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So I'm watching the Weather Channel. (I'm allowed. My 93 year old Mom lives on the Intracoastal in West Palm Beach.) And there's some government guy, in the Carolinas I think, talking about doom and destruction in a little window on the screen. In another window, three times the size, there's some fat oaf flailing away, almost assuredly at taxpayer expense, with his hands and arms. I assume he was "signing" the words of the government guy. So I looked. Our deaf or nearly deaf population is about a million. (And they must be illiterate or blind too, because it...

Police allegedly shot dead a deaf man outside his front door as he tried to communicate with them in sign language. Officers in North Carolina had attempted to pull over 29-year-old Daniel Harris last Thursday for speeding, according to NBC. But instead of slowing down, Mr Harris continued on his way home. One witness reported Mr Harris was then shot and killed "almost immediately" after exiting his vehicle". The witness said it appeared the victim had attempted to communicate with an officer via sign language when he was fired on outside of his home.

A North Carolina state trooper shot dead a deaf and mute man who was apparently trying to communicate using sign language after he was pulled over for a speeding violation. Daniel Kevin Harris, 29, a father to a four-year-old boy, was killed just feet from his home in Charlotte by trooper Jermaine Saunders on Thursday evening. Police say Saunders tried to pull Harris over for a speeding violation on Interstate 485 at around 6.15pm, but the driver led authorities on a brief pursuit before stopping. Officials said that's when the driver got out of his car and an encounter took...

Charlotte, NC — A community and family is mourning the loss of Daniel Kevin Harris, whose life was taken this week by a State Trooper who apparently fears sign language. Harris, who is deaf and mute, was gunned down in front of his house. According to police, trooper Jermaine Saunders attempted to pull Harris over around 6:14 p.m. on Thursday. For an unknown reason, Harris did not stop and, instead, drove to his home. During the pursuit, both cars became damaged and eventually came to a stop near Harris’ home. “I was here in my driveway and I saw the...

(NEW YORK) - A Virginia man's Facebook post is creating some Internet buzz after he shared a note from a Starbucks employee who offered a kind gesture. Ibby Piracha, who is deaf, told ABC News through an interpreter that he was surprised Friday morning to be greeted by the familiar barista with sign language. "I usually use my phone and I'll text them what I want to order," Piracha of Leesburg, Virginia, said. "She was saying she looked on YouTube because she had a lot of customers that came in using text. I was very surprised she was willing...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Did I not tell you? Did I tell you, right here it is in the Wall Street Journal: "Donald Trump Makes Pitch to Democrats in South Carolina." That had to be the explanation for Trump's strategy on Saturday night. It had to be. South Carolina is an open primary. Polling data's all over the place, by the way. The internal Bush poll for which there are two sources -- so somebody in the Bush camp is leaking polling data, 'cause this is internal stuff -- and the internal polling of candidates we hardly ever see, and, in...

FULL TITLE: Quiet that ringing in the brain: New drug promises relief from epilepsy and tinnitus with fewer side effects =================================================================================================== A new drug may treat epilepsy and prevent tinnitus by selectively affecting potassium channels in the brain, UConn neurophysiologist Anastasios Tzingounis and colleagues report in the 10 June Journal of Neuroscience. Epilepsy and tinnitus are both caused by overly excitable nerve cells. Healthy nerves have a built-in system that slams on the brakes when they get too excited. But in some people this braking system doesn't work, and the nerves run amok, signaling so much that the brain gets...

Q: I wanted to share my experience with tinnitus. It's not incapacitating, but it is annoying. I found something that helps by serendipity. My wife has hair loss. She takes levothyroxine (Synthroid) and liothyronine (Cytomel) because her thyroid was removed via radiation. She also takes biotin to lessen her hair loss. I'm bald on top, but I thought I'd see if biotin would help grow new hair. It didn't. What DID happen with the very first dose was total elimination of my tinnitus! A few hours after I take the biotin, the tinnitus returns, but at a much lower intensity....

Robert Folmer of the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center gave people with chronic tinnitus transcranial magnetic stimulation as part of a study. Participants found their symptoms decreased by about a third. (Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center ) ================================================================================================= Imagine dealing with stresses of every day, juggling the demands of family life and deadlines at work, with a constant ringing in your ears? That's just what millions of Americans who suffer from tinnitus face. Hope could be on the way. New research by the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University found that a noninvasive technique involving...

