Hwang Jin is 33 years old and lives in Seoul, South Korea. A recent story by Kim Min-sang and Lee Yu-jeong in Korea Joongang Daily told the story of Hwang’s life and her job. She works as a barista at a Starbucks coffee shop located at the Seoul National University of Education.

She is married and has two children. Last year, she heard that Starbucks, along with the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled, was looking to employ people with disabilities. She received training for three weeks and then started working.

She enjoys her work, and her co-workers have started to sign language. The first to learn sign language at the Starbucks branch was the store manager, Jung Cheon-won, 38. "At first, we tried to communicate by writing on a piece of paper but it was too much of a hassle, and I began to learn sign language," Jung said.

"Most places do not hire disabled people unless its a simple manual labor job, but here, I am happy to be able to mingle with other people," Hwang said.

Korea Joongang Daily web site

In the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, there are 20 deaf police officers. They are responsible for watching the monitors of the city’s 200 security cameras. Oaxaca is a city that many tourists like to visit. It is famous for its art and food. The deaf police officers watch the monitors. They watch for suspicious behavior, people who steal purses or from other people’s pockets, fights, car stealing, drug dealing, and any other violent crime. When they see something happen, they contact the police officers who are working out on the streets. The deaf officers are both men and women. Since they started working, they have helped to catch many criminals.

This story originally appeared in the New York Times. Please click here to read the entire article.

From PRNewsChannel.com

Dr. Justus Peters is the author of a new book, "A Walk in My Moccasins: Memoirs of a Deaf Physician". In his book, Dr. Peters tells his readers about his life and how he became a doctor.

Dr. Peters says, "I pray that ‘A Walk in My Moccasins’ gives others the hope to continue on with their dreams. I’ve been blessed to experience firsthand that having a disability does not limit your chance for success in America. I want to give something back to a society that gave me the chance to succeed and achieve my dreams."

Dr. Peters earned his medical degree at the Creighton University School of Medicine in 2005. He now is a family physician and lives in Texas, USA. He is married and has 2 children.

"A Walk in My Moccasins: Memoirs of a Deaf Physician" is available for sale online at Amazon.com.

From TehranTimes.com

The Shafaq Cultural Center is the home for a new puppet school for the deaf in Tehran, Iran. The school was started by the Art and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality.

There was a special ceremony to open the school. A special guest at the opening ceremony was Samineh Baghcheban. She is the daughter of Jabbar Baghcheban, the man who founded the first school for the deaf in Iran in 1924.

Samineh expressed her happiness about the puppet school. She talked about the school that her father started and how the puppet school is a result of the first school. She said, "When I attend such ceremonies, I find out that my father’s efforts were not useless. The sapling that my father planted many years ago in support of the deaf has now grown into a big tree with the support of family members and friends of the deaf people of the society," she added. Samineh said that deaf people are the best actors in the world because they depend on vision for all of their lives.

At the end of the ceremony, the students presented a puppet show.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/whangarei-leader/7044088/Deafness-no-handicap-to-Angus

Angus McDonald lives in Ngunguru, New Zealand. He is an athlete who plays the sport of squash. Angus is a World Deaf Squash Champion who is training for the next championships which will be held in October.

Angus is 49 years old. When he was 17, he was playing rugby and broke his neck. After his neck healed, he decided to look for a sport that was a non-contact sport. He chose the sport of squash.

The game of squash moves very quickly. Players must use their hearing to know where the ball is going. Angus says, "Most players can hear the ball crossing the court and know where the ball is going to go. For me I have to watch the ball the whole time," he says.

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players (or in doubles 4 players on court at a time) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball.

Photo from Wikipedia.com

Mojo Mathers is a profoundly deaf woman who lives in the country of New Zealand. In 2011, the people in her area voted for her to become a Member of Parliament (MP). She is the first deaf person to be elected to be a MP in New Zealand.

She was born in London, UK in 1966. She later moved to New Zealand and worked to protect the environment. She is a member of the Green Party. This political party focuses on issues that protect the air, water, and land.

Mojo’s name came from a song that her parents liked. The song was by Muddy Waters, and it was named, "Got My Mojo Working". Mojo has 3 children.

During her campaign in 2011, Mojo wrote about herself. She wrote, "I strive to reduce my personal impact on the environment by being vegetarian, supporting GE free food (food that is not genetically engineered), non-toxic and organic food, fair trade and local trace, using public transport, keeping myself informed, and getting involved. I have a strong work ethic and am very accessible by email."

Photo from Yelp.com

Mozzeria is a new Italian restaurant in San Francisco, California USA. The owners of Mozzeria are Melody and Russell Stein, a young deaf couple. Many of the restaurant’s employees are also deaf.

Melody was born in Hong Kong and moved to California when she was very young. After she graduated from high school, she attended Gallaudet University. While she was going to Gallaudet, she met Russell who grew up in New York City.

Photo from Mozzeria.com

Melody had always wanted to own a restaurant. After she finished at Gallaudet, she worked for a while with a non-profit organization. Then she decided to follow her dream of owning a restaurant. She attending a special school to learn about the restaurant business. She also traveled around Italy to learn more about Italian food. Melody and Russ learned more about cooking and then began to plan to open their restaurant.

They opened Mozzeria in late 2011. Deaf and hearing people in San Francisco come to Mozzeria and enjoy their Neopolitan-style of pizza. The Steins bake their pizzas in wood-powered ovens.

"The Hammer" is a new movie about a deaf man, Matt Hamill. Matt is famous in the sport of wrestling.

When Matt was in college, he was the National Collegiate Athletic Association National Champion for 3 years. He attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, USA. In 1997, Matt participated in the Deaflympics (Deaf Olympics) in the country of Denmark. He won gold medals in the greco-roman wrestling competition. He also participated in the 2001 Deaflympics in Rome, Italy and won a gold medal and a silver medal.

Matt was one of the fighters on the television program, "The Ultimate Fighter". He was part of the program for 6 years. In August, 2010, Matt retired from "The Ultimate Fighter."

"The Hammer" has won many awards in movie competitions.
 

Cerdas Barus is a Grandmaster chess player. He is 50 years old, and he is from Indonesia. His first international competition was in 1983. He played on the Medan City team which participated in the Asian Cities Championship in Hong Kong. After that, he was in the Chess Olympiad in Greece in 1984. He has participated in many chess competitions since then. In 2010, he won a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia. In the spring of 2011, Cerdas won Telin Chess International competition in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The word, "Grandmaster" means that a chess player has won some very difficult competitions. It is an honor, and it is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for the rest of the person’s life.

From the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

Do you or someone you know have a hearing loss, whether minor or total? Then we would like to learn about your tourism experiences and what you as a person with hearing impairment want in the way of tourism, travel and hospitality products and services. We will use the feedback you give us to inform the tourism industry about the needs of people who are hard-of-hearing. Whatever country you live in, please help us by taking a survey that can be found at:

http://www.tourismandhearingsurvey.co.nz/

Your input will be gratefully appreciated and will help to improve access not only in tourism, but in other walks of life. This is the first such survey of it s kind. Your input is anonymous and your answers cannot be traced back to you.

If you know of anyone else with a hearing loss who may be interested in taking the survey, or if you are an NGO, can you please pass on the link to the survey?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Mirakle Couriers is a company in Mumbai, India. The workers take packages and letters from place to place. It began in 2009. The company has 70 deaf employees. They make about 65,000 deliveries each month.

A man named Dhruv Lakra started Mirakle Couriers. One day, he met a young deaf man on the bus. He could see that the deaf man had a difficult life. In India, there are not many job opportunities for deaf people. Most deaf people are very poor. Mr. Lakra wanted to find a way for deaf people to get jobs.

Mr. Lakra decided to start a courier business. He felt it would be a good business for deaf people because it requires a lot of visual skills. He said that deaf people are extremely good at reading maps and remembering roads and buildings.

Web site:   www.miraklecouriers.com

James’ nickname was "Dummy Jim", and you can now read his story on a web site: www.dummyjim.com

Photo from The Press and Journal

Two men from Scotland, Olly Rundell and Alex South, are riding their bicycles and following the same route that James followed. They are using this journey to raise money for the National Deaf Children’s Society in the UK and also to make a movie about James’ diary.

Photo from digitaljournal.com

This boat is called the Whisper Ball. It was built by deaf workers at the
Whisper Boat Building Academy in Cape Town, South Africa. This school trains young deaf adults to become skilled boat builders. The Whisper Ball was voted the most innovative product during the 2010 South African Boating Awards. You can visit the school's web site here.

 

A company in Japan has invented a new smoke alarm for deaf people. This smoke alarm does not make noise or have flashing lights. This alarm makes a very strong smell when there is smoke. The alarm uses Japanese horseradish to make the strong smell.

Photos from LATimes.com

A new bronze statue of Helen Keller was recently set up in the United States Capitol building. Helen Keller was a famous deaf-blind woman from the USA. Helen was born in 1880 and died in 1968. The new statue shows Helen standing by a water well with her hand in the water. This was an important event for Helen. This was the first word she learned to spell with the American Sign Language alphabet.





 

Photo from the BBC web site

Janet Salt is a 52 year old deaf and blind woman from England. She recently hiked 42 miles (68 km) on the Great Wall of China. She used the hike to raise money for a charity in the UK.

Photo from: avma.org

Many deaf people have graduated from veterinary school. They now work as veterinarians taking care of animals. One deaf veterinarian is Dr. Thomas McDavitt. In this picture, Dr. McDavitt is checking a dog’s heartbeat. He is not using a stethoscope like a hearing veterinarian uses. He puts his cheek on the dog’s side to feel the heart beat.