Matt Hamill Fight Reminder - "The Uprising"

Don't forget folks. Matt Hamill, the first Deaf UFC fighter, is to fight Rex Holman this upcoming Saturday, March 3 at 10 PM Eastern Time on Pay Per View. However, the fights depend on the first 5 bouts between 10 fighters whether each of them finish early before the 3 rounds are up leaving enough time for the rest of the lesser known fighters to fight on Pay Per View (PPV). There are a total of 18 fighters in this "The Uprising" UFC 68 fight and Matt is in the 6th lineup.



For a larger picture click HERE.

See all of my blogs on Matt Hamill and interviews.

A "Voice Off" Rule at Gallaudet?

This idea of establishing a "Voice Off" rule on the campus of Gallaudet University for signing professors wouldn't be a new one. In fact, this probably could be looked at as the "holy grail" for many Deaf supporters seeing that such a rule be enforced among professors at Gallaudet University. I know that Dr. Davila has requested his vlog readers/watchers to submit ideas (greatideas@gallaudet.edu) in his vlog (see transcript). But there's seem to be some indications lately over the past several months leading up to now that people are perhaps now suggesting ideas of a "Voice Off" policy to Dr. Davila and/or the Administrators. Before going further, how would this work in light of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (see here, here and here) ?

Would this move be prudent? How viable would this be? Must it be established and enforced in all classrooms? Would this move in fact violate Section 504 by those who want voice and sign? And lastly, what kind of a technology could help solve this by allowing information not be lost by students at Gallaudet University?

I can think of one.

North America Deaf Strongman Games 2008

The first ever North America Deaf Strongman Games (NADS Games) is being planned for 2008 with the hope that it'll take place at one of the DeafNation expos location in 2008. This website has been around since 2006 but do check out the recently updated NADS website with more pictures, links to videos, and information for those who think they have the balls to compete in the first ever strongman (and strongwoman!) games specifically for deaf and hard of hearing athletes. Are you strong enough to flip a 300, 500 or even an 800 pound tire? How about lifting those large, round concrete balls ("Atlas stones") that can weigh anywhere from 120 to 300 pounds from the ground to a platform 4 feet high? Do you think your legs and back are strong enough to pull a large 15,000 pound truck for a distance of 75 feet for the fastest time? You want to try your hands on this new and fun competition and perhaps win cash and prizes? Check out the website for more information and who to contact. Just like the website says, "Go NADS! Only those with enough balls can compete!"

Gallaudet in the Year 2017 - Part II. The Readers' Version

"Curious Eyes" wrote an interesting piece about what Gallaudet University could be like in the year 2017 in terms of long distance education. That is, have a Deaf professor teach where he/she lives and the students at Gallaudet University can still learn and interact completely with the professor on campus even while being two thousand miles apart. It is possible and video conferencing in classrooms have been going on for some time now. Technology today has gotten cheaper, easiser, and faster in its capability of supporting such notions that "Curious Eyes" presented. on the campus of Gallaudet University.

Now, for you readers out there. Put down what you think the campus would be like in 2017 in terms of technology used in the classrooms and outside around campus. Or put down some ideas you'd like see and think what technology be like in 2017 on the campus of Gallaudet University. Write it up and I'll put your futuristic prediction/hope here on the Kokonut Pundits' blogsite.



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One reader, Sherry, says:
"My ideal use of technology on a college campus is utilizing a laptop with a remote captioner captioning the Professor's talk and then a "save as" capability so I have my own notes."

GALLAUDET IN THE YEAR 2017 - by guest blogger "Curious Eyes"

Ever since I was a graduate student at Gallaudet, I’ve wanted to return and teach at my alma mater. Especially now, after 15 rewarding years in the field of my chosen career. There’s so much I could impart to earnest young professionals who want to contribute to the well-being of deaf children everywhere in the world.

So why don’t I apply for job teaching at Gallaudet?

The answer is: I loathe the East Coast. You couldn’t pay me enough money to live there. Seriously, not for a million dollars. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine for those of you who already live there. I’m not criticizing your choice. I have a few good friends in the area, and a bunch more that I haven’t met yet but who could be my friends if I lived there. The area is pretty. Lots of cool museums. The weather, well, let’s not go there.

On the other hand, I’m so in love with the West Coast. San Francisco, Tucson, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Boulder, Santa Fe, Bozeman, and many other Western cities are among the most beautiful on the planet, and I am fully qualified to say that. The lands west of the Rocky Mountains are unparalleled for their eye-popping scenery, awe-inspiring grandeur, and unique variety. Not only that, the West is a Mecca for progressive, forward-thinking, free-spirited individuals everywhere. I will live in the West until the day I die.

Guess a job as a professor at Gallaudet isn’t in the cards for me. Or is it?

Let’s fast-forward to the year 2017…

Hello again! I’ve finally realized my fondest dream – to be an adjunct professor at Gallaudet. How did that happen?

Distance education. To counter diminishing enrollment, Gallaudet began offering online courses for university credit a few years ago. It collaborates with graduate schools around the country who have deaf education, counseling, psychology, and rehabilitation departments, and with local communities that have K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, and service agencies for the deaf. Here’s how it works.

To teach my “classes,” I go to a local university and use its distance learning lab and audio-visual technology (ATV) staff to videotape the course sessions. As an example, one of my classes is titled “Intellectual Assessment I.” Over the 18-week course, I demonstrate how to administer and interpret three major test batteries, the Wechsler, the Kaufman, and the Stanford-Binet. On the video, I lecture on the basics and then test deaf student volunteers from local schools with various hearing and communication abilities. The distance learning lab supplies technicians to edit video from several perspectives so that the essential parts of the session are visible. A second class I teach is “Psychoeducational Assessment,” a case-studies course that videos me throughout the entire assessment process from start to finish, including interviews, classroom observation, formal testing, interpretation, collaborating with teachers, and presenting the results at an IEP meeting. A third class is “Professional Report Writing,” in which I coach students to write clear, informative, and accurate psychological evaluation reports. This is a self-paced elective course.

Graduate students participate by taking online quizzes and exams in a proctored testing lab provided by the local university. They demonstrate their competence in the subject by going to the distance learning lab and having themselves filmed administering tests to other graduate students. They score test protocols in the proctored room which are scanned or faxed to my location for critique. Class discussions and participation are conducted through a web site that allows for asynchronous, multiple views via web cam.

