Bionic Ear Blog

We all have embarrassing moments, and most of the time (we hope) we laugh at them later.

Embarrassing but Funny Deaf Moments: I’ve zoned out at a green light a couple of times, too.

From Ear of My Heart: Fire alarm story. Haven’t had one of those… yet!

Deaf Womyn Pride

Forgot to Turn off My Car: This is becoming a problem now that my new car doesn’t need keys to start — just turn the ignition. Did it once, so far. Hope I won’t do it again!

You Think I’m Crazy? Story

Deaf Culture Online

My Stories

• Shopping: My mom and I were shopping in a clothing store for teens. Mom went to look for some more clothes while I tried on clothes. I opened the door to see my mom and the sales rep talking. Apparently, she thought I was a snob because I was not responding to her questions (I turned off my hearing aids to prevent squealing).

• 7th grade science: We were doing microscope experiments. My table with four people had a hard time finding the organism in the microscope. So I told them I would take one more look. I finally find the organism and said, “I found it!” Again, I had my hearing aids off and when I looked up, the whole class and the teacher were looking at me. Apparently, it was very quiet and the teacher was giving final instructions. (blush)

• Basketball practice: I was practicing shooting baskets. Somehow I zoned out and didn’t notice the team gathering around the coach. I was standing alone on the other side of the court with everyone looking at me. This happens on occasion in tennis… I’ll go the wrong way and sometimes can’t hear people calling because of the wind and other outdoor noises.

• And I do this way too many times… talk louder than necessary when I think it’s noisier than it really is. Hate that.

Posted by at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I’ve talked to many people over the years about my speech. They tell me that it would be impossible to not have a deaf accent no matter how much speech therapy I get. Then I came across this from Dear Abby.

DEAR ABBY: I am a deaf woman who was raised by a woman who made sure I had speech therapy most of my life. Because of it, my speech is quite good, and people often forget that I am deaf or don’t believe me.

I was pulled over by a cop, and when I told him I was deaf and needed to read his lips, he didn’t believe me. Friends and co-workers have even told me, “With speech like yours, you can’t be THAT deaf!” It is frustrating and sometimes hurtful.

The truth is I cannot hear, and I need people to look at me so I can read their lips. Any suggestions on how to kindly remind people — including law enforcement officers — that I really am deaf? — READ MY LIPS IN D.C.

DEAR READ MY LIPS: You should request from your physician a card explaining your hearing disability, and carry it in your wallet in case you are stopped again by law enforcement. You can also use it if there are any more misunderstandings in the workplace.

Anyone know of other profoundly deaf people who speak this well?

Posted by at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I’ve been wish washy about what smartphone to get next as I’ve had it with my current provider. The keyboard and features are great. The service is kablooey. It would be nice to stop carrying a phone and a PDA.

I also own a Windows Mobile-based device and still prefer Palm’s. Like many others, I don’t want to give up on Palm. I studied the Treos and Centro so hard that my eyes protested in pain. I wanted to stick with a PalmOS-based device.

Then a friend with a Centro let me play with her device and see how its keyboard feels. The keyboard was so tight that typos occured more often than not. How am I supposed to take notes on this thing? Writers have ideas popping up in odd places. So phones with a QWERTY keyboard come in handy in capturing those ideas.

Besides, I need to use IM and text messaging to stay in touch. But what good is a Treo or Centro if the typing results in this:

whst hiif is a treo or ceentro ig tge typong looka lije thus?

I tried the BlackBerry. Typing was a tad better than on the Centro, but not as good as the device I have. But one service I’m looking at is getting the BlackBerry Curve soon… maybe that’s the one?

My current plan ends in two months. According to the TechTarget article, Palm could be brewing something. I had my suspicions when I noticed Apple people joining Palm and hoped for an iPhone with a Palm-like operating-system and a real QWERTY instead of an onscreen one.

I doubt it. An easy to use keyboard is a must along with a working network (heck, working 50% of the time would be better than what I have). I’d hate to start carrying a small notepad again.

Posted by at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just completed my first phone call through Sprint Web Captel’s service and it was wonderful. I used to make voice carry over (VCO) calls, but the problem is that they took me away from my computer and I couldn’t save the conversation on the Captel phone.

I have used the TTY to make VCO calls and print the conversation, but I didn’t like wasting paper or the noisy grinding it made while printing. So the web service combines the best of both worlds for those who would like to talk rather than type their conversations (and avoid increasing chances of carpal tunnel).

This flyer shows how the service works [pdf file].

The nice thing is that I can hear the person on the other end and when she pauses. As soon as the person stop speaking, I try to minimize the silence by trying to figure out what the person said based on what the operator has typed before completing the sentence. We humans don’t like silence.

But if the person says something very short, then that’s impossible. Generally, I’ll recognize “OK” and other “agreed”-type answers… but if it’s “What’s that called?” Then it becomes an uncomfortable silence while I wait on the operator.

It will take a little practice to get comfortable with this set up since it’s been a long time since I regularly VCO’d. I fumbled a little and it didn’t help that my voice was a little hoarse due to allergies.

Posted by at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Admit it. It does!

This is no April Fool’s joke. Many things happen on the first day of the month… well, why wait until May?

My biggest frustration with captions are…

• Too many videos out there and not enough have captions. Project readOn is trying to help… but it’s way bigger than any one company to manage.
• Plenty of good DVDs still not captioned or subtitled (latest being Jeff Dunham’s video).
• Sometimes hard to read as these photos show sucky captions.

