Category: History
Friday, May 18th, 2012
The founder of Ultratec gets an honorary doctorate today. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is honoring
Robert Engelke for his work in helping develop an inexpensive
TTY (Text Telephone) in 1978 from out of the basement of his Wisconsin home. His teletypewriter plugged into a regular phone line, allowing deaf people to communicate with other
TTY owners. The young, hearing engineer sold it for less than $200 - way below the typical model which could run as much as $1000. No longer a luxury item that very few in the deaf community could afford, Engelke made it possible for the average person to own one. He was motivated by a deaf friend,
Herb Pickell. He attended a National Association of the
Deaf conference to get feedback. He continued to have people who are deaf involved in product development ever since.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Herb Pickell
- Related Blogs on Robert Engelke
Tags: Deaf, Herb Pickell, Related Blogs, Robert Engelke, TTY
Posted in History, Schools, Technology, Wisconsin | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
An estimated 25,000 deaf Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust. Only about 20 deaf survivors are left today. Unlike other persecuted groups in the Holocaust, the deaf did not have a specific identity badge. About 17,500 deaf Germans were sterilized between 1933 and 1945.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Remembering the Holocaust
Tags: Related Blogs
Posted in History, Holocaust | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
It was on May 1, 1956, that Dr John Shea performed the first successful cochlear implant surgery.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Dr John Shea
Tags: Dr John Shea, Related Blogs
Posted in Cochlear Implants, History | Comments Off
Sunday, April 15th, 2012
It was on this date (April 15) in 1817 that the first public school especially for the deaf in opened its doors. The American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut is 195 years old.
Tags: Deaf
Posted in Connecticut, History, Schools | Comments Off
Friday, March 30th, 2012
Today (March 30) in 1980 the Broadway production of Children of a Lesser God opened in New York.
Tags: New York
Posted in History, Theater | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
Here's a video from 1976 of news presented by
WMAQ in Chicago for the deaf. The news anchor reads the news while signing it. Click
here to see it.
Related Blogs
Tags: Related Blogs, Saturday Night, WMAQ
Posted in History, TV | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
24 years ago today, the
Deaf President Now movement begins at
Gallaudet University. It comes to a successful end one week later when I King Jordan became the first deaf president of
Gallaudet University.Related Blogs
Tags: Gallaudet University, Related Blogs
Posted in Gallaudet, History | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
The New Zealand Parliament made history today,
Mojo Mathers, the first deaf member of the body, gave her first speech. Since Mathers' speech was translated into
sign language, the 13 other members of the Green party who spoke had their speeches translated into
sign language as well. Ironically,
Parliamentary Services is refusing to pay for Mathers to have an electronic note taker during sessions, saying she should pay for it herself. During her speech, Mathers addressed the issue, saying, "No (member of Parliament) with a disability should be expected to fund their participation in the House in this way." She also called on Parliament TV to offer captioning so that all
New Zealanders could have access to political debate. Read more about Mathers
here.
Tags: Mojo Mathers, New Zealanders, Parliamentary Services, sign language
Posted in Closed-Captioning, History, Interpreters, New Zealand | Comments Off
Sunday, February 12th, 2012
Two years ago, GoAmerica changed its name to Purple Communications. Even the company's stock ticker went from GOAM to PRPL. Besides providing text and video relay, the company combined its interpreting services under the banner Purple Language Services. That includes Sign Language Associates (or SLA), Hands On Services and Visual Language Interpreting (VLI). Hands On first used purple in its logos, leading some to refer to it as the 'purple company'.Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Purple Communications
Tags: GOAM, PRPL, Purple Communications, Purple Language Services, Related Blogs, Sign Language Associates
Posted in Business, History, Video Relay | Comments Off
The founder of Ultratec gets an honorary doctorate today. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is honoring Robert Engelke for his work in helping develop an inexpensive TTY (Text Telephone) in 1978 from out of the basement of his Wisconsin home. His teletypewriter plugged into a regular phone line, allowing deaf people to communicate with other TTY owners. The young, hearing engineer sold it for less than $200 - way below the typical model which could run as much as $1000. No longer a luxury item that very few in the deaf community could afford, Engelke made it possible for the average person to own one. He was motivated by a deaf friend, Herb Pickell. He attended a National Association of the Deaf conference to get feedback. He continued to have people who are deaf involved in product development ever since.