Best of all, once the entire course has been filmed, it is archived and can be used again and again, and updated when needed. It’s like Pay Per View. The course can be shown to a group of students, or to a single student under supervision of another university professor. Gallaudet could conceivably earn royalties for the course into the indefinite future. Distance learning benefits working professionals also. The archived videos would make it possible to take the course without having to travel to DC or take time out from a full-time job.

Have you ever wanted to meet an audiologist or a speech teacher who is not an audist? Gallaudet’s deaf-centric graduate programs can be made even more integrated and collaborative. In my local area, I know both a Doctor of Audiology and a certified (CCC-SLP) Speech/Language Pathologist who are fluent in ASL and have many years of experience working with deaf children who use ASL as their primary language. I also know many skilled and experienced teachers of the deaf who are able to model academic ASL instruction. I’ve also met teachers of the deaf who use Visual Phonics, SEE, and Signed English to teach reading. They could be guest speakers in my online course too, or teach their own!

Best of all, people considered exemplars of their professions anywhere in the world can be hired to teach any of the core courses of the program, rather than being limited to those willing to live in the metro DC area. By opening up faculty membership to accomplished professionals world-wide, a greater diversity of ethnic groups, language preferences, types of students served, and communication modes could be achieved. Distance education could permit a variety of languages and communication modes to be added to the video, including foreign language subtitles, cued speech, signed English, ASL, or foreign sign languages, and it only needs to be done once. This would make the content accessible to any graduate student in the world.

My references are available on request…

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Kokonut Pundits' response: Great article! Who says that a professor has to be physically present at a Gallaudet University classroom? With technology today we have the capability to be able to teach class via long distance with video conferencing capabilities. That way we can still continue to live where we can live and teach at the same time! Imagine in a Gallaudet classroom in 2017 a large 15 ft long by 10 feet high very thin video screen against a wall facing a roomfull of students who can easily interact with the long-distance professor and vice versa.

Video of a Hearing and Deaf Man Conversing

What value would you give if you had the ability to sit down face to face at any time with a hearing person whether it's a business or personal meeting and not worry about communication issues if you are a deaf person? Here's a video of Jason Curry, CEO of sComm, Inc who is the developer, engineer, and manufacturer of the UbiDuo face-to-face communication device, go about his typical (yes, typical!) day on meeting with a hearing person. Jason has had more than 500 face-to-face encounters with hearing people using his UbiDuo communicator. In this video Jason enters a local coffee shoppe to meet up with a hearing buddy of his. There is no signing. No pen and paper. No third party. Absolutely no misunderstanding. And certainly no interpreters seeing/hearing what the private conversations are about between two individuals. Just the UbiDuo communicator and two people conversing with each other in real time while they type away and enjoy the day chatting, eating and joking. What kind of a price would that be worth to you if you had that power to converse with just about anybody? What kind of price would you put on the ability to do business with just about anybody? Think about that for a moment while you watch the video.

First Deaf Video Blogger circa 2004? A Briton?

Jared raised an interesting question on who was the first deaf vlogger or "video blogger" to hit the internet first. It could very well be a deaf Briton, Rob Wilks (blogsite no longer active but is archived in www.archive.org), who did his first video blogging on August 8, 2004. But according to comments seen on Rob Wilks blogsite it could be that Helga Stevens was the 1st (?) deaf video "blogger" when she was trying to run for the Belgian parliament back in 2004. And I believe her website preceded Rob Wilks' August 8, 2004 date based on the dates in the comment section of Wilks' and that Helga wrote down "Juni 2004" which could mean June 2004 in Belgian(or Dutch?). However, Helga's site could be seen as a website and not a "blogsite" per se, but she does have a blog within her website though. You decide on that issue.

If you read the comments in Rob Wilks' blogsite you'll see an early window of people's expectation that video blogging wasn't far behind. It was just that more people needed to have high speed internet connection and the necessary albeit free software to do their video logging or in this case vlogging.

So, what does this prove? It shows that technology moved rather quick in just ONLY two years from 2004 to 2006 when the jump on video blogging took place. Companies like YouTube and Google video made video blogging possible. And now we are seeing more and more companies getting their acts together by providing free (or cheap) subtittling software such as BubblePly. These video bloggings could not have been possible were it not for the huge number of people getting their high speed internet connection such as cable, DSL, and satellite connections.

All this proves my point even further about technology that I raised at the Gallaudet vlog/blogging conference and my recent blog about setting up a "mini-MIT" research center on the campus of Gallaudet in the place of the old library. And how technology has already benefit Deaf people when it comes to communicating and expressing ideas out to the world.

Jared raised an interesting question about the vlogging technology. Who did it first. And if you were paying attention you would see that it wasn't even that long ago that the technology for vlogging had made tremendous leaps and bounds in two years compared to blogging itself which is a product that's several years old.

All I'm saying, again, is that if you don't get in on this technology thing you WILL get left behind. It's better to try and develop a specific brand of technology, such as DeafRead for example, that caters to specific groups of people who can take such an idea/concept/technology even further. Why? Because who better to know what one want than the people on the outside who don't really understand all this and who benefit from it. Did Tayler Mayer wait for somebody else (ie hearing) to develop such a technology/service?

Comprende?

Now, apply that same motivation, zeal and focus on establishing a communication/technology/media research center on the campus of Gallaudet University. Preferably in place of the old library location with a new library building that would be the "brain center" of Gallaudet University by bringing in new ideas, concepts and lots of enthusiasm by undergrads, staff, grads, and professors who can be a part of that research and development process. Even kids from MSSD or Kendall elementary could even participate because even the freshest of mind can bring up some interesting ideas that even us adults would not have thought of before. And perhaps become involved by helping select the best building design for the future and have an input for the first time to be seriously considered by the community of Gallaudet University?

What better way to help Gallaudet University "re-invent" itself (for a lack of a better word here but I believe you do under the gist of what I'm saying)? What better way to get people excited about Gallaudet University?

Dr. Davila? Are you listening?

A "mini-MIT" campus at Gallaudet University?

There is this thing about technology. No one can say for sure what it'll be like 10 or 20 years from now (barely a generation away) or what technology would be capable of in terms of advances in computer chip development, memory and artificial intelligence. But we do have some very good ideas on where all of this could take us.

Without getting into too much detail let us look at last year's report on the new "core" chip or "stacked cores" that basically got started in 2005 with a 1 core chip that made the news in 2005 and into 2006 and compare that to a recent press release on the advances on "stacked cores" chip a few days ago. You can see that was over a course of a year where we saw a jump in chip design improvement.

Now, there are plans on getting out a 1000 core chip design sometime next year or so as a proof of concept seeing the power of "stacked core" chip design. That alone should just boggles our minds.

