Sign Language Blog

Sign Language Interpreters in Demand

In response to growing national and international demand, the University of Alberta and Lakeland College are launching a new program to train sign-language interpreters.

The diploma program, which will begin this fall, will be the first such course in Alberta and the fifth offered at a Canadian postsecondary institution.

“Alberta, like every other province in this country, has a critical shortage of sign-language interpreters and so the demand for interpreters far outweighs the supply,” said Debra Russell, director of the Western Canadian Centre of Studies in Deafness, which is based at the U of A, and a consultant for the program.

Speaking their language - This is Bury
PARENTS and relatives of deaf children in Bury can now “speak” their language after completing a course. A basic sign language course was held by Bury Deaf Children’s Society (BDCS) to raise awareness of the problems that deaf people have when

BU researchers developing sign language video dictionary - Boston Globe
BOSTON Even though Joan Nash has been using American Sign Language for most of her life and has made a career of teaching deaf and hearing impaired children, she is sometimes stumped when she encounters a sign she has never seen. She can’t just

The perfect gift for Mother’s Day - Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — This Mother’s Day, Margaret Lenahan won’t be looking for gifts. She already found a million dollars. Her 16-year-old son, James, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder — which is defined by the National Institute of

Howard Education Notes - Baltimore Sun
Commencement exercises for the 37th Howard Community College graduating class will begin at 4 p.m. Friday on the college campus, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Graduates from the spring 2008 semester and 2007 summer and fall semesters will

Mother, son graduate together - Meridian Star
Melissa Acton wasn’t in the audience when her son, Chance Tucker, received his degree from Meridian Community College Saturday at Northcrest Baptist Church. She was on stage with him. “I watched him walk across and get his degree,” said Acton

Muslims seek understanding Metro Detroit - Detroit Free Press
Dalia Elsouhag is puzzled by some strangers’ attempts to communicate with her. Some use hand gestures akin to sign language, apparently presuming she doesn’t speak English because she covers her hair as part of her Muslim religious beliefs. “I was

A path to career exploration - Garden City Telegram
Through all her years of school, Maria Gomez has wanted to be a teacher, she said. In fact, her third-grade teacher told her mom that although she was a good student, she always tried to take over the class. Now, Gomez is about ready to graduate from

Day care’s babies can’t talk, so they use sign language - Winnipeg Free Press
It’s hard to tell your mom what you want when you’re 15 months old and not able to talk yet. But thanks to a new baby sign language program at a local day-care centre — and a fund created to honour the retirement of a Canadian banking executive

Popemania and pizza perfection - WorldNetDaily
The very same Sunday the visiting pope ties up ground and air traffic throughout the East coast of the United States of America on planet Earth, my fondest friend “Freddy from Fresno,” not his real name, and I decide to go out for pizza at the

In Zimbabwe jail: A reporter’s ordeal - International Herald Tribune
HARARE, Zimbabwe : I had never been arrested before and the prospect of prison in Zimbabwe, one of the poorest, most repressive places on earth, seemed especially forbidding: the squalor, the teeming cells, the possibility of beatings. But I told

In Zimbabwe Jail: A Reporter s Ordeal - New York Times
HARARE, Zimbabwe I had never been arrested before and the prospect of prison in Zimbabwe, one of the poorest, most repressive places on earth, seemed especially forbidding: the squalor, the teeming cells, the possibility of beatings. But I told

Deaf feel dance ‘vibe’ - JCDC facilitates hearing impaired through - Jamaica Gleaner
Without being able to hear, it seems almost impossible for someone to be able to dance. However, with a routine and just through feeling the vibrations from the music, this can be achieved. The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) has been

A school for the deaf - Las Vegas Sun
A charter school scheduled to open this fall will be the first school in Nevada dedicated to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Six years in the planning, the Las Vegas Charter School of the Deaf received final approval from the Clark County

Church Calendar - Daily News Journal
The Smyrna First United Methodist Women hosts its annual yard sale from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Smyrna First United Methodist Church, 301 Sam Hager Road, Smyrna, behind Regal Furniture. Furniture, books, dishes, and odds and ends will be available. All

Broward educator named to National Teachers Hall of Fame - Miami Herald
David Lazerson, right, a teacher at The Quest Center in Hollywood, is given the news Tuesday that he has been named to the National Teachers Hall of Fame by volunteer Carol Strickland. David Lazerson sat in the background strumming his electric

Marlee Matlin is eliminated from `Dancing With the Stars’ - ABC News
This week’s celebrity casualty was Marlee Matlin, who came into Tuesday’s results show with 21 out of 30 points. The actress, who is deaf, lost her timing at various points during her mambo Monday with professional partner Fabian Sanchez, and the

Aiding the deaf - Baltimore Sun
How she got started // Curran went to college as an education major, hoping to concentrate in special education. However, she decided teaching children wasn’t exactly what she wanted. Taking a break from college, Curran worked in customer service at

Calendar — Urbandale, Johnston - Des Moines Register
Recycled Art Show - April 21-25. Grimes Public Library, 200 N. James St., Grimes. 986-3551; www.grimes.lib.ia.us . Good News Five - Tenor, tenor/lead, and keyboard accompanist are needed. New Hope Assembly of God, 6800 Townsend Ave., Urbandale. 276

Israel Approves West Bank Construction
FOX News - The Jewish soldier died of his wounds Sunday and was buried in a funeral ceremony conducted partly in sign language, because both his parents are deaf. U.S. envoy Lt. Gen. William Fraser III is scheduled to arrive in the region on Thursday for his

Another Soldier gone Corporal was loved, admired by many
Tacoma News Tribune - We visited Kevin here at the base about three times before he was deployed into Iraq, said Harold Mowl, speaking through a sign-language interpreter.

