Loretha (Rising Sun) Grinsell is fluent in a language few people understand, a language without spoken words.

Grinsell, who is deaf, grew up on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation using Plains Indian sign language to communicate with her foster grandmother.

She relied exclusively on "hand talk" until she went to school at age 9 and learned the more commonly used American Sign Language.

She uses the Plains Indian signs, interspersed with ASL, to communicate with her cousin, James Wooden Legs, who became deaf from a fever during a bout with spinal meningitis as an infant. Like Grinsell, Wooden Legs learned Plains Indian sign language before he went off to the school.

Today, Grinsell knows about 10 sign-talkers in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe who are fluent and another 20 who can communicate on a basic level using sign language.

Along the Great Plains of North America, stretching from Canada into Mexico, Plains Indian sign language was once the lingua franca, the common language among tribes speaking at least 40 different languages.

Read More on their website

This annual event is hosted by the Florida Association of the Deaf. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their website at www.fadcentral.org.

See below for the flyer.

2 Full Time Staff Interpreter Positions are now open.

We are looking for someone with a QA2, QA3 and/or National Certification.

We are looking for Interpreters that are flexible and have a good personality.

If you meet the above qualifications, please apply here.

1) Jobs are located in Central Florida (Orlando/Kissimmee)
2) The interpreter can apply from anywhere, but would need to move to Florida for the job. We may or may not provide a moving stipend for the candidate.
3) Some of the benefits we offer are medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401K, vacation, and holidays.

Teresita Fonseca lives in silence. She cannot hear or talk because she was born deaf.

But her silence is not synonymous with the lack of communication. Like many other mothers, she is the one that attends PTA meetings and takes the kids to their medical appointments.
When she has something to say, the voice others hear is that of an interpreter.

The 2010 DeafNation World Expo will be held at the Sands Expo Center, the perfect place to truly bring the Deaf together under one roof. The World Expo will take place at Sand Expo’s 200,000 sq. feet exhibit hall, where exhibitions, workshops, entertainment, sporting activities, activities for the children and so on will come together to provide four full days’ worth of many hours of presentations, education and socializing for the attendees. The best thing about the World Expo, aside from the socializing and cultural/language opportunities, will be the free admission to all events.

The Second National Deaf People of Color Conference is slated for June 25 through 27, 2010, in Portland, Oregon. This exciting event will feature workshops, presentations, and a banquet gala (with entertainment).

Because of the current economic crisis and the hardships it's caused for Deaf people of color, the Conference registration fee has been reduced from $400 to $250. The registration deadline has been extended to May 30, 2010.

Yes, that's right–only $250 for registration!

Florida Hotel at the Florida Mall
1500 Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL

*ASL Booth will be open Friday and Saturday from 7:30am-5:30pm.

We would like to give a big THANKS to all those participating in Silent Weekend 2010 this week in Orlando, Florida. Come visit our team at the ASL Services, Inc. Booth and spin the wheel for some great prizes! You can also stop by to get more information on Internship and employment opportunities with ASL Services, Inc. Look forward to seeing you there!

Official Site

ASL Services, Inc and Graciasvrs are proud to support ASL Services: Latino in Puerto Rico for the upcoming Deaf Social that will be held in Ponce on Saturday, June 26th. The goal of this event is to educate the Deaf in that areas on their ADA Rights to have an Interpreter whether through an onsite Interpreter or through VRI (Video remote Interpreting) Services now offered throughout Puerto Rico. Come be a part of this fantastic event!

Please contact Gilberto Garcia at 787-562-7910 for more information.

Brought to you by the ASL Services Family of Services:

Read More Here

Marisol Romany of Orlando Health instructs emergency-room nurses on how to use a video remote to summon sign-language interpreters. "It's in everyone's best interest to develop and promote building culturally diverse patient services,"’ she says. (GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / May 12, 2010)

Read more here

You can find more information about the NAJIT Conference here.

For those interested, the description of the two sessions are as follows:

You can read more on their website here.