So, in three years we saw that technology has gone from a one core chip design to a 1000 core chip design and practically witnessed a jump in performance (and not speed as it was crucial with computer chips prior to the cores) going into the trillion of instructions per second! A chip that happens to be an extremely efficient and potent computer chip. What would you do if you had a computer with that kind of power containing "stacked cores"chip? For a computer science major at Gallaudet University, what would you do with such a computer? For a linguistic major, how would this help? Or if you're a Digital Media major, how would this help us with the outside world? What could researchers do with such a powerful computer for their ASL computer recognition research work?

Today's computer chip operates anywhere from a MIPS (millions of instructions per second) to about 1 BIP (billion of instructions per second) in our PC, laptops and super computers. Technology is moving fast, indeed. Gallaudet University must try and take advantage of that by having some sort of a "mini-MIT" campus that'll allow students, professors and graduates to experiment new, innovative, and experimental concepts on campus in order to try and bridge that communication gap on campus and outside. We simply cannot just sit back and wait for technology come to us. Gallaudet need a kind of a "Media Lab" that operates on a much higher and esoteric level of thinking where Gallaudet University can help establish and let it thrive and grow.

We must (and we can!) develop such innovative use of existing technology on campus using our own "research teams" that would surely get the attention of the the outside world. Help improve education outreach. Retain students longer and help make them much more at ease on campus. And basically be the campus that would be the envy of many other universities when it comes to full and complete communication access.

The next video below shows a particular new technological concept that are being developed whose computers are run with computer chips that we are familiar with today before the core chip. Imagine allowing such a computer to have stacked cores chip enabling to operate into the terraflops or trillions of instructions per second. What would you do to have that power in your hand? A 3-D display that you could fully interact with? There's no limit in imagination here.




Now, is Dr. Davila listening to all this? Does he read blogs at all? Why wait for technology come to us when we can use existing technology for Gallaudet's own team of researchers (students, staff, grads, etc) on campus? The people on campus know what they are looking for. They are the true engineers. They know what they want when it comes to communication needs and how we want to interact with each other and to those on the outside.

And you know what's really sad? Seeing Christian Vogler move back to Germany this year when his VISA expires. Only a few months away. So much time, money and resources went into this guy and he's leaving who devoted so much time into computer ASL recognition. What a waste on losing such a valuable resource that could be key to Gallaudet's greater successes into the future.

What would you do if you had a computer with a computer chip that can do 10 trillion instructions per second? And combine that with research on ASL computer recognition? This is only but several years away until that happens.

It's time that Gallaudet "re-invent" itself on what we're capable of. Technology is the key on helping bridge and break that communication gap. It's time to invest in the students, grads and staff themselves in order to see a greater return on investment down the road. Retain them longer and get them interested and a reason to come back and teach at Gallaudet University. What would Gallaudet pay to see that new students stay on campus rather than seeing them leave after 1, 2 or 3 years down the road? Technology is the key on helping retain students longer and with greater success in school. With the right technology on campus it outght to become intuitively clear to us the moment we enter the front gate that Gallaudet University is a campus that have no problems with communication at all. And yet still retain that all important ASL link that is key on keeping the community together.

Again, what would you do with that kind of computational power and potential that is literally several years away?

We're ain't that stupid.

Or are we?

Gallaudet University H igh School Academic Bowl

How ironic. I read Gwinnett Daily post from time to time to catch up on news in areas around Gwinnett county where I used to live in two different towns, Duluth and Norcross, Georgia. And then I came across this bit of news today.

Berkmar High will host the 2007 Gallaudet University High School Academic Bowl for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, Southeast Region, from 2 to 10 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. This is the first time a public school has been selected to host an Academic Bowl in the Southeast. A team from Berkmar will compete.

What is so surprising? Well, I attended Berkmar High as a freshman before transferring to Duluth High for my sophomore, junior and senior years. Berkmar High was where I joined the high school marching band as a drummer since I played the drums and xylophone throughout my middle school symphony band years. Only this time at Berkmar I played the bass drum (see the above picture) for the marching band while I played the snare drum and xylophone for the Berkmar high school symphony band. During the summer months right before I became a freshman I had to practice my marching positions with the rest of the marching band while we played our pieces accordingly in order to get ready for our high school football games just like this video of the Berkmar high school marching band in the bleachers. Ah, memories! In fact, the summer months were so hot and humid we sometime had to stay in one position for quite awhile which caused one guy to faint cause he purposely locked his knees and more and less tried to take a snooze that way. Not only did I play in the marching and symphony band, my marching band team travelled to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to compete in marching band competitions. We did fairly well and were proud of our accomplishments. It was kind of fun. We go and march while the rest of the students had to stay behind and study.

I wonder how many deaf/hh high school students played an instrument in the marching and/or symphony band? Surely, I cannot be the only one here.

A Bug Inside a CareBears Lollipop

Well, it began this way. I took my three girls and their friends to a Lowe's home improvement store where they had their "Kids Workshop" day. After they finished making their Valentine's mailboxes they were all given CareBears Valentine lollicards that came with a red, heart-shaped lollipop. One of my daughter's friend was licking his lollipop and to his horror discovered a bug, I think it looks like a fly, embedded inside the candy lollipop! Click here to see a super up close version.

Concerned, I went back to the Lowe's store in Alamogordo, NM and found the lady who helped run the "Kid's Workshop" and showed her the lollipop. Needless to say I think her face turned a bit shade lighter. I asked her where did the lollipop come from. She got the bag of lollipop candy from the nearby Walmart Store. She went to the trash can, ruffled around a little bit until she came across the empty CareBears LolliCards candy bag which I now have it in my possession (see photos below). I thanked her and proceeded to drive back to my house and took some pictures of the candy bag.

Prior to going to Lowe's I took numerous upclose camera shots of the bug-in-the-lollipop from different angles of the small black bug sitting in the trapped, sticky, red, translucent candy. Plus I have a movie shot of it, too! Looking at the pictures I took reminds me of bugs trapped in amber. Only this time, the kid was just shy of a few licks away from actually licking that bug into his mouth. Eeeewwww.

With the website address prominently printed on the back of the candy bag I visited the Frankford Candy and Chocolate Company's website to try and find an email address so I can email to whoever runs the place and let them know about the bug-in-the-lollipop incident. Even though the candy originated from Peru as seen on the candy bag. But after looking around on the Frankford Candy website I failed to find any email address. Now, I found it quite odd that a candy website doesn't have an email address anywhere but only the snail mail address. This is not good considering this day and age people use email to contact other people and even corporations when speed is the utmost of importance. So, here I am. Blogging about the errant bug that got caught in a sticky ollipop and maybe I'll get a response from the Frankford Candy company. Or the CareBears company. Or even maybe even from an unknown candy maker whose job is stir the sweet, sticky syrup into heart shaped molds somewhere in Peru. Who knows.

