Like most people around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has changed Nanette Harmon’s life. But there’s one difference. While all her other senses are alert to the rapid changes around her, she cannot hear — and so misses out on important news and updates about the crisis.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 11.5 million Americans living with hearing loss of some kind, which is nearly 3.6% of the population. Now, advocacy groups are petitioning for an ASL translator to be included in all White House briefings
The Five-Week Teaching Module and Companion Live Earth Day Event are Available Free Online Through CSD Learns. Embrace the Earth is designed to enhance deaf and hard of hearing middle school students’ appreciation and understanding of STEM disciplines.
Craig Radford, the director of Connect Direct, a subsidiary of Communication Service for the Deaf, told CNN that his organization had created a dedicated “ASL Now” hotline for deaf people to get answers to commonly asked coronavirus questions.
“We provide answers from reputable sources like the IRS, CDC [and] local government to answer their questions, and we provide them in American Sign Language instead of written English,” Radford said. “We have to update the source daily, staff the representatives, and provide a hotline number. We have received hundreds of calls in just 10 days of launch.”
Now, that data, along with emerging research from Italy — the second-most-affected country in the world — is showing just how dangerous Covid-19 is for older people, and others with with heart, lung, and immunological conditions.
Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) announced today that is has joined forces with three leading deaf organizations – DPAN.TV, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) and CONVO — to help provide live American Sign Language interpretation and closed captioning of the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings.
– Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) and its Connect Direct division
announced today the launch of a new coronavirus hotline for the deaf community made available through its
ASL Now platform. CSD’s free hotline brings the deaf community important and accessible information on
COVID-19 in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English.
On the heels of offering new, low-income Internet Essentials
customers two months of free internet and raising the speed of that program’s service to 25/3 Mbps,
Comcast today announced additional steps to help ensure people stay connected to the internet as more
schools suspend classes and companies encourage employees to work from home due to the Coronavirus.
Our Board of Directors has a new member! CSD is proud to announce that Elise Nye will serve on the Board of Directors effective July 1, 2020. She joins nine other board members whose role is to provide overall strategic guidance to the organization.
Imagine if you tried to watch tonight’s presidential debate but couldn’t understand what was being said. Now imagine if, after several such debates, you went to the polls and found that your questions couldn’t be answered because no one spoke your native language.