Louisville, KentuckyToday was the opening ceremony for the National Association of the Deaf's annual convention, held in Louisville this year. The opening celebration was held at Sluggers Field, the home of the Louisville Bats semi-pro baseball team. |
| The National Association of the Deaf convention was held at the Hyatt Hotel in Louisville. A characteristic of any such gathering of deaf people is the group of old friends and new acquaintances spending hours signing away, fully at home in their own sign language. |
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| The World Federation of the Deaf held one of its board meetings for this year on the sidelines of the NAD convention. Colin Allen (left), the president of the WFD, spoke with Yerker Andersson, a former president who is now a board member. Yerker is one of the giants of the deaf world. |
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| The stadium display announced to all the agenda and the sponsors of the various events. |
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| Down on the baseball field, Colin met with some of the local staff to check the order of events before the ceremony started. |
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| When it was time to start, there was an official entrance led by the candidates for the Miss Deaf America contest and the young men and women participating in the deaf College Bowl. |
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| Colin spoke from a small stage set over home plate on the baseball field. He spoke in International Signs and an interpreter used American Sign Language for the US deaf people. |
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| Colin's reputation reached new heights as he appeared on the giant stadium screen. He worked as an advisor at the Deaf Development Programme in Cambodia for two years starting in 2001 so Colin and Charlie Dittmeier have known each other for a long time. |
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| Part of the opening ceremony, after the keynote address and some sign language rap songs, was a dinner held in the concourse part of the stadium, before the crowds started arriving for the baseball game. |
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| Many deaf people sat and watched the Louisville Bats lose 2-0 to the Indianapolis Indians, but many more stood and talked through the whole game. |
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| Everyone attending the NAD opening activities was given a ticket for the Bats game. They had a large crowd this evening because they had Fourth of July fireworks after the game. |
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