Although, be careful when you give out red lollipops to those you love on Valentine's Day!


A Bug Found Embedded In A Red, Heart-shaped Valentine Lollipop! - video powered by Metacafe


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Lollipop with original CareBears Valentine card.

Sponsors Needed for Greg Gunderson

Last week I blogged an exclusive announcement about Greg Gunderson who is to become the first deaf NASCAR driver with Kansas Speedway's full support and committment to Greg's dream of becoming a NASCAR driver. But first Greg must get one year of experience on driving on asphalt either in the ARCA or ASA racing series before moving up to the NASCAR big time racing venue. But before Greg can race, he'll need money to be able to support his racing team and racing car. How much money? Between $1.5 to $2.0 million dollars as a start. But to get into the NASCAR racing the amount of money could easily sky-rocket as high as $20 million as reported in USAToday on racing sponsorships.


Jascon Curry, president of sComm and official UbiDuo sponsor for
Greg Gunderson, pose on the Kansas Speedway track last year.


If you take look at a race car driver's firesuit and the racing car itself, you'll see lots of different company logos. All those companies are sponsors who have paid lots of money to support the driver and his/her racing team.

Now, why sponsor? Consider some of the facts about NASCAR fans and the racing sport.


• 75 million fans (one in three American adults) follow NASCAR.

• Number-two sport on television in the U.S.

• 17 of the 20 highest attended sporting events in the US in 2002 were NASCAR events.

• $2.1 billion in licensed product sales in 2003, among more than 200 licensees.

• More Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport.

• NASCAR racing is televised weekly in more than 150 countries.

• Season spans 10 months of competitive, side-by-side racing at events all over the U.S.

• Weekly “Big Event” often drawing larger crowds than a Super Bowl, NBA Finals game, and World Series game combined.

• 75 million fans: 60% male and 40% female

• 40 million “hard core” fans

• Broad age spread: 32% between the ages of 18-34; 58% between the ages of 18-44

• Fan base is more affluent than the U.S. population: 42% earn $50,000+ per year

• Even geographic mix: Northeast 20%, Midwest 24%, South 38%, West 19%

NASCAR fans understand the need for sponsorship. Among hardcore fans!:

• 92% say drivers could not run their cars without sponsors’ support

• 93% say NASCAR is the kind of sport that needs corporate sponsorship.

• 85% know which companies sponsor NASCAR and its drivers.

Fans seek out and purchase sponsors products to support their favorite sport, team and drivers:

• NASCAR fans are three times more likely to purchase sponsor’s products.

• 72% of fans are more likely to buy a NASCAR sponsored product than a similar product not NASCAR related.

• Hard core fans spend more than $700 on licensed products annually, and consume 8 hours of NASCAR programming weekly.

Race Attendance:

• NASCAR reaches every corner of the country with 1,800 racing events in 36 states at more than 110 tracks.

• More than 13 million NASCAR fans attended the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series during the 2003 season. (Source: NASCAR, tracks, Industry statistics)


In short, a heavily favored sports event with lots and lots of television and fan exposures that are ideal to help advertise a company's product.

So far, we have one very good and promising lead of a very large and internationally known company who may do a sponsorship deal but Greg Gunderson will need many more sponsors to make this work. Anywhere from 10 to 15 sponsors depending on how much a company is willing to spend and support a racing team. This is an unique opportunity for sponsorship because of the potential promotional opportunities and national exposure associated with a first ever deaf NASCAR driver. Imagine the additional media coverage on Greg Gunderson which translates into additional coverage for companies sponsoring Greg Gunderson. But remember, Greg must do at least a year of racing on aspalt pavement in the ARCA or ASA racing series before moving up into the NASCAR racing event.

So, pass the word out. Blog about it. Email this blog article to your friends. And if you're reading this and you run or own a company, this sponsorship deal might be the ticket for your company.

Contact Greg Gunderson if you're interested on becoming a sponsor for Greg Gunderson and his ARCA/ASA racing team as a start.

No Students at Vlog/Blog Conference?

Amy Cohen Efron touched upon a topic in her vlog regarding the number of people present at the conference. You can see it on Daveynin's Thing that noticeably shows a picture of some chairs sit unoccupied (or go here at the Flickr site). Although this was shot near the beginning of the conference and I did see a slight increase on those empty chairs becoming occupied along with several more people standing just outside of the conference room. Perhaps the became mildly interested as they passed through the SAC building on their way to their Post Office.

The conference was plainly open to anyone who happened to walk into the main building area of the IKJ SAC. Still, Amy wondered, as well as many of us perhaps, whether the lack of students who did not show up was because of the lack of advertising. Or was it something else that we don't know about? Why didn't we see a chock-full of students sitting in those chairs along with many others standing and milling around just outside of Gallaudet's Sprint Multi-purpose Room trying to see what's being said by panelists where the live webcast conference took place?

I, too, noticed all this but it was before the beginning when I first arrived at Gallaudet's Sprint Multipurpose Room about 45 minutes before it was set to began at 9 AM. Jill was there trying to get things readied. Nearly hyperventilating while she tried line up the rows of chairs with accurate precision. Ok. I'm fibbing here. But I did step in and I was the first person to introduce myself to her in person but she had to guess who I was first. And, of course, she guessed it correctly. Although I arrived on campus a full two hours earlier at 7 AM, I took my time as I strolled across the campus to see what was new and not. Looking back, I don't remember seeing any paper advertisement. If they were on those advertising boards like ones in the SAC building, I didn't see them. Of course, I didn't bother to really take a closer look either.

Now, this observation of mine is not meant to be critical. What's important is that the video of the conference has gotten out to the masses via in a live format reaching out to many, many, many people. No doubt about that. And the archived videos of the four panels are now available and will reach even more people over the next several months until the next Blogger/Vlogger Conference at Gallaudet (keeping fingers crossed). This is a good faith exercise of mine on examining on not what went wrong, which is a negative word, but what we can do so that the next Blogger/Vlogger Conference will be even more successful.

Here are my observations on the possibilities of why few Gallaudet students watched the conference at the IKH Student Academic Center?

