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May 25, 2004

2nd Annual Deaf Expo Show on East Coast

From: CSD - May 25, 2004

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

For Immediate Release
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Contact: David Rosenbaum
drosenbaum@2way.net


Second Annual DEAF EXPO™ Show On East
Reflects Quality of Life for Deaf Americans

DEAF EXPO 2004 East, held outside Philadelphia, Penn. on Friday and Saturday May 7-8, offered something for everyone! As patrons walked in the Fort Washington Expo Center, they were intrigued with the many show program offerings and exhibits. By end of the second day, nearly 2,000 patrons from 17 states and Canada had attended.

There were 74 exhibits at this second DEAF EXPO East show. Patrons learned about the latest product and service offerings. Among the varied exhibitors were Gallaudet University, Pennsylvania Society for Advancement for the Deaf, Dogs for the Deaf, Harris Communications, Potomac Technology and the Virginia Association of the Deaf, to name a few.

The show was sponsored by Sprint and GoAmerica (as the exclusive wireless service) and is based on its successful California show, now in its 12th year. Sprint announced their new “Sprint Relay Wireless Service” allowing GoAmerica’s Wyndtell customers to place relay calls on their pagers.

Mike Friess, Deaf Inventor & CEO of Far-out! Games, Inc. demonstrated his latest invention “Twistgammon”. A board game that plays like backgammon, but with a twist!

Clear View Innovations demonstrated new equipment to allow interpreters greater flexibility and control over the interpreting environment.

“At Deaf Expo-East, my company, Clear View Innovations, was able to get wide exposure for our new product line, Clear View Gear,” said Stephen Frank, Clear View’s president. “We were able to speak directly with and demonstrate our items to a wide variety of people and receive important feedback — and even many sales.”

“As a company dedicated to servicing and providing awareness of technological advances in captioning services available to empower and provide equal opportunity to deaf and hard of hearing individuals, we could not have been more honored and privileged to attend and partake in such a fascinating and cultured event,” said Terry Tumolillo, Voice Print, Inc. president.

Robert Traina hosted the Deaf World Stage with Ben Jarashow as stage manager. Over both show days, they coordinated an impressive slate of performances, magic, storytelling, skits, signal dog demonstrations and two game shows. Two deaf performing groups, Rathskellar and the Russian TOYS Theater touring group, also made appearances. The Deaf World Stage was made possible by Sorenson Media and TOYS Theater was made possible by Sprint.

Second Deaf Expo™ On East

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Groups from six schools in Pennsylvania and Delaware participated on Friday. The students participated in “DEAF$aire,” an educational and fun game show which was a hit! Winners were Sean Finnerty of Bronx, N.Y.; Melissa Hernandez and Jeremy Bell of Philadelphia; Ann Cole of New Carrolton, MD.; and Michael Bove of Boothwyn, Penn. Congratulations to you all!

Activities on the Deaf World Stage, the seminars and technology forum were signed and voice-interpreted for benefit of both deaf and hearing patrons. Interpreters were coordinated by the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living’s Sign Language Interpreter Referral Services. Seminar presentations were also captioned real-time and shown on a projection screen.

“I felt the show ran smoothly and attendance was good,” says Cindy Graf with Harris Communications. “We met many wonderful people for the first time, which allowed us the opportunity to share with them information about our company and about our products. In addition, it was great to see and assist several attendees that have been customers with Harris Communications for a long time!”

Deaf Village was at one end of Hall B and featured home businesses, arts and crafts, and distribution of materials announcing events and services relevant to deaf and hard of hearing consumers.

“Deaf Expo is great for deaf to view many exhibitors,” said Debra Fuller, representing Candles and Stuff in Deaf. “[Deaf] Expo is educational for the deaf; it’s very worthwhile to have Deaf Expo. I really enjoyed meeting people, and also, I was surely glad to see people buy my candles and stuff for their styles to wear and smell …”

Drawings of ticket stubs were held hourly for over 230 door prizes given out during both show days. Seminars were informative, with some topics attracting more patrons than expected including “What’s Up, Deaf Community?”; “Deaf Leaders of Past, Present & Future”; “Deaf Services … Enough or Not Enough?”; and “Can Deafness Be Cured?” There was also a “Deaf Singles Corner” time slot.

“It was a first for PSAD and we found our experience to be positive. Pennsylvania is a big state and there are many deaf people out there unaware of our existence,” said April Nelson, a vice-president with the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf. “So this kind of exposure is great for PSAD. We will definitely do it again and will do better next time now that we know what it is like and what the public was interested in.”

Deaf Expo is a project of CSD. The next event, DEAF EXPO 2004 West will be held Nov. 5-6 at the Anaheim Convention Center, next to Disneyland in southern California. The official show Web site is www.deafexpo.org

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Deaf Expo is a registered trademark and program of CSD, a national, non-profit human service and telecommunications provider. For more information, see www.c-s-d.org.