October 6th 2023.
AT&T and Gallaudet University have come together to create a revolutionary football helmet designed specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing quarterbacks. On October 5th, the new helmets were unveiled, and they will allow coaches to call a play via a tablet, with the play appearing on a small screen inside the helmet during the game. The technology will be put to use for the first time on October 7th when Gallaudet takes on Hilbert College.
Gallaudet Football Coach Chuck Goldstein commented on the game, saying, “We work out the same way as every other college football program, we practice the same way, we compete the same way. The difference between coaching a hearing team compared to a Deaf team is first the communication.” AT&T and Gallaudet have been collaborating for two years to make sure the Deaf community is included in the conversation. Corey Anthony, AT&T’s Senior Vice President of Networking Engineering and Operations, expressed his admiration for the university. He said, “We came up with ideas on how to make this helmet more effective and they would give us feedback. It’s just a beautiful relationship that we have with that university.”
The Deaf community has been advocating for better representation in many areas, such as sports, social media, and entertainment. Many social media apps now offer captions on videos, and brands like Target and Subaru have launched campaigns featuring American Sign Language (ASL). In 2022, the movie CODA – a story about a child of deaf adults and the only hearing member of their family – won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 94th Academy Awards.
Many universities also offer free virtual and in-person ASL classes for those wanting to learn more about ASL and communication with the Deaf community. With the introduction of this revolutionary technology, the Deaf community is making strides in the right direction.
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