1. They didn't know it was going to take place at Gallaudet? Lack of flyers around campus letting them know?

2. Well, the conference did take place on a Saturday. I guess we all can remember what we were like sleeping in on a Saturday morning til about 11 or 12 PM after a long, *ahem*, night of studying on a Friday night. No, seriously. ;-)

3. Not many students at Gallaudet actually read blogs that often (but that might change with the increase on deaf/hh vloggers). Now, this could actually be plausible. Why? Well, I have a Sitemeter on my blogsite (scroll down at the very bottom to see the button) that records the IP addresses of those who visited my blog. I noticed people from Gallaudet do visit my blog but not that many compared to the rest of them from all over the United States and other countries. Very small by comparison with the exception of during the protest period.

4. Although students may have been informed via bloggers/vloggers, forums, IMs, emails and such who talked about the upcoming conference. They may have simply been not interested to spend a *WHOLE DAY* on a Saturday (remember, Saturdays are precious times for a student to spend their time on something better like, again, sleep in. Ok. Maybe that's not the only reason) to watch a bunch of older vloggers and bloggers who are mostly in their 30s, 40s and 50s. There were no younger bloggers or vloggers around at the conference that I could see. Especially of those who are currently a student at Gallaudet University. Although Gallaudet University does have a blogsite for Gallaudet students to participate in although many of the topics are not as sophisticated nor broadly covered on many different issues including deaf and non-deaf issues.

I did a bit more research on this whether there is an apparent lack of interest on blogging by Gallaudet University students. After looking around I concluded that it does appear that there is a general disinterest on blogging itself. Seriously, if you think about this, there are more bloggers or vloggers who older and/or are alumni of Gallaudet Unversity than there are Gallaudet students who do blog/vlog. Why is this so? Perhaps it has to do with having more time, confidence and resources to do the blogging work. I suppose many students would rather spend their time, if I'm not mistakened, on deaf forums, chats, emails and IMs rather than do the actual blogging itself which would be like doing more homework to them. Kind of makes sense if you look at it that way. Not a very glamorous nor exciting to do so. This could all boil down to the simple fact that the younger and older generations have a different agenda when it comes to Gallaudet University.

Yet Gallaudet University tries to get students and educators interested into blogging. I'm sure there'll be an increase on student vloggers in the near term since vlogging is a recent development but I would suggest that computer labs and library install some webcams so students can have a choice between vlogging or blogging. And have special rooms that can allow students to vlog more effectively and professionally (a la Joey Baer). Although I will maintain that encouraging and developing one's own writing skill would prove much more beneficial in the long run.

Now, I don't think this conference message went entirely unnoticed because this was an event that was attended mostly by alumni of Gallaudet University rather than students curious enough to attend. Perhaps the word "blogging" scared students off? But it is nice to know that the four archived videos of the four panel sessions will go not unwatched either. They will be a good source of educational materials for Gallaudet classrooms to have and discuss this semester and the next following semesters for years to come. Gallaudet professors, are you listening? Dr. Davila, are you listening, too? Do students know even how to blog? Do they even know what a blog/vlog is?

All is not lost upon the students on missing the conference. What could probably be more well served right now is to have conference videos uploaded on YouTube and Google videos and have them tagged under "deaf," "conference," and "Gallaudet" and get them circulated out into the public some more.

Regardless of what people may say, I say that this conference was a smashing success out there on the internet and will be discussed for years to come.

The C2I Conference Polls

Below are some polls you can take a part in that are related to the recent Vlog/Blogger Conference that took place at Gallaudet recently this Saturday. Also, videos of the conference are now available online on the C2I website! Check them out if you missed it the first time.

Speakers at the conference used words like "diversity," "deafhood", "technology," "education," "cochlear implant" and even "identity" during the Vlog/Blogger C2I Conference at Gallaudet. All this took place before a live internet camera feed. Imagine that. Nobody got stage fright although right before "Wildstarryskiess" (Katie Roberts) took her turn at the podium I told her that probably a million people will be watching her. Heh he heh... She did well anyway. But it is not clear on how big of an internet audience we had with people tuning in to watch the live conference feed that lasted from 9 AM until 5 PM. Certainly there were more people watching the C2I Conference over the internet than a big roomful of people sitting and standing who watched the conference in person.

Now, there's a good possibility that this could take place again next year but somebody else will have to take the reign since Jill Bradbury will not do this. There were lots of favorable reviews and applause by those who commented on the 2007 C2I Conference. Many asked the question on whether this conference will take place again next year in 2008.

So, we asked Jill on the amount of money it took to bring vloggers and bloggers to campus (e.g. airfare, hotel, food, rental car cost, etc) along with interpreters, captioners, camera equipment and have it set up for a live conference webcast. She said the whole thing cost about $13,000. With that in mind it would be reasonable to expect a cost between $15,000 to $20,000 for a much better and improved "2nd Annual C2I Conference." The question is, how should we set this up for next year and where will the money come from and how?

Now, go and do your polls. I'm sure people are interested in seeing the results.


Poll #1:

What Did You Think of The Conference?
	It was Great!
	It was good.
	I'm neutral on this
	It wasn't really that good.
	Terrible!
pollcode.com free polls

Poll #2:

Would You Like to See "Coalition for Critical Inquiry" C2I Become an Annual Event at Gallaudet?
	Yes!
	Not Sure.
	No.
pollcode.com free polls

Poll #3:

Do you support Mike McConnell's use of his voice to speak at the C2I conference?
	Yes.
	No.
	Not sure.
pollcode.com free polls

Go here to see why I choose to use my voice.

Would you be willing to donate money for next year's 2nd Annual C2I Conference?
	Yes.
	No.
	Not sure.
pollcode.com free polls

UPDATE: Just to make it clear, the annual conference would be the vlog/blog type (ie "2nd Annual Vlog/Blog Conference" just as Jill said) as well as other important contributors like last week. But it certainly would involve the necessary critical thinking and discussion at the next Vlog/Blog conference event at Gallaudet.

Richard's Gone Mad!

Richard, a good deaf friend of mine, showed up unexpectedly at the Vlog/Blogger Conference at Gallaudet recently this past Saturday on his way to London for his business trip. I am sure a few of those who attended the conference had the chance to meet with Richard. His driving, *ahem*, skill on the Autobahn in Germany is known among his circle of deaf and hearing friends. The Autobahn is known for it's allowed high speed driving. Even at 164 mph doesn't faze him (check out the video for proof) while he drives his high-powered V-10 Volkswagen Phaeton on the Autobahn. Too bad the United States does not have such a highway, unless you want to try and count Montana as one which introduced a paradox. It produced one of the lowest fatality rate for the state.

In 1999, after 4 years of no numerical or posted daytime speed limit on these classifications of highways, outside of urban areas, Montana recorded its lowest fatality rate.

