Have you sometimes wished that someone could walk in your shoes for just one day so they could gain a better perspective of what you experience on a daily basis? Most people who are oppressed because of race, religion, gender, or disability have made this wish at least a dozen times in the last year. This cartoon puts in words the general consensus of what Black (or African American, if [...]

Someone is coming to town. Don’t cry, shout or pout– he doesn’t like those mannerisms very much. Who do you think I am speaking of? That’s right! It’s the very jolly, extremely chubby dude who’s stylin’ in a red crushed velvet suit. His beard is as white as the driven snow, and his spectacles sit on a very red nose– but not as red as Rudolph, his most prized reindeer. [...]

In almost every blog I read these days about a deaf person standing up for himself, there will usually be at least one comment that looks something like this: “Oh, grow up! Not everything is about audism! You can’t blame hearing people for not knowing how to react…” This type of comment rarely varies with the story. The deaf author of the original blog might have assertively resolved a problem [...]

A friend sent me a link to a comic that I thought was hilarious. The comic’s author relates his experience at Tower A/Ellingson Hall at RIT. Absolutely hilarious, and the punch lines he raises are ones that we are all too familiar with. Speaking from the perspective of someone who went to RIT, he is SPOT ON and skewers deaf people nicely. He’d be a great person to write a [...]

It snowed a few days ago in DC and the area, and I managed to snap these pictures before the snow melted the next day. Enjoy. Sprinkled snow decorates a Do Not Enter sign. Capitol Hill is quiet as snow blankets the streets. A dusting of snow coats a tree that only had just lost its leaves.

In my opinion, nothing beats reading a good book. I am a confessed bookworm, although these days with my schedule, I tend to lean more towards magazines. But when an opportunity to snuggle up on the couch with a good book comes knocking, I’m the first one to fling that door wide open. And I know I’m not alone. Both mega-chain and mom-and-pop bookstores generally report brisk sales, even in [...]

By now many of you are aware of the proposed Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFEB) in its second reading in the House of Lords in London and the response of the British Deaf Association opposing this bill due to its eugenics implications, which include the potential to place restrictions on certain kinds of reproductive practices. This topic has special meaning for me – for the past four years, I [...]

I have been following the stories of police tasing various people see (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…) for a while now, and even cases where police were fired for not tasing. So it is not surprising that after tasing pregnant women, police would also tase a deaf man. It is every deaf person’s nightmare to be in that scenario, with a tase- or gun-happy police officer who [...]

In an announcement today, the University of North Carolina-Asheville has named Dr. Jane K. Fernandes as the new Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, effective upon approval of the University’s Board of Trustees. Fernandes, who most recently served as the president-designate of Gallaudet University and the Provost for six years, beat out more than 160 applicants for the UNC-Asheville job, according to the press release from the University. UNC Asheville Chancellor [...]

One of the methods the military uses to encourage people to sign up for service is offering enlistment bonuses, in addition to free/reduced education costs and healthcare. But who knew that it would actually cost an arm and a leg to return the enlistment bonuses back to the military? Soldiers who suffered serious injuries– such as the loss of arms and legs– while engaging in active combat in less than [...]