NAD announces settlement with White House; CSD Riverside football team gets $25k gift; Meta partners with ZP Better Together for video calls
Here are three Deaf News briefs.
The NAD announced on December 16 that the NAD and its partner Arnold & Porter has reached a settlement with the President of the United States and other White House officials over their lawsuit in 2020 to demand the then-Trump White House to provide ASL interpreters during press briefings related to the Covid-19 pandemic. In November 2020, a federal judge ordered the Trump White House to provide ASL interpreters for coronavirus-related press briefings. Now this lawsuit is dismissed and considered resolved. The NAD said “the settlement was reached in light of a new policy, adopted by the White House in April 2021, to provide ASL interpreters for all press briefings conducted by the President, Vice President, First Lady, Second Gentleman, or the White House Press Secretary.” The NAD said the new policy applied to all press briefings, not just the ones about the coronavirus pandemic, and that it raised the bar in accessibility. The NAD said the White House agreed to pay legal fees as a part of the settlement. NAD CEO Howard Rosenblum said “the case is officially over, but the case got a court order that compels all U.S. presidents to follow federal disability rights law and provide effective communication which includes ASL from now and on.
The interpreters can be viewed on the White House’s website and YouTube page, but it is up to broadcast television networks on whether they will include the interpreters in their live broadcasts.
Last Monday, Kelly Clarkson, the singer and host of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” featured the California School for the Deaf Riverside’s football team and their successful season. Clarkson announced that she is donating $25,000 to CSD Riverside to help the school renovate its football field, bleachers, and new lights. CSDR Superintendent Nancy Hlibok-Amann said that the field and bleachers is very old and pretty much the same since 1953, so the donation along with other donations from the school’s C-Booster Club will go a long way to improve the stadium.
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The Verge reported that Facebook’s parent company Meta is collaborating with ZP Better Together (ZVRS and Purple) to provide ASL interpreters for its Portal video calling devices. The Portal devices are made by Meta and there are four different devices available. Meta said they have ZP’s apps available in the Portal App Store, so deaf people who have a ZP account can make calls through the device.
That’s the three Deaf News briefs for today.