DID YOU KNOW? Every year over 300 million inkjet cartridges are thrown away. In terms of weight,
that is equivalent to over 30, 500 African Elephants!
Dear Disabilities Network of Eastern Connecticut Supporter,
It is our pleasure to partner with B.C.S. Recycling Specialists to implement the “Recycle for DNEC” program, in which our organization can earn money for recycling Inkjet Cartridges, Cell Phones, PDAs, iPods and Laptops.
B.C.S. Recycling Specialists is a reputable landfill-free recycling company that has been working with many large businesses and non-profits since 1988 to recycle hazardous electronic waste. By collecting inkjet cartridges, cell phones, iPods and PDAs in a ‘Recycle for DNEC ‘collection box, you can offer a free and convenient recycling service to your community and earn money for your affiliate at the same time! Please review the enclosed brief information sheet and get ready to earn some very useful funds for your affiliate!
Please feel free to contact Brynn Hickey at 860-823-1898 X21 or contact B.C.S. directly with questions or to order boxes at larry@scrapdr.com or toll free 1-888-656-4104. PLEASE remember to tell them that you are with Disabilities Network of Eastern Connecticut and your area code & phone number.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hackers Send Thousands of Fake Calls to Deaf People
The Robert G. Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, which provides training and acts as a social hub, has several Sorenson video relay phones that people can use for free. For many deaf, these video relay devices are the main window to the outside world, which makes this prank even more upsetting.
A Utah company whose videoconferencing technology is used by tens of thousands of deaf people to communicate is trying to figure out who would be base enough to hack into their system and flood tens of thousands of deaf customers with fake conference calls.
Officials with Sorenson Communications say since October they have dealt with a plague of prank calls to its point-to-point video calling service. The company provides videoconferencing calls to the deaf free of charge to allow deaf people to communicate via sign language to others.
Sorenson public relations director Ann Bardsley said on one day, tens of thousands of false calls were sent to Sorenson videophones. On the user end, deaf customers think they have missed a call and that their unit is somehow malfunctioning.
The unknown hackers have affected some 30,000 videophones installed in the homes and workplaces of deaf customers across the United States, according to the company.
Ron Burdett, vice president of community relations for Sorenson Communications, said deaf customers who use sign language rely on his company's service for daily communications. Such interruptions he called "inconvenient and distressing."
Company officials say they do not know what is motivating the unknown group of hackers but they do figure it is a malicious reason.
Mitch Moyers is the technical program director for the Robert G. Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Taylorsville. He said the center, which provides training and acts as a social hub, has several Sorenson video relay phones that people can use for free.
"I'm disappointed. I feel like this is a great use for technology and to have people like that make life difficult for other people, that's disappointing," Moyers said.
Moyers said the system allows the deaf to use their "natural language" of signing without having to use a slow and sometimes inaccurate text relay service in which an operator converts voice into text which appears on a text relay phone.
For many deaf, Moyers said these video relay devices are their main window to the outside world, which makes this prank even more upsetting.
The flood of fake calls has gotten to the point that Sorenson has filed a federal lawsuit against a list of unknown "John Does" in hopes of getting a judge to allow them to subpoena information from a computer server their people have tracked the attacks to. The company claims the unknown group has violated the Federal Computer Abuse and Fraud Act and wants an injunction to put a stop to the fake calls and is also seeking damages.
Bardsley said the use of current video technology has revolutionized the way the deaf can communicate and her company wants to protect that. "Just as hearing people use phones to call a doctor, order dinner, check in with a family member, or conduct daily business at work, so do our deaf users of our video relay service," she said.
A Utah company whose videoconferencing technology is used by tens of thousands of deaf people to communicate is trying to figure out who would be base enough to hack into their system and flood tens of thousands of deaf customers with fake conference calls.
Officials with Sorenson Communications say since October they have dealt with a plague of prank calls to its point-to-point video calling service. The company provides videoconferencing calls to the deaf free of charge to allow deaf people to communicate via sign language to others.
Sorenson public relations director Ann Bardsley said on one day, tens of thousands of false calls were sent to Sorenson videophones. On the user end, deaf customers think they have missed a call and that their unit is somehow malfunctioning.