Captioning Sucks explains what’s wrong with captions while Open & Closed Project aims to set standards for captioning as well as audio description, subtitling, and dubbing.

Posted by at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wow. I’m impressed with Sprint so far — and I am not even a customer yet. The company’s customer service e-mails are much better than my current wireless provider’s.

My current wireless provider sends long e-mails where only one paragraph means anything to me. The rest sounds phony as it uses a poorly written customer response template. The company needs to hire new writers.

We plan to switch all of our phones to the Sprint network when our plan is up in the summer. I need to decide if I want to be on the family plan and have voice capabilities for use with a voice mail texting service or if I want to use the special Sprint plan for the deaf that only has unlimited data.

Decisions!

Posted by at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The commercial we all wanted to see during the Super Bowl didn’t air during the game. Instead, it aired 30 minutes BEFORE the game. Yeah, how many people view the pre-game program AND watch the commercials? Most people assume the supposedly hot (some weren’t) commercials will air during the game — not before or after. So they’re more likely to take breaks during pre-game show commercials.

Nonetheless, you can catch it on YouTube and Pepsi’s special page devoted to the making of the spot and more.

And as usual, many Super Bowl commercials didn’t have captions. Ironically, this included Pepsi’s other commercials. These companies spend millions for their ads, but can’t spare a small amount for captions? Pepsi sent mixed messages with its ads.

Continue reading "The Deaf Super Bowl Commercial" »

Posted by at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Nothing new has happened with regarding to captioning online or downloadable videos. I researched iPod captioning again to see if something had changed since the iTunes v7.4 comes with show captioning option as shown in iLounge.

However, I came across DiveintoMark’s entry on how to view his videoblogs with captions. Reviewing this — we have a problem. Too many options, too many different ways of doing things, no standards.

How can we expect iTunes to work as it depends on the video’s settings/codecs? A video may have captioning available for one media player, but not for iTunes and others.

Continue reading "Captioning Online Videos January 2008 Update" »

Posted by at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It looks like technology for the deaf and digital don’t get along. I remember back in the ’90s when my company’s phone lines went digital. Well, the TTY didn’t work with digital and the company had to install an analog line for me.

Last weekend, my husband went shopping for a new HDTV. He knew to check out the caption features and ensure it worked well. Unfortunately, what you see at the store isn’t necessarily what you get at home because it depends on your TV service provider.

So far, I’ve watched regular TV, DVD videos (using both captions and subtitles), TV shows recorded on DVR in standard format (instead of HD format — it was before we got the TV and besides, HD takes up more space). The captions are inconsistent in terms of font, size, formatting.

Continue reading "The Nightmares of HDTV and Captions" »

Posted by at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

It finally got cold enough for me to try the headband that covers the ears. When I tried it on, it looked like a good fit. But of course, I didn’t have my tennis sunglasses on to add to the bulk. At first, it worked well. When I adjusted the headband, I was surprised to find my behind the ear part of the cochlear implant way off my ear while the magnet hung on for dear life.

From there, it was downhill. I played softball almost my entire childhood and I don’t remember ever struggling to wear a baseball hat with two hearing aids. However, I didn’t have to deal with a magnet sitting further up my head to make things difficult. Funny thing was when we started wearing baseball caps less often, I hated giving up my cap. I guess there was just something about having the complete softball uniform — hat and all.

At least, the cochlear implant worked despite of the behind the ear floating away from the ear. A hearing aid might not work as well because of the microphone, which would have trouble getting reception through the headband.

Another possibility is the golf cap. I recently learned these are bigger than regular baseball caps and can cover the ears.

Posted by at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I loved reading this Fox News story because the owner of an auto shop took the initiative to create a new product because he wanted his shop to communicate with customers who were deaf. As a result, he saw business go up from 2 or 3 deaf customers to 30 per month! It’s a great example of how making your business or Web site accessible can boost a business.

Posted by at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Cochlear implant. Sunglasses. Visor. iPod headphone. It’s a miracle my ear hasn’t fallen off. The biggest frustration is when I play tennis. Even wearing glasses causes problems since I wear sport sunglasses. I have the best ones I could find that provide the right shade with thin earpieces. Yesterday, in an attempt to get a short ball, I reached low, fell and rolled with my cochlear implant flying out of my ear. Both cochlear implant and I are fine.

I dislike wearing visors and hats because of the cochlear implant’s magnet. But sometimes I have to wear a visor while playing tennis when the sun hits my eyes just right.

Posted by at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

DeafNetwork had these fascinating facts in its newsletter. I don’t know who deserves credit for putting this together, but it’s a neat read. The resources, however, appear at the bottom of the article.

At least 1 out of every 10 people (8.9% to be exact) in the USA has a hearing loss.

Generally speaking, it is estimated that at age 65, 1 out of every 4 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss;

At age 75, 1 out of every 3 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss;

At age 85, 1 out of every 2 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss; and

At age 95, nearly everyone has at least some degree of hearing loss.

Continue reading "Deaf Facts" »

Posted by at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First iPod. Now iPhone. iPods don’t support captions or subtitling. iPhones aren’t compatible with hearing aids and cochlear implants. Paula Rosenthal has been speaking up loud and clear about the issue that ComputerWorld heard her and others.

Disappointing. Apple dares to be different, but it doesn’t recognize those of us who are different.

