Wells Fargo Ad: Learning American Sign Language

VIDEO [CC] - The US bank is promoting its embracing of diversity with a series of new adverts, one of which features a lesbian couple who are learning sign language for a very special reason.



Gay Star News - It’s becoming more and more common for big companies to highlight their diversity credentials and forward-thinking attitudes by featuring gay people in their advertising.



In recent months, businesses as diverse as Nikon, Cheerios and Hotwire have featured gay couples in commercials.



Now it’s Wells Fargo’s turn. The US bank is rolling out seven adverts as part of a new brand push under the banner ‘Why I Work’.



The first, revealed last week, is called ‘Learning Sign Language’. It features a female couple who are both learning sign language. The reason why? They’re about to become the new, adoptive mommies to a little girl with impaired hearing.

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The commercial doesn’t fail to tug at the heartstrings while at the same time demonstrate the diverse nature of Wells Fargo’s clients. It’s the bank’s first national ad campaign to feature a same-sex couple.



The sign language advert was created by ad agency BBDO, who were appointed by Wells Fargo last year. Its executive creative director, Matt Miller, told AdAge that he was at first apprehensive that the bank – might resist the idea behind the latest campaign. However, the reverse was true and they embraced the concept. Read the full story: http://gaystarnews.com/article/wells-fargo-feature-same-sex-couple-adorable-new-advert



Behind The Scenes: Learning Sign Language A couple learns a new language to welcome a new addition to their family. Behind the scenes, on the set of our latest TV commercial, our little star, Jovianne teaches Brynn and Alissa how to sign a beautiful phrase. #loveislove.

See how Wells Fargo is always there to help you prepare financially for life’s biggest moments. https://mrm.wellsfargobank.com/together

Convo Lights App Connected Philips Hue

VIDEO [CC] - Philips Innovation Experience - Convo Lights app empowers Deaf community through Philips Hue.

The Convo Lights app developed for Philips Hue, the connected lighting system for homes, uses light to notify Deaf and Hard of Hearing people of phone calls and other audible signals that they could normally miss. The app from Convo, a Deaf-Owned and operated company providing video phone and translation services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, allows users to create personalized ringtones of light to identify incoming callers, and adjust the brightness in a room to make sign language easier to see onscreen.



Convo demonstrates its innovative app (Convo Lights) that uses the connected lighting technology of Philips Hue to transform the lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. Featuring Wayne Betts Jr. One of the founders for Convo Communications. Direct all creative aspects of the company’s communications: videos, the website, tradeshow materials, marketing collaterals, et cetera. Manage branding and the life cycle of all marketing campaigns. Serve as the face of the company in corporate and informational videos.

Want Convo Lights to illuminate your home? Order Convo Philips Hue Lights starter kit via Amazon or Apple today!



Find out more:

Convo Hue app press release - http://www.newscenter.philips.com/main/standard/news/press/2014/20140929-Deaf-community-empowered-through-connected-home-lighting-from-Philips-Hue.wpd



Philips Innovation Experience press release - http://www.newscenter.philips.com/main/standard/news/press/2014/20140930-philips-showcases-its-commitment-to-creating-a-better-future-at-the-innovation-experience.wpd#.VCvkT_mSzs6

Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

VIDEO: Captioned - Exclusive interview with the NFL's Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks.



(CBS News) - A television commercial starring Seattle Seahawk’s fullback Derrick Coleman is the latest Internet sensation. Coleman is the only athlete in NFL history to play offense, despite the fact he is legally Deaf.



Now, he’s getting ready to break one more barrier - the Super Bowl.



When the Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers, no one will be paying better attention than Coleman. “I have to be aware,” he told CBS News’ Bill Whitaker. “I have to be focused more than everybody else.”



Diagnosed with profound hearing loss, Coleman relies on lip-reading and his own unique way of communicating with the quarterback.



"He knows to look at me if he makes an audible at the line of scrimmage,” said Coleman. “He knows just tell everybody and just turn back at me one more time and he'll tell me the play." It's the way he's always played the game.

When the world tells you "no", you have two options: You can roll over and quit or you can trust your power. Derrick Coleman, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, trusted the power within.



Although he's Deaf, he never let adversity stand in his way, on his road to the NFL. Share to inspire others to trust their power within and achieve their dreams. #TrustYourPower.



He told Whitaker that he’s “capable of doing what everybody else can do,” despite his hearing loss. “You can't use your problem as an excuse,” he said. “Because you use an excuse, you're not going to get to your dream. “



He was taught that philosophy at an early age. To really know Coleman’s story you have to meet the parents, his mother, May Hamlin and father, Derrick Coleman, Sr. "You feel that uncertainty, that fear as a fear as a parent, you know, that, is my child going to be OK," said Coleman, Sr.. His mother told Whitaker that Coleman was “definitely teased, he was bullied” and kids would call him “four-ears."



“My mom always said people who make fun of you and are trying bring you down - they're already down. They're trying to bring you to their level,” said Coleman.



