DeaFined - Canada's New Deaf Restaurant

VIDEO: Deafined Breaks Down Barriers - Vancouver’s First ‘Deaf Restaurant’ Teaches Diners To Order in American Sign Language.

VANCOUVER, CANADA - A new Vancouver restaurant is encouraging diners to order with their hands - DeaFined, opening May 7 on West 4th Avenue near Vine Street in Kitsilano, is staffed entirely by Deaf and Hard of Hearing servers. Among the first of its kind in Canada, the Eastern Mediterranean restaurant asks customers to order food and drinks using American Sign Language.

For those who don’t know how to sign, there’s no need to fret. “There’s a cheat sheet on the table with the menu,” said owner Moe Alameddine. “The server comes up to take the order, and the fun part starts there.”



In the mood for steak? Grab the fleshy part of your left hand with the index finger and thumb of your right hand, and wiggle a bit as if getting a good grip on the meat. How about salad? Use both hands and picture yourself tossing some greens.



When customers arrive at the DeaFined, a hearing host or hostess greets them and acts as an interpreter while they introduce the server.



Alameddine came up with the idea after starting his popular blind-dining restaurant O.Noir in Montreal and Toronto and Dark Table in Vancouver, where guests dine in complete darkness while they are served by visually impaired staff. The concept aims to give customers a taste, albeit briefly, of what it’s like to be blind.



Although the business helped provide jobs for Blind people, Alameddine said he realized a need for employment opportunities to benefit the Deaf community.



Only two other North American establishments - Signs Restaurant in Toronto, which hires mostly Deaf servers, and Mozzeria, a pizza restaurant in San Francisco, which has a Deaf owner and staff have a focus on hiring Deaf staff... Read the full story: http://metronews.ca/news/vancouvers-first-deaf-restaurant-teaches-diners-to-order-in-sign-language/



Follow DeaFine Restaurant:

Facebook - https://facebook.com/DeaFinedVan

Official site - http://www.deafined.ca

Job Seekers - Job Openings



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#DeafTalent Deaf Roles Are Meant For Deaf Actors

VIDEO [CC/Signed] - #DeafTalent - Hollywood, stop hiring hearing actors for Deaf roles. Deaf people have the right to represent themselves!



As a result of this #DeafTalent campaign, the world will have a much better understanding of the Deaf community’s standpoint on not allowing Deaf roles to be given out to hearing people. Many people do not realize that they have been oppressing Deaf actors for many years now.



We hope that this new awareness will also create many more job opportunities for Deaf people all over, both in front and behind the camera, as well as other places. We believe that this campaign will ignite many new discussions and ideas and help cause a shift in societal awareness. To activate this feature, press the "CC" button.

Huffington Post - The #DeafTalent hashtag began making waves after a NY Daily News interview with Catalina Sandino Moreno raised red flags in the Deaf community. Moreno, a hearing actress, was cast to play a Deaf woman in the leading role of her new film Medeas. But in the NYDN interview, it became clear that Moreno has had very little exposure to deafness or Deaf culture.

Over the past couple weeks, the #DeafTalent movement spread like wildfire across social media. Using this hashtag, members of the Deaf community publicly spoke out against the cultural appropriation of deafness in movies and TV. With so many talented Deaf/HoH performer working to catch their big break in Hollywood, it is inexcusable that hearing actors and actresses continue being cast for these roles.



Deaf parts belong to Deaf performers - people who understand the experience of hearing loss and can accurately portray Deaf characters. Just as blackface is not an acceptable way to depict a black character, having a non-Deaf actor pretend to be Deaf is irresponsible, unethical, and offensive... Read more: huffingtonpost.com/lydia-l-callis/lets-see-more-deaftalent-html



Follow #DeafTalent:

Apply for the #DeafTalent database here: http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/deaftalent

Apply to this form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/deaftalent



Subscribe - https://youtube.com/channel/deaftalent

Facebook - https://facebook.com/deaftalentnow

Twitter - https://twitter.com/deaftalent

PlusGoogle - https://plus.google.com/explore/DeafTalent

ASL Music Video - Bruno Mars 'The Lazy Song'

VIDEO [CC] - This is an American Sign Language version of Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song” made accessible to native ASL users.

This ASL music video was created with a 100% Deaf cast and crew. All of the performers in this music video are also a part of Deaf West’s “Spring Awakening.” We did this out of love and support for #DeafTalent everywhere who are always in need of job opportunities in the entertainment industry.

To activate this feature, press the "CC" button.

Directed & Edited by

Jules Dameron



Produced by

Nick Zerlentes



Director of American Sign Language

Kailyn Aaron-Lozano



Choreography by

Joey Antonio



Production Design by

Joshua Castille



Performers

Miles Barbee

Sandra Mae Frank

Amelia Hensley

Karla Gutierrez

Joshua Castille

Treshelle Edmond

Joey Antonio



http://www.julesdameron.com



This video is not monetized. We do not own any rights to Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song.”



Filmed in April 2015

Deaf Pilot Gets License In Ohio

Exclusive: Deaf woman pilot gets license that not going to stop her from taking to the sky.



LANCASTER, OH - Learning to fly is no easy feat, but Lancaster native Jenny Hurst was not going to let being Deaf stop her from taking to the sky.