The unknown hackers have affected some 30,000 videophones installed in the homes and workplaces of deaf customers across the United States, according to the company.
Ron Burdett, vice president of community relations for Sorenson Communications, said deaf customers who use sign language rely on his company's service for daily communications. Such interruptions he called "inconvenient and distressing."
Company officials say they do not know what is motivating the unknown group of hackers but they do figure it is a malicious reason.
Mitch Moyers is the technical program director for the Robert G. Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Taylorsville. He said the center, which provides training and acts as a social hub, has several Sorenson video relay phones that people can use for free.
"I'm disappointed. I feel like this is a great use for technology and to have people like that make life difficult for other people, that's disappointing," Moyers said.
Moyers said the system allows the deaf to use their "natural language" of signing without having to use a slow and sometimes inaccurate text relay service in which an operator converts voice into text which appears on a text relay phone.
For many deaf, Moyers said these video relay devices are their main window to the outside world, which makes this prank even more upsetting.
The flood of fake calls has gotten to the point that Sorenson has filed a federal lawsuit against a list of unknown "John Does" in hopes of getting a judge to allow them to subpoena information from a computer server their people have tracked the attacks to. The company claims the unknown group has violated the Federal Computer Abuse and Fraud Act and wants an injunction to put a stop to the fake calls and is also seeking damages.
Bardsley said the use of current video technology has revolutionized the way the deaf can communicate and her company wants to protect that. "Just as hearing people use phones to call a doctor, order dinner, check in with a family member, or conduct daily business at work, so do our deaf users of our video relay service," she said.
Deaf CEO, superintendent talks about life without sound - Campus
Deaf CEO, superintendent talks about life without sound - Campus
CEO and superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf David Geeslin talked Thursday night about growing up during a time when American Sign Language was almost unheard of by most people. Nathan Boruff/ Indiana Statesman
Life hasn't always been easy for David Geeslin, deaf CEO and superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf.
Geeslin presented a program titled "A Perspective of Being Deaf" at Westminster Village in Terre Haute about growing up deaf.
His visit was sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education.
From the time Geeslin was young, Geeslin's mother, an audiologist, knew he couldn't hear normally.
She took him in for a hearing test, and sure enough, he was deaf.
Geeslin had to wear two hearing aids for a while and received speech therapy every day.
His mother was a huge influence on his success in overcoming his deafness, Geeslin said.
"She used to keep a journal recording my progress and all my successes," he said. "I was frustrated because I couldn't speak a word to thank her for all her hard work."
Geeslin said that his communication abilities used to make him feel like a Windows computer with a virus. He then attended the Indiana School for the Deaf.
"By the time I had finished my training there, I had become a Mac," he said.
He took sign language classes at the school, and everyone in his life started signing. At this time, sign language was almost unheard of, Geeslin said.
Geeslin then gave the audience a background of the physiological reason behind deafness.
He also showed the audience a video of his 10-month-old daughter signing "mommy" and "daddy," and he explained why he and his wife taught her to sign.
"The motor skills used in signing are easier to control than the fine motor skills used in speech," he said.
He encourages other parents with deaf or hard-of-hearing children to teach them to sign, especially in the first seven years of life, when the brain is most supple.
"The brain doesn't care whether you speak or sign," he said. "It looks at the message being conveyed."
Geeslin also presented a video called "Vital Signs," which was produced by a deaf filmmaker.
Although the video was completely in sign language, anyone could understand the message being conveyed, even if he or she does not know American Sign Language because of the signer's nonverbal communication and images in the background.
Geeslin said he thinks art is a powerful medium, and he displayed several pieces of art by deaf artists.
One work contained images of ears and mouths, and he said it had a profound message.
"This piece says to the viewer 'I have a life which does not only focus on being able to speak'," he said.
He explained how deaf people are often labeled as "disabled."
"We're very normal people-we can do everything you can do except hear," he said.
After receiving his master's degree, Geeslin taught in the public school system as a supervising teacher and doing diagnostic work.
As the CEO of the Indiana School for the Deaf and a former student there, he said he thinks the school is of utmost importance for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
"The Indiana School for the Deaf is the center of deaf communication-it allows children to socialize," he said. "Parents often thank us for giving their children the leadership skills they need."
