VIDEO: The end of cochlear implants? New gene therapy restores hearing in mice in the United States.
BOSTON - In a laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital a cure for genetic deafness is taking shape. Lead researcher Jeff Holt says that if all goes as planned, children of the future who lose their ability to hear due to genetic mutation will never go Deaf.
Holt and his fellow researchers are attacking the problem at its source. They are using engineered viruses to repair damaged genes that make up parts of the inner ear.
"Our strategy was to take a viral vector, remove the viral genes so that it doesn't make anyone sick and to replace those with the correct DNA sequence for TMC1," said Holt, an associate professor of Otolaryngology.
TMC1 is a gene critical to hearing. It is responsible for encoding proteins that convert sound into electrical signals the brain can process.
To test their treatment protocol, Holt and his team used two types of Deaf mice that model the dominant and recessive genetic mutations of TMC1 in humans. The team used an engineered virus called adeno-associated virus, or AAV1, to deliver the functioning TMC1 gene to the inner ears of the Deaf mice models... Read more: http://reuters.com/article/2015/09/01/us-mice-gene
This is an explanation on the base of erroneous information on the percentage of Deaf unemployment. Reading and understanding statistics are complicated. It's imperative to be critic of any research or papers with numbers: 2014 Disability Statistics Annual Report.
Gallaudet Report - There are some statistics investigating the employment rate of working-age individuals with hearing loss in the United States. The statistics for 2013 are made available in the Disability Statistics Compendium, specifically Table 2.3. The data within Table 2.3 is based on data from the 2012 American Community Survey from the Census Bureau.
Deaf communities are ignored by government and Deaf unemployment is very high. The percent of unemployment (80%) seems closer to accurate for anyone who born Deaf but it should be lower as 70%.
Deaf unemployment is very complicated - they don't count anyone who born Deaf or HoH that goes through the Deaf Education, but late deafened with full oral language have better chance to getting hired, especially if they have very good benefit with cochlear implants or hearing aids and don't use VR service.
Deaf protest to rally the front of White House and the President Barack Obama will heard us the DEAF people that stand and shout "WE WANT JOBS!"
Please mark on your calendar to remind the date - Sept. 5th and 6th 2015, and it will be at the White House in Washington DC. No time to waiting delaying waste of time long years, Deaf and HoH people has been ignored and skyrocketing to 75 % Unemployment. It's Very important share to people want to know about the protest. "Deaf Employments were worse than Hearing people why? because is still Discriminating... Read more: ASL - White House