These days Coleman wears a skullcap to keep his hearing aids in place under his helmet, but as a kid, he had to improvise. ... Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deaf-nfl-player-derrick-coleman-inspires-on-and-off-the-field/



Related pages:

Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Deaf Community

Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Young Hearing Impaired Fans

Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

Deaf Relay Service Parody

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf relay at your service parody



An inside look at the high-tech critical communication service provided to Deaf citizens so they can access any service in an uncensored environment. Directors: Jeanette Castillo, Diane Wilkins.

Founded in 1977, Frameline is the nation's only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to the funding, exhibition, distribution and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media arts.



Frameline Voices is a new digital initiative that showcases diverse LGBT stories and expands access to films by and about people of color, transgender people, youth, and elders. More information: http://frameline.org

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Do We Need Specialized Hardware For The Deaf ?

VIDEO: Do we need specialized hardware for the Deaf? Companies that once made specialized hardware may soon be relegated to software and services.



A company called Purple Communications this week unveiled a product called SmartVP. It’s a videophone with applications and features to help Deaf people communicate. Purple says it’s the first videophone to feature “true HD quality.”



How do Deaf people use the telephone? In the past, most used a typing system called TTY. Paging devices soon followed; the term became so fixed that the Deaf community is said to still call all wireless devices, including iPhones, “pagers.”

But the age of the video call has changed all that. Now, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing routinely communicate by simply using sign language over a video call. When a Deaf person wants to communicate with a hearing person, there are “relay services,” involving live translators proficient in sign language.



One smart thing Purple’s doing is pursuing what they call a “five-screen strategy.” What this means is that their customers can use Purple’s relay service on PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or TV. Here’s a YouTube video pitching SmartVP. Refreshingly, it’s not full of over-the-top music, like the majority of tech promotional fare out there. ...READ MORE: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/513336/do-we-need-specialized-hardware-for-the-deaf/



Sign up for more information: http://www.purple.us/SmartVP. Are you ready for a smarter way to make calls? Make the Smart Choice. SmartVP.

‘Switched at Birth’ Silent Episode 1.6 Million Viewers

VIDEO: Gallaudet University uses all-sign language episode of ‘Switched at Birth’ to air new commercial.



Gallaudet University is taking advantage of a special episode of ABC Family’s ‘Switched at Birth’ Monday night, as a commercial for the university will air during an episode of the show that is told entirely in American Sign Language and based on real-life events that happened at the school itself.



The all-sign language technique for the episode is a first for a scripted series on mainstream television, according to the network, which will air Gallaudet’s commercial twice during the hour. The episode takes place on the 25th anniversary of the Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet in March 1988, when students and faculty protested after the university instated a hearing president over two Deaf candidates.



‘Switched at Birth,’ which wraps up the first half of its second season next week, follows the chaos that takes place when two high school girls find out they were sent home with the wrong families as babies in the hospital. One of the daughters is Deaf, resulting as a driving plot force in the series. The show, which debuted in June 2011 to more than 3 million viewers, has attracted around 1.7 million people per episode this season.



In Monday’s episode at 8 p.m., the fictional Carlton School for the Deaf is on the brink of closing, so the students protest, inspired by the real-life circumstances at Gallaudet in the 80s. The whole hour will be in sign language, with accompanying subtitles. ... Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/gallaudet-university-uses-all-sign-language-episode-of-switched-at-birth-to-air-new-commercial/2013/03/04/0017a45a-8508-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_blog.html

On ABC Family, an Episode in Sign Language - Nytimes.com: On Monday night, ABC Family did something that no commercial television outlet in the United States had ever done: it broadcast an entire episode of a show in sign language, with closed captioning turned on by default.



Advocates for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing cheered the move, and they wondered: would viewers tune in specifically for the almost-silent episode of the series, ‘Switched at Birth,’ one of ABC Family’s most popular? Or would viewers turn it off, potentially perturbed by the lack of audio? There was a normal musical score, and a scene at the beginning of the episode with audible dialogue, but the rest of the dialogue was in sign language.



Broadly speaking, neither outcome came true. The show’s overnight Nielsen ratings were down, but only slightly. Most fans of the show stayed with it 1.6 million, according to the overnight ratings. The series this season has averaged 1.7 million viewers.



In the show’s target demographic, women 12 to 34, 748,000 viewers tuned in, down just a little bit from the season average of 777,000. About a quarter of those viewers usually record the show and watch it later, so the final ratings won’t come in for a while.



“Switched at Birth” features several Deaf or hard-of-hearing characters, so every episode incorporates sign language in some way. But Monday’s episode went further. ... Read more: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/on-abc-family-an-episode-in-sign-language/



‘Switched at Birth's’ ASL episode information: http://www.tvrage.com/Switched_at_Birth



‘Switched at Birth’: ABC Family’s The teen soap Switched at Birth explores self-expression and the communication gulf between the hearing and Deaf communities. List of Switched at Birth characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Switched_at_Birth_characters