Posted by at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

A family friend told us about their temple using an interpreter at the Rosh Hashanah services. The three members who used the interpreter sat to the side in the front for the best view of the service and interpreter.

Now, talking during services is tradition. Even my mother, who values services and follows along, refuses to sit near the front because she wants to chat with her neighbors. But it’s possible to go a little far with the talking thing, but in some cases — people forgive.

My parents took me to services when I was three-years-old. Apparently, I talked loud at times (c’mon, a deaf toddler has no concept of whispering). My mom apologized to the rabbbi. Knowing about my challenges to learn to speak and lipread, he responded, “It was music to my ears.”

When my grandmother was 93, she got frustrated when the rabbi’s sermon went on and on. At one point, she said, “I wish he’d shut up” and it was not whispered. We all turned red-faced.

Back to the interpreter and the three folks. Apparently, a man was talking up a storm, making points. It was obvious to even those who didn’t know sign language that this was more than an traditional chatting. Yes, sign language is quiet. However, the eyes can’t help but dart toward the signers and it can distract those praying. Was this going overboard?

Posted by at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I ran into a classmate from high school online. She emailed me through classmates.com and we caught up with each other within a few emails. She stays in touch with two other classmates, one of which brought back memories. Robbie loved to fingerspell with me from across the classroom. He was a clown borderline troublemaker. I guess he liked the ability to communicate without the teacher and most students understanding.

Then there was Bryan in high school. When we took chemistry together, he loved to say innocent phrases that “look” like inappropriate ones to a lipreader. His favorite lines?

• I want a Fig Newton.

• Olive oil.

I won’t translate the first one, but olive oil can look like “I love you” to a lipreader. I’ve had plenty of lipreading accidents where I misinterpreted what someone said. By the way, Bryan is a doctor.

Posted by at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I don’t remember where I saw this Microsoft form, but it had a field I had never seen on a form before — at least, not from a company that doesn’t deal with products primarily for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

I’ve put all but one TTY into the closet where they are turning yellow in spite of protection from light. The one TTY in my office is the voice-carry over (VCO) phone with no keys. I use the Internet to take care of most of my calls as it saves desk space and uses my comfortable keyboard.

So if I need to call a TTY number, what can I use on the Internet? Using the old method of Hyperterminal didn’t work. Searching for this info yielded no results — all of the results sent me to current relay resources, but not TTY to TTY or computer to TTY.

What’s out there?

Posted by at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For the first time, I’m joining a tennis team… two of them, actually. The coaches and team captains are working to pair us with partners. So I have to start thinking about tips to help my partner communicate with me during the game.

Funny thing, I can’t recall how I communicate with my volleyball, basketball, and softball teams. Probably because it wasn’t a big deal. I did my job and called “I got it!” “Out!” “Foul!” But if I had the basketball, how did I know who was open? It was about using my eyes. I’ve never had a teammate complain to me about not doing something.

Gotta watch that competitiveness business too. One league is more laid back and the other league is very competitive. So I hope it’ll provide a balance, but still — in practice, I find myself building up that competitiveness feeling. It’s tough not being a strong player, which makes it easier to get frustrated or mad at myself.

I let the other team know that I don’t always hear “Out!” so that if I keep playing, it’s only to be on the safe side. People don’t always remember to raise their hand making a one — the signal for out. Surprisingly, there’s no signal for in like in volleyball. When the ball heads for my partner, I move sideways to watch her get the ball and move back to my previous position as soon as she hits it — that way I know where she is. Besides, that’s standard practice in doubles tennis.

Posted by at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Would I be as competitive and a perfectionist had I not been born deaf? I don’t know. Growing up, sports was my thing. I loved playing team sports. I tried golf and tennis lessons, but gravitated toward teams. Thinking about that, you’d think I’d prefer individual sports since you don’t have to worry about communications as much as in team sports.

Anyway, sports can make anyone competitive — not just deafness. But being a deaf person, I constantly wanted to prove that I was as good or better than everyone else. Hence, the perfectionist and competitiveness. This applied to everything I did — grades, sports, and work. While I did well in high school and college, I wonder how much better I could’ve done if I could hear and not miss anything the professor said or fellow students in group discussions.

Competitiveness got me in trouble and I learned from it. After losing a softball game, I was mad and not being a good sport. My behavior caused me to lose a spot on a tournament team. I worked to improve my sportsmanship — but sometimes it was hard to keep it inside of me.

After college, I rarely played sports. Life got in the way… work, kids, and other things. So I had get exercise the boring way — treadmill, stepper, or go outside. I channeled my competitive energies into my career. It drive me nuts when people on my team got promoted and I couldn’t reach that or they’d move to another team because of an invitation.

I did something about the lack of promotion. I applied for higher jobs within the company and landed one. Unfortunately, it was a terrible move as the team was falling apart. Would’ve rather stay on the previous team and be a lowly contributor than move to this one. Work was a horrible feeder into my competitiveness. Politics, knowing the right people… things beyond skill can move a person up.

Before I had my second child, I wanted to climb the ladder fast and become a team leader and then manager. That changed when I realized my managers spend most of their time in meetings — many of them in conference calls. It’s a fact that people might not like a deaf person be their superior in a similar manner to a 23-year-old becoming the manager of a team where no one is under 30. So it may not have bode well for me to get into an official leadership role.

Since leaving the corporate world for my own business, the competitiveness in me has subsided … that is, until I finally found a sport to make exercise fun and started tennis. I love it. Thankfully, the lessons learned help me keep a level head in the game. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get a little frustrated or mad. I keep reactions to myself — much easier than in the past.

