We had our first Professor Deaf #drDeaf workshop with 22 Deaf mid/senior career academics having a dialogue across sessions on career stages, academic administration, running research centers, mentoring and more.

Save the date! 📣 First International DeafTech conference, May 26-27, 2026, Vienna. www.deaftech26.eu

New paper! We tested AR glasses for Video Relay Interpreting (VRI). Interpreters preferred AR VRI over VRI; deaf users saw future potential but said current tech isn't good enough. Real-world unscripted testing gave different results than lab experiments.
dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

This week will be the first Professor Deaf workshop! This is a #DrDeaf event aimed at mid career academics. We will be a group of 22 deaf academics from 8 different countries. Excited about this new addition to the #DrDeaf offer!

With this questionnaire @karogebruers.bsky.social, Deborah Giustini and I are exploring the impact of AI language technologies on VGT/NGT-Dutch interpreters & notetakers in Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands. If you are among the target group, do participate! forms.cloud.microsoft/e/MVGHn45Pa7

Impressive group of deaf scholars! gallaudet.edu/deaf-studies...

🚨 #SLE2026 Workshop alert! 🚨
How do Large Language Models reshape linguistics? 🧠🤖
Join the debate about LLMs' impact on linguistic theory, methods and human language! Osnabrück 26-29 August 2026.
#LLM #linguistics
Full text of our workshop proposal:
societaslinguistica.eu/sle2026/wp-c...

Hearing families should stop being told not to use sign language with their deaf children, deaf academic Dr Kate Rowley has said, with there being “no evidence” it impacts speech or literacy.

A new study shared at the British Deaf Association's (BDA) annual conference in Leeds has concluded that investing in British Sign Language (BSL) for deaf children is "likely cost-effective", returning £4 to the economy for every £1 spent.

Thanks to @liamodell.com for covering my presentation on the ethics of the development and use of sign language technologies at the BDA conference in Leeds. And thanks to @bda.org.uk for the invitation! The UK has given me a lot as a deaf scholar over the years - happy to give back in return.

De Meulder's keynote address yesterday at #ICED2025 deeply reinvigorated me. It felt good to see such a powerful talk, one that accurately deciphers our needs as Deaf people and the vital importance of Deaf academic spaces! Thank you again!

My keynote presentation at #ICED2025 yesterday was about the critical importance of deaf academic spaces, presenting #DrDeaf as an example, and the values they entail for broader deaf educational environments.
Preprint of the paper: lnkd.in/ecx4bM-D
Full keynote presentation: lnkd.in/eE7qrkhY

It’s the first time since the 1880 Milan conference, which endorsed oralism, that the conference is held in Italy again. So it will be a very symbolic one as well.

First conference stop this summer: ICED in Rome, the premier international conference on deaf education. It’s my 3rd ICED, after Maastricht (2005) and Vancouver (2010). Among the approx. 600 participants are 130 deaf participants, including many presenters. Great to see this deaf space at ICED.

I see the "we cured deafness" injection is making the rounds in the UK now. Let's discuss 🧵

Here's a thread about a virtual conference that's actually accessible. How? Because it was designed and executed by disabled people who care about access and know what it takes to build meaningful community. Take notes. 1/11

The events run parallel and take place in Ål, Norway from 7-12 December 2025.

There will be joint lectures and activities between the two events, including our now infamous winter afternoon sauna and ice-bathing wellness activity!

(We pre-cut the hole in the ice, no worries! 🤣)

#drDeaf

The Dr Deaf Winter 2025 Workshops are open! #drDeaf

👉 Phd Deaf for those in or considering a Phd. Join a cohort and make connections that will support you in your doctoral journey!
👉Writing Retreat. Write that academic paper in a deaf-centered space!

Register at forms.office.com/e/HLfrV76SXU

When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

I just heard there will be at least 130 deaf participants at the next ICED conference in Rome. I went to two before, and I think there were never that many.

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

That you can build a career on sign language without ever using it.

What a great paper. I miss Twitter (or what it once was), and @jmhenner.bsky.social in it. Thanks to @deafkilljoy.bsky.social and Rachael Gabriel for writing this. Make sure to check the other papers in the special issue in honour of Jon Henner. academic.oup.com/jdsde/articl...

At #DrDeaf we hand out designated Dr Deaf mugs to participants who received a PhD. Congratulations @bevjbuchanan.bsky.social and Paul Simmons on your PhDs - we look forward to handing out many more Dr Deaf mugs in the years to come!