she would be crushed in the stampede....  Is it REALLY viable asking someone with NO knowledge of any hearing if they would like to hear ?  They'd be scared stiff.... and it shows.  One student looked distinctly unimpressed....

Far from the tree: Review.

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Are cochlear implants a “miraculous cure for a terrible defect” or — as some deaf people consider them — “a genocidal attack on a vibrant community”? Should parents of dwarfs consider surgical limb-lengthening, or encourage their child to accept their height? Are conditions such as Down’s and autism “identities” or “catastrophes”, something to cherish or something to attempt to eradicate?

Although well-researched, Solomon relies principally on anecdotes “because numbers imply trends, while stories acknowledge chaos”. That would be a variant on Tolstoy’s “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (which Solomon laudably resists quoting), except that many of these parents “end up grateful for experiences they would have done anything to avoid”. As Solomon notes, some try to celebrate their child’s condition to disguise their pain, but others feel genuine joy in caring for a disabled child “and that sometimes the first stance can generate the second”. There is a self-selecting element to this — those who are happy are surely more likely to have shared their tales — but it also serves as a reminder to be grateful for the lot we’ve drawn in life. I’d suggest this be made compulsory reading for any couple considering having a baby too, if only to instil that “parenting is no sport for perfectionists”.
Far From the Tree challenges the way we think about disability and difference. 
SOURCE

YouView: Criticisms unwarranted.

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An response from the YouView box team in answer to critics from the deaf community in the UK, they were not getting subtitled access, even when channels transmitted them and blamed the Youview box as having issues of non access for deaf people.

THE YOUVIEW RESPONSE:

YouView offers all the accessibility services that broadcasters provide, such as subtitles, sign language, audio description and zoom.


You can specify how you want to use these in YouView’s Settings menu and in the individual On Demand players Settings menu’s.

Subtitled programmes have an [S] icon next to their title in the programme guide. Look out for the [S] icon on the programme information screen of a TV programme or On Demand item.

You can turn subtitles on or off by pressing the [SUB] button on your remote control or go to Settings > Subtitles & Accessibility > Subtitles.

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NHS deaf/HI checks and updates.

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A small start but much more needs to be done.   When WILL the British NHS actually set up an effective system of support for the deaf and HI patient ?  65 years and STILL waiting, so much for technology... in deaf terms we are still relying on pigeons....  They are telling us we need checks but in Wales preventing your access to them.  Follow-on care just doesn't exist either.

Rats pave the way for deaf Borgs.

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Science Fact, or fiction ?   The Deaf 'HIVE' ......  now that IS scary ! imagine 1,000s of deaf dedicated to audism and deafhood aghhhhhhhhhh.......The scientist who has given a “sixth sense” to laboratory animals by allowing them to detect invisible infrared light has promised an even bigger revolution in the research field he has pioneered.

Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian neuroscientist working at Duke University in the United States, said that he has created a way of allowing animals to communicate with each other through artificial aids connected directly to their brains.  The research into the “man-machine interface” could one day allow people to communicate directly with electronic devices by thought alone. It could allow paralysed people to control artificial limbs or give blind or deaf people the possibility of seeing or hearing with the help of brain implants.
Professor Nicolelis said that he has now taken the research into a different realm by creating what he has called the “brain-to-brain inferface”. He said he could not provide further details because the work is due to be published later this month in a peer-reviewed journal under a strict confidentiality agreement.  Last week Professor Nicolelis announced in a study published in Nature Communications that he had given rats the ability to “feel” infrared light by attaching light detectors to the touch-sensitive regions of their brain, which normally detect the movements of their face whiskers.
The rats were able to sense infra-red light effectively through the region of the brain connected to their whiskers. They used the light to locate water in a totally dark chamber.  It was the first time that animals have been given a “sixth sense” using electronic devices connected directly to their brain, he said.  “Our rats learn to touch invisible light. They are not seeing infrared light, but they are learning a concept that is similar to synesthesia [when one sense is detected by a different kind of sensory organ],” Professor Nicolelis said.
“They learned to touch invisible light that is delivered by stimulating the touch cortex [of the brain]. In 30 days these animals acquired this pseudo-touch and we learned that they could use this to control other devices,” he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.  “It was a big surprise because we bypassed the skin, we didn’t use the skin to deliver this signal...the animal is feeling light, not seeing light. It’s very interesting,” he said.
“We have extended this concept to what we have called a brain-to-brain interface...It’s an interface that no-one has dreamed could be done,” he added.  Although the researchers used infra-red light, Professor Nicolelis said that any physical energy, such as ultrasound, radio-waves or magnetic fields could be used as a new kind of sense.  It raised the prospect in the future of augmenting the human senses with brain implants that could detect things that are currently undetectable by the body, such as ultrasound, he said.
The rats in the experiment initially tried to rub their whiskers when they detected infra-red light. This was because a miniature light detector fitted to their heads was sending electrical impulses directly to the touch-sensitive region of the brain connected to whisker movements.  However, within the space of a few weeks they had learnt through training to distinguish this extra, artificial sense from real stimulation of their whiskers and use it to find water in a completely dark chamber, Professor Nicolelis said.
“It’s like driving a car or riding a bike. My suspicion is that these animals are feeling touch, its different from regular touch in that they are projecting the feeling of touch, not from their body, but to the external world,” he said.  “We have a monkey now that learned the same task and I was surprised at how quick he was. Now we are equipping our rats with a 360-degree view of the environment so that they can see infrared anywhere, up and down,” he added.
SOURCE

Evangelist son beats up deaf mute.

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Son beats the deaf up, father cures them after.      The son of American evangelist Benny Hinn was arrested in Brazil after allegedly beating up a deaf and dumb man during one of his father's rallies, it was reported today.
Hestephenson Araujo, 21, reportedly needed hospital treatment after the incident on Saturday night during a religious crusade in Manaus, northern Brazil.  Police detained Joshua Hinn, 21, along with two of Benny Hinn's bodyguards, on suspicion of torture after the three men allegedly locked Mr Araujo in a trailer and physically assaulted him.  Big money miracle worker: Televangelist Benny Hinn is best known for traveling the world on 'Miracle Crusades', performing for thousands of believers, claiming he can heal the sick. He is worth some £27 million
According to police, Mr Araujo, a local pastor, was sitting in the front row of seats at the event, in the city's Povos da Amazonia arena when, during Mr Hinn's sermon, he got up and approached the stage.  Mr Araujo, who was carrying a bottle of water, later said he only wanted to receive a blessing from the famous evangelist, who claims he can heal the sick.
SOURCE

Richard Roehm Dead.

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SANTA ANA – Richard Roehm, chairman and a founder of the Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center, died Feb. 6. He was 50.  Roehm, who lived in the French Park area, suffered a heart attack and died at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, said Beth Koenig, the executive director of the non-profit.
Roehm grew up in Glendale, graduated form Rancho Alamitos High School in 1981 and received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Cal State Fullerton. He worked for Disneyland, left the company and was disabled by the time he helped found the Santa Ana-based Deaf Advocacy Center in 1998, said Koenig. He served as CEO and president until 2010, when he became board chairman and Koenig became its executive director.
Roehm was a longtime fan of the "Law and Order" television series. She said he loved learning about and tracking volcanoes and earthquakes, enjoyed seeing Old Faithful eruptions via a webcam, and cared about animals, such as the pet lizard he kept, and Ruby, a mixed-breed dog who was his companion for many years.
Roehm had been hard of hearing as a child, and became deaf at age 11, Koenig said. She said he believed that non-profits turned away people who needed help, so decided to start the Deaf Advocacy Center. The agency helps people with disabilities find employment and housing, provides training in such areas as Braille, American Sign, computer skills and personal finances, and also helps deaf people with poor reading skills to fill out forms.
The agency he helped found runs on a budget of $30,000 to $45,000 a year, mostly from sales on its eBay store and from donations, Koenig said. It relies on a roll of about 200 volunteers, about 20 of whom are regulars and about five of whom make up its core group, she said.
Roehm will be remembered as passionate, Koenig said. Many deaf people are active bloggers and readers of blogs, Koenig said.  "He was very controversial because of his stands. He made people think," Koenig said. "He was so passionate about what we did. And he took the responsibility very seriously."Richie "Sharky" Nichols, a center board member, said Roehm readily drove for people who needed transportation.
"Richard has been a good man, with a big heart," said Nichols, who said he has limited vision and hearing.Koenig said that Roehm's death is a loss for the center, but its board has voted to create a memorial fund in hopes of acquiring and developing a site where housing and training can be provided. "We will continue on," she said.  A private service was scheduled. Details of a public memorial are pending.
SOURCE