Posted by at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I went to a company Web site to read more about its products and possibly place an order. Unfortunately, there was a huge barrier plastered all over the site — “Call if you want more information!” Call … call … call … this toll free number. No online chat. No e-mail. No contact form. Nada. I used the customer service form (not for new orders or questions) and asked for a way to communicate by e-mail. No response in over a week.

The company had a qualified lead and lost it. While I could use the product, the barriers made it easy for me to decide not to buy. I’m checking out the company’s competitors’ products.

Some companies prefer to have people call in so they can upsell or drive the sale home. AOL was one of them — if you wanted to unsubscribe to the free trial plan, you had to call. And in making the call, the customer service personnel challenged us in preventing our unsubscribing every step of the way.

Toll free numbers are worse than regular numbers. They tend to have a recording that lengthens the relay call and bumps up the frustration level.

Posted by at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Mother Father Deaf, a CODA (child of deaf adults) discusses that CODAs “are not normal or the same as the rest of the hearing world.” I think it depends on the deaf adult and communication preferences. But even if a deaf parent speaks and lipreads, CODAs do experience life a little differently.

I have three kids, all hearing. Don’t want to ever be a burden or an embarrassment to them. I talk about this in a past entry describing my experience in talking to my son’s second grade class. It took a long time before I could muster courage to talk to his class as I didn’t want my deaf accent to reflect how my son’s classmates treat him (stupid, but reality).

I avoid using them to help me in conversations where I’m not catching what someone says. In talking to the second grade class, I relied on the teacher to let me know what a child asks NOT my son. If my son wants to call a friend and Paul (hubby) isn’t around, then either I have him call the friend himself or have big sister help him. Sometimes eight-year-olds don’t accurately recall a phone conversation.

Unless it’s grandma or a close family friend, I don’t answer the phone or let the kids answer it when it’s a service company or doctor’s office. They’re not my administrative assistants and I don’t want their help in anything hearing- or communications-related (in other words, cleaning up is something I expect them to do, but not translate phone calls). If it’s important, the person can leave a message or call Paul’s cell. While some of my kids’ friends’ parents use e-mails, it isn’t always possible to use it when time is a factor. They’re not all e-mail checking freaks like me. Those who are — I do e-mail them.

I imagine for ASL households, it’s a different story in terms that the children might learn ASL first and become bilingual (always a big plus!) at a young age. Actually, I doubt any CODA household is identical with the various factors that can affect CODAs’ lives.

Posted by at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Many times, I’ve attended a dance recital, sports event, or appreciation luncheon where I stood in the crowd talking to each other — feeling anxious and isolated. “Why doesn’t anyone talk to me? Someone has to make conversation,” I think to myself. Oh sure, I could start the conversation, but that fear is explained.

Some of these people know me. Do they not like talking to me? They can’t be uncomfortable based on past meetings. Uncomfortable with standing alone, I might go find a group where I know one person, squeeze in the little circle and listen. At least, I’m not alone anymore although I feel isolated from the conversation.

I don’t want to speak up because I might interrupt someone thinking she’s finished talking. Or I might misinterpret the topic of the conversation. Some supporters of the deaf culture and ASL may claim this is my fault because I choose to stay oral. I’m not looking to start another oral vs. ASL war.

No one wants to blame deafness as the cause for isolation, but I’m a realist. I’ve seen enough situations where kids and adults don’t want to talk to the person with a disability or become friends. When I try to slowly build a friendship with someone and she doesn’t respond, I wonder if it something about me? Or our situation?

In today’s society, people are becoming more closed off from each other. So I know I have to take the first step though I despise it. This situation is much like two people in a potential relationship — Is it OK to hold hands? Or will she not share the same feelings? Are we both thinking the same thing, but too afraid to make the first step?

All is not bad. At my daughter’s bat mitzvah party, I couldn’t stop talking to people and moving around. It was our party and we knew everyone. That was a fabulous experience. I’m in no hurry to plan the next one though!

Posted by at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

How to Initiate Conversation had me thinking about my experiences in social settings especially those where I knew few people or no one. While I have a few basic questions to break the ice, I rarely use them because I’m afraid to start a conversation.

Shy? No. Fear of speaking? No. Fear of understanding the other person? Bingo.

If I try to start a conversation and immediately learn I can’t read the person’s lips at all — I feel stuck and in a “Wham bam, thank you, ma’am” situation. OK, how does this compare to the real “Wham bam…” situation when it’s G-rated? Because it feels like I “used the person” as in go to the person, get something and leave without respect. Only I get a bad situation with no satisfaction.

Is it better to not start a conversation and avoid a bad situation, or miss the opportunity of meeting a new friend or client? I guess it depends on my mood and alertness. If all else fails, introduce myself and just rely on “nodding head syndrome.”

Thankfully, I live in a community where I’m involved in different things — so I rarely run into an awkward social situation these days.

Posted by at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Thank goodness our independent school district allows teachers and parents communicate by e-mail. The district also provides online tools for reviewing grades, attendance and lunch account updates. One of my kids runs into a situation a little more than the average student, so e-mail plays a valuable role in keeping communication open between the school and me.

It also makes me feel like a true parent. Rather than taking the easy way out and calling my husband, the staff knows they can send me an e-mail. When people skip around me — it makes me feel inferior. Just like when I saw a manager go around fellow co-worker — who was also deaf — and talked to her manager instead. He didn’t want to try communicating with her through writing since her communication preference was through sign language.

