Deaf Woman Sues NYPD For Wrongly Arrested

VIDEO [CC] - Exclusive Interviews: Deaf woman arrested by NYPD settles case against city for $750,000.



NEW YORK CITY - A Deaf woman who said she was wrongly arrested by cops who ignored her disability settled her case for $750,000 Tuesday, a figure her attorneys say is the largest of its kind.



Diana Williams charged in her suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court that the New York City Police Department officers who slapped her in cuffs ignored police guidelines requiring them to request a sign language interpreter when interacting with Deaf people.



“Deaf individuals have rights, and they do not have to tolerate discrimination and injustices of any kind,” her attorneys Andrew Rozynski and Eric Baum said in a statement.



“Ms. Williams hopes that the settlement will send a message to all law enforcement agencies across the country that they should adopt proper policies and procedures to ensure full communication access for Deaf individuals.”

Two New Yorkers who can't hear or speak and communicate only by sign language claim they were wrongly arrested by NYPD officers in two separate incidents.



Williams’ ordeal began Sept. 11, 2011, when she called 911 for assistance evicting a difficult tenant from her Staten Island home.



Most of the people in the house were Deaf, but cops allegedly ignored training requiring them to request an interpreter.



Without being able to explain to Williams what was happening, Officer Christian Romano arrested her and the tenant for allegedly getting in a fight, and for the next 24 hours police ignored her attempts to communicate, the suit said.



Williams was so panicked she even wrote the letters “HOSP” on the window of a police cruiser in an effort to tell them she needed to go to the hospital, the suit says.



Romano checked the “No” box on the arrest report asking if an interpreter was needed, according to documents. He later checked “No” on different paperwork asking if Williams had a disability.



Williams’ attorneys, who run the Eisenberg and Baum Law Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said they believe their client has received the largest payout ever to an individual alleging Deaf discrimination by a public agency. A Deaf advocate at the firm, Sheryl Eisenberg-Michalowski, also worked on the case.



“Settling was in the best interest of the city,” a Law Department spokesman said. Source by New York Daily News

Deaf Christian Woman Gang Raped By Muslims

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf News: Deaf christian woman gang raped by Muslims in Pakistan.

KASUR, PAKISTAN - Three Muslim men broke into the home of a Deaf christian woman in a village in the district of Kasur, Pakistan, and took turns raping her while the men of the family were at work. The incident occurred in the Ganda Singh Wala village in the Kasur district of Punjab, according to the Pakistan Christian Post.



The woman reportedly screamed for mercy while being raped, but no one came to her assistance. Relatives of the woman have retained the services of christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, who runs an advocacy group offering free legal assistance to Pakistani Christians and other minorities who are victims of abuse and religious persecution.

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The lawyer filed the first information report with the police and is trying to reconstruct the facts of the attack, though he admits that it is not easy to get a case like this prosecuted fairly in Pakistan. One suspect, Muhammad Umar, has been arrested while the other two attackers reportedly escaped, and Gill is not optimistic about seeing justice done.



“It’s very difficult to get a punishment for those responsible,” he told the Fides news agency. “Often in these cases the police take no action or, worse, side with the rapists.”



Gill also noted that cases of violence against christians and other religious minorities are far more frequent than is commonly known because of a system that turns a blind eye to religious persecution.



“Christian families or witnesses are pressured to withdraw complaints,” Gill added. “Violence against women and children of religious minorities, the weak and vulnerable, is widespread in Pakistan and is often carried out in silence. The cases and the stories do not come to light and when victims talk about it they are intimidated,” he said.



Islam is the official state religion in Pakistan, which has some of the most severe blasphemy laws in the world. Freedom of speech is greatly restricted and “defiling the Prophet Muhammad” carries a death sentence, while damaging the Qur’an is punishable by life imprisonment. “Insulting another’s religious feelings” can result in jail sentences up to ten years, but is applied only to those disparaging Islam... Read More: http://breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/26/deaf-christian-woman-gang-raped-muslims-pakistan/



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Deaf Indian Woman Returns Home After 12-Years

VIDEO: Deaf Indian woman Geeta 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' to return home nearly after being stranded in Pakistan for 12 years.

NEW DELHI - Several families had come forward to claim the Deaf and mute Indian girl is their daughter. The Punjab Rangers brought her to the Edhi Foundation nearly 14 years ago, said Faisal Edhi of the social welfare group.



She was barely 11 years old when she accidentally crossed the border and landed in Pakistan. Now in her early 20s, Geeta - who is Deaf and mute - is set to return to her homeland as her family has been traced in India.



The Centre said on Thursday that Geeta will be reunited with her family.

“Geeta will be back in India soon. We have located her family. She will be handed over to the family only after the DNA test,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.



Geeta was being looked after by Edhi Foundation, a charitable organisation, in Karachi. The 23-year-old has identified her family through a photograph and they reportedly live in Bihar. Pakistani authorities said they have completed all formalities to repatriate Geeta to India.



“We have completed all formalities on our part for repatriation of Geeta. The Indian side has already been informed accordingly. We, therefore, are waiting for response from the Indian High Commission regarding the mode of her return,” Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said.



Geeta’s case came to light after Bollywood star Salman Khan’s film Bajrangi Bhaijaan was released earlier this year. ... Read More: HERE

Deaf Contestant Leaves The Judges In Tears

VIDEO [CC] - Inspiring Deaf contestant leaves the Italia's Got Talent judges in emotional tears goes viral.