Deaf Support Network fails deaf community.

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SUPPORTERS of a deaf charity which faces an uncertain future after another charity pulled out of its base has hit out at DSN.   Via a centre that is base for the British deaf history and the  institute for sign language.
Last month the Warrington Guardian reported on the plight of Warrington and District Society for the Deaf who had seen Deafness Support Network (DSN) pulling out of the Warrington Deaf Centre - leaving it in jeopardy of closing.  At the time a DSN spokesman said: “We have been forced to review how we can best continue to deliver the best possible services to the deaf community in the area within the resources we have available.”
But Warrington and District Society for the Deaf vice chairman Martin Colville hit back. He said: “DSN as an organisation failed to show its ability to provide a comprehensive service to the deaf community of Warrington through its failure to secure the contract which had been established for over 40 years with Cheshire County Council and subsequently Warrington Borough Council, and it clearly shows that DSN has failed to understand the client group it is supposedly working for.
“The Warrington Deaf Centre physically offers the finest facilities and the deaf community of Warrington and Halton will continue to use those facilities no matter what money DSN decides to waste on any alternative provision. “  Their Wilson Patten Street base is also home to the British Deaf History Society and the Institute of British Sign Language.
Now the Warrington society is looking to establish an advocacy service in partnership with the council and the provision of an equipment service available from its new environmental equipment/aids room (EAR Room) and to find out more visit the group’s new website wdsdp.co.uk.  Mr Colville added: “We recognise that the next few months are going to be difficult but we are determined to ensure that the Warrington centre will continue to thrive no matter what alternative provision is offered by DSN.”
SOURCE

Legally blind college student from Missouri preserves disability history by digitizing ADA documents

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From Lighthouse for the Blind in St. Louis:

Sierra Gregg of Kirkwood, a senior at Missouri’s Truman State University who is legally blind, proves that hard work, dedication and belief in a cause can overcome all limitations.

Sierra discovered in 2011 that almost all of archived documents about the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) on the ADA website for the Presidential Libraries & Museums at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., were not digitized. Dismayed, Sierra began a project to convert more than 50 archived ADA documents on the website into digital formats, which are more accessible to readers with limited vision.

Sierra, now age 21, spent the past two summers in Washington, D.C., leading that effort as an intern at the Presidential Libraries. Sierra’s initiative earned White House recognition.

Sierra was born with a rare birth defect that left her legally blind.  Raised in St. Louis, she became involved with the Lighthouse for the Blind – Saint Louis. Sierra attended the Lighthouse Summer Transition Employment program (STEP), and later earned two scholarships through the Lighthouse Continuing Education program.  The scholarships covered housing costs for a summer internship in the nation’s capitol.
Sierra, who is a Computer Science major with a focus in Library Science, in January 2011 applied for a summer internship at the Presidential Libraries & Museums.  Sierra says, “I can’t explain why I decided to apply for an internship.  It was so far outside my comfort zone, but I was taught to overcome my limitations and this internship was calling to me.”

Sierra hoped for an internship where she could further explore her interest in library management.  John Thompson, president of Lighthouse for the Blind-Saint Louis, wrote a letter of recommendation for her.  Sierra was surprised and thrilled to receive an internship requiring her to monitor and write content for the social media pages of the Presidential Libraries.  With no prior social media experience, but a propensity for tackling challenges, Sierra left for Washington in summer, 2011.

Washington D.C. presented major culture shock for Sierra.  She had an hour-long commute every day on crowded buses and congested metro trains, a daunting task for anyone but especially for people who are blind.  Sierra says, “If I had not attended the Lighthouse STEP program and received training in mobility and how to travel independently, I would never have made it in D.C.”

Sierra quickly adapted to her new position of writing and researching content to post on the social media pages for the Presidential Libraries.  Midway through summer, Sierra decided to write a post about a topic near and dear to her: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

While researching the act, Sierra discovered that only two of the archived documents on the ADA website were digitized (Digitized documents are more accessible to readers with limited vision.)  Sierra also was disappointed to learn that most official records and manuscripts documenting the history of people with disabilities were not accessible to her or others with visual impairments.

She seized the opportunity to make a positive difference. Sierra spent the remainder of her summer developing a proposal to convert archived documents on the ADA website into digital documents.
Sierra left D.C. that first summer hopeful she would have the opportunity to continue her project.  A few months later, she was overjoyed to find out she had been invited to return to D.C. for a second internship in summer, 2012.

“Without scholarships from Lighthouse for the Blind-Saint Louis, I would not have been able to have internships in Washington, D.C.,” she asserts. This past summer, Sierra worked with several special interest groups and representatives at the National Archives to make her proposal a reality.

On July 26, 2012, the 22^nd anniversary of the signing of the ADA, the National Archives launched Sierra’s new web page embedded within the ADA website containing 56 newly digitized documents. These records include letters written by Helen Keller to President Herbert Hoover () and a Braille letter written to President Dwight D. Eisenhower by John Beaulieu.

The ADA was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.  The ground-breaking law mandated universal accessibility to Americans who are disabled.  The White House wrote about Sierra’s achievement on its blog.

Sierra says, “I was born visually impaired one year after the signing of the ADA.  I have grown up in a world where my visual impairment is not a hindrance to my success, only a characteristic of who I am.  The ADA has made it possible for me to get the help I need to work toward my academic and professional goals.” 

Sierra, who attended Ursuline Academy when she was growing up, plans to attend graduate school upon earning her Computer Science major degree at Truman State University. She dreams of working in a major library where she can continue her work to help make literature and documents more accessible to those who are visually impaired.

Documentary about filmmaker Jason DaSilva's personal journey with multiple sclerosis premieres at Sundance

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The Hollywood Reporter review:

PARK CITY -- It’s hard not to be moved when the strapping 25-year-old filmmaker Jason DaSilva goes down — literally — on the beach during a family vacation. He had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis the year before, but until he fell and couldn’t get up, it wasn’t a reality for him. When I Walk is the film he made chronicling his steady decline. The arc and uplift of the story might be familiar, but thanks to DaSilva’s magnetism and skillful direction, this is way more than a conventional weeper. For an audience willing to go there, perhaps on PBS or a niche cable network, it’s a satisfying and worthwhile journey.

Before being stricken, DaSilva had directed short documentaries all around the world and had lived something of a charmed life as the son of a seemingly well-to-do family of Indian descent. In order to keep himself going and keep his mind off the inevitable consequences of his illness, he decided to do what he always did -- make a film. The cruel twist of fate that befalls him is by no means a happy story and to his credit, he doesn’t sugarcoat it, but his triumphs and failures are universal. As his no-nonsense mother is fast to remind him, we are all only here for a very short time and must do the best we can. Learning to do that with an unbreakable spirit is DaSilva's victory and the strength of the film.

To keep things lively and not turn morbid, DaSilva came up with a number of clever visual strategies. Playful black-and-white animation, which he uses throughout, dramatizes the war white blood cells are fighting in his body, devouring his once-healthy nerve endings. At first he’s in denial, thinking that a vigorous exercise regimen will buy him time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and before long walking becomes an ordeal leading to new challenges. When he gets a scooter to move around the East Village, where he lives before moving to Brooklyn, he adapts and films scurrying low angle shots from that perspective.

Hoping to find some answers, both physical and spiritual, he goes to India and seeks out yoga and meditation instruction. But it doesn’t help. He struggles to dress himself, and his vision becomes blurred. His favorite grandmother finances a trip to Lourdes, but a miracle does not happen, at least not the way he expected.

As things get worse, his ever-realistic mother tells him that we are all ultimately alone in life, and DaSilva despairs that he will end his days like that. And then he meets Alice Cook, who gradually becomes his soulmate. In one of the film’s most moving scenes, they exchange vows in a small ceremony in a city park and put a "Just Married" sign on his scooter. It’s that kind of humor that helps elevate the material.

Alice is a breath of fresh air not only for DaSilva, but for the film as well. Good-natured without being immune to melt-downs, she not only cares for her husband but also picks up some of the filmmaking responsibilities, contributing to the brisk editing and making the project a true partnership.

And then the miracle does happen — Alice becomes pregnant, much to the delight of the parents-to-be. Given the circumstances, it’s a joyous ending. Life goes on, and, as DaSilva so gallantly demonstrates, for that we can all be grateful.

Production Companies: In Face Films
Director: Jason DaSilva
Screenwriter: Jason DaSilva, Alice Cook
Producers: Jason DaSilva, Alice Cook
Executive producers: Stanley Nelson, Yael Melamede, Lydia Dean-Pilcher
Directors of photography: Leigh DaSilva, Karin Hayes, Alice Cook
Music: Jeff Beal
Editor: Jason DaSilva, Alice Cook
No rating, 80 minutes

Sen. Mark Kirk on how his stroke made him a better senator — and a better man

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From Sen. Mark Kirk in The Washington Post. (Mark Kirk is the junior senator from Illinois.)

“Am I going to die today?” I asked Jay as we rode together in an ambulance through the streets of Chicago. Jay Alexander was my doctor but also my friend, and I knew he wouldn’t lie. “Just give me a percentage,” I pleaded.

“There’s a 98 percent chance you’re not going to die today,” he said.

It wasn’t the way I expected my day to go, but as soon as I’d felt dizzy and experienced numbness in my left arm that Saturday morning, Jan. 21, 2012, I knew I was in trouble. An MRI soon discovered that the inner lining of my carotid artery had peeled away. The dissected artery was blocking the blood flow to my brain, putting me in imminent danger of a stroke.

Anticoagulants kept my blood pressure down, and for a few hours I seemed to stabilize. But then the numbness and tingling on my left side worsened, and my vision got blurry.

Jay, who had met me at the emergency room at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, ordered me transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, which has a certified stroke center. It was on the way there that he gave me my chances and assured me that, given my age and health, my chances for recovery from a stroke were good.

I was in my hospital bed when the waves came and I began to lose control of my body and mind. Unbelievable, I thought. I’m only 52. I didn’t even know anyone who’d had a stroke.

More than a week later, I regained a confused consciousness in the intensive care unit. I knew I was lying in a bed. I thought someone was sharing the bed with me, but it was my own leg. I vaguely remember a party the ICU staff had for the Super Bowl and the smell of the food they brought.

I had two operations to relieve the swelling in my brain and remained at Northwestern Memorial until Feb. 10, when I was transferred to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). In all that time, I remember only one rational thought: I needed to get out of there and back to reality, back to my job serving the people of Illinois, which has always been the greatest ambition of my life.