I rarely run into a teacher who doesn’t like to respond to e-mails. Heck, one that was bad about e-mails was also bad about returning phone calls. Some parents are paranoid about sharing their child’s information by e-mail, but I think involvement outranks paranoia. Besides, the e-mails don’t discuss my children’s appearance and other specific details. They cover a situation or a subject. If someone hacks my e-mail messages to a teacher, G-d forbid they learn something.

Posted by at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I loved Karen’s entry on dealing with adversity and her mention of social bluffing. I never realized the act of just doing what everyone else does had a name. I learned the guilty way that social bluffing can lead to trouble.

My husband knows me so well that he’ll catch me bluffing and repeat the question someone else asked me. Another name for this could be “nodding head syndrome” since we often do that when someone is talking and we have no idea what they’re saying. But sometimes we do it for real.

Posted by at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Stephen Hopson of Adversity University asks how people deal with adversity. I believe if I weren’t deaf that I wouldn’t know how to deal with adversity as well as I do today. Here I’ve posted my 10 tips for dealing with adversity.

Posted by at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I never considered that my inability to whistle could be because of my deafness. Ocean brought up whistling and the deaf. My family told me where to place my tongue, how much to open my lips and all that. All that comes out is noisy air and sometimes spit, not a note. I can’t even remember if everyone in my family can whistle, but I believe my parents and two siblings can. They’re hearing.

If you read some of the comments in Ocean’s blog entry, you’ll see a few deaf people can whistle. I always try the puckered lip method as the two finger or “F” shape method always ends with spit all over my fingers and terrible noise. Several said they can whistle backwards. It sounded like a good possibility since I’m left-handed. So maybe I need to do things backwards. I tried and it didn’t work.

Another commenter used the grass blade trick. I had forgotten about this one. I remember trying it and not succeeding. Then BEG referenced bottle whistling — although I think it’s more like humming — and that’s one thing I can do! Ha, I wrote this before I read another person’s identical comment.

Deaf258 made me laugh by sharing other abilities including tying cherry stems into knots using the tongue. I can’t do that, but I can roll my tongue or make a U shape.

Posted by at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Believe it or not, Deaf people enjoy music. Each experiences music in his own way. Some play music like Beethoven’s Nightmare. Some turn up the stereo and feel the vibrations. Some listen through hearing aids and cochlear implants. This applies to songs not originally written for ASL.

Growing up, I loved musical theater music. I still do. Following the storyline was easier than a movie or play because of the dancing, colorful scenes, period costumes and the songs. My parents took me to many shows at Casa Mañana where I picked up favorite songs. I worked at Casa for two summers setting up the scenes.

Continue reading "Discovering New Songs" »

Posted by at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Wow! The Pittsburgh Pirates have captioning at their home games! No wonder the stadium scored the number one spot for accessibility. I can’t wait to tell my dad this — he’s the big baseball fan in the family and rubbed it off on me. I’m thankful I can still tell my dad something after he had his stroke a month ago. He’s still hospitalized, but he understands what’s going on.

We’re Brooklyn Dodgers fans. How can we be fans of a no longer existing team? No law against that. Dad grew up in Brooklyn and I love the team’s rich history. Dave … the Pirates may be lousy, but at least they have a great past to speak of unlike the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have had some of the best players and pitchers, but never make it far into the playoffs.

Posted by at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In Reading to Students, I discussed a bad experience in reading to my daughter’s second grade class and how reluctant I was doing it for my current second grader (for four more days). I e-mailed the teacher who said I could talk to the class on Thursday, May 17.

And so I did. Those of you responding to that post — thanks for the encouragement. I collected stuff to show the students and printed cards with the fingerspelling alphabet and numbers. The talk began with an introduction and my background. Then came show and tell including a yellowing TTY, Sidekick III, hearing aids, and my cochlear implant.

Continue reading "Talking to Second Graders" »

Posted by at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

My son is a second grader and parents come in to read on a regular basis. I read to my daughter’s second grade class way back when and it was a bad experience, so I opted not to read to my son’s class.

But then, I read this story: Deaf woman’s story captures pupils’ attention and wonder if I made a mistake. I talked to my son’s teacher about educating the kids on deafness, but I still worried about his classmates potentially teasing him as they did with my daughter.

Well, the story motivated me enough to leave a message for my son’s teacher to see if there’s an opportunity to come talk to the class before school’s out. Unlike the person in the story, however, I don’t use ASL or an interpreter. Anyone have experience with talking to young students?

Posted by at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Jared opened an enlightening discussion on laser surgery for the eyes to improve vision. I had LASIK in 1999 while on maternity leave and I love it. The procedure was uncomfortable, but it went by fast though it didn’t feel like it while in the chair.

Eight years later, my eyes continue to see very well. However, I don’t see 20/20 as I did after surgery. I got a pair of glasses last year for use on occasion when driving at night. They sit in my glove compartment for those times.

It’s tricky to read captions or the cable guide on TV at times, but it was still worth going the procedure. Who wants to manage contacts, glasses AND hearing aids? It was enough.

Posted by at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Someone wrote asking me the following. I don’t have an answer for her without doing a lot of research. Maybe one of you knows a resource. Just post a comment and I’ll make sure she gets your notes.