Ok. Now, should deaf people be allowed to drive at high but allowed speed?

Note. That was a rhetorical question.

If you thought Richie was crazy. Consider this biker on the Autobahn hitting 300 km/hr which equates to 186 mph! Talk about a human land missile! He'd be a speck of dust in the rearview mirror and by the time you look again he'd whizz by you.

Patty Albee's C2I Conference Notes

Here are Patty Albee's C2I conference notes. She, too, did not have enough time to say what she wanted to say. Plus, her notes may be read by those who have missed the live webcast or could use these notes as a closer inspection on what she was trying to say.

Patty Albee's notes:

I’d like to start by talking about the technology everyone fears most as being possibly the one thing that could extinguish ASL and Deaf culture completely – cochlear implants. After all, now that universal hearing screenings are becoming a reality, Deaf babies can be implanted as early as 1 year of age. Since hearing screenings are done in a hospital, it is medical personnel who identify the hearing loss, that often means they are the parents’ only channel to information about deafness, and more likely to be steered to a CI center instead of the Deaf community. There is concern that the medical field is not being realistic with parents about, and not giving full information on exactly how much benefit a deaf baby can reasonably get from an implant. The success of the implant depends on how early the procedure is done, and the implanted child still needs training on using it. The implant doesn’t make the process of associating sounds with meaningful language as effortless as it is with a hearing baby, but it helps a great deal. Some studies say that only 30% of implanted children are successfully mainstreamed into regular education without services. That means that the other 60% will need some type of services. In the future, hearing technologies will only get better, and include stem cell replacement and the like.

What this means for Gallaudet is that with more and more deaf children receiving implants, it’s more likely that those children will be mainstreamed and then more likely to consider a hearing university than Gallaudet. So Gallaudet could be facing a smaller and smaller number of potential applicants, especially if ASL will be the language of instruction at Gallaudet. On the other hand, since children with implants are still aware of their hearing limitations, they may not totally assimilate into hearing culture, still feel different from the mainstream, and want to seek out others like themselves. Today at Gallaudet there are students who were some of the earliest recipients of implants back in the 80s and it’s amazing that they came here at all! Just goes to show that hearing status is not the only thing that defines Deaf culture. I think just because we have implants does not necessarily mean that the Deaf community is doomed to disappear.

One side affect of mainstreaming is that few deaf students come to an ASL environment not having mastered either ASL or English. This happens because students learn their sign language from hearing adults such as teachers who in turn learned their sign language at a class in college, instead of from deaf adult language models. Many school districts interpret the term “least restrictive environment” to mean fully included in regular education with hearing peers, rather than a deaf institute where the student could have 100% communication access with peers and adult language models. And because 90% of parents of deaf children are hearing, and in most cases have never met a deaf person before, there is a lack of knowledge and misconceptions about how deaf children learn to communicate. Nonetheless, the experience of deafness is a common bond among all, and each individual understands, if not empathizes with, the visual communication needs of others. So what might happen in a classroom is that there could be a mishmash of languages and communication modes, and that might become the norm rather than standard ASL.

Let’s talk about the technology of yesterday and how far it’s come just in less than 20 years. When I was at Gallaudet in 1989, I had never used a computer for anything besides playing games before. The operating system was MS-DOS 3.0. Does anyone here remember MS-DOS? There was no mouse, only keyboard commands that had to be memorized. There was basically one widely used word processing software, and that was WordPerfect 4.0. Mice were coming into use around that time but were not widespread yet. A computer that had a hard drive of 80 MB was considered top of the line! For email we had VAX. That’s what we were using at Gallaudet in 1989.

Let’s talk about the technology we have TODAY. High speed Internet, wireless Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, various types of imaging software and hardware, text pagers, PDAs, instant messaging, Tivo, DV-R, smart boards, and video camera capabilities, to name just a few. However, it’s important to recognize that these technologies are only tools, NOT substitutes for a teacher. Especially because so many of these technologies are visual imaging tech, they can actually make the job of teaching easier since deaf people are visual learners. It still takes a trained teacher who understands deaf learners to put a lesson together, providing that they understand how to use it in the first place.
I can see Gallaudet’s enrollment expanding because of increased use of distance learning (online courses) taught with VPs and Blackboard. Not only that, but parents of Deaf infants, and hearing infants too, can take sign language classes online so that Deaf babies can be exposed to a visual language starting from birth. Deaf toddlers and their parents can take self-paced reading instruction programs using their computers, VP, and a signing teacher that can be either a real person or a simulacrum (is that the right word?). Literacy will increase because of early language exposure. What’s exciting is that the technology is already here, it just needs refining.
Will there even be a classroom? With video conferencing technology, could Gallaudet classes be expanded to students all over the world? Absolutely yes! At the school where I work, we have two Polycom videoconference rooms. The advantage of a Polycom and other systems over a standard web cam is that it has a field of 180 degrees, and the picture quality is so much better. The Polycom also requires a much faster connection speed, something that’s extremely expensive (thousands of dollars per month just for the connection) that not all schools have or can afford at this time. In the future, there will be much less reliance on the traditional educational setup of one teacher and many students in a classroom, staying in classes continuously from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. Instead, there could be one student and many teachers, not limited by geographic location, and class schedules can become more flexible regarding the times and locations. The student would also have the option of selecting a language or communication mode that he/she understands best. This might allow deaf people in the workforce to continue their studies of English and other academic subjects in their preferred mode of communication. I visualize deaf education of the future as having regional centers such as at Ohlone College, physically located in major metropolitan areas, but accessible via satellite and Internet to deaf students anywhere in the country and the world. This makes lifelong learning possible no matter where one lives, whether in an isolated rural area or a big city. Deaf individuals could continue their formal education throughout the lifespan, not just the K-12 or college years. In addition, it can be a means of preserving ASL and maintaining a standard lexicon for future generations of deaf children to use.

Taking that idea even further, do you suppose that if all deaf children were to become literate in English at their grade/ability level, there would be no further need for Gallaudet at all? What if in the future, all education will be delivered by programmed simulacra, simultaneously in sign language, spoken English, other spoken languages, or captions — the “user” selects his/her communication mode at the touch of a key. Seems like kids nowadays spend so much time in front of a TV or computer, it would be the next logical step for them to get their readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic from a video teacher in a massive multiplayer online school.

I’m really excited about the possibilities of technology to reach out to parents who otherwise would never learn of the existence of Deaf culture, Deaf people, and ASL. Through video technology, deaf individuals who would not ordinarily have the opportunity to meet other deaf people and learn about sign language in addition to the shared interests like sports, literature, entertainment, games, crafts, and so on.

