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Spreading Awareness for DEAF AWARENESS WEEK 2015

Posted by: Staff Writer on Sept. 9, 2015 | Comments
Deaf Awareness Week (DAW) is rolling around again, falling during the last week of September. It’s a great opportunity for businesses, organizations, and individuals alike to spread #deaffriendly awareness.
Read MoreReviewer Spotlight: Loren Ashton - Tuscon, AZ

Posted by: Staff Writer on Aug. 11, 2015 | Comments
Do you know the people who are plugging in reviews on deaffriendly.com? Every quarter, we pick the brains of our most active reviewers. They are the words behind our deaf-friendly mission, the stars of our 1-5 star ratings, and the soul of this website.
Read MorePlanning a Festival? Tips to Provide a Deaf-Friendly Experience

Posted by: Staff Writer on Aug. 11, 2015 | Comments
It’s summer! There are music and theater festivals happening everyday, all day, all over the country. Have you received a request to accommodate a Deaf theater or concertgoer whom uses American Sign Language (ASL)? Making sure your event is accessible to them not only improves your customer service, it also fulfills your obligation under the civil rights law, Americans with Disability Act (ADA). If you are unsure how to provide a deaf-friendly experience at your festival for Deaf ASL users, here are some useful tips to get you started.
Read MoreFounders Corner: The Long Path to Advocacy

Posted by: Staff Writer on July 29, 2015 | Comments
One of the most disempowering moments we experience as Deaf consumers is when we face relinquishing control over interpreters to those who don’t know our needs, are driven by corporate profits, and serving personal interests. It requires a leap of faith, every time when we request an interpreter at an unfamiliar doctor’s office or agency, in hopes they know how to secure an interpreter, that they use a reputable agency, and that the agency in turn uses qualified interpreters that fit our particular needs.
Read MoreADA Then & Now: Where We Have Been & Where We Go From Here

Posted by: Staff Writer on July 21, 2015 | Comments
This week we are watching as the nation celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the signing of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law by then President George H.W. Bush. Current President Obama said, “Thanks to the ADA, the places that comprise our shared American life- schools, workplaces, movie theaters, courthouses, buses, baseball stadiums, national parks- they truly belong to everyone.”
Read MoreMicrosoft ASL Answer Desk Offers Visual and Virtual Troubleshooting

Posted by: Staff Writer on July 7, 2015 | Comments
PC problems ailing you (again)? Microsoft feels your pain: All of us have grappled with cat videos that take forever to buffer, pop-up ads that won’t quit, and Wi-Fi connections that keep quitting. We've put tech support on speed dial, for a good reason: Technology has brought #deaffriendly apps and telecommunication solutions bridging us to the hearing world.
Read MoreDeaf-Friendly Tips Every Restaurant Needs to Know

Posted by: Staff Writer on June 17, 2015 | Comments
We go to restaurants to celebrate milestones, to break bread with our loved ones, to create memories over a meal, and of course to eat good food. Deaf restaurant patrons are no different. When a restaurant understands the needs of Deaf customers and is willing to accommodate them, it elevates the experience from an average experience to an extraordinary one.
Read MoreHow To NOT Be That Annoying Hearing Person in A Place of Business

Posted by: Staff Writer on June 11, 2015 | Comments
If we had a dollar for every time a hearing person in a place of business annoyed us, we’d be making a pretty penny. Sometimes hearing people mean well, sometimes they’re a tad ignorant, and sometimes they can be downright irritating, without even knowing it. We usually respond with practiced brevity and frosty politeness, but now and then we lose our cool and let you have the full, unvarnished truth - y’all making annoying an Olympic sport sometimes.
Read MoreOur Latest Obsession at deaffriendly.com: OtoSense

Posted by: Staff Writer on April 20, 2015 | Comments
A couple weeks ago, during our weekly staff meeting, we were swapping stories about missed doorbells, burning cookies in the oven, and well… overflowing the bathroom sink. It’s a Deaf thing. C’mon, you’ve been there too, right? One our staffers remembers the day she overflowed the sink, twice and burned a romantic dinner for her sweetie. Needless to say she wasn’t feeling the love that night as she washed a load of sopping wet towels.
Read More#DeafTalent in God of Carnage

Posted by: Staff Writer on April 20, 2015 | Comments
Deaf Spotlight produces their annual play using an all Deaf cast to showcase #DeafTalent at 12th Avenue Arts Mainstage in Seattle, WA. This year’s production is directed by a local Pacific Northwest Deaf director Ryan Schlecht and the play chosen, God of Carnage, grapples with the questions- what is the nature of violence and who is to blame? A boy hits another boy with a stick and where do we go from here? Four parents in a living room wrestle with this thorny question. What unfolds is an evening of exploration into marriage, parenting, violence, gender roles, classism, and the ways we live our lives in direct accordance to our willingness or unwillingness to take personal responsibility for the world we live in.
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