I’m looking for information on captioning provided to local communtiy television station. This is a community of 12K, university town with good number of deaf/hoh students. Deaf/hoh in town numbers around 15-20. City attorney says they are not required to provide captioning for their city council meetings and such. We understand that there is a cost issue. Is there any technology out there that will alliviate the cost to caption the local tv station?

University students are involved for internships. I was hoping there is something out there that is not cost prohibitive that I can share with them. They use a video camera and manage their output thru a computer that sends live/taped sessions of municipal court/city council meetings/and other city related issues such as interviews with park adminstrators etc. Let me know if there are tools out there that I can present to them so they can caption some of the local events.

Posted by at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had been looking forward to seeing Wicked for over two years as we bought our tickets for last night’s show in December of 2005! On a lark, I stopped by the theater’s Web site to see a list of the upcoming season’s shows. I saw the “OC” symbol and eagerly read up on open captions. According to the site, the theater uses a laptop to display the script.

[image pops up in new window]

Continue reading "Wicked without Open Captions" »

Posted by at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Many of us were eager to watch Law and Order: Criminal Intent recently because the cast consisted of deaf actors. Those of us in the Dallas/Fort Worth area experienced interruptions due to the storms we had on Tuesday evening.

The local NBC affiliate heard plenty of complaints and re-aired the episode a couple of days later… at 2:00am. It was the best the station could do because of contracts and all that legal stuff. I thought it was a nice compromise. Most of us have recorders, but for those who don’t — there’s always summer re-runs.

Continue reading "TV Weather and News Interruptions" »

Posted by at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law & Order: CI (though it stands for “Criminal Intent,” it was the appropriate L&O series since episode was about cochlear implants) “Silencer” revolved around the death of an ear surgeon who testified against another surgeon for doing cochlear implant on a baby that should not have received one. Candidates for cochlear implants undergo testing and evaluation to determine whether they qualify. Unfortunately, some doctors will implant anyone.

A deaf girl discovered the body and called 911. Though she couldn’t hear, she waited just enough time that an operator answer and repeated that she needed help. I’ve done that before when I got stuck somewhere without my hearing aid. Like when I went swimming at the community center, I called my mom and just kept repeating what I needed long enough that she’d get the message.

Continue reading "Law & Order: CI "Silencer" Comments" »

Posted by at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally watched the CSI: NY episode, which originally aired last December. I record everything and watch them when I have time. Anyway, my observations.

Good to hear a gunshot and Matlin not reacting to it. Instead, we see her feet feeling the vibration and the baby monitor light blinking. She walks out of her bedroom and sees a broken lamp. As she makes her way to the baby’s room, she finds her 19-year-old daughter dead on the floor from a gunshot.

Continue reading "CSI: New York "Silent Night" Comments" »

Posted by at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In talking about speed reading, Scott H. Young mentions a word I hadn’t come across: Subvocalization. Not only do I do this while reading, but also while lipreading without my hearing aid as I explained in this post from my other blog.

I’m curious about those who are deaf especially those who primarily communicate with ASL and don’t wear hearing aids. Do you “hear” things in your head while reading or lipreading?

Posted by at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Grant W. Laird, Jr. takes a stroll down memory lane with “History of Wireless Devices in Deaf Community.” Thinking about my experience, I can’t believe how many devices I’ve gone through since 1993 in my first job out of college. The following lists the devices I’ve used:

• Email: 1986 - current. It began with BBSes. I was limited to emailing those who used BBSes and eventually Prodigy and AOL.

Continue reading "Wireless Communication Devices for the Deaf" »

Posted by at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Since For a Deaf Son aired immediately after Through Deaf Eyes, I recorded it. Rob Tranchin, an executive producer at PBS KERA in Dallas, created this 1994 documentary exploring his and his wife’s search for the right school for his deaf son. The parents discussed their thoughts, concerns and frustrations. They interviewed the headmasters at different schools as well as experts in deaf education.

At the end of the film, they were undecided on what path to take. Laurie Tranchin leaned toward oral education while Rob Tranchin supported ASL. In searching the Internet to see what happened, the only thing I could find — sadly — was that their son Tommy passed away in 2003 at age 15. I found a way to contact Mr. Tranchin, but when I saw the news… I dropped that idea even though I’d still like to know the outcome.

I admire the Tranchins for filming an honest account of their struggles to do what’s best for Tommy. I’m sorry there wasn’t a happier ending.

Posted by at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I watched Through Deaf Eyes and For a Deaf Son, which followed. For Deaf Eyes opened with comedian CJ Jones who told the story of dealing with a angry driver.

Deaf rock band, Beethoven’s Nightmare (great name!) appeared. I like what they do — they let people go up on stage and tell their stories while they rock. Here is the band’s myspace page and mine.

Continue reading "Through Deaf Eyes Commentary" »

Posted by at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In writing about 5 to 10 things that he does almost every day to stay successful, Stephen Hopson of Adversity University tagged me. Aaron of Today is that Day started the project, and I tag the next set of bloggers at the end of this post.

Continue reading "Simple Success Secrets" »

Posted by at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Angry Deaf Man Deaf shares an experience about shopping with a friend when the salesperson tends to look at the friend instead of him. I haven’t had the opportunity to travel much overseas and his comment about not having this problem outside of the U.S. intrigued me.

It happened to Angry Deaf Man again. This time with a parking attendant.

I get scared at the thought of traveling to a foreign country because lipreading a foreign language tends to be harder. In one company, I worked with people from around the world. I looked forward to working with them and getting to know them. But then reality set in. I couldn’t understand them very well. So whenever I communicated with them, it had to be brief and about business.