Sensory hair cells in the cochlea of a Beethoven mouse treated with TMC2 gene therapy. In this confocal microscopy image, microvilli are shown in red and cell bodies in green. The human ear has about 16,000 sensory hair cells. Credit: Charles Askew :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Using gene therapy, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have restored hearing in mice with a genetic form of deafness. Their work, published online July 8 by the journal Science Translational Medicine, could pave the way for gene therapy in people with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations. "Our gene therapy protocol is not...

Anyone wanting to speak to the president must stop by her desk first. Leah Katz-Hernandez, 27, is the new White House receptionist. She is also deaf. “It’s a fantastic opportunity and also to show that deaf people can do anything,” she said through an interpreter, who is provided for her at work. With a desk just steps away from the Oval Office, Katz-Hernandez is usually the first to greet anyone — from world leaders to White House staff members — who has an appointment with the president or his top-level aides. She also oversees the White House guest book and...

After more than two years and an estimated $20,000, a research group in the mechanical engineering department has created the first 3D printer capable of printing LED lights. The venture was led by researcher Yong Lin Kong and Ian Tamargo '14, and was sponsored by the Air Force of Scientific Research and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The research group McAlpine, led by mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Michael McAlpine, made a breakthrough more than a year ago after it successfully printed 3D bionic ears, devices that can hear sound frequencies beyond the capacity of a human ear, out...

Deaf and severely hearing impaired individuals could soon serve in the Air Force if legislation introduced in July by a California lawmaker is passed. An Air Force captain convinced U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, to introduce a bill that would allow deaf and hearing impaired people to serve in the Air Force as part of a pilot or demonstration program. Current Defense Department hearing requirements bar the deaf from serving, as well as individuals who currently require or previously used a hearing aid, or have a cochlear ear implant.

Deaf Californians looking to sign up for health insurance coverage through the state’s Obamacare exchange were directed Monday to a hotline offering to connect them with “hot ladies.” As some Californians learned on the final day of open enrollment, one of the phone numbers provided by Covered California, the state’s online exchange, was 1-888-899-4500, one digit off from the real number, 1-888-889-4500. So instead of being connected to an Obamacare representative, some hearing-impaired Californians were instead sent to an “adult entertainment” phone service. “Welcome to America’s hottest talk line. Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press one...

Vatican City, Mar 12, 2014 / 12:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As the first pontiff to meet with those who are blind and deaf in an exclusive audience, Pope Francis will hold the gathering later this month – an encounter participants are highly anticipating. “I am pleased that the Pope is making the whole world aware of our world by having an audience with us for the first time” Jakob Badde told CNA on March 10, “we have a great deficiency and most people do not know why and what it means to us.” Badde hails from Germany – the son...

Pearl Pearson is a 64 year-old diabetic deaf driver who resides in the Oklahoma City area. On the evening of January 3rd, Pearl crossed paths with the wrong cops. The following is the story according to Pearl Pearson and family of what happened that night: What’s the story? At this time, only limited details can be provided since this case is under investigation. 1. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol pulled Pearl over late in the evening on January 3, 2014. Pearl pulled over as he should. 2. Pearl’s driver’s license indicates he is Deaf. He also has a placard in his...

watch video here NOTE: it is OK to be a Niner fan and still be inspired by this guy Coleman is essentially deaf. He's been that way since being diagnosed with a genetic and incurable hearing impairment as a toddler. The disability could have stopped Coleman. Instead, he adapted, starring as a running back in high school and at UCLA before catching on as fullback with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. The team was confident enough in Coleman's abilities to cut starting fullback Michael Robinson during training camp. Robinson was later brought back, but Coleman has...

Confession. Credit: catholicrelics.co.uk.. Phoenix, Ariz., Dec 20, 2013 / 02:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Phoenix, Ariz., priest has invented a computer system intended to help Catholics who are deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired to make their confessions. Father Romuald P. Zantua, the system’s inventor, told CBCP News that his invention will help increase the practice of confessions, especially for deaf people who have limited access to priests who know sign language. The website for the system, called St. Damien’s Confession Box, says it is primarily aimed at the deaf and those with speech impediments who may not be able to communicate...

ou can't make things like this up, but this unnamed man apparently did. From AP via My Way News (12/11/2013): Mandela ceremony interpreter called a 'fake' JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A man who provided sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela's memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a "fake," the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Tuesday. Asked about the claim by The Associated Press, South Africa's government said it was preparing a statement. Three sign language experts said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages....

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A man who appeared to provide sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela's memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a "fake," the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Wednesday. The unidentified man seen around the world on television next to leaders including United States President Barack Obama "was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for," Bruno Druchen, the federation's national director, told The Associated Press. The allegation was yet another example of bad organization at the historic memorial...