Even in this day and age of great technological advances such as video phone conferencing, webcams and other media, Deaf people still are prepared to travel great distances to attend an important Deaf reunion, rally or convention. There is the tangible need for Deaf people to be there physcially with each other and enjoy conversing with other Deaf people. Such gatherings include:

• World Fedearation of the Deaf Congress, held in a different country every four years
• Australian Association of the Deaf gatherings and conferences
• World Deaf Games held in a different country every four years
• Coffee and chat nights at Starbucks cafes on Friday and Saturday nights (many USA cities)

[Edit]1 Community and Language

When Deaf people travel, they usually want to meet other Deaf people in the region they are visiting, people to communicate with. Deaf Clubs are in most major cities around the world. When Deaf people return from travelling to a certain city, area or country, their Deaf friends almost always immediately ask “did you meet any Deaf people there?”.

[Edit]2 Access

Access to ease of travel and convenience for Deaf people varies from country to country. An example is driving. While most countries permit Deaf people to drive cars, there are still some countries that do not permit Deaf people to gain a driver's licence. Macau is one such country where Deaf people are not allowed to drive. In contrast, Deaf people in Hong Kong, just an hour’s ferry ride away, are permitted to do so.

Deaf people are often still disadvantaged by not having visual information indicating which numbers and groups ticketed passengers are required to board the aircraft. This even occurs in the USA, despite that same country permitting some Deaf individuals to become plane and helicopter pilots, albeit for private use not for work on commercial airliners.

In the State of California, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has made it mandatory for all emergency call boxes on Californian highways to have a TTY (telephone typewriter) installed in each call box. Deaf motorists who experience difficulties while travelling on the road such as car break downs are able to call for help on the nearest TTY call box, just like hearing motorists. The other states in the United States have not yet made this requirement a law.

Some major tourist attractions and theme parks have employed their own sign language guides and interpreters. Examples include Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California, the famous castle built by the late newspaper magnate, William Hearst. They employ full time signing guides who give conducted signing tours of the castle to Deaf tourists. The other example is the Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, where they also employ full time signing guides who work at the Center for Deaf patrons.

In Brisbane (Queensland, Australia), Deaf rail patrons are able to send a text message or a SMS (Short Message Service) to Queensland Rail. This gives Deaf passengers equal access to information on par to the hearing rail passengers who heard the announcements on the public address system. Recently a train was stalled on the tracks for 30 minutes, and Deaf passengers were able to text Queensland Rail to find out what the problem was. Queensland Rail replied with the message that the city power lines were down.

[Edit]3 Business

The growth of Deaf business travel has created a new niche for Deaf business people. There are now Deaf owned and run business travel groups. Companies have been established around the world. They hire a Deaf or signing coach driver and tour guide who sign on the tours specially geared for Deaf travellers.

[Edit]4 Events

There are a plethora of events for the Deaf community and those that deal with issues about deafness, world-wide.

The largest and most well-known event is the World Federation Congress (WFD) which is held every four years. The next one will be held in Madrid, Spain in 2007 (http://www.wfdcongress.org/eng/version_text.php).

Other regular events are:

• Deaflympics - Summer and Winter Games (http://www.deaflympics.com/)
  • 2007 Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake, USA (http://www.2007deaflympics.com/)
  • 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei (http://www.2009deaflympics.org/)

• Australian Assocation of the Deaf (AAD) Conference

• Biennial conference of the (USA) National Assocation of the Deaf (NAD)

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) will have its 15th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, in Madrid, Spain, 16-22 July, 2007 (www.wfd.congress.org). The theme of this Congress will be “Human Rights Through Sign Languages.”

• Deaf-Blind Conferences

• ASLIA Conferences

• Hearing-Impaired Conferences

• Education Conferences.
  • Australian Association of Teachers of the Deaf (http://www.aatd.org.au)

• Deaf Expo (http://www.deafexpo.org), on both the West and East Coasts of the USA, one expo on each side each year. A Deaf Australian (now living in America), David Rosenbaum is the Director of Marketing for the Deaf Expo.

Last changed: 15.07.2007 08:15 by 220.237.91.50 -