I can relate to Angry Deaf Man’s experiences. I can recall many group events, team bus rides and other situations where I felt invisible. Sometimes I push and get myself involved with the discussion or group. Other times, I back away. It all depends on who I am with and how well I understand him or her.

That’s what I love about blogging. None of the barriers get in the way and I can enjoy intelligent discussions with others.

Posted by at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

While RFW’s post about Radio for the Deaf isn’t to be taken seriously, it reminded me to discuss the topic. I’ve never pushed for radio captioning. Sure, it’d be cool to follow along with the songs and practice my hearing — but really — most of the time I am the driver not the passenger. Not a good idea to read and drive.

How often do people listen to the radio at home with MP3 players? One thing I’d like to see is a greater use of technology that gives you the title of the song and the group/singer. My car is too old to have this, but Paul’s car radio displays the song title and artist if the song contains the ID3 Tag. Radio data system isn’t it, but it has relevant information.

It’d be nice to know the title of a song I find myself enjoying. I rarely discover new songs since high school as I don’t follow music by watching VH-1 or MTV because I don’t have the luxury of repeatedly listening to a song until I learn the lyrics. I have to have the lyrics in front of me while playing the song — that means no multitasking.

Continue reading "Radio for the Deaf" »

Posted by at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

With Baby Boomers hitting middle age, the number of deaf people is climbing. Millions Of Us Are Going Deaf And Our Computer Won’t Help Us rants about the things many deaf people discovered long before now. Still, it’s an insightful read and helps spread the word about the challenges deaf and HoH people face.

Posted by at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Social Work/Social Action points to Deafness and the Riddle of Identity, which discusses Jane K. Fernandes and the “not deaf enough” issue. It isn’t fair to use the fact that Fernandes wasn’t a native signer against her.

Not I’m not going to defend Fernandes, but want to say don’t hold this sort of thing against a person. Remember, when we’re children, our parents and guardians make our communications decisions for us. So some great ASLers may not have learned ASL until later in life.

Granted, Fernades wasn’t fluent in “real” ASL, so I understand that. The point of the message is to not judge someone because ASL wasn’t his or her first language.

Posted by at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I admire Marlee Matlin and the show’s writers for its episode where Matlin played Joyce’s lawyer, Ruby Whitlow. Actually, she was in several episodes, but I’m referring to the one from November 30, “Born a Gamblin’ Man.”

I admire the writers because they scripted a funny story that addressed the sort of thing we don’t encounter in real life, but could think about it. For example, Doug — Ruby’ interpreter — covers his mouth with a notebook and tells Joy that sometimes he gets annoyed with interpreting for Ruby like when she flirts with a guy. Hilarious.

Joy, being the troublemaker (this is a family friendly site, y’all) she is, beat up the interpreter. Another time, Ruby speaks to Joy with her own voice. Joy responds with a big laugh and says, “That deaf accent of yours gets me every time.’’ Making fun of deaf people’s voices isn’t new as I’ve dealt with it from kids — but adults talking about it on a TV show is something else. Earl’s writers did a great job making it genuinely funny not “feel sorry” or “laughing at you” funny. Shows like Saturday Night Live do this all the time.

A TV Guide reader wrote to Matt Roush about one of the earlier shows in which Matlin appeared about Joy’s laughing at Matlin’s voice. I liked what Roush said: “Earl is a show that blends crude and sweet humor rather fearlessly, with little regard for political correctness or even tastefulness. If Joy’s reaction to the lawyer’s deafness was offensive, it was meant to be. But it was so extreme (as is Joy’s way) that it was also hugely funny.”

Hey, I rather kids laugh at my accent than point and stare.

Posted by at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I’ve been reading Steve Wozniak’s autiobiography, iWoz, learning about the birth of Apple Computer and its evolution to Apple I and Apple II. Made me think about how eager I was to get home from camp in 1980 because I knew we had gotten a new computer, an Apple ][+. Reading iWoz, I realized my dad got into the personal computer thing early. All these years later, he still isn’t a whiz with computers and relies on his children and our spouses to fix his computer, hardware and network.

So I asked Mom why he bought a computer as early as he did. First, she thought I asked why an Apple not the TRS-80. She wrote, “At that time, it was mostly Apple or Radio Shack’s TRS-80 for at-home personal computers. Apple was the most popular and supposed to be user-friendly (which we certainly needed, since we knew nothing and you were young.) We looked, drove around to get the best deal (they were so expensive) and finally bought that one in Arlington, hoping it would work for wht we needed (wanted.).”

“Why did Dad get a computer so early in the game?”

Mom said, “He wanted you to be computer savvy - he knew it was the big thing coming and figured we’d use it, but mostly you’d get into the computer age and it would be a great communication tool for you. He was right!”

Boy, was he right. Actually, I didn’t use it for communication until about five or six years later when we got a 300 baud modem. Even when we installed the modem, I didn’t use it much right away. My generation didn’t grow up with computers — a handful did. We might’ve had computer labs in school that we could use once a week or so, but not something generally found in the home.

Too bad we didn’t invest in Apple stock!

Posted by at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Call me strange, but I’ve loved musicals since I was a kid. I would pretend I was a character from a show and sing without fear of how bad I sounded — of course, I had no real audience. My parents took me to many shows at Casa Manana, a theater in my hometown of Fort Worth. Casa has a colorful history with Billy Rose who brought famed stripper Sally Rand to perform.

