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Red Wings to celebrate Deaf Culture Day in April

Rochester Red Wings

The Rochester Red Wings are teaming up with Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the Rochester School for the Deaf to celebrate deaf culture in April.

The Red Wings will wear specialty jerseys and caps to celebrate the day. The jerseys will feature "Red Wings" in American Sign Language across the chest, and the cap will have a hand signing an "R" on the front.

Gerry Buckley, NTID president, said Rochester is one of the most accessible cities for the deaf community in the world, and he hopes celebrating that with the Red Wings becomes an annual tradition.

"The Red Wings celebrating this with us is just another significant recognition of the importance of Rochester to the American and the world and the global deaf community that we’re very proud of," Buckley said.

Students, faculty and staff at NTID and the School for the Deaf, as well as their families, can get $2 off tickets by using a special promo code.

Buckley says interpreters will be on site during the game at Frontier Field to assist fans, and there will be a “silent inning,” without public address announcements, to raise further awareness about deafness.

Credit RIT NTID

“You know they’re tapping into some of the folklore about the umpire signs of 'out' and 'strike' all being based on Dummy Hoy, one of the first deaf players who was in professional baseball," Buckley said.

The game against the Pawtucket Red Sox takes place at 1:05 p.m. April 28.

This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk