Researchers in the United Arab Emirates have developed contact lenses that can help to correct color blindness, Medgadget reports. Containing gold nanoparticles, the lenses help to increase red-green contrast in wearers while also functioning as corrective lenses. Red-green color blindness can...
Current laws in the UK strictly prohibit anyone beyond the 12 sworn jurors from entering jury deliberation rooms. This is to safeguard against outside influence. However, it means that a sign language interpreter would be deemed an unlawful ‘13th person’, thus preventing those who require their...
Although she is mainly remembered for her advocacy for people with disabilities, Helen Keller also described herself as a “militant suffragette” and participated in the large parade known as the “Woman Suffrage Procession” in Washington, DC in 1913. Keller graduated from Radcliffe...
Israel’s only deaf rabbi is translating the entire Torah into sign language, the Times of Israel reports. Speaking through a sign language interpreter, Rabbi Yehoshua Soudakoff said it was a big responsibility to try to make Judaism accessible for the 15,000 Israelis who are deaf or hard of...
Vermonters who are deaf or hard of hearing should have an easier time at their local Department of Motor Vehicles office after the state’s purchase of 11 new communications devices, the Eagle Times reports. The devices have two small keyboards and a double-sided screen, allowing users to type...
NBC is developing Look At Me, a drama series inspired by the life of deaf model, actor and activist Nyle DiMarco, Vulture reports. Written by Tom Donnelly and Josh Oppenheimer (Conan the Barbarian), Look At Me is an ensemble drama about a multi-generational deaf family and their hearing...
The breakout hit of this year’s Sundance Film Festival will expand the conversation about diversity in Hollywood, the Houston Chronicle reports. “CODA,” which stands for “Child of Deaf Adults,” depicts the life of a mostly deaf family that communicates through sign language. It’s remake of...
Ever since the National Association of the Deaf asked him last month to perform the national anthem in American Sign Language at Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame, Warren ‘Wawa’ Snipe, who is deaf, began studying the lyrics and translating them to ASL, The Washington Post reports. “I would...
Ford Motor Company has received patent-pending approval for a new, clear respirator mask, CNN reports. The company announced it expects the mask to work just as well as an N95. “One of the things that’s missing during the pandemic is the power of a smile,” said Jim Baumbick, a...
Fire Captain Andrea Hall is President of the International Association of Firefighters Local 3920 and the first African American woman to serve as fire captain of her county in Georgia. When she was selected to deliver the Pledge of Allegiance at the inauguration, she decided to do it in American...
Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people have welcomed the increased visibility that deafness and hearing loss have enjoyed on TV lately, The New York Times reports. In the current season of “The Bachelor,” on ABC, Abigail Heringer is believed to be the first deaf contestant and cochlear-implant...
Patty Sakal, an American Sign Language interpreter who translated updates about the coronavirus for deaf Hawaiians, died on Friday of complications from Covid-19, The New York Times reports. She was 62. Ms. Sakal worked as an A.S.L. interpreter for nearly four decades in a variety of settings, and...