C2I Conference - why did I use my voice?

Well. The first Vlog/Blogger Conference at Gallaudet University has come and gone. It was a refreshing sight to see serious and thoughtful discussions, and the exchanges of ideas rather than a debate for a change. I'm sure if you watched the whole live webcast you'd have seen me speak vocally rather than sign. Let me take another opportunity here to explain as I tried to do so that at the beginning of my presentation at Gallaudet. And then I'll toss in some of my notes and further thoughts on this whole C2I conference.

First off. Congrats to Jill Bradbury for pulling this off. This was no small feat and she had to overcome many obstacles to get this one done. Can't wait til next year (?) to see another C2I conference. Will it be an annual thing? Time will tell. Many thanks to interpreters and captioners and everybody else involved in this historic event. It'll be recorded prominently in Annals of Gallaudet University.

Met a few familiar faces. Amy Cohen saw me and looked directly at me and she still didn't recognized me! She said she had to look at my side profile of my face to recognize me. Har har Amy.

Met Jamie Burke. Finally! Hello to her and continued luck with the blogging. Also, Kristi Merriweather was there and met and had a good time and opportunity to chat more with her in person for a change. Chris Huer was there and we got off to a good start on getting to know each other. Take heart, Chris. You did good no matter what people will say. Met my old chemistry teacher, Prof. Michael Moore. He still remembers me and some nice chats throughout the day. I also had a nice chat with Jane Norman who got a kick out of watching me play the piano. Heh heh.... Lots of positive reviews by people who saw me play the piano. For those who voted "No" on whether I should put my video up of me playing the piano on my blog, do you really think that your votes of "no" would've stop me? ;-) Glad to see that everybody had a good time. Meeting up with old friends and makiing new ones.

For those in Deafreedom land, "Wiggums" was there. Nice surprise! He used had a stopover flight in D.C. for several hours before the next flight out to Europe! For those who didn't come to the C2I conference when "Wiggums" was there is now officially on Wiggums' "bad list".

Now, on to my explanation for the speaking part.

I speak all the time. This is what I do at work. My train of thought is better when I speak. I speak at a similar capacity at work in front of groups of people that I deal with the public on environmental issues and water since I do work for the Federal government responsible for 1.1 million acres of government lands. I prepare presentations all the time. I deal with the concerned public on environmental issues either individually or in large groups, which, of course, at times I'm considered to be the target.

:-)

Now, I spoke also only because the C2I conference had voice and ASL interpreters, and a real time captioner available for the audience sitting in the seats before me and for the people out on the internet. Had it not any of the interpreters I would have signed. But in this case my preference has always been to talk and listen because i do well with it. And just as well an opportunity to showcase my point about choice and communication access. Not that I'm trying oppress anybody because of what I just did which would be ludicrous. That was an example of diversity where I am at one end of the spectrum as a deaf person who is hard of hearing. This is my identity. It always has been. And I'm still in the same boat with you and anybody else among the 30 million people with hearing loss in the United States. We all share very similar communication issues and concerns.

Now, this conference consisted mostly of three separate and consistent theme. And those are technology, communication, and education. My notes below consisted mostly about technology and how technology is the key when it comes to interaction and communication. I believe it's important to toss in my notes here because I believe Gallaudet is at a critical juncture in its survival right now. In other words, Gallaudet University must somehow re-invent itself, for the lack of a better word.

Note, some of my notes may be redundant. As always, there are lots of ideas out there that people may have on what to do about Gallaudet's future. In my honest and professional opinion is that technology is the key here for Gallaudet to survive and compete with the outside world. We MUST develop the technology on campus because we know what we want.

My conference notes for my presentation:

1. Technology - take advantage of this!

2. Communication - be involved!

3. Education - spread out knowledge, info, and raise that bar!

Ok. Here are my notes along with some modifications that I tried to convey last night but didn't have time. I will now clarify here on my blog.


"The Futuristic Classroom". What does it mean?

• Is it about the ability to interact?

• Is it about communication needs and preferences?

• Is it about accessibility when it comes to the free flow of information whether coming from a computer or human being?

• Is a “futuristic classroom” on campus only?

• How about off campus?

• Is it always about classrooms? What about outside of classrooms? Can learning take place outside of the classrooms?


What should we expect in a “Futuristic Classroom”?


• Technology seen in classrooms ought to reflect equally well the technology we would see on campus when it comes to communication and interaction.

• It ought to be seamless.

• Intuitive. Of common sense. Completely accessible and very transparent.

• A "no-brainer" (pardon the pun) campus the moment you step in at the front gate.

• The campus should be intuitively clear that Gallaudet is a university accessible to everyone at any time.

• Especially so for a Deaf person stepping onto the campus for the very first time seeing that technology along with service is leap years ahead of everybody's expectation on how a campus should function.

• The front gate is our advertisement to the world that they are invited to come in and without worry when it comes to their and, especially so, deaf people communication need where signing is the preferred mode of communication.


Is technology critical to Gallaudet University’s success?

• Yes. Extremely important.

• Why? Technology is moving faster than ever before. Technology and performance doubles every 2 years.

• Technology will play a major role in how we will interact with anyone on and off campus.

• We must plan 2 to 4 years in advance and take into consideration future technology not quite ready for the market but has been demonstrated such as the flat screen panel that’s thick as a playing card you can put up on a wall.

• We must also plan 5 to 10 years down the road on how technology can be integrated successfully all over the campus and in classrooms.


What area of technology is growing so fast?

• (describe computer chip speed and memory)
• cell phones
• internet connection
• voice recognition – it is widely being used today. Many cell phones have voice recognition features built into them. 
• ASL or sign language recognition later on down the road but potentially critical for Gallaudet survival and propagation and preservation of ASL.


What can we do?

• Gallaudet must RE-INVENT itself!
• This is critical to Gallaudet University’s success and survival.
• Technology is the key.
• Look around the conference room.
• Today’s conference is a perfect example of how technology is helping you, Gallaudet University, and future students to continue to thrive and succeed.
• Technology is key to the preservation and, even, propagation of ASL.
• ASL was never in danger in the first place!


Must have a program established on campus. One idea is to have what you called “Media Lab”. Media doesn’t necessarily mean “news” or “info” but how we use and spread information and ideas by incorporating the value of communication on all levels. An experimental campus. Must establish a core research area on Gallaudet that can become recognized as an important scientific "Think Tank" on campus. Everybody is involved. Even kids since sometime they bring up the darndest and great suggestion.