CEO and superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf David Geeslin talked Thursday night about growing up during a time when American Sign Language was almost unheard of by most people. Nathan Boruff/ Indiana Statesman
Life hasn't always been easy for David Geeslin, deaf CEO and superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf.
Geeslin presented a program titled "A Perspective of Being Deaf" at Westminster Village in Terre Haute about growing up deaf.
His visit was sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education.
From the time Geeslin was young, Geeslin's mother, an audiologist, knew he couldn't hear normally.
She took him in for a hearing test, and sure enough, he was deaf.
Geeslin had to wear two hearing aids for a while and received speech therapy every day.
His mother was a huge influence on his success in overcoming his deafness, Geeslin said.
"She used to keep a journal recording my progress and all my successes," he said. "I was frustrated because I couldn't speak a word to thank her for all her hard work."
Geeslin said that his communication abilities used to make him feel like a Windows computer with a virus. He then attended the Indiana School for the Deaf.
"By the time I had finished my training there, I had become a Mac," he said.
He took sign language classes at the school, and everyone in his life started signing. At this time, sign language was almost unheard of, Geeslin said.
Geeslin then gave the audience a background of the physiological reason behind deafness.
He also showed the audience a video of his 10-month-old daughter signing "mommy" and "daddy," and he explained why he and his wife taught her to sign.
"The motor skills used in signing are easier to control than the fine motor skills used in speech," he said.
He encourages other parents with deaf or hard-of-hearing children to teach them to sign, especially in the first seven years of life, when the brain is most supple.
"The brain doesn't care whether you speak or sign," he said. "It looks at the message being conveyed."
Geeslin also presented a video called "Vital Signs," which was produced by a deaf filmmaker.
Although the video was completely in sign language, anyone could understand the message being conveyed, even if he or she does not know American Sign Language because of the signer's nonverbal communication and images in the background.
Geeslin said he thinks art is a powerful medium, and he displayed several pieces of art by deaf artists.
One work contained images of ears and mouths, and he said it had a profound message.
"This piece says to the viewer 'I have a life which does not only focus on being able to speak'," he said.
He explained how deaf people are often labeled as "disabled."
"We're very normal people-we can do everything you can do except hear," he said.
After receiving his master's degree, Geeslin taught in the public school system as a supervising teacher and doing diagnostic work.
As the CEO of the Indiana School for the Deaf and a former student there, he said he thinks the school is of utmost importance for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
"The Indiana School for the Deaf is the center of deaf communication-it allows children to socialize," he said. "Parents often thank us for giving their children the leadership skills they need."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut
Dear Ms. Bunn,
We would like your help in publicizing a new nonprofit organization that highlights the achievements of women who utilize wheelchairs in Connecticut . A committee formed during the summer of 2007, anticipating a contest that would be held in late winter 2008. In the meantime, the group had to start establishing a new nonprofit from the ground up. While a national competition honoring the achievements of wheelchair-bound women was founded in 1972, this year will be first that Connecticut women will have the official opportunity to take part. Recognizing the need for a well-spoken advocate, Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut strives to hold an annual contest, selecting an accomplished woman to represent the state at the U.S. level. This is, under no pretext, a beauty contest. Regardless of whether Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut wins the national title, her duties are numerous. Responsibilities include traveling extensively, networking with other wheelchair-bound individuals and various organizations, striving to end misconceptions about the disabled and promote awareness of architectural and attitudinal barriers within society. We are now seeking women across the state who are interested in becoming contestants, as well as volunteers and donors. If you could share the word about Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut with anyone who might be interested, we would be most appreciative! If you wish, we can email or mail a poster to hang in your office. For more information, go to www.mswheelchairct.org . Sincerely,Joanna MechlinskiSecretary/PR liaison
We would like your help in publicizing a new nonprofit organization that highlights the achievements of women who utilize wheelchairs in Connecticut . A committee formed during the summer of 2007, anticipating a contest that would be held in late winter 2008. In the meantime, the group had to start establishing a new nonprofit from the ground up. While a national competition honoring the achievements of wheelchair-bound women was founded in 1972, this year will be first that Connecticut women will have the official opportunity to take part. Recognizing the need for a well-spoken advocate, Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut strives to hold an annual contest, selecting an accomplished woman to represent the state at the U.S. level. This is, under no pretext, a beauty contest. Regardless of whether Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut wins the national title, her duties are numerous. Responsibilities include traveling extensively, networking with other wheelchair-bound individuals and various organizations, striving to end misconceptions about the disabled and promote awareness of architectural and attitudinal barriers within society. We are now seeking women across the state who are interested in becoming contestants, as well as volunteers and donors. If you could share the word about Ms. Wheelchair Connecticut with anyone who might be interested, we would be most appreciative! If you wish, we can email or mail a poster to hang in your office. For more information, go to www.mswheelchairct.org . Sincerely,Joanna MechlinskiSecretary/PR liaison
Wasabi Fire Alarm for deaf in Japan
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Wake up and smell the wasabi.
