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Meet Birmingham’s Nicole LaMont: Deaf, Scientist, Social Media Influencer

By Je’Don Holloway-Talley For The Birmingham Times Nicole LaMont was like any typical adolescent—fully functioning limbs, faculties, and all five senses. That changed for her at age 12. “It was roughly 3 a.m. when I woke up deaf. Kind of like when someone suddenly turns the TV off when you’re sleeping, so the sudden silence […]
The post Meet Birmingham’s Nicole LaMont: Deaf, Scientist, Social Media Influencer first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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2 years ago

December 5, 2023

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Nicole LaMont, is a medical laboratory scientist with an impressive social media following. She is also a former Miss Deaf Alabama. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

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By Je’Don Holloway-Talley

For The Birmingham Times

Nicole LaMont was like any typical adolescent—fully functioning limbs, faculties, and all five senses. That changed for her at age 12.

“It was roughly 3 a.m. when I woke up deaf. Kind of like when someone suddenly turns the TV off when you’re sleeping, so the sudden silence wakes you up, … the silence jolted me,” LaMont recalled. “I first made some clicking sounds with my tongue and couldn’t hear it, so then I knocked on my nightstand and couldn’t hear that either.

“Then I thought perhaps I was dreaming and contemplated trying to go back to sleep and waking up for real—or running screaming to my mom. … Oddly, I wasn’t immediately panicked. I was more confused. I didn’t understand why it was so quiet.”

Doctors did not initially believe LaMont’s claim of deafness. She vividly remembers the trip to the emergency room and the worry etched on her mother’s face. “I saw multiple doctors and had tests done,” she said.

Eight months later and after dozens of tests, the cause behind LaMont’s sudden hearing loss was diagnosed. She had developed a rare autoimmune condition called neurosarcoidosis, which causes inflammation and abnormal cell deposits in any part of the nervous system: the brain, spinal cord, muscles, or peripheral nerves. LaMont’s bout with the condition resulted in bilateral deafness, meaning she was permanently deaf in both ears.

LaMont is a medical laboratory scientist for the Birmingham Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, where she is responsible for performing scientific testing on samples in areas like microbiology, hematology, and urinalysis, as well as for reporting results to physicians. She also has an impressive social media following, with more than 65,000 followers on Instagram, 79,000 on Facebook, and growing audiences on YouTube and TikTok.

“I am still astonished by my following. The most popular videos that seem to get the most views are [the ones teaching] medical signs,” said LaMont, who answered her interview questions for this story via email.

“There are so many nurses and doctors who want to be able to have open communication with their patients,” she explained. “[As a member of the deaf community], it is such a relief when we see our nurses and providers attempting to make our visits less stressful and more inclusive.”

After being asked to teach American Sign Language (ASL) for many years, LaMont decided in October 2022 to post some fun, basic ASL videos on Facebook Instagram, and YouTube for family and friends. “Shortly thereafter, it took off and led me to the following and platform I have now,” she said.

Click to view slideshow.

Best of Both Worlds

At age 13, when LaMont learned that she wouldn’t regain her hearing, she had a procedure to get a cochlear implant (CI), which is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis, or a device that is meant to replace missing biological functionality that might have been damaged as a result of an injury or a disease. It provides a person who has moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception.

“Without CIs, I am profoundly deaf and without any recognition of sound. With my CIs, while I am still considered profoundly deaf, they give me the ability to hear sound in the way I remember sound to be prior to my deafness. I do still miss some words here and there, but I have the best of both worlds,” she said.

Initially, LaMont rejected ASL. Her family tried to teach her at home, as well as encourage her to take classes at Auburn University Montgomery (AUM) and the Vocational Rehabilitation Service Blind and Deaf Division, which is made available through the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS). Everyone in LaMont’s family took classes—except her.

“I was embarrassed to sign in public,” she said. “I was getting bullied in school. My so-called friends were now mocking me and would throw up fake sign language in my face to tease me.”

To make matters worse, LaMont was also humiliated before a classroom of her peers by her own teacher.

“I had always completed my work early and would doodle and draw while sitting in silence because I was deaf and had no interpreter, and [the teacher] got mad at me for looking down at my notebook. … He complimented my drawing skills and then made me go stand in front of the class.

“[When I got to the front], he covered his mouth with his hand, so I couldn’t read his lips, and said something. Then he uncovered [his mouth] and told me to repeat to the class what he just said. I just stood there mortified, and then I burst into tears. … This was just a few months after I had woken up deaf,” LaMont remembered.

Importance of Representation

Instances such as those taught LaMont the importance of representation and advocacy for those with special needs. She doesn’t remember many positive hearing-impaired role models during her adolescent years, which can be a crucial time for preteens and their sense of identity.