• Need to keep people who have done computer/technology work relating to communication on campus of Gallaudet. Such as Christian Vogler, who will leave Gallaudet this April, who has done his PhD work on computer ASL-recognition and facial recognition. Lots of valuable time, resources and money were put into him will be lost upon Gallaudet when he leaves. Also, same goes for other people who have done similar work. We need to bring those people on board and begin the real serious research and must have the full support of Gallaudet University.

• Must use technology on campus and develop better technology because we know what we are looking for and want.

• Why wait for technology to happen when the researchers, students and other contributors on campus can make it happen first and earlier?

• There are no engineering program at Gallaudet. Why not?
• Establish computer science and electrical engineering program on campus. Use existing consortium universities and their engineering classrooms to help fill the engineering gap at Gallaudet in the meantime.
• This may lead to the increased potential of retaining engineering students at Gallaudet. Perhaps develop masters program? Use consortium universities?
• Have students develop a need to have this "Media Lab" which may help keep students on campus and not quit early or go home.
• We must employ greater use of the consortium program.
• As a requirement, undergraduates (and perhaps graduates) need to attend at least 2 to 4 classes at one of the 13 universities in and around D.C. as part of their graduation requirement.
• Why?
• Because we will always interact with hearing and deaf.


What’s more is that We are seeing this capability today. Compared to 5 years ago, just think of the kind of technology we didn’t have. And think where we may be in 5 to 7 years from now.

Digital convergence

University of Idaho engineering outreach

Consortium universities – how many of them are wired and accessible. A “webcam” in every classrooms?
universities that are a part of the consortium program


Establish a new program that will support researchers at the graduate and staff level, as well as professors who are in the area of technology and communication accessibility.

For example, Christian Vogler who is deaf and has a PhD who worked in the area of ASL-recognition research where computers would learn to recognize ASL movements and decipher them.

Invent the technology here on campus and patent them which could be a source of revenue in the future.

A “mini-MIT” campus so to speak.

What program would be ideal to start with?

Have a program called “Media Lab”.

It does not necessarily mean “news” or “info”. It is about how information is used and propagated. It is how we interact with each other on the social level is where we get our new information.

Related blog - Voice is way, way better than ASL!

Greg Gunderson First Deaf NASCAR Driver!

Exclusive breaking news! For the first time only, anywhere, on Kokonut Pundits blog I am proud to announce for Jason Curry that Greg Gunderson will become the first ever Deaf NASCAR driver! The KS Speedway is now officially working with Greg Gunderson to help him become the first Deaf NASCAR driver in racing history!

The official announcement came last week on Friday, January 26, during the VIP cocktail party for numerous celebrities, sponsors and committee members at The Cordish Company Offices in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. Celebrities and well known people such as Mayor Barnes, George Brett, some of the Kansas City Chiefs football players, Indy Car driver Vitor Meira, Craftsman Truck Driver Terry Cook, Johnny Sauter and many other NASCAR drivers.




George Brett former
pro-baseball player.



Bernard Pollard of KC Chiefs and Jason Curry using
the UbiDuo to communicate.


Terry Cook, NASCAR driver, and
Jason Curry with UbiDuo.


Greg Gunderson and Terry Cook, NASCAR
driver, communicate using the UbiDuo.


Greg Gunderson and NASCAR driver Johnny Sauter.


Metro Sports televised this historic racing event when Stan Tate, Public Relations director for the Kansas Speedway, made the official announcement to a large crowd of fans, football stars, celebrities, race car drivers, the mayor and several media crews who introduced Greg Gunderson to the crowd.

"The KS Speedway is working with Greg Gunderson and the UbiDuo to help Greg get to his dream to become the first deaf NASCAR driver

Stan was just about the most excited person he has ever been about the discovery of Greg Gunderson. This was done with the help of Jason Curry last week during a personal meeting with Stan while using the UbiDuo. After a few more meetings Stan Tate finally made the decision realizing that NASCAR needs a person like Greg Gunderson to help their image just like Danica Patrick helped the image of INDY racing by being the professional woman INDY driver which helped increased attendance and interest in the INDY racing. Greg Gunderson will be the perfect match for NASCAR improving it's image. Lots of opportunities for Kansas Speedway to help advertise Greg Gunderson and for him to become a household name once he hit's the professional NASCAR circuit racing. This is an extremely rare event to put a Deaf person in such a national spotlight soon by becoming a professional NASCAR race car driver.


Greg Gunderson on stage with Stan Tate making the announcement at the podium.


After Stan Tate made the announcement Greg Gunderson headed to "Autograph Row" to take a seat and sign autographs. Those autographs of Greg's after the historic announcement will no doubt be worth a lot of money in the future.



Greg Gunderson in "Autograph Row" with his UbiDuo to
communicate with passing fans.

It was the hours long worth of conversations using the UbiDuo between Stan, Greg Gunderson and Jason Curry, president of sComm and maker of UbiDuo, that inspired Stan Tate to decide to help Greg Gunderson to become the first Deaf NASCAR driver in the history of NASCAR.

This was a dream and a goal of Greg Gunderson that someday he would become the first Deaf NASCAR driver. It was last year that Greg mentioned his dream for The Kansas City Star newspaper . His dream is now fast becoming true.

Greg Gunderson has had over 400 races during his professional racing career mostly in the Sprint car races which takes place on a dirt track (read Greg Gunderson 3-part series interview). Although the NASCAR races take place on the asphalt and is considered as the king of professional racing, Greg will have to do at least a year of serious asphalt racing at either the ARCA racing series or ASA racing series to get enough experience and feel driving on an asphalt pavement. With his natural racing ability, this should not be a problem for Greg Gunderson.

All this was made possible with power of communication and independence through UbiDuo!


Jascon Curry, president of sComm and official UbiDuo sponsor for
Greg Gunderson, pose on the Kansas Speedway track last year.


Congrats to Greg Gunderson! And many, many thanks goes to Jason Curry, CEO/President of sComm, who helped made it possible for Greg to achieve his racing dreams. The above picture of the two on the Kansas Speedway is simply prophetic!

Be sure to watch here on Kokonut Pundits blog for more stories of Greg Gunderson with his UbiDuo as he tackles against the best NASCAR drivers in the very near future. Don't miss out on this historic racing event. The first Deaf NASCAR driver, Greg Gunderson.



For all past Kokonut Pundits blogs on Greg Gunderson go here.




UPDATE: Check out this first historical event ever to take place in the ARCA/NASCAR industry to bring the first deaf racing driver to the racing scene. See photos of this historic news.