Welcome to Deaf Services Commission of Iowa “Equal Communication, Education, and Access” Visit the DSCI website: http://www.state.ia.us/government/dhr/ds/index.html Questions or Comments? Email us at dhr.dsci@iowa.gov or call 515-281-3164 V/TTY or Toll-Free: 1-888-221-3724 V/TTY SIGN of the TIMES JUNE 2008 NEW ASL DVD AVAILABLE IN OUR LIBRARY DIABETES: You Can Control It Presented in American Sign Language with English Captioning and Audio 55 minutes INFORMATION ANNOUNCEMENT Be Careful of Scam and Instant Messaging! Recently Linda Pierce got an instant message or IM Messenger from a friend in another state. Her friend told her she had just won $15,000 from the Western Union World Deaf Lottery. Linda told her friend to be careful that it might be a scam. Her friend sent back a message and told Linda that she already had the money and that an FBI agent and the local police came with the person to her door and gave her the money. Linda was very happy for her friend. A few days later, Linda got an instant message or IM Messenger from the same person her friend told her about. She read the message and learned that she won $100,000 from the same lottery. Linda believed the message because it was the same as her friend had told her about. She instant messaged her friend to tell her that she had won too and her friend was very happy for her. The woman that instant messaged Linda about the lottery used the screen name kaylaemerson80. She told Linda that she needed to send money through Western Union to pay the taxes on winning the money. Linda did. Then later she messaged Linda again and said she needed to send money to pay for sending the money to the United States. Again Linda sent money. This happened several more times. Finally Linda suspected something was wrong. She went to the airport where the plane was coming with the money. They didn’t know anything about the plane or the money. Linda instant messaged her friend again and asked a question to test her. Linda found out that it really wasn’t her friend sending the messages. It was someone who stole her friend’s screen name and password. Several of Linda’s other friends got the same kinds of messages. Linda had already warned them so they did not respond. This is very hurtful to the Deaf community. Instant messaging and email are part of Deaf everyday life. Instant messaging is also known as IM. Sometimes it is IM Messenger. Please be careful when you get messages about winning money. Even if a friend tells you that they won, too, check it out first. Now it is very popular to see letters, emails, faxes, instant messages that ask you to help someone or that you have won something and need to send check or money to Nigeria. It is almost always a scam and you will not get your money back. These people also stole Linda’s IM Messenger Screen Name. Linda wants anyone who had her IM Screen Name on their list to delete it please. Welcome to Deaf Services Commission of Iowa “Equal Communication, Education, and Access” Welcome to Deaf Services Commission of Iowa “Equal Communication, Education, and Access” SIGN of the TIMES JUNE 2008 FOR YOUR INFORMATION FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacquie Brennan DBTAC Southwest ADA Center 713.520.0232, jbrennan@bcm.edu FIRST EVER ASL VIDEO PODCAST LAUNCH from the DISABILITY LAW LOWDOWN May 13, 2008 – The first ever video podcast in American Sign Language is being launched today on the Disability Law Lowdown website at ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com. The Disability Law Lowdown ASL podcasts will bring a new level of service to the Deaf community by expanding traditional audio- only podcasts to include video that allows subscribers to see native Deaf speakers signing the show's content. The podcasts will deliver the latest in disability law information every other week via American Sign Language, captioning, voice-over, and transcripts to maximize accessibility. Free subscriptions to the ASL pod- casts are available to have shows automatically delivered to MP3 players. The ASL podcasts are also available on the Disability Law Lowdown website, where transcripts of the shows are simultaneously available. And for the fastest viewing, the ASL podcasts are available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ disabilitylawlowdown. The hosts for the ASL Disability Law Lowdown are native Deaf signers Danny Warthling and AJ Roupp. They will provide the latest information about disability rights and obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other disability-related topics. Subscription is free and RSS feeds are available to automatically download the shows to video iPods, computers, phones, and other video-capable devices. Disability Law Lowdown is provided by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), a national network of ten ADA Centers across the country, offering technical assistance and training in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability- related laws. DCRE Labs developed the Disability Law Lowdown website and brought together several new technologies as part of the Disability Law Lowdown project. To subscribe, look for the ASL Disability Law Lowdown podcast on iTunes, or visit ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com. CALENDAR OF EVENTS 6/6: 6 - 10 pm ASL Social Event hosted by Deaf Awareness and Des Moines Area Community College at inPlay in Des Moines at 615 – 3rd Street 6/7: 9 am—5 pm Marshalltown 50th Annual Outing— Deaf Picnic. Hosted by Iowa Association of the Deaf, Board of Directors. Located at Riverside Park, North Side of Marshalltown on Iowa 14, Woodland Ave., Admission is $5.00. For more information, contact: GRETL88@yahoo.com 6/7: 10 am Iowa Deaf Poker Tournament located at Union Park (west shelter) on Guthrie Ave & North Union Street, Des Moines. No children allowed, must be 21 or older. 6/20: 7—9 pm JCP Campfire Social, Dolliver State Park close to Fort Dodge, 2757 Dolliver Park Ave., Lehigh, IA. Bring lawn chairs. 6/26: 6:30 —8:30 pm Hearing Loss Association of Central Iowa meets at Scottish Rite Park, 2909 Woodland Ave., Des Moines; George Khal, owner of Sound Clarity, Products to Help You Communicate, will be the speaker. He will show many items, such as home alerting systems, signaling and paging devices, loop systems, personal amplifiers, amplified telephones, amplified ringers, text telephones, and text telephone accessories. This meeting is for all Deaf/hard of hearing persons. Please join us for this special presentation. For more information, call 515-279-5248 or email achebard@hotmail.com SUBMITTING RECENT EVENTS OR INFORMATION The deadline for submission to the July issue is June 30th. Send e-mail submissions to the editor dhr.dsci@iowa.gov Photos accompanying submissions are encouraged. For instructions on how to submit photos, contact the editor at the address above. Visit the DSCI website: http://www.state.ia.us/government/dhr/ds/index.html Questions or Comments? Email us at dhr.dsci@iowa.gov or call 515-281-3164 V/TTY or Toll-Free: 1-888-221-3724 V/TTY