The New York World
New York Observer - The verdict on the Rag and Bone fashion show? Boring! says Heathcliff. Heathcliff Felix Alastair Euan Rellie turns 5 on July 31. He was born at Saint Vincent s Hospital downtown. He s in his final year of preschool at the West Village

Speaking a different language: Local schools may offer Chinese and
Chaska Herald - Chaska High School currently offers Spanish, German, French and American Sign Language. For now, the changes are only proposals for the district teams developing programs to begin in September 2009 at each of the secondary schools.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
News Shopper - In Clownderella Kinny teaches his crowd to use sign language and in The Selfish Crocodile, Blunderbus Theatre Company works the names of children present into each performance.

Sugar Shout Out: Brandon, Brenda, Dylan or Kelly?
Popsugar - Celebs Show Off Their Stuff at ShoWest Ryan and Deacon’s Amazingly Adorable Athletic Afternoon Paris Has Her BF, But Bjork Has a Cat Boyfriend! Sign Language ANTM: The Meat Fashion Shoot Play GiggleSugar’s New Game:

Holy Week services are scheduled in mid-Hudson
Poughkeepsie Journal - American sign language interpretation will be provided at the 10:30 a.m. services on Palm Sunday, March 16, and Easter Sunday, March 23. Sunday school and nursery care provided. 845-454-2960.

‘Henrietta the Eighth’ rules in New Athens
News-Democrat - As a special service for the deaf, students from the Southwestern Illinois College Sign Language Interpreting Program will interpret both performances.

Family’s story of devastation at hands of drunken driver a stark
Herald & Review - Brown, who is not deaf, was fluent in sign language before the crash and still communicates with her sister through the manual alphabet - spelling words with her fingers.

Greenwich Theatre festival is down with the kids
News Shopper - In Clownderella Kinny teaches his crowd to use sign language and in The Selfish Crocodile, Blunderbus Theatre Company works the names of children present into each performance.

Disability rhetoric must be made reality
Guardian Unlimited - On the single occasion a social worker met D, who uses sign language, no signer was present. When the council eventually set up a review panel to look into the case, following external pressure, social services told the panel that the social worker

What’s Up in the Albemarle 03/12
Daily Advance - Attendees will cover 18 educational topics, including learning conversational Spanish, sign language, storytelling, recognizing child abuse and food safety.

Doctors use Botox to treat rare neurological illness
Billings Gazette - She even considered learning sign language. With the injections, her vocal life is returning to normal. “I feel like myself again,” Hearn said. As is the case with all Botox treatments, there is a possibility for complications - such as sucking liquid

Sent back to Cuba
Miami Herald - Translations also can be difficult, and this case involved adults who use sign language. Still, the decision was made to send the family back.

Stanwood kids thrive in mixed-ability classroom
Everett Herald - Quietly shadowing him, Catherine rose to her feet as well, making sure to give Josh the space he needed to lead his classmates as they used American Sign Language to review March-themed words, such as shamrock, kite and rainbow.

Coming attractions
St. Petersburg Times - A sign language interpreter will be present at the 2 p.m. Sunday show. Tickets are $20 online at www.tarponarts.org or call (727) 942-5605. Send entertainment items for Diversions:

School defies agency order to admit service dog
Newsday - Voels and a sign language translator spoke to the teenager, his mother, Nancy Cave, and family attorney Paul Margiotta as reporters watched from a distance.

Feature: Al-Qaida still grips Diyala
United Press International - An Iraqi woman’s response to a sign-language question as to the health of the young child she was carrying was an almost imperceptible nod and a smile faster than a blink before she returned to her eyes-down march past a column of Stryker armored

Change for Riley
Elkhart Truth - What seemed like an improbable dream was the Helen Keller Services for the Blind, a place where Riley could learn sign language. But the institute is in New York — too far away and expensive for the family to go.

Culturally sensitive conquistadors of the old world
Swathmore College Phoenix - Making full use of every noun we learned in our ten-day crash-course in Hungarian and copious amounts of impromptu sign language, we explained that we were American math students visiting from Budapest.

Time for a Change
Egypt Today - Because it s a very long story, Bahaa asks in sign language, through interpreter Wael Samir. Bahaa could hear until he was 18 months old, when a doctor prescribed the wrong medicine, which led to a high fever and gradual deafness.

Husband, wife and mother-in-law all serve Crofton Kiwanis Club
HometownAnnapolis.com - Free eight-week sign language class hosted by the Church of God at Gambrills, 952 Annapolis Road, Gambrills. Classes will be held simultaneously for adults and children ages 8-12 on Saturdays from 9-11 a.m.

Directing DeSales’ ‘Miracle Worker’ required a special touch
Allentown Morning Call - Dennis says he learned American Sign Language and the finger spelling alphabet for that role. ‘’It’s a huge challenge to be a dedicated teacher in that field, and these people are very special educators and human beings.'’ ‘’The Miracle Worker

Youth theater group to stage ‘Rap’s Hawaii’
Honolulu Advertiser - An American Sign Language-interpreted performance will be held at 4:30 p.m. March 8. Tickets are $8 for children and $16 for adults; college students with ID and seniors age 60 and over are admitted for $8; active duty military receive one free child