I still worried I would die. I dreamed that three angels came into my room and wanted me to go with them, but I said no because I knew where I was, on the ninth floor of the RIC, and why I was there: to begin a long, difficult recovery from an ischemic stroke.

When you’ve been flat on your back for weeks, your circulatory system doesn’t respond well the first time you try to get up. The therapists at the RIC were prepared for that. They strapped me on a table and tipped it upright. I passed out immediately. When I came to, I realized how hard a recovery I faced if I couldn’t even stand up.

I had blood clots in my leg that were treated with anticoagulants. I asked a doctor what would happen to me if one of the clots broke loose. “You could have a pulmonary embolism,” he answered, “and you would die.”

At best, I thought it unlikely that I would recover enough to return to the Senate. I had always been a glass-half-empty kind of guy, a believer in Murphy’s Law.

The staff at the RIC consider that kind of attitude debilitating, and they don’t tolerate it in their patients. My physical therapist, Mike Klonowski, was a tyrant and, God bless him, a great inspiration. The stroke had severely impaired my left leg, but Mike expected me to walk again. He would teach me how to do it, or we would both die trying.

One day he pulled me into a seated position on my bed, but I couldn’t stay upright. He kept pulling me up, and I kept falling over. “Give me a second, will you,” I snapped. “I’m about as weak as you can get.” But whenever I thought I couldn’t do anything, Mike and everyone at the RIC always answered, “You will be able to.”

He had me on the treadmill as soon as I could manage. I regarded my left leg as a lifeless appendage. Mike kept insisting that it would bear weight. The moment I realized that it would, and that I could swing it from my hip and propel myself forward, was the breakthrough revelation of my rehabilitation.

Kept upright by a track and a harness, I wanted to run down the hallway that day — and tried. But Mike stopped me and told me that slow walking was more instructive to my brain. I disagreed; we had a screaming match. He prevailed.

Hour after hour on that infernal machine, trying to do a simple thing that my brain would no longer communicate to my limb, was torture. Once, during an exhausting session, I threw up on Mike. He just looked up and said, “I can’t believe you did that to me.”

I wanted to give up almost every day. I was indescribably fatigued. I wanted to sleep all the time, a common desire in stroke sufferers. But I was beginning to believe. I used the prospect of returning to work, of climbing up the steps of the Capitol and walking the 50 paces to the Senate floor, as motivation. With every swing of my leg on the treadmill, I became more convinced I would do it.

Once, when I was a little down in the dumps, the RIC chaplain read to me from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

I’m different from what I was. My left leg and left arm might never work like they once did, but my mind is sharp. I’m capable of doing the work entrusted to me by the people of Illinois, but I am forever changed.

I’m an optimist now, grateful for every blessing. Bad things happen, but life is still waiting for you to make the most of it. I want my life to count for something more than the honors I once craved. I believe it will.

My faith is stronger. My humility is deeper. I know I depend on family and friends more than I ever realized. I know, too, that the things that divide us in politics are infinitesimal compared with the dignity of our common humanity.

Climbing the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 3 was one of the greatest moments of my life. It was a goal fulfilled and a message to all stroke survivors: Never, ever give up.

I was the beneficiary of many kindnesses from colleagues on both sides of the aisle after my stroke, and those acts will forever matter more to me than any political differences. I don’t expect to be the same senator I was before my stroke — I hope to be a better one. I want to make my life matter by doing work that matters to others. I want to do it with the help of my friends, Republicans and Democrats, and to share the satisfaction of knowing we have honored our public trust together.

I was once a pessimist. I’m not that man anymore. And that change, brought about by misfortune, is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Singer, "Glee Project" alum Ali Stroker to guest star on Valentine's Day episode of "Glee"

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From Cartermatt.com:

Ali Stroker is the newest “Glee Project” alum to make her way onto “Glee.”

