Deaf News Briefs: Dunkin’ denies service; OSD replaces mascot
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
A deaf woman named Shannon Heroux posted an emotional TikTok video last week to express her hurt of being denied service at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Encino, California. Heroux said she has a cochlear implant. She explained that she uses her voice to communicate with others and relies on lipreading, but that it is very difficult with masks. She said on September 13, she went inside of a Dunkin’ and asked the cashier and manager to lower their masks so she could read their lips or for them to write down what they were saying, but they shook their heads and did not believe that she was actually deaf. The employees refused to take her order and appeared to gesture for her to leave. That’s when Heroux posted her TikTok videos in her car. The videos garnered over 11 million views and an outpouring of support.
Heroux posted a follow-up video on TikTok on Monday. She said the Dunkin’ restaurant owner was extremely apologetic and she felt it was sincere. She said some of the solutions they discussed were see-thru masks and whiteboards for the cashiers. She said there needs to be sensitivity training for employees to learn how to interact with deaf people who do sign and those who do not sign. She said she needs to learn how to sign.
It is unfortunately very common for deaf people to experience discrimination at fast-food restaurants.
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KFOR News in Oklahoma reported that the Oklahoma School for the Deaf will unveil the school’s new mascot logo on Saturday, October 2 during its homecoming weekend.
OSD’s mascot used to be the Indians, but it was replaced by the Bison in July.
“The Daily Ardmoreite” explained that school administrators moved to make the change after receiving input from alumni and staff who wanted to see the change to “demonstrate respect for Native American culture and tribal sovereignty.”
There was a survey on what the new mascot should be, and Bison won 67% of the vote.
OSD Superintendent Chris Dvorak told KFOR News that the previous school mascot and its history will be preserved at the Betty S. Fine Museum on the Sulphur campus.
The change is in line with some of the changes we’ve seen with professional sports teams’ mascots such as the Washington Football Team dropping their previous name and mascot. We’ll see what OSD’ new logo looks like on October 2nd.
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/california-woman-deaf-masks-dunkin-donuts