She does, however, recall the impact of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” series and a three-part episode titled “Wish Upon a Starfish,” during which Ariel, the mermaid and main character in the franchise, meets what LaMont perceived as “a Black mermaid at the time, but she was really Latina. … Her name was Gabriella, she had a purple fin, my favorite color, and she was deaf. She used very accurate ASL in the cartoon, and that was my first time seeing a deaf person, let alone [a deaf] person of color portrayed on TV.”

Eventually, LaMont saw that deaf wasn’t a bad word. She embraced ASL and became fluent in less than four weeks after taking classes at Gallaudet University (GU), a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, from GU in 2008, a Bachelor of Science degree in medical laboratory science from AUM in 2016, and a Master of Science degree in clinical pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2020.

During her collegiate years, the Montgomery, Alabama, native would become Miss Deaf Alabama (2009–2011), Miss Black Deaf D.C., and Miss Black Deaf Student Union.

“My platform was to bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities,” said LaMont. “[Using my platform], I advocated for accessibility to entertainment and for other public settings to have open [captioning, which are permanently visible on the screen], and closed captioning, [which can be turned off], in movie theaters, waiting rooms. … I also encourage hearing parents of deaf children to strive for open communication for their children using ASL, in addition to whatever hearing devices the family feels fit their child’s needs.”

“Hearing devices are wonderful, but they are technology and man-made,” she added. “ASL is always going to be there and won’t fail. It won’t run out of batteries and does not depend on external energy other than the physical.”

Science and Medicine

LaMont always seemed destined to become a laboratory scientist. The Birmingham resident has a twin sister, Monique, and an older brother, Mikal.

“My older brother was always mixing potions and really into science. He had his own little microscope and everything, and I followed everything he did,” said LaMont. “I’m one of the very few people who can look back at her 5-year-old diary and see that a dream became reality. In my earliest writing, I wrote, ‘I’m going to be a scientist.’ I was naturally drawn to shows like ‘ER’ or anything that had to do with medicine.”

Science and medicine run in the family. LaMont’s mother is a retired psychiatric nurse practitioner, and her twin sister followed in their mother’s footsteps and is a psychiatric nurse practitioner who also has served in the U.S. Air Force. Her maternal uncle is a retired nurse anesthetist, her grandmother is a retired registered nurse, and her cousins on her dad’s side are in the medical field.

“I’ve always been surrounded by those who study medicine,” she said.

In addition to being surrounded with science and medical experts, LaMont was influenced by a law enforcement professional. Her father is a retired controls worker, who operated and maintained the security and integrity at a detention center via the security system located at the central control facility. At retirement, he was a control worker for the juvenile courts in Montgomery.

“That’s why we were such good kids,” she joked.

You can learn more about Nicole LaMont via social media on Instagram (@signingwithnicole) Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/nictwin1), YouTube (@ndlamont01) and TikTok (@nictwin1).

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

The post Meet Birmingham’s Nicole LaMont: Deaf, Scientist, Social Media Influencer first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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EXCLUSIVE OP-ED: President Joe Biden Commemorating Juneteenth

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — “I’ve always believed that we need to be honest about our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase it. Darkness can hide much, but it erases nothing. Only with truth can come healing, justice, and repair.”

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June 20, 2025

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By Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
46th President of the United States: 2021—2025

The people of Galveston, Texas, have been commemorating Juneteenth since the Civil War ended. Yesterday, in honor of the 160^th anniversary, I went there to join them.

You can read about the events of Juneteenth, but there’s nothing quite like going to Galveston and seeing where it all happened.

After General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, Union troops marched across the South for two months, freeing enslaved people along the way. Their final stop was Galveston, an island off the Gulf coast of Texas. There, on June 19, 1865, Union troops went to Reedy Chapel, a church founded in 1848 by enslaved people, and posted a document titled simply “General Order #3.”

“The people of Texas are informed,” it said, “that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

We can only imagine the joy that spread through Galveston – and across the state and nation – on that day and those that followed.

Yesterday, there was once again joy in Galveston, with a parade, picnic, and fireworks. There was also great solemnity, because Juneteenth is a sacred day – a day of weight and power.

The Book of Psalms tells us: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and the promise of that joyful morning to come.

As President, I had the great honor of signing the law declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday. It was our nation’s first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was created in 1983.

Our federal holidays say a lot about who we are as a nation. We have holidays celebrating our independence… the laborers who build this nation… the servicemembers who served and died in its defense.

And now, we also have a national holiday dedicated to the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans.

Signing that law was one of my proudest acts as President.

Yet for 156 years, Juneteenth was not written about in textbooks or taught in classrooms. Still today, there are those who say it does not deserve a holiday. They don’t want to remember the moral stain of slavery and the terrible harm it did to our country.

I’ve always believed that we need to be honest about our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase it. Darkness can hide much, but it erases nothing. Only with truth can come healing, justice, and repair.

I also believe that it’s not enough to commemorate the past. We must also embrace the obligation we have to the future. As Scripture says, “Faith without works is dead.” And right now, we Americans need to keep the faith and do the work.

