Deaf Man Prevented from Serving on Grand Jury

A Minnesota man wasn't allowed to serve on a grand jury because he is deaf. Mark Valimont is now suing the state. He wants the court staffed to be better trained and compensatory damages “in excess of $50,000.” Read more at the Star-Tribune here.

Lawsuit against St. Paul Police

A deaf woman says she was mistreated by the St. Paul police department. Catrina Hooper says she felt "hurt and afraid" after her encounter with officers. KSTP-TV has a video report.

A deaf man’s death leads to a change in NC law

Adam DeVenny Daniel Harris was shot and killed by a North Carolina state trooper after a high-speed chase. Now, a new law will go into effect in January as a result laset year. House Bill 84 allows deaf drivers to have a symbol included on their driver’s licenses. That way, when a police officer stops someone and checks their license number, this information will come up. Read more in the Herald-Sun here. Unfortunately, the Herald-Sun video posted below, does not have captions.

Hospital settles lawsuit over Terps

A south Texas hospital has settled a lawsuit out of court related to providing interpreters. The suit stemmed from complaints of a deaf couple, whose daughter was undergoing treatments for cancer. The hospital did not provide an interpreter for them and now, as part of the settlement, has agree to provide qualified interpreters when requested by patients, as required under ADA law. The Monitor has more details here.

Deaf Volunteer Firefighter Arrested Without Interpreter

Keri Dee says local police did not provide her brother, a deaf volunteer firefighter, with a sign language interpreter after his recent arrest. Little Rock's KARK-TV has a video report.

Rocker Claims he owns Sign for Love

Gene Simmons, co-founder of Kiss
image by Jason Hargrove

Gene Simmons, the co-founder of the oldies rock band Kiss, doesn't want anyone using the sign language gesture for love without his permission-because he claims he owns it. Last week, he filed an application with the patent office to trademark the gesture (which rock music enthusiasts know as "devil horns") he claims to have started using in the band's act during 1974. His filing says, "No other person, firm, corporation or association has the right to use said mark in commerce, either in the identical form or in such near resemblance." Trademark attorney Michael Cohen tells the Los Angeles Times:

"There's plenty of other trademarks that have been filed for the same symbol.  So, to me, he's literally trying to trademark the hand gesture as opposed to the drawing of the hand gesture.. He also has to establish that that hand gesture is associated with him. So in the mind of consumers that go to rock performances, are they going to associate that symbol with Gene Simmons?"

Read the LA Times story here. The Washington Post takes a look at some of the other rockers who used the gesture before Kiss in an article here. Read the Simmons application here.

Suit: No Terrp for 3 Days in hospital

Myra Gill is suing Louisiana's Slidell Memorial Hospital. She claims the hospital failed to provide her an interpreter during an emergency room visit that turned into a three day stay. Her lawyer told WDSU-TV, "We know that you can't get an interpreter at the drop of a hat within 10 minutes but Ms. Gill was in the hospital for three days and never once received a sign language interpreter."  WDSU has more on the story here.

Deaf Woman Denied Terp at Airport

The ACLU has filed a discrimination complaint saying a deaf woman was stopped and interrogated at Honolulu's airport. Customs officials apparently refused to provide her with a sign language interpreter, despite her repeated requests. The ACLU quotes the unnamed woman (who didn't want to be named) as saying:

I was so scared and felt alone. For people with deafness, being cut off from our ways of communicating is terrifying. I have traveled a lot, but have never experienced anything like this at any airport ever. With this complaint, I just want to make sure that other deaf people coming through Hawaii’s airports are treated with basic respect and dignity, and that disabilities are accommodated.

Read the full story in HawaiiNewsNow.

Did poor signing cost him millions?

James Wang says a wrong sign cost him millions of dollars. He once worked for IBM and was paid $200,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. Wang "accused the tech giant of firing him for being deaf." But Wang says his lawyer "confused the sign for 'million' with that for 'thousand' while negotiating the deal." Read more on the story from the New York Post.

Deaf driver's license bill passes NC House

North Carolina lawmakers have approved a new system to help law enforcement identify people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It passed the State House and is now on its way to the State Senate. WRAL-TV has more on the story here.

Ruling on Firing of Deaf School Teachers

A judge has overturned a decision by an arbitrator about the firing of two teachers at the Iowa School for the Deaf over what administrators said was poor performance. Read the full story from Associated Press here.