Final NAD Chicago Conference Update

Transcript/Summary: Hello. It is Saturday, July 6. I’ll give you a recap of the most important happenings at the NAD Conference in Chicago at the hotel behind me, the Sheraton. First, the new NAD Board was sworn in last night.

(Video clip showing NAD Board taking oaths)

After that, there was an exciting College Bowl game between Gallaudet and RIT/NTID.

(Video clip of College Bowl trophy and of the teams)

Gallaudet had a nice lead during the first two rounds. But then during the final round, RIT took a risk by doing “challenges,” which give you more points if you correctly answer questions but will deduct points if you are incorrect. RIT took many challenges and were correct in their answers and they rapidly caught up. They caught up on the last question to win.

(Video clip showing RIT/NTID winning 108-107. Their fans are cheering as the team raises the trophy)

This morning, the NAD Board hosted an open meeting. This was the first time we’ve seen Lisa Rose in her role as president leading a meeting.

(Video clip of President Rose leading a board meeting)

One of the important things was when the board agreed to hold their next meeting around September in Maine, to support the Maine Deaf community. They also said that the next NAD Conference in 2026 would be in San Francisco, California. They talked about some concerns about costs but they said they’d do their best to keep costs low.

I met with the team behind SignSpeak, a new technology that can read and translate sign language into text or spoken voice. See what it looks like.

(SignSpeak feature video)

Nikolas Kelly: SignSpeak’s technology is based on artificial intelligence, which is a computer/machine. It can read your ASL signs and translate it into English.

Brian Hertneky: I’ll show you.

(Brian clicks on the SignSpeak app, which starts filming Brian. He signs, “Hello my name is Brian. How are you doing today?” The app pushes out a sentence that says, “Hello, my name is Brian. How are you doing today?”)

(Video clip of Alex sitting on the SignSpeak booth to test out the product on a laptop. Nikolas gives Alex several instructions. Alex signs, “Hello. I love the city of Chicago.” The application pushes out a sentence that says, “Hello, I love/hug the city/community of Chicago.” Alex points out that the application gave two options for two of the words but that it correctly read his signs. He said that it’s amazing.)

Yami Payano: SignSpeak received investment from the federal government, the NSF. We are also working hard to get more investments.

Nikolas: Our goal is to put out tools and for the Deaf community to make choices in their everyday lives.

(End SignSpeak feature)

I went to a workshop hosted by the Rochester Deaf Kitchen. It’s an awesome project that is a collaborative effort between the Rochester School for the Deaf and a Deaf community member who is leading the effort. They receive delivers of food and distribute it to those in the Deaf community who have issues with food insecurity. They can come and pick up food. The kitchen said they’ve served over 22,000 people since August 2023 with over 145,000 pounds of food. They said they want to expand. It was a very positive thing.

(Video clip of RDK’s workshop showing RSD Superintendent Anthony McLetchie and RDK leader Zach Ennis)

The last thing today was a town hall, which was open to all.

(Video clip showing a packed ballroom. President Rose says, “I’m excited)

The main thing discussed was the new CEO search process. They said it could take several months to 18 months. They showed a long list of qualifications and expectations. That was typical of what you’d expect for a new CEO for a large organization like NAD.

(Video clip showing NAD Vice President Stephanie Hakulin explaining several of the requirements for the new CEO)

Things like management, leadership, knowledge, ability to run an organization, all that. Some in the audience asked if the CEO has to be Deaf. The NAD Board asked if they wanted a Deaf CEO. Most in the audience said the person has to be Deaf. The board said they expected the new CEO to be Deaf but said they couldn’t put it in writing due to EEOC / discrimination concerns. The NAD Board said they would bring in an independent entity to do a search process. The NAD will not do the search for the CEO, it’s going to be done by another entity. The NAD does have a consultant named Tiffany Williams, who is a Deaf woman and a business owner. She will give strategic consulting.

Some in the town hall asked questions about the Super Bowl but the NAD Board sticked to the same script of saying that they didn’t want to look to the past but instead look forward.

Others came up bringing various concerns. There was one serious concern from a DeafBlind person named Hunta Williams, who said they felt like the conference excluded DeafBlind participants because people didn’t really take the time to meet and interact with them. Hunta also said it was frustrating to try to attend workshops and to navigate, explaining that it was difficult at the hotel. The NAD President Rose said she understood, apologized, and said she would make a note of it for the next conference.

The rest of the town hall went on with various questions and comments and then that was it. The 2024 NAD Conference in Chicago has wrapped up. Tonight there is a DNO Deaf Night Out event where many will attend - it’s going to be at another hotel, a different location. Then many will start leaving. Some have already left. I’ll be leaving tomorrow to go back to my studio and I’ll deliver Daily Moth news as usual. Thank you all for following my journey here at the NAD Conference and I want to thank the NAD for hosting the conference and bringing many Deaf people together.

[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]