Deaf News Briefs - Deaf missing man: Ermias Thomas; International Day of Sign Language
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
The Goodyear Police Department in Arizona said they are looking for a missing deaf person named Ermias Dawit Thomas. Police said Ermias’ father reported him missing a year ago and that law enforcement has not been able to locate him. Ermias used to be a student at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside and has some ties to the Riverside area. A detective said Ermias is not in any trouble and just needs to speak to a police officer who would then remove him from the NCIC missing person file.
A bulletin said Ermias was last seen leaving his home in Goodyear sometime after midnight on July 5, 2020 and that there was no fight or any kind of argument. He was driving an older model Volkswagen Passat.
Ermias is described as a 22-year-old Black male. He is 5’6, 225 lbs, and has tattoos on both arms with one of them being of a lion.
Anyone with information should contact the Goodyear Police Department.
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Thursday, September 23 was the International Day of Sign Languages. The World Federation of the Deaf worked with the United Nations in 2017 to officially recognize the day to celebrate the over 200 different national sign languages around the world and to ensure that deaf people have full human rights to sign language. If you type in the hashtag #IDSL or #InternationalDayofSignLanguages, you will see many neat posts from deaf people and leaders all over the world.
September 23 was chosen as the day of recognition because it honors the founding of the WFD on September 23, 1951. That’s 70 years ago.
The WFD tweeted on Thursday that they have unveiled a bust of Vittorio Ieralla, the first WFD President, during a livestream. Ieralla was an Italian and the WFD was founded in Rome.
Both Gallaudet University and NTID recognized the day on their social media pages.
The NFL team Arizona Cardinals recognized the day by tweeting a video of star defensive player Budda Baker signing in ASL. Check this out!
[Video clip]
Happy belated International Day of Sign Languages. I’m grateful to be able to use ASL to deliver news!
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.