This is a weekly roundup of national and international news articles about Deaf individuals and Deaf-related events and concepts. The aim is to give a slightly Deaf perspective on the journalism and story. This week: Deaf Schools, Videophones, the Super Bowl, and other isssues.

Deaf schools seemed to be under fire this past week. Citizens react as heavy cuts make themselves felt at the North Carolina School for the Deaf. The sad story of the Sioux Falls School for the Deaf is coming to an end, even as voices still cry out for solutions. Threats of gun violence brought heavy police security to Kentucky School for the Deaf-echoing a national problem, as a similar shooting took place at Alabama University. Allegations of sexual abuse have surfaced both in the American South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind and at schools for the Deaf in Nova Scotia, Canada. (Student-to-student sexual abuse is involved in both cases. One questions whether expulsion for guilty students, considered similar to “exile” from the community, might not be considered too harsh a punishment for some, with no easily available alternative solution.)

The Super Bowl has always drawn attention in the Deaf community – because of its lack of accessible commercials. Super Bowl commercials are financial miracles of advertising highly sought after by corporations. Their creativity (and sometimes inanity) is famous worldwide. Such commercials have in the past rarely been captioned. This year, over 80% were- and a Deaf person accompanied the National Anthem in A.S.L. This has echoes in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, where national cultures, indigenous and otherwise, are given lease to provide their own cultural contributions to such important events in the national identity. In a weird parallel, the Super Bowl had an essay contest won by a Deaf 5th Grader. Masia, who was born deaf, uses an implant and speaks. This ignited identity controversy; should the Super Bowl be honoring both implant users as well as sign language users? This controversy is starting to look slightly ridiculous as we enter the twenty-first century and find that cochlear implants have not replaced American Sign Language or destroyed the Deaf community (it is not known if Masia knows sign language.) In fact, it's turning out that many programs are advocating the use of American Sign Language in the education of cochlear-implanted children.

Jamie Berke at about.com notes that a Deaf-owned mortgage company has committed fraud against members of the Deaf community.

Echoing the American Videophone Obsession, Scotland's Helplines plans to release a webcam service allowing Deaf people to communicate face to face with mental health advisors in Scotland. The service follows a direct provision model and uses service providers trained in British Sign Language, not interpreters. This is important because, especially with the mentally ill population, clear communication is vital in the diagnostic process. Such developing services are echoed in the United States, where Deaf programmers work at Google to aid in the development of captioning technology.

In South Africa, the identity of a “Deaf and mute” man (their words, not mine) was accidentially released this past week after he won the lottery. Stanley Philander and his wife and children (also Deaf) were, apparently, immediately approached by others demanding money, and have escaped to an unknown location, which is probably not the island from LOST.

The Alexander Graham Bell Association has issued its list of 2010 Award Recipients, recognizing people who make a difference in the fields of hearing and spoken language.

Of note: Inspired by The Miracle Worker, now being revived on Broadway, Ruth Leon investigates Helen Keller's life after learning to spell W-A-T-E-R. In this she outstrips other writers. While most focus on Keller's struggle to find a speaking and signing voice, few focus on what she had to say. The Miracle Worker came under fire earlier this year when its director cast a hearing actor in the role of a Deaf person; his stated reason was that he did not want to risk the success of the show on the ability of an unknown actress, and hired Abigail Breslin, a 13-year-old newcomer to Broadway. In other Deaf Theatre news, Cousin Bette at Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood seems to be creating a stir.