Deaf News Briefs: OSD new logo; Company sued for refusing to hire deaf man
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
The Oklahoma School for the Deaf unveiled its new “Bison” logo and mascot to replace its old mascot, which was the Indians. KXII News in Oklahoma was at the school over the weekend during the unveiling. The school superintendent Chris Dvorak told KXII News that “the previous logos were no longer appropriate” and that the school “is in a really unique position to be able to empathize with those who have been oppressed.” A school-wide vote chose the Bison. Here is a video clip of the unveiling.
[Video clip]
Trudy Mitchell, OSD Director of Student Life: … all were involved with OSD. We all came together to come up with different – I mean we had so many different ideas. We narrowed it down.
(Video clip shows community members unveiling a new “OSD Bison” logo)
The design was done by a deaf artist named Nathan Fylstra, who is a staff member at the school. He told KXII News that he has done art for a lot of people for a while but that it was never his plan to actually step forward and do it, but said the new logo is going to be one of the best memories of his life.
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The Oregonian reported that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing an Oregon software company Viewpoint and its recruiting firm CampusPoint for allegedly refusing to hire a deaf man named Indigo Matthew. The report said Matthew applied for a Viewpoint product and pricing analyst in 2018 and passed an initial screening from both companies. Matthew then requested an ASL interpreter for the group interview portion of his application process but the companies said they refused to pay for an interpreter and then “erroneously assumed that Matthew would need a full-time interpreter” if he was hired. His application was then rejected. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Portland and seeks an injunction to block the companies from discriminating against job applicants, to pay Matthew for lost compensation, and for punitive damages.
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.
https://www.kxii.com/2021/10/03/oklahoma-school-deaf-unveils-new-logo/