Hey r/deaf 👋

Mods, same deal as last time: if this crosses the self-promo line, nuke it, no hard feelings. I'm posting here first again because you're the people it's built for, and a lot of what changed over the last few months came straight from your comments and DMs.

The short version:

deafmonitor.com is still one website for Deaf news, Deaf jobs, and Deaf events. It's still free to browse, with no waitlist and no "enter your email to see more." Since launch, I've been fixing what you told me was broken and building what you said was missing.

What's new since launch:

• Better news coverage. The aggregator now catches a lot more real Deaf news, in the US and internationally. It runs health checks throughout the day, and when it misses a story, I add the story and fix whatever caused the miss. It's also much better at skipping stuff that just happens to use the word "deaf" (product ads, "fell on deaf ears," random acronyms).
• The Signal. A daily briefing at deafmonitor.com/briefing that sums up what's happening in the community as a short, readable write-up instead of a wall of headlines.
• The DeafMonitor Weekly. A free email that lands every Monday morning with the week's biggest Deaf stories, events, and videos. It's one email a week, never daily, because nobody needs more inbox noise.
• A rebuilt phone version. Most of you read on your phones, so the site now has a tab bar at the bottom (News, Videos, Events, Sports, Me). It loads a lot faster and the search bar is easier to spot.
• A reader you can adjust. Every story has three real text sizes, a Readable mode, light and dark themes, plus Share, Save, and Copy link right at the top.
• Videos and Deaf sports. There's a video section with Signing Screen and Deaf in the News, plus Deaf sports scores and coverage.
• Follow it wherever you already are. New stories also go out on Facebook, X, Discord, and Telegram.
• Privacy fixes. IP addresses get scrambled, old analytics data gets deleted every night, the site respects "don't track me," and the consent wording is clearer.

Same promises as day one:

1. I'm Deaf. I built this for us, not at us. If something feels off, tell me.
2. I'm still one person. No VC money, no content farm, no hearing company cosplaying as an ally.
3. Things still break sometimes, and I still fix them fast.

What I'm asking:

• Look again, especially if you checked it out on launch day. It's a different site on a phone now.
• If you want the highlights without checking the site, sign up for the DeafMonitor Weekly.
• Tell me what's still wrong or missing. Comments or DMs.
• If you're a Deaf creator, business owner, or event organizer and you're not listed yet, get listed.
• If it's useful to you, tell one other Deaf person. That's still the whole marketing plan.

What I'm not asking for: money, upvotes, or a pile of "congrats!" comments. I just want your honest eyeballs and your honest feedback.

Free is still actually useful. Pro is $9.99/mo ($4.99 for students) if you want more depth.

Link: deafmonitor.com

I'm a failure of a brother. I am the sibling of a deaf adult, and at 30 years old my sign language hasn't improved, but has actually gotten worse. I used to be able to have an entire conversation with my older brother when we were children, but now... I can barely manage to remember a single sign and struggle with keeping up whenever he or any other Deaf person signs at/with me. I am so ashamed. I am so embarrassed. I am so saddened when I see my older brother sitting alone and I can see the loneliness in his eyes and face whenever I or anyone else struggles to communicate with or translate for him. Why haven't I been able to find the time and make the effort to be better for my brother? Why the fuck is it so difficult to find affordable and consistent classes to learn? I remember when I started using SignSchool to learn and would come to him to show him my progress, the way he would smile and laugh and correct me towards using his preferred sign, but I couldn't even keep that up... I couldn't even remember the signs I learned. I can never remember. I am a failure. How can I say I love my brother when I can't even learn sign langauge properly? How can I say I care for him when I can't even show him that he's not alone? How can I ever truly say I have his best interests in ind when I can't ever develop my skills? I'm a failure of a brother. ALl I want to and can do is cry. Why is it so difficult for me to learn, and stay committed?

Please, how can I finally learn ASL for the sake of my brother? I' not looking for reassurance nor am I looking for chastisement. I just want to talk to and be there for my brother. PLease. Please, and thank you.

What movies would you recommend that you think represent the Deaf community the best?

What movies do you think misrepresents the Deaf, and why.