Stroker (who was one of the runner-ups to Blake Jenner on the Oxygen competition this past season) is set to play the role of Betty, Emma Pillsbury’s niece who is attending her wedding to Will during the “I Do” episode on Thursday night.

We don’t know if she has an arc that lasts beyond just an episode or not just yet, but the photo clearly shows her getting her groove on with Artie (Kevin McHale) while out on the dance floor.

Media dis&dat posted about Stroker in 2011 when she played the role of Olive in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Paper Mill Playhouse, running at the Millburn Theatre in 2011. At that time, she may have been "the first actress in a wheelchair in American Musical Theatre to have a leading role in a professional musical."

Here's her bio from imdb:

Ali is a New York York City actress and singer, and has been for over three quarters of her life. She studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, concentrated in drama. Ali has been paralyzed from the chest down since she was two years old and uses a wheelchair because of a car accident. She wants to inspire others with disabilities who want to be performers to follow their dreams. She originally auditioned for The Glee Project at a casting call in New York City. Ali is a Mezzo-Soprano but because she is paralyzed, she cannot engage the diaphragm, stomach, or core, she creates her own singing techniques. She's a strong swimmer, and learns to surf with the group Life Rolls On.

'Game of Thrones' star Peter Dinklage joins 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

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From Entertainment Weekly:

A superhero always pays his debts.

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage is joining the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Director Bryan Singer tweeted the news tonight, although he did not specify which character the actor would play.

While we’re of the mind that the charismatic 43-year-old could play any badass he put his mind to, there are a few Marvel mutant characters that would match his diminutive height.

One would be Puck, a strapping adventurer who found his physical stature shrunk by mystical forces — making him smaller, but no less of a forceful fighter.

But it’s unclear whether the character, which was part of Marvel’s Alpha Flight series (which started in 1983) would be covered by 20th Century Fox’s license to make movies based on the X-Men comics. Puck is technically an “altered human,” and he did have various adventures alongside the X-Men team, so it very well could count. We won’t know for sure until Singer reveals more.

Marvel sold film rights to Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, among others, before Marvel Studios began making its own movies, such as the interlocked Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Avengers titles, so it’s always a question of which character can be used by whom. For instance, Marvel Studios can’t use any of its comic book mutant characters in its own films, since those all fall under the X-Men deal with Fox.

The reverse goes for MODOK, another smallish Marvel character whose size belies his chaos-causing prowess as a villain. He would fall under the Marvel Studios/Disney banner, and be unavailable to the Fox X-Men series.

But such speculation sells Dinklage, well, short.

This star of The Station Agent and Game of Thrones has personality that transcends his height, and could being energy and charm to just about character — good, evil, or in-between — that Singer hands him.

Days of Future Past, which is set to debut in July 2014, will also feature Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart as older versions of Magneto and Prof. X, while X-Men: First Class prequel stars Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy will reprise the younger versions of those characters, with Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and, Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman also set to return.

Government official gives a lecture in Okayama Prefecture

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Muraki san appeals for "society comfortable in the feeling of "each other".
(photo: http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/)

 January 14, 2013

Muraki Atsuko (57), the head of the Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, gave a lecture entitled "Counting on local convivial society" in the civic hall in Soja-shi, Okayama Prefecture on January 14. After arrested in the forgery incident of the Ministry, she was declared being innocent after all.

While Director Muraki said that while it tends to be considered that the working population's burden will increase by low birthrate and longevity from now on, the present condition that elderly people support a volunteer activity or disabled person employment is progressing.

She introduced the example that the Deaf salesclerk got the visitor write an order in a check at the cake shop. She said, " Everybody has power. It is important to help use of the power."

She also introduced the episode that her family and friends supported her while she was in a prison. "If everybody cooperates each other in the feeling of "each other," society will be comfortable to live."

The lecture meeting was a big event for the city health and welfare convention sponsored by the city and city social welfare council. About 1,000 citizens attended it .


Japanese original article:
http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/news_s/news/d/2013011421091476/