From a young age, Hurst dreamed of being a pilot like her grandfather, a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. She has always been drawn to flying, she said, and before 9/11, one of her favorite things to do was to watch planes take off from Port Columbus International Airport. In her younger years, she went as far as telling boyfriends plane-watching was her preferred way to spend a date.



Aware of that desire, Hurst’s husband of 17 years, Adam, looked into flight lessons at Sundowner Aviation at the Fairfield County Airport for his wife, who has been Deaf since the age of 2. Officials there agreed to take her on, and one year later, after fitting in two to three hours of flight instruction per week, Hurst got her pilot license. She took her first solo flight July 18.



On Sunday, Hurst took her family up in the plane for the first time, although the family of six could not all fit in one flight. Hurst hopes to become registered in instrument flight rules so she can be allowed to fly larger planes that will fit her entire family.



Another use for the pilot license may be flying materials from suppliers to Hammock Gear, the backpacking outfitter the Hursts own in Lancaster. While Hurst would love to be a pilot for hire, she said she is still exploring her limits as a Deaf pilot and her abilities with communication... Read more: lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/local/2015/03/24/deaf-pilot-gets-license-lancaster/

New York City’s First Deaf Taxi Drivers

Exclusive Interviews: Meet one of New York City’s first Deaf uber drivers.



NEW YORK CITY - Pin Lu Was an accountant before ferrying passengers; ‘Deaf people are good drivers because they focus and pay attention’ Many initially convey surprise or concern when they discover he can’t hear, but he said being Deaf gives him an advantage in honk-filled. In many ways, Pin Lu is a typical UberX driver.



He uses his own car, complete with a crocheted owl dangling from the rearview mirror, to ferry passengers who hail him via the popular ride-sharing app.



He often works long hours, saving to start his own business someday. And he takes pride in his user ratings, saying he has earned 4.82 out of a possible 5 stars. But when New Yorkers step into Mr. Lu’s green 2011 Honda Accord, many are surprised to be handed a note asking them to type a destination into the GPS.



Mr. Lu, the note explains, is Deaf.



“Let me know if you have a preferred route by using your hand motion as direction,” it reads. “If you have any questions, knock your hand to my shoulder. Write/type note to me as communication.”



Uber Technologies Inc. estimates it has about 40 Deaf “driver-partners” across the U.S. and predicts that number is likely to grow as the company expands into new markets.



Mr. Lu, a spokeswoman said, is one of its first in the New York area.



Mr. Lu, 29 years old, was born without hearing in Fuzhou, China, and immigrated to Queens, New York with his family when he was 10.



After earning an accounting degree from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2011, he spent about two years doing accounting work for the Defense Department in Rome, N.Y., but he grew tired of small-town life “in the middle of nowhere,” he says.



Mr. Lu moved back to the New York area and switched paths, becoming a driver for Uber and occasionally for its competitor Lyft, earning his Taxi and Limousine Commission license in July.



Most weeks, he said, he now spends five to seven days a week seven to 10 hours a day behind the wheel.



Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing people in New York can get a driver's license with a restriction specifying they need a hearing aid or a full-view rearview mirror, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.



The Taxi and Limousine Commission doesn’t register or track the disabilities of its licensees, a representative said... Read more: The Wall Street Journal: Meet One of New York City’s First Deaf Uber Drivers

5 Stars Hotel With 30% of Deaf Employees

VIDEO: Hotel sets trend by employing highest number of Deaf people in Cape Town, South Africa.



A new Cape Town hotel has been making headlines for all the right reasons lately by exposing guests to the world and life of Deaf people.



The Newlands based Park Inn hotel has a staff compliment where 30% of the employees are completely or partially Deaf. It's believed the hotel has the highest compliment of Deaf employees in the world.



From the outside it paints the picture of a modest hotel, but guests are pleasantly surprised when they are welcomed in sign language. Employees in many of the departments are Deaf but are not hampered by their disability when dealing with clients.

"Communication with guests is very important for some of us. It's very difficult without hearing aid so we try to do written communication, but for me I have hearing aid and I also train myself to try and speak clearly so to greet them and when guests see my I am Deaf badge, guests are very accommodating and their attitudes gradually change.



Guests at the hotel have praised their work. "My experience is absolutely wonderful and this hotel is a role model of employment equity. They are very good at lip reading," says hotel guest, Cheryl Harper.



Deaf SA has urged the importance of having Deaf community gain access to the working environment. "As you know the South Africa unemployment rate is so high especially in the Deaf community. Access to employment for Deaf people is so important,” says Bruno Druchen from Deaf SA.



The hotel opened its doors in December and has a full time sign language interpreter on site. Cape Town hotel sets trend by employing highest number of Deaf people. SOURCE

Union Market Builts Deaf-Design Near Gallaudet

VIDEO [CC] - Serving Customers, without even talking by VOA On Assignment. The market employs and deaf-design for Deaf community and Gallaudet students.



WASHINGTON D.C. - A year-old food market in a Washington, neighborhood has become a unique hub of shopping and dining for the city's Deaf community. Union Market has become a unique hub for the city's Deaf community.

The market employs and caters to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people, and also was built using deaf-design principles to make it easier for Deaf people to communicate. And as VOA's Michael Lipin tells On Assignment, the market is a place where Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people can hang out together.



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Washington Food Market Becomes Hub For Deaf Community