Casa has a round stage — which made it difficult to have a bad seat in the house. Sure, the audience faced the stars’ backs at times, but the direction was well done so it was hardly noticed. I learned many of the songs by heart and became familiar with the storylines, so I could fully enjoy each show.

I even spent two summers working at Casa changing the scenery. I still have my shiny black jacket with Casa’s famous domed building on the back of it and my name on front. I had the pleasure of working with Ruta Lee, Peter Palmer, and Jason Byce in Hello, Dolly! and Paint Your Wagon.

I had the pleasure of seeing many wonderful shows at The Kennedy Center in Washington. We had season tickets there a couple of times. We’ve also seen shows at Arena Stage (has a round stage, but not the one we saw), National Theater, and the famed Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot.

What does all this have to do with studying? I got carried away with memories. Anyway, we’ve had tickets to see Wicked at Dallas Music Hall for over year for April 2007. I bought the book and the CD so I could familiarize myself with the show and completely enjoy it.

When I went to the theater’s web site to try to buy a third ticket for my daughter, the OC (open captions) caught my attention. Can you imagine how excited I was when I read that the theater gives laptops that have the script? I can’t wait to try it out. It’ll be interesting to see how well I can read the screen and watch the action on the stage. One suggestion: Why not use tablets instead? They’re lighter and less bulky.

Dallas Summer Musicals has a great line up this year. We were tempted to get season tickets, but it’s too difficult for us to try to make a show every two weeks especially with our kids’ schedules.

Posted by at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Austin news channel KXAN reports on new technology in a San Antonio that will make it easier for the deaf when they’re at the airport. Deaf Link is an airport station that lets a deaf passenger connect with a Deaf Link interpreter through the Internet and communicate ith airport or security personnel.

But this is limiting because it’s only for those who know ASL. I doubt it would be easy to lipread the video just like it’s difficult to lipread people on TV. I know, I should be grateful that the airport is taking steps to help and I am.

Cheryl Heppner of NVRC also wrote about an action alert on accessible air travel last March. Here are the details from her email:

Continue reading "Air Travel for the Deaf" »

Posted by at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I whined and moaned in this entry about the problem with my eyes aching and feeling pressure. My regular doctor told me to see the ophthalmologist rather than my optometrist (Talked to him, too).

She said all my symptoms pointed to dry eye syndrome. First thing to try was adding tears (eye drops) four times a day and then an eye gel at night. After two weeks of that, I didn’t feel better. The office did a test on my eyes at that appointment and the results stated I had severely dry eyes.

The doctor put in plugs (didn’t bother me at all) and I will continue my routine (if she hadn’t put in plugs, I would’ve had to put tears in EIGHT times a day). All About Vision has a great entry about dry eyes complete with animation showing how plugs get inserted. The entry says that Dallas/Fort Worth is one of the top 10 cities named as a dry eye hot spot.

After reading up and talking to the doctor — It’s no surprise that I had serious dry eye problems as I had LASIK in 1999, took meds that can lead to dry eyes, and being a woman (hormones can cause dry eyes). But my eyes never felt dry and she said that can happen — maybe I adjusted.

Anyway, there you have it. If you hear someone is having problems and can’t find answers — here’s one possibility to check into. While this has nothing to do with deafness, I had people asking me if it could be related. So it isn’t related in my case.

Two more pages with good info. One from Mayo Clinic and the other from The Eye Digest.

Posted by at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How to Calm a Nervous Employer provides suggestions on how people with hearing loss deal with interviews and telephone calls. I especially appreciate the “Left Out” section as that’s been a life-long challenge.

I have a contact number for my business, but I also link to an entry on how the relay service works. I’ve tried to keep the contact process and relay information simple. Ever since I first entered the workforce, I’ve constantly searched for ways to explain the relay process in as few words as possible. I hope this process works in helping current and potential clients feel comfortable about working with me and contacting me.

Posted by at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Various relay service providers exist, but they all work similarly. A person who is deaf, has speech challenges, or has visual impairments contacts a relay service through a TTY, special phone, web site, or instant messenger where an operator acts as a go-between.

A person calls the relay using a preferred method (TTY, online, etc.). The operator answers and asks for the phone number. The person provides the phone number and any other relevant information, if needed.

The operator calls the number and explains the relay service to the person called. The person called answers normally and says, “Go ahead,” when finished responding.

The operator types the response to the caller who types, speaks, or signs (depending on the type of service used) a reply in which the operator repeats to the person called. The conversation continues using this process until the end.

The call doesn’t cost anything (except for long distance and cell phone charges) as the funding comes from other sources. Long distance calls made online typically don’t involve charges.

Contacting Meryl

I have a phone number that reaches me through AIM (AOL instant messenger). When the caller calls me, it’s almost like making a regular call except with delays between caller and person called speaking. The relay service requires patience, but I want to be available for clients and prospects.

Some people find the process tedious and prefer to use email, instant messaging, or another means to communicate with the caller. I try to make the communications process as easy as possible for clients and potential clients. Unfortunately, sometimes I can’t reach people because they hang up on the service thinking it’s a telemarketer.

Posted by at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How to Calm a Nervous Employeer offers advice on how to prepare for a job interview or prepare a potential client by explaining technology and ASL. As a result, I plan to add information about using the relay service on my About page.

More on this in a past entry.

Posted by at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I read Joyce Lain Kennedy’s Career Advice column and in last Sunday’s column, she provides advice to a deaf