In honor of Juneteenth, let’s help people register to vote.

For decades, we fought to expand voting rights in America. Now we’re living in an era when relentless obstacles are being thrown in the way of people trying to vote. We can’t let those tactics defeat us. In America, the power belongs with the people. And the way we show that power is by voting.

So let’s reach out to family, friends and neighbors – especially those who have never voted before. Remind them that with voting, anything is possible. And without it, nothing is possible.

Yesterday in Galveston, we gathered in Reedy Chapel to commemorate Juneteenth, just like people have done for 160 years and counting. We prayed, sang, and read General Order #3 again. The pews were full of families. How many people must have prayed for freedom inside those walls. How many must have sent fervent thanks to God when slavery finally ended.

I remembered the words of my late friend John Lewis. He said, “Freedom is not a state. It is an act.”

Juneteenth did not mark the end of America’s work to deliver on the promise of equality. It only marked the beginning. To honor the true meaning of Juneteenth, we must continue to work toward that promise. For our freedom. For our democracy. And for America itself.

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Cities Across the U.S. Shrink or Cancel Juneteenth Events as DEI Support Wanes

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Across the country, Juneteenth celebrations are being scaled back or eliminated as public funding dries up and corporations withdraw sponsorship.

Published

2 days ago

June 19, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Across the country, Juneteenth celebrations are being scaled back or eliminated as public funding dries up and corporations withdraw sponsorship. In many communities, the once-growing recognition of the holiday is facing sharp resistance tied to the unraveling of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

In Denver, Colorado, the annual Juneteenth Music Festival, one of the largest in the nation—was cut from two days to one. Organizers said more than a dozen corporate sponsors walked away from commitments, leaving them with a financial gap that almost canceled the event. Norman Harris, the festival’s executive director, said several companies “pulled back their investments or let us know they couldn’t or wouldn’t be in a position to support this year.” Harris credited grassroots donors and small businesses for stepping in when larger backers stepped aside.

In Colorado Springs, the local celebration was relocated to the Citadel Mall parking lot after support from previous sponsors disappeared. Organizers noted that where there were once dozens of corporate partners, only five remained. The downsized event was pieced together with limited resources, but community leaders said they refused to let the holiday go unacknowledged.

Scottsdale, Arizona, canceled its Juneteenth observance after the city council voted to dissolve its diversity, equity, and inclusion office in February. Without the office in place, the city offered no support for planning or funding, leaving residents without an official celebration.

In San Diego, the Cooper Family Foundation lost a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that had been earmarked for Juneteenth programming. Organizers said the decision forced them to personally finance key elements of the event, including cultural exhibits, performances, and youth engagement activities.

Bend, Oregon, called off its Juneteenth event entirely. Organizers cited political tensions and safety concerns, saying they could not secure the partnerships needed to proceed. A public statement from the planning committee described the current climate as “increasingly volatile,” making it difficult to host a safe and inclusive event.

West Virginia, which has recognized Juneteenth as a paid state holiday since 2017, will not sponsor any official events this year. State leaders pointed to budget constraints and recent decisions to eliminate DEI programming across agencies as the reasons for stepping away from public observance.

Austin, Texas, has also reduced its Juneteenth programming. While the city has not canceled events outright, organizers said diminished city support and fewer private contributions forced them to focus only on core activities.

“Thankfully, there was a wide range of support that came when we made the announcement that the celebration is in jeopardy,” said Harris. “But it shows how fragile that support has become.”

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Juneteenth and President Trump

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Juneteenth is a day for African Americans in this nation to connect to their ancestry. It honors the end of slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. The primary focus is freedom and the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.

Published

2 days ago

June 19, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA.com Newswire Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent

President Trump is set to proclaim the federal observance of Juneteenth as the White House is open for business on this holiday. The White House says the president will sign a “historic proclamation designating Juneteenth as a National Day of Observance, marking the 160th anniversary of General Order Number 3 in Galveston, Texas.” The declaration was that “all slaves are free.” This Trump proclamation, according to the White House, “will celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation, the Republican Party’s role in passing the 13th Amendment, and reaffirm the administration’s dedication to equal justice and prosperity for all.”

This proclamation comes as President Trump has denounced Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and anything Woke. Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom from the tyranny of 250 years of slavery after the Civil War.

The Juneteenth celebration started when Union troops reached Galveston, Texas, and told the slaves that they were free on June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was created.

The Emancipation Proclamation, which is on display in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House, was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It established that all enslaved people in Confederate states in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Juneteenth is a day for African Americans in this nation to connect to their ancestry. It honors the end of slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. The primary focus is freedom and the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.

The Juneteenth federal holiday was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden on June 19, 2021. This Trump White House is in full swing today, with a press briefing by Karoline Leavitt, not taking the federal holiday off. Also, President Trump will receive an intelligence briefing in the morning and participate in a swearing-in ceremony for the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.