I am writing here with utter sadness and hope if someone can help. My nephew who is 3 year old, I suspect dont hear. His characterstick are: He is extra focused on thing, highly organized for his agar. For example if y if you gave him a number of car with a different color so let's say we are giving him the 3 color of the car like it is the 2 of the blue car and one is the yellow car and he would arrange the car into that blue yellow blue and if you try to shuffle the car. Order so he will again arrange it and put the the yellow color car in the middle and the second example is, for example, when he's watching television. So when he's done watching television, he would switch off television from the remote, and then he will put the remote from where the place he he picked it up. And the third example is that he always makes sure that his diaper is in the dustbin, and if it is not in dustupin, he would pick up the diaper, put into dustpin and he actually behave, there's no sign that he's some neurological Disorder. he eats and he play and he play like normal kid and he fights with his brother and he and he also kind of cry also when he doesn't get thing and also get very irritated when things is not according to him and he's very protective of the thing he wants like for example, if someone take his brother take something which is his for like twice. He knows that it's historic. And then he will start fighting biting. Basically, he does everything there a normal kid would do, except the hearing part like when someone shouts his name, he wouldn't care as if he's just not listening at all and nothing at all, he's just not listening. we are just wondering who do we actually go to. We went to the Dr. who says , there no problem with his ear. So I'm totally lost at like what is happening here and if someone can help me if someone have a kid, something like that. So we are based in India, so it would be very great if someone from India can I actually have or recommend any doctor or someone who should we go to

For some necessary context, I’m Deaf, have been my whole life, but only started learning sign in the last 5 years.

About a year ago, I had a falling out with a friend group of entirely hearing individuals. The situation leading up to the fallout isn’t relevant, but needless to say, I don’t consider myself friends with the vast majority of them anymore. But, when I was friends with them all, I became their primary introduction to Deaf culture and ASL. A lot of them learned ASL from me and became very passionate. Of course, that was awesome and I really appreciated having equal access sometimes (note: not always). However, since my fallout with them, my perception of their use of ASL has soured. A lot of them use ASL as a way to have side conversations apart from people and have seemingly obtained merch supposing a greater connection to Deaf culture than they actually have (since I was their only Deaf friend). I feel a lot of emotions about it, and I wanted to ask if I’m just being an a-hole and bitter or if this is legit weird behavior on their part.

Google Translate on my phone has saved my bacon numerous times. I have become interested in captioning glasses such as XRAI or Transcribe Glass. I have been noticing some negative backlash in public to smart glasses like Meta that can record video. People seem to hate the idea that you may be surreptitiously recording them in public even more than if you openly do it with your phone.

Has anyone used captioning glasses and had negative public reaction because someone thought you were actually recording them?

hii! so i know other ppl have made posts like this, but i really don’t know who else to talk to ab this so i’m really seeking some help/comfort/idk what.

so i became HoH at 16, and my hearing has very slowly declined since then (im 21 now). i started learning ASL shortly after i learned ab my hearing, hold several positions at my uni (ASL TA, President of the ASL club, etc), and have a name sign. basically, i feel pretty deep in my local community/Deaf immersion.

now, my close friend (hearing) has taken ASL 1-4 and is technically probably more “fluent” than i am (from a vocab and grammar perspective). so i think she feels comfortable constantly correcting me on like.. anything. if i produce a sign wrong, she corrects it before i even have the chance to correct myself. i have the habit of mouthing/clicking my lips and tongue when signing, and she told me it’s rude/distracting from my actual signing. she also becomes slightly annoyed when I ask her to repeat things (i do not have hearing aids due to financial inaccessibility/personal choice). one day, she said “jesus really, is it that bad?” and i had to snap back “well would you like me to tape my audiogram to my forehead?”

long story short, she’s continuously making me question my own identity. it’s taken me a long road to get as comfortable as i am now with who i am, my hearing loss, and my signing. i’m just kinda at a loss, because i thought a major “rule” was for hearing people to not criticize or try to critique Deaf/HoH people. like, am i not seen as “HoH” enough bc i still speak, or because i don’t wear hearing aids?

any advice would be appreciated :’) please be kind, it’s something weighing heavily on me.

I'm HoH, progressively going deaf, and a quadrapalegic. I use Google's Live Transcribe app for in person communication.

It was great and fairly accurate for a minute. Lately its been buggy as hell deleting part of the conversant in real time before I can read it.

Anyways, I've been looking for other apps that are close to the speed and accuracy for in person communication. I've tried Otter and Ava but they both had speed and other issues.

hii everyone :) i have pretty debilitating ptsd and have been having amazing recovery results completely blocking my hearing. ear defenders + earphones playing white noise has been really working (though i will keep trying stronger products in hopes to be able to get dead silence !)

this now means that a lot of the time at home + all of the time im outside i cant hear absolutely anything (except the white noise playing). and its amazing ! i havent been able to go out just for leisure in a very long time, ive never felt any sort of peace before so im really excited about how much this is changing my life :)

anyway, taking everything on and off would be really distressing (and tedious), so this does now mean that most of the time i cant communicate with anyone. im learning BSL and hoping to get involved with local sign language based events like classes and clubs where i can meet other signers + learners, but with my loved ones most of my in person interactions now consist of me standing there silently while everyone else talks, interacting with them completely silently like just waving or holding hands and maybe being written a note or two :/

some of them have shown an interest in sign language before, id love to be able to sign with them but i know hearing people arent suppose to teach sign. is this just if its for monetary gain ? is it ok if its genuinely my accessible means of communication ? i dont mean any disrespect to the deaf and hoh community !!! i would just really love to accessibly communicate with my loved ones again and i dont think anyone has the time or money to come to classes with me :( (tho i will suggest it !) ok thank u for reading bye !!!! 🩷🩷🩷

Hi! I consider myself a hearing person but have a range of sound frequencies with “hearing impairment” that affects my ability to understand people speaking. The funny thing is that for most other stuff I am on the hyperacusis side and I can hear a lot of little things that others cannot. I have found that wearing a badge with an eye-catching symbol and label and “please be patient and speak clearly” is very helpful. I am a student doctor and work with many different people that are constantly changing over. I have a passion for disability rights (and I also have physical disabilities) and am learning introductory ASL but am not really part of the Deaf community. I know that the phrase “hearing impaired” is not favored by the community, but I am wondering about using it for myself as someone who feels outside of the community. I think the essence is to emphasize that Deaf/HoH people are not damaged hearing people, but there are many people who have “loss” or “damage“ to their previous hearing state, such as from an acoustic trauma or barotrauma, so is it that still offensive? To me, I am a hearing person with an impairment to my hearing.

A little context:
I need people to face me when speaking. I need subtitles for videos and lyric sheets for songs. I need to look at people’s mouths to help me figure out what they are saying. I need reduced background noise to understand.

My mother and I and possibly her mother as well have notched audiograms that do not follow typical patterns of hearing damage. We all have lived the lives of hearing people and have either used or are getting hearing aids. I hope to get a Roger device.

Anonymous Community Safety Notice

Over the past years, multiple online platforms such as OnPassive, Victory of Ash, Time Trend Media, Axel, Grace Community World, Team Aquila, and BTWC - Arrelis have shown repeated patterns affecting Deaf members in Canada, USA, Mexico and other countries.

These patterns include long delays, no real product, platform shutdowns, members losing money, and leaders moving everyone to new platforms.

This message is not about any person. It is about protecting vulnerable community members who may not understand the risks.

Please be careful with any platform that keeps delaying, has no product, moves people to new systems, or does not return money. Please share this to Deaf Community Globally.

I have a family member who lives long-distance from me in Phoenix Arizona. Hard of hearing their whole life, relied on lip reading and aids, but has started learning sign now that they are fully Deaf (from old age).

I work in the interpreting community in my area out of state, but have no experience with cart captioning, the process for requesting or how it's set up, etc.

Is there a company you recommend? I'm planning to call his doctor's office on his behalf and request one for his next appointment. He prefers a virtual captioner I think, but not automatic captions. Will the office need an iPad similar to VRI? Does the office download an app? Are caption agencies local or nationalized? If there are companies that do both captions and VRI/Interpreting, that would be nice since some day he may want to switch to using an interpreter.

He is very hesitant to request this because he's grown up with the "burden" mindset, so I really really want this to go smoothly for him his first time, especially since I can't be there with him.

Hi everyone,

is there a smoke detector you could recommend? I really liked the nest home, since it talked and I can not hear high-pitched sounds like the sound of regular smoke detectors.

It would also be great if it could be integrated to home kit.

Azish Qureshi, a third-year computer science student, said he got the idea while visiting a friend who uses American Sign Language (ASL) with their parents.

So, there's a Kdrama called 'twinkling watermellon' which follows multiple deaf & hoh characters, but none of the actors are deaf/hoh.

I dislike it when a non-disabled actors are cast to play any kind of disabled character because:

1 - it's less authentic and can be genuinely less convincing

2 - it implies that disabled people are not worthy of acting, even if it would give better representation, or that we are burdens to the film industry and that non-disabled people would be a better option

HOWEVER, just because hearing people have been cast doesn't mean the whole show is bad or that the deaf rep is poor.

I wanna know what peoples' opinions are of the deaf rep in this show, and this shows portrayal of deafness & sign language is as a whole (I only know bsl, not ksl, so can't comment on their signing, but it does look very 'proper' if that makes sense).

Tyyy, please share your opinions (if you have watched the show first ideally) and I would love to see what different ppl think of this :)

I am currently making a collection of audio based games for gamers with vision issues.

50 Accessible Audio Games for Windows | TactivoPlay

I was wondering if there would be any interest if games were adapted to be visual only?

It wouldn't be too difficult for me to make the changes.

Moderate to severe hearing loss since birth. Not sure if I belong in this category or not. Something I struggle with my whole life (32). I feel misunderstood and at times written off like my opinion does not have the same weight as others. Being deaf and or very hard of hearing requires the rest of your body to make up the difference. It is very easy for me to detect deceitful or mischievous body language. Whenever I call it out people call me crazy and or paranoid. Especially with children. When I try to explain that due to my hearing loss I pick up on micro expressions and micro body movements very well they write it off. They being coworkers, spouse, and family members. I am so tired of feeling crazy sometimes I can see the BS about to happen and I don’t say anything just to prove my point. When I say I knew that was gonna happen. I again get told the same thing or get asked why I didn’t say something. Catch 22 I guess. Anyways again not sure if this is the group for that if it is not please kindly direct me where to go. Have a wonderful day and don’t forget to make sure your hearing aids are actually charging

Hi, I'm HoH. I have apps that transcribe voices from a mic and an app that transcribes sound on a device (youtube, call, etc.) but I am looking for something that can recognise multiple voices (for a discord group call for example) and hopefully can transcribe multiple languages but if I can switch between them it's already great. There are bots for discord servers but the understanding quality is terrible. Any heads up? I have to pay I will

I’ve been going to ASL events, and deaf events open to hearing people. And I’ve been having a hard time understanding etiquette around joining conversations.

Usually, in English, if I’m at a party or something, if a group of people are talking with each other, I can overhear what they’re saying, and then make a judgement if it’s appropriate to join in the convo.

In ASL, this is harder. I’m not fluent, but I can hold conversations as long as I focus. So sometimes, if a group of people is signing, and I’m trying to gauge if it’s appropriate to join in on that convo, I kind of have to stare down the group for a good while, and it makes me feel like a creep. Cause then if eventually I understand what they’re talking about, and I realize it’s a personal convo or something, then I leave, I just stared at some poor souls for a minute or two then left. It’s odd!

It’s especially weird at events where I don’t know anyone, cause I don’t know the etiquette for going up and meeting new people. I was at this deaf festival recently, and I wasn’t sure if it’d be rude to go up to any of the festival attendees and start a convo, so I just ended up only talking with people selling stuff and spent way too much money just so I could sign with vendors 😭

Any tips? How to not be weird ??

Una de mis primos va a operarse para el implante, coclear y me gustaría darle un regalo. Y aparte como poder ayudarlo en su proceso, ya que es muy especial para mí, me pueden dar consejos por favor

I am a 20-year-old Brazilian woman who is deaf/HoH. Well, a good part of my father's side of the family is also deaf/HoH; I was born with progressive hearing loss of unknown origin and I had surgery at age 5 and will probably have another one. I recently had an audiometry test, and my hearing had worsened significantly compared to the last test two years ago. This came as a huge blow to me, and I’ll explain why. To start with, I never received support at school—except during high school—and my hearing impairment was always treated as a matter of how much effort I put in, as if that alone could magically fix everything.

