Helene Jarmer (born August 8, 1971), as a member of the National Council of Austria, is the third culturally Deaf person in world history to be elected to a national parliament (after Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen of South Africa who was elected to the South African Parliament in 1999, and Dimitra Arapoglou who was elected to the Greek Parliament in 2007). [1]
Helene Jarmer became deaf at the age of two as the result of an auto accident. She attended a school for hard-of-hearing students after having been categorized by physicians as being hard of hearing. This afforded her a better quality of education, since in those days the schools for the deaf in Austria were not in the best condition, because none of them allowed sign language to be used for instructional purposes [ citation needed ]. She graduated as a mainstream student from the Technical High School (Höhere Technische Lehranstalt) of the Ungargasse Education Center (Schulzentrum Ungargasse) in Vienna, Austria.
Jarmer then attended and graduated from a teacher training program to be qualified to teach deaf and hard-of-hearing students at high schools (Hauptschule) and in schools for the deaf. After that she taught for eleven years at the National Institute for the Deaf (Bundesinstitut für Gehörlosenbildung). During this time she taught a bilingual class which included both deaf and hearing students alike, as part of a laboratory school setting.
On July 10, 2009, Helene Jarmer succeeded Ulrike Lunacek in the National Council of Austria. Lunacek became of member of the European Parliament in July 2009.
Jarmer, Helene, Inaugural Address to the Austrian National Council, July 10, 2009.
"Shouting won't help," says new member Helene Jarmer: First speech given by a Deaf person in Parliament, News.at, July 10, 2009.
Chapman, Lisa, "First Deaf MP is Sworn In," Austrian Times, July 10, 2009.
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Gallaudet University is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing in the world and remains the only higher education institution in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students. Hearing students are admitted to the graduate school and a small number are also admitted as undergraduates each year. The university was named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a notable figure in the advancement of deaf education.
Signing Exact English is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English language vocabulary and grammar. It is one of a number of such systems in use in English-speaking countries. It is related to Seeing Essential English (SEE-I), a manual sign system created in 1945, based on the morphemes of English words. SEE-II models much of its sign vocabulary from American Sign Language (ASL), but modifies the handshapes used in ASL in order to use the handshape of the first letter of the corresponding English word.
Heather Leigh Whitestone McCallum is a former beauty queen and conservative activist who was the first deaf Miss America title holder, having lost most of her hearing at 18 months.
The Louisiana School for the Deaf is a state school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge, the state capital. It was established in 1852 as a joint school for blind students. In 1860, its first purpose-built facility was completed and admired as an elegant monument to philanthropy. The schools were divided in 1898, and in 1908, Louisiana School for the Deaf was renamed.
Ángel Ramos is an educator, school administrator, and current principal of Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind. He was the founder of the National Hispanic Council of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. He formerly served Superintendent of the Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind, Sequoia School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf. He is the second deaf Hispanic/Latino to receive a doctorate degree and the first to receive a doctorate from Gallaudet University.
The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) is a state-supported boarding school for deaf and blind children established in 1885, in St. Augustine, Florida, United States.
The legal recognition of signed languages differs widely. In some jurisdictions, a signed language is recognised as an official language; in others, it has a protected status in certain areas. Although a government may stipulate in its constitution that a "signed language" is recognised, it may fail to specify which signed language; several different signed languages may be commonly used.
Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD) is a fully accredited school for the deaf and hard of hearing, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.
Jane Fernandes is a Deaf American educator and social justice advocate. As of August 2021, Fernandes is the President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She previously served as president of Guilford College from 2014 to 2021.
Ulrike Lunacek is an Austrian politician who served as State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in 2020. She is a member of the Austrian Green party The Greens – The Green Alternative, part of the European Green Party.
Delaware School for the Deaf (DSD) is a public K–12 school located on East Chestnut Hill Road in Brookside, Delaware, United States; It has a Newark postal address. The Christina School District operates the school, but because it is state-funded, the budget is separate from the rest of the district DSD operates Delaware Statewide Programs for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf-Blind.
Deaf education is the education of students with any degree of hearing loss or deafness. This may involve, but does not always, individually-planned, systematically-monitored teaching methods, adaptive materials, accessible settings, and other interventions designed to help students achieve a higher level of self-sufficiency and success in the school and community than they would achieve with a typical classroom education. There are different language modalities used in educational setting where students get varied communication methods. A number of countries focus on training teachers to teach deaf students with a variety of approaches and have organizations to aid deaf students.
Iowa School for the Deaf is a pre-K to 12th grade school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students located in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It serves students who live in Iowa and Nebraska.
Rose Pizzo is an Italian American author. She wrote the autobiography Growing Up Deaf with the help of her friend Judy Jonas, which tells the story of her life as a Deaf woman. This book was self-published through Xlibris. She is a prominent member of the Deaf Community and has won many awards for her efforts including the Fred Schreiber Golden Hands award.
Petra Fandrem Howard was an American deaf labor advocate. Hard of hearing from a young age, she was the first employee in the Minnesota Labor Bureau for the Deaf, created to support deaf workers and encourage employers to hire the deaf. Howard worked in vocational rehabilitation for the deaf for over forty years.
In Ireland, 8% of adults are affected by deafness or severe hearing loss. In other words, 300,000 Irish require supports due to their hearing loss.
Japanese Sign Language (JSL), also known as Nihon Shuwa, is the unofficial but most predominantly used sign language used by nearly 57,000 native signers as their primary language. It is a convergent, Deaf community sign language developed in the late 19th century.
The history of deafness in Iceland includes the history of Icelandic Sign Language (ISL) and its status as the first language of the Deaf, the history of Icelandic Deaf education and Deaf organizations, and the status of hearing screenings in the country.
Nicaragua's total population is 6,000,000, but a reliable count of the number of deaf people in Nicaragua is difficult to obtain. In 2009, a law was passed in which Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) was named as the official language of deaf people in Nicaragua. NSL is a newer sign language that emerged less than 50 years ago when deaf children started attending school. Due to the country's lack of early childhood hearing screenings, hearing loss is often undetected and left untreated. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children often face language deprivation due to the lack of language input they experience until they enter school. There are many schools in different cities in Nicaragua; however, the majority of deaf children throughout the country are not attending school. Deaf and hard-of-hearing people also face struggles when finding employment opportunities. NSL isn't an endangered sign language, but the total number of people who use the language are under 10,000.
Out of nearly 59 million people in Italy, about 3.5 million Italians have some form of hearing loss. Among them, around 70,000 people are severely deaf. The European Union for the Deaf reports that the majority of the deaf people in Italy use Italian Sign Language (LIS). LIS has been an official sign language in Italy since 2021. Italy, among other countries, ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and is slowly improving conditions for deaf humans in Italy. Many major organizations in Italy fight for deaf rights and spread awareness to the Italian National Agency for the protection and assistance of the Deaf and Associated Italian Families for the Defense of the Rights of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals (FIADDA). Newborns in Italy also receive universal hearing screenings. Education in Italy is directed towards oralism, although sign language is also used. LIS is a stable language and is used by approximately 40,000 users in Italy.
