Lance Collin Allred (born February 2, 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American professional basketball player. Allred is hearing impaired, with a 75-80% hearing loss.^[1][2][3] He is the first legally deaf player in NBA history

Signmark (born Marko Vuoriheimo on June 26, 1978 in Helsinki)^[2] is a deaf Finnish rap artist. He describes his music as being party hip hop that takes a stand.^[3] Born into a signing family, Vuoriheimo feels that society should not treat the deaf as disabled people but as a linguistic minority with their own culture and history.^[3][4]

Sean Berdy (born June 3, 1993)^[1] is a deaf American actor and comedian. He has appeared in the film sequel The Sandlot 2 and currently stars in Switched at Birth, playing the role of Emmett Bledsoe. He is one of the two main deaf characters in the show. He was nominated for TV Breakout Star for the Teen Choice Awards 2011.

My perspective of the show switched at birth is that i was impressed! I only watched one episode so I was kind of lost on what was really going on up until then; but the deaf individuals and the non-deaf individuals were both signing while communicating, and I thought that was cool. There's a lot of signs that look very easy while these characters are conversing with each other. They definatly make it look easy. It kind of threw me off when one of the deaf characters could understand what someone else was saying even though the other individual wasn't signing to her. I didn't know if maybe she was just half way deaf or maybe she was an expert at reading lips.Also, in class we are learning to sign and not use our voice while signing, whereas if I were to sign to a deaf person I think I would also use my voice like they do in the show; I wonder is that disrespectful at all, to talk while signing to a deaf individual? Overall I really enjoyed the show I will definatly watch more episodes.

signed photos

This story is amazing

Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on 27th June, 1880. Her father, Arthur H. Keller, was the editor for the North Alabamian, and had fought in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. At 19 months she suffered "an acute congestion of the stomach and brain (probably scarlet fever) which left her deaf and blind.
"In the dreary month of February, came the illness which closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new born baby. They called it acute congestion of the stomach and brain. The doctor thought I could not live. Early one morning, however, the fever left me as suddenly and mysteriously as it had come. There was great rejoicing in the family that morning, but no one not even the doctor, knew that I should never see or hear again."
In 1886 the Perkins Institute provided Keller with the teacher Anne Sullivan. She later recalled: "We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten - a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away." The 21 year old Sullivan worked out an alphabet by which she spelled out words on Helen's hand. Gradually Keller was able to connect words with objects.

A famous deaf sculptor sometimes referred to as the "Michelangelo of the West."

Douglas Tilden was a famous deaf sculptor. He was born on May 1, 1860 and passed away on August 5, 1935. He was born hearing, but when he was 5 years old, he became deaf because he got scarlet fever. As growing up deaf, he attended the California School for the Deaf (CSD) in Berkeley, California (now in Fremont, California). After graduation, he worked there. While working there, he started sculpting. Then he left to Paris to study art for a while. Once in Paris, he met another deaf sculptor and learned a lot about sculpting from that deaf sculptor named Paul Chopin.