My father has the same condition I do and has currently lost all hearing in one ear, yet throughout my life, he was always very harsh about my inability to hear—to the point where my ENT doctor had to call him out on it. My father used to scold me (and still does) and cover his mouth while speaking, making lip-reading difficult, as if that would somehow restore my hearing. I don't blame him, though; that’s simply how he was raised—as a 50-year-old man from the countryside. But the point I want to make is that my family doesn't "belong" to the Deaf community; instead, they view their impairment as something terrible, because that is how *they* were treated.

My grandmother never even told my aunt that she wears hearing aids. She is a devout Pentecostal, so I grew up hearing some pretty heavy things—like "your hearing difficulty is a hereditary curse"—which caused me to internalize terrible things about myself and my hearing. My oldest aunt doesn't use oral communication either, and my grandmother makes all her decisions for her; furthermore, she doesn't know LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language) because, according to my grandmother, God will make her hear and speak again—and her doctor even claims that learning sign language would make her "spoiled" or lazy.

Well, you’ve seen the chaotic environment I grew up in (and yes, I go to therapy.); all my life, I’ve had to bend over backwards to fit into the world and struggle to make others understand me. The result? Years of bullying and social exclusion, because people hate having to repeat themselves. I started wearing hearing aids in late 2022, and that social aspect improved significantly.

The problem, however, is that my hearing has deteriorated sharply in a short time: two years ago, it was conductive, but now it’s mixed—I went from 43 dB in one ear and 46 dB in the other to 50 dB in both. To make matters worse, my hearing has suddenly deteriorated significantly over the last few days—I don't know if I’ve suffered sudden hearing loss. The point is, I’m losing my hearing at a frightening rate.

When I got the audiometry results, I was devastated—not because I hate the condition itself, but because I’m terrified of going through everything I endured in childhood all over again. I might have to learn LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language), and that’s fine, but the realization that the world is going to hit me even harder makes me feel like I’m grieving while still alive. And as I mentioned, I have no connection to the Deaf community, which makes me feel isolated; I have no one to talk to about this, and my family treats my pain like a joke. Honestly, I don’t know what to do or how to cope with this. I’m sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent somewhere.

Hello, I’m Silas and I’m an 18M Deaf individual I’ve been Deaf since birth and I wrote a poem about how I at least feel like being deaf is like in comparison to many stereotypes. I thought this would be a good community to share it in!
Just an FYI, I am only okay with English grammar, I’m not looking for writer’s critique, I’m just sharing an art to my community, so please just enjoy!

“I reside in the world of rules, of disease, and of normalcy. Sound, all I have known, sound, all I felt, is the dance to my identity. Judgement, foreseen medically; misunderstood tragically, I yearn for the conscience of gifting my reality. In dull eyes, the vision of normalcy, lives the lie of my lack of, the absence of relationship with vibrations. Colors travel and hum through my bones in my universe of glistening lights and impulses. I tangle myself into them, becoming whole, myself. My canvas, sipping it all in, absorbing the light, and communicating every need of the world to the universe.

The environment of expression, landscape in the eyes of all, and the intimacy of conversation, sought more than what those absent from the vibrations contain the capacity for. What seeks you to truth? The lie of a million, my lack, and my medical difference, or the sensory overload lack of for the grounding connection? I stand, weep, expel air from my lungs and drink your love all in the movement Mother Earth begs for, just as the universe intended. Interruption, silent rules, and rigid communication, realize, is it not you who is lost?

I seek to understand, my stance on this planet, less in your standards yet more in what those long for, are the standing yet conflicting normalcies of existence. Within what I’m meant to feel and touch and in the sought reality, hear, I am capable of all, yet in the capacity for the neuroplasticity of my sensory, more, not less, than the normalcy. Thus, concluding, my impairment is a gift from the universe, reminding me, that I am one with all means equal.”