Martina Giammarini, 24 year old from Ladispoli, Italy, presented on the stage of Italia's Got Talent with a difference that left the judges shocked - is a Deaf dancer.



Giammarini performing dance from feeling the musical vibrations to deliver an inspiring the judges - actor Claudio Bisio, actress and comedian Luciana Littizzetto, singer Nina Zilli and YouTube star Frank Matano in emotional tears. One of the judges says "the most inspiration and emotional performances ever on television."

Factoid about feel/hear the musical vibrations - Scans show that Deaf people ‘hear’ vibrations in the part of the brain where sounds are processed. The world of music is not closed if you suffer hearing loss. Many Deaf people still attend concerts and even become performers. How can this be? Researchers at the University of Washington have uncovered an important clue... Read more Deaf People Can ‘Hear’ Music.



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Deaf Woman Caught Red Handed Stealing Money

VIDEO: Deaf woman caught red handed stealing money at the India mall.



India TV - Caught on camera: A Deaf women loot with the help of a silk sheet to stealing money behind the desk at Ambala's Gurdwara. She admitted to the crime on tape.

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First Deaf Woman Swims Anacapa Channel

Deaf News: A swimmer from Colorado made local history being the first Deaf woman to complete the Anacapa Island Channel swim.

SANTA BARBARA - Micki Poole, a 50-year-old Deaf competitive swimmer from Greeley, Colorado completed the swim on September 12th in 7 hours, 2 minutes off the Santa Barbara coast. Poole became the first Deaf person to finish the 12.4 mile feat.



The channel is a challenge for all types of swimmers. The water is cold and choppy with strong currents, not to mention the predatory fish lingering about. Plus there are a host of rules making it even hard, one being the use of a wetsuit is prohibited.



"Typically five people attempt this swim every year, and half of them make it", said the president of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, Scott Zornig. Poole will be recognized for her accomplishment at the club's banquet in November.



"Channel swimmers typically have their coach on a boat telling them what to do, when to take breaks, and most importantly to encourage the swimmer... Read more: http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=158763

What It's Like To Be A Deaf Novelist

Deaf News - ‘Sometimes I turn off my hearing aids and dip below the surface of the sound.’ Sara Nović explains the challenges of being a Deaf author and why deafness is still used as a synonym for stupidity.

The Guardian - Sara Nović's first novel has recently become an audiobook to which I will not listen. The characters have been assigned voices and accents and inflections that I’ll never hear. This is not a complaint, exactly; to have written a book that someone wants to publish in any and all formats is a writer’s dream. But to hold some disc or drive that contains a thing I made, transformed into a new thing I can no longer understand, is a predicament in which few writers find themselves.



This disconnect will appear with increasing frequency as I embark on a series of literary events following the launch of my novel. As an audience member I have been to my share of readings in New York. I go because I am in love with books; I go to be with my friends. But even as a spectator they require a lot of concentration, and sometimes when I’ve worked myself into a cross-eyed headache I turn off my hearing aids and dip below the surface of the sound, let myself drift in the quiet. At my own events I won’t have the choice to opt out.



So far I have read in public only three times, each distressing in the regular ways (an audience!), with the added terror of exposing an increasingly unknowable part of myself – my voice. I can feel my words in my chest and mouth, but can’t be sure of what they sound like out in the world. As far as I’m concerned my voice has no echo; it does not stick to the tape recording. What does it mean to perform for an audience with such limited control of your output?



Books have always provided me with a sense of solace and companionship when I found the hearing world overwhelming. Growing up I filled notebooks with the things I was afraid to say aloud. Libraries, too, seem designed for me – a place where one isn’t supposed to talk, equality under the rule of silence... Read More: theguardian.com/books/2015/may/23/what-its-like-to-be-a-deaf-novelist

Deaf Woman Brutally Beaten and Robbed

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf woman attacked in broad daylight in Austin, Texas.



KVUE AUSTIN - Austin police are looking for four teenagers, three males and one female, who they say followed and punched a Deaf woman, and stole her purse in North Austin, Texas.



Police said the woman was walking on Redlands Street in the Brentwood neighborhood at around 1:20 p.m. Monday when she noticed a Hispanic teen wearing a bandana over his face following her. She told police she kept an eye on the teen because of his covered face.



The teen stopped to talk to a car and the victim lost sight of him. Police said shortly afterward, the same teen and three others in a tan four-door sedan cut off the victim.



"At that time, the same suspect displayed a knife. Then she was struck and punched to the ground, she fell to the ground and the Hispanic female stole her purse," said Austin Police Robbery Sgt. Will White.

White said the teens took off in the same car. That's when Joanna Fried heard banging on her door.



"She was banging on my door and pushing to get in which was scary," Fried said. "Frantic, like really really crying. There was blood on her hands and her face was swollen, and she realized she was scratched up on her leg. It was really hard to understand what she was saying."



Fried said she then called 911 and kept the victim at her house until EMS and police arrived. Fried said she called the victim's ex-husband and explained what happened.



Russell West, director of support operations at the Texas School for the Deaf, said anytime a member of the Deaf community is the victim of a crime, they often don't know their rights. West said Deaf victims need to ask for interpreters... Read more: http://kvue.com/story/news/crime/2015/07/21/austin-police-say-deaf-woman-attacked-in-broad-daylight/