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Democrat & Chronicle: Local News
Storytelling in sign language, art gallery tours led by a deaf docent and a vintage game of baseball featuring the portrayal of William "Dummy" Hoy, a deaf baseball star from the late 1800s, are some of the activities planned during Deaf Awareness Week beginning Sunday.
The biennial event is not only cause for Rochester's large deaf community to celebrate their culture, but also is intended for hearing people to understand more about deafness.
"A lot of people want to learn sign language but might be intimidated," said Matthew Starr, chairman of this year's event. "Everybody is welcome."
The area is home to several thousand deaf people who rely on sign language as their primary means of communication. Deaf Awareness Week is one way to encourage the groups to come together, regardless of whether they were born deaf, are hard of hearing or have a cochlear implant, said committee member Steven DeBottis.
More than 1,400 people attended events at the 2004 Deaf Awareness Week, Starr said. DAW has been hosted by different groups since the first local event in 1984. This year, the Rochester Recreation Club of the Deaf is hosting the event.
"It makes perfect sense for them to host," said committee member Jackie Schertz. "It's coming from the heart of the community."
Thomas Holcomb, a professor of Deaf Studies at Ohlone College in Fremont, Calif., is keynote speaker at Sunday's event.
"The deaf community has experienced quite a few changes. There are quite a lot of reasons to celebrate our past," he said in sign language via videophone from California. "Who knows what our future holds? Everything keeps changing with technology."
Holcomb, 46, worked at Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf from 1982 to 1991, and knows about the large deaf population here.
"Rochester is a forerunner of the deaf world and how it progresses," Holcomb said. "What happens in Rochester will eventually spread throughout the rest of the United States. Rochester is like a microcosm for what will happen in the future. ... It's really a special place for both deaf people and for the community that has embraced the deaf community so well."
Storytelling in sign language, art gallery tours led by a deaf docent and a vintage game of baseball featuring the portrayal of William "Dummy" Hoy, a deaf baseball star from the late 1800s, are some of the activities planned during Deaf Awareness Week beginning Sunday.
The biennial event is not only cause for Rochester's large deaf community to celebrate their culture, but also is intended for hearing people to understand more about deafness.
"A lot of people want to learn sign language but might be intimidated," said Matthew Starr, chairman of this year's event. "Everybody is welcome."
The area is home to several thousand deaf people who rely on sign language as their primary means of communication. Deaf Awareness Week is one way to encourage the groups to come together, regardless of whether they were born deaf, are hard of hearing or have a cochlear implant, said committee member Steven DeBottis.
More than 1,400 people attended events at the 2004 Deaf Awareness Week, Starr said. DAW has been hosted by different groups since the first local event in 1984. This year, the Rochester Recreation Club of the Deaf is hosting the event.
"It makes perfect sense for them to host," said committee member Jackie Schertz. "It's coming from the heart of the community."
Thomas Holcomb, a professor of Deaf Studies at Ohlone College in Fremont, Calif., is keynote speaker at Sunday's event.
"The deaf community has experienced quite a few changes. There are quite a lot of reasons to celebrate our past," he said in sign language via videophone from California. "Who knows what our future holds? Everything keeps changing with technology."
Holcomb, 46, worked at Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf from 1982 to 1991, and knows about the large deaf population here.
"Rochester is a forerunner of the deaf world and how it progresses," Holcomb said. "What happens in Rochester will eventually spread throughout the rest of the United States. Rochester is like a microcosm for what will happen in the future. ... It's really a special place for both deaf people and for the community that has embraced the deaf community so well."