Deaf-Blind Diver Defies The Toughest Odds

Deaf-Blind Heather diver defies the toughest odds.



Baysidereviewlocal.com.au - Heather Lawson is possibly the first Deaf-Blind person in Australia to go scuba diving, and one of only a few in the world to have done so.



The 54-year-old Frankston adventurer, who was born Deaf and gradually lost her sight (as have two of her siblings), has skydived and bungee-jumped, climbed rocks and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, flown in a hot air balloon and skied over snow and water.



Scuba diving has long been on her bucket list. Last week she spent an hour in the shallow waters of Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, thanks to a support team of seven including her Auslan tactile interpreters and local dive instructor Mike Letch, founder of the Disabled Divers Association.



Ms Lawson was tethered to a scuba hose, her tank floating separately so she could explore and sign freely. She held starfish, kelp and sea urchins as interpreter Bill Hynes also Deaf, and a qualified diver described everything to her in water up to three metres deep and 200 metres offshore.



Mr Letch said later that Ms Lawson's perception of her surroundings was incredible to witness.



"She was so much more in tune with a whole lot of stuff going on than the rest of us," he said. "She's super switched on, super intelligent. We want her to become a regular next year, now that we know how it can be done."



Back on shore, Ms Lawson - her grin as wide as the harbour bridge she climbed - declared the experience "amazing". "I wish I was a seal, then I could stay in the water all day," she said. "I was pretty nervous before going in, but it was incredible. I was so determined to breathe properly and ignore the waves. ...READ MORE: http://www.baysidereviewlocal.com.au/story/1351254/blind-deaf-diver-defies-the-toughest-odds/?cs=1473



Gallery: Deaf-blind Heather scuba-diving:

- Click here for our picture gallery of Heather's big dive

$5.75 Million Settlement Awarded To Deaf & Blind Students

VIDEO: Hawaiireporter.com - $5.75 Million Settlement Awarded to Deaf and Blind Students Sexually Assaulted by Gang at Hawaii Public School.



HONOLULU - A young girl is forced to perform oral sex on an older boy while he films her with his cell phone camera and students at their school look on, another young girl becomes pregnant after she is raped by a male student at her school, a young boy is sodomized in the bathroom by an older student, but school administrators don’t penalized the perpetrator, another child is sexually assaulted by five boys on campus, and nothing is done to stop them or punish them after the fact.



These are not scenarios from an NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode, they are actual events that parents say took place at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind, the state’s only public school for children with these disabilities.

Video by KHONNewsHawaii



For more than a decade, some of the school’s administrators and students covered up a terrible secret young children between 12 and 16 years old were being terrorized - robbed, raped, sodomized and even gang raped on campus and on the school buses – not by employees, but by other children. There are just 80 children enrolled in the school, which is located on the edge of Waikiki, Hawaii’s main tourism hub, and just across the street from the Honolulu Zoo.



One student heading a gang calling themselves the “Ringleaders” orchestrated the attacks, and students were ordered to participate as attackers or retaliated against.



Michael Green is one of five attorneys who successfully secured a $5,750,000 settlement last week from the state and a school counselor. ... READ MORE: http://www.hawaiireporter.com/5-75-million-settlement-awarded-to-deaf-and-blind-students-sexually-assaulted-by-gang-at-hawaii-public-school/123



Related Articles:

Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Involving Deaf & Blind Students

Arrests Made In Alleged Sex Assaults At Hawaii's School For The Deaf and Blind

My Child is Deaf and Blind: NDCS Family Story

VIDEO: My child is Deaf and Blind: NDCS family story. (Captioned)



Parents Kevin and Jane tell us about life with their Deafblind son Gethin, including why they have taken up rock climbing! Find out how to make activities accessible for Deaf children:

Video by ndcswebteam



Visit http://www.ndcs.org.uk/me2 for more information.

Song: Sidewalk by Jason Shaw http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/SIDEWALK



Related of blindness: The story of my progressive vision loss. What will I do when I become entirely blind? http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2013/02/committing-suicide-over-going-deaf-and.html

Committing Suicide Over Going Deaf and Blind

VIDEO: Committing suicide over going Deaf and Blind (American Sign Language, English Subtitles)



The story of my progressive vision loss. What will I do when I become entirely blind?



Life has unbounded possibilities. There's no good reason to deny the opportunities that come your way as you grow out of your comfort zones.



Deafblindness may be the result of different etiologies. But there are many strategies for apapting to Deafblindness and being able to life to the fullest.



Many believe Deafblind means total deafness or blindness and this is often not the case.

Video by eduardoamadera



Related Issue:



The two men, 45, from the Antwerp region were both born Deaf and sought euthanasia after finding that they would also soon go blind.



The pair told doctors that they were unable to bear the thought of not being able to see each other again.



Facing blindness, two Deaf twin brothers elected to commit assisted suicide in Belgium via lethal injection. This assisted suicide case is unusual - neither man was terminally ill nor suffering unbearable pain. Read more: Deaf Twin Brothers Voluntarily Euthanized

Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Involving Deaf & Blind Students

Video: KHON2 - Settlement reached in lawsuit involving Deaf and Blind students.



HONOLULU - A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a sex assault lawsuit involving Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind. It's been a year and a half since the State was sued by a group of students at the school. The students alleged they had been sexually abused by other students.



Friday, the attorney representing the group announced that a multi-million dollar settlement has been reached. A spotlight was cast on the Hawaii Center for the Deaf and Blind in the Kapahulu area in 2011, after police started investigating allegations of widespread sex abuse between classmates.



In August 2011, Honolulu attorney Michael Green filed a lawsuit against the state, on behalf of 50 to 60 students.

Video by KHONNewsHawaii



"What we found out was, and I never thought about this, that we had children who were the aggressors, we're talking about sodomizing boys, boys on boys, boys on girls, girls on girls, in the bathroom, on school buses, in the bushes, that because no one seemed to care it seemed like it was okay. So people who were victims became aggressors. And you know that part that maybe affected me the most aside from the fact it's happening to young people, and people that have disabilities is that if you cry out who can hear you? If you have blind students who can see it?" said Green.



The State has now agreed to pay $5M to settle the lawsuit - money that'll go to the victims, and to pay for counseling and treatment... Read more: http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Settlement-reached-in-lawsuit-involving-deaf-and/qEdZ6YT6_EuWYDo6tVhRPg.cspx

Being Deaf In Cambodia, A Punishment ?

Video in english subtitles: Being Deaf in Cambodia, a punishment ?



Phnom Penh - According certain beliefs in Cambodia, any disabilities is the result of a bad karma due to bad actions in a previous life.



The NGO Aide et Action runs a project which aims at changing people's behaviours, mentalities and integrate Deaf and Blind children into society. Through education, Aide et Action fights against exclusion and discrimination.



In Cambodia, the percentage of the population living with disabilities is one of the highest in the world. At least 650,000 Cambodians live with a disability, and the exact count may be as high as 1.4 million.

Video by aideetaction



The incidence of disability is also expected to increase in the future. Despite the fact that many Cambodians have at least one disability, the country does not have adequate legal provisions to protect the human rights of people with disabilities.



There are no comprehensive laws that address disability issues. The few existing laws provide only implicit protections and some directly discriminate against people with disabilities... Read more: http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/handle/1773.1/521

Deaf Twin Brothers Voluntarily Euthanized

Deaf twin brothers voluntarily euthanized in closed captioned.



Antwerp, Belgium - Identical twins were killed by Belgian doctors last month in a unique mercy killing under Belgium's euthanasia laws.



The two men, 45, from the Antwerp region were both born Deaf and sought euthanasia after finding that they would also soon go blind.



The pair told doctors that they were unable to bear the thought of not being able to see each other again.

Video by TheYoungTurks



Facing blindness, two Deaf twin brothers elected to commit assisted suicide in Belgium via lethal injection. This assisted suicide case is unusual - neither man was terminally ill nor suffering unbearable pain.



Is the choice conscionable? Is it any of our business? John Iadarola (Host, TYT University) and Hermela Aregawi (Producer, TYT on Current) discuss... Read more from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/two-deaf-twins-in-belgium-allowed-to-die-in-unique-euthanasia-case-2013-1#ixzz2I5nXzpcs

How Much Can Deaf People Achieve ?

Hey! look what I can do! - How much can Deaf people achieve?



Made by a group of Deaf young people, this animation shows a Deaf young person seeing how much Deaf people can achieve after being put down by her sister. Funny, entertaining as well as being informative. Includes subtitles and in-vision interpreting. Visit http://www.biomation.org.uk for more information.



Subscribe Bi0mation

Video source Bi0mation

Don't Call Me 'Deaf and Disabled'

Video: Don't call me 'Deaf and Disabled' in American Sign Language.



Don't Call Me 'Deaf and Disabled' A thought provoking vlog about why the Deafblind is considered a group of disabled people in the Deaf community.... double standard... and watch til the end to see a much more positive catchphrase, word to replace 'disabled'.

Video by tactiletheworld

Vlog done in International Sign and some American Sign Language. June 14 2012.

Helen Keller Sunglasses Commercial

Helen Keller sunglasses commercial video.



A Chinese company has grabbed international headlines by naming a line of sunglasses after Deaf-Blind activist Helen Keller.



Is it a smart thing to try and profit off of someone else’s tragedy? One company seems to think so. A Chinese fashion firm, Xiamen Jinzhi, has named a line of its sunglasses Helen Keller.

Video by FashionistDotCa



This is no marketing mistake, or lost in translation. A spokesman for the company, Chen Wenjing, told the Wall Street Journal, they were well aware Keller was blind, but saw merchandising value in her “philanthropist spirit.”



It appears Helen Keller is a famous figure Chinese children learn about in school, according to the article. But maybe the fashion company’s marketing team didn’t pay attention when the course was taught.



On the company’s Helen Keller sunglasses website, someone seems to have picked up a reference about Helen Keller from Wikipedia, “Helen Keller: She was the first Deaf-Blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.” Read more: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/24/11370286-helen-keller-sunglasses-create-a-stir

Stop Bullying The Deaf-Blind !

Video: Stop Bullying The Deaf-Blind in captioned.



The Deaf-Blind Anti-Bullying. Created by Eduardo Madera. This bullying must stop!

Video by eduardoamader