Japan has developed a smoke detector for deaf people that is based on the pungent smell of Japan's spicy green horseradish, an eye-watering condiment more typically found tucked under fish in a piece of sushi.
If it detects smoke, the alarm sprays out a synthesized wasabi smell that wakes up people who might have slept through a conventional fire alarm.
Assistant professor Makoto Imai from the Shiga University of Medical Science, who built the alarm in collaboration with Seems, a company that makes perfume, says the smoke detector may save lives among the hard of hearing.
"The proportion of the elderly among fire victims was nearly 50 percent. So, the staff at Seems ... thought that the decline of hearing ability may be one of the causes for delay in noticing and getting away when a fire breaks out," he told Reuters in an e-mail.
He said the Wasabi smoke detector was tested on 14 people, including four deaf people. Except for one person with a blocked nose, all woke up within two minutes of the smell reaching them.
Imai said trial production of the Wasabi smoke detector would be completed in a year and the product would be sold in shops within two years.
(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
Japan has developed a smoke detector for deaf people that is based on the pungent smell of Japan's spicy green horseradish, an eye-watering condiment more typically found tucked under fish in a piece of sushi.
If it detects smoke, the alarm sprays out a synthesized wasabi smell that wakes up people who might have slept through a conventional fire alarm.
Assistant professor Makoto Imai from the Shiga University of Medical Science, who built the alarm in collaboration with Seems, a company that makes perfume, says the smoke detector may save lives among the hard of hearing.
"The proportion of the elderly among fire victims was nearly 50 percent. So, the staff at Seems ... thought that the decline of hearing ability may be one of the causes for delay in noticing and getting away when a fire breaks out," he told Reuters in an e-mail.
He said the Wasabi smoke detector was tested on 14 people, including four deaf people. Except for one person with a blocked nose, all woke up within two minutes of the smell reaching them.
Imai said trial production of the Wasabi smoke detector would be completed in a year and the product would be sold in shops within two years.
(Reporting by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
Friday, February 29, 2008
DNEC listed in GoodSearch
The Disabilities Network of Eastern Connecticut is now a listed charity with GoodSearch. When you do an internet search through this search engine, they donate money to the charity of your choice. I have just downloaded the GoodSearch toolbar to my web browser, and have begun using it. The actual search engine is running Yahoo! SEARCH. If you would like to support the Disabilities Network of Eastern CT, please go to GoodSearch.com, put our name in the charity search box, and then download the toolbar. Everytime you do a search with this search engine, DNEC will get a penny. This doesn't sound like a lot, but the average person does 2 searches a day. Over the course of a year, and with only ten people, that equals about seventy-five dollars. Imagine what we can do if everyone who is affiliated with DNEC downloads it?!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Bob's House
"Bob's House" was a commercial made by Pepsico and EnAble. It aired during the pregame of the Superbowl 2008.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Drop in Center
DNEC has applied for a grant from General Mills, Hamburger Helper, to create a Drop in Center for Veterans with Disabilities. Please use the link below to go directly to the website and comment on it.
http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?tell=2&id=36177
http://www.myhometownhelper.com/ViewProject.aspx?tell=2&id=36177
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
February 11, 2008
The Evening activities scheduled for tonight are cancelled due to the inclement weather! This means: the Board of Directors meeting is cancelled, and the ASL class is cancelled.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
DEAF KFC
This is a KFC in Eygpt owned by a person who is deaf. All of his staff are deaf except for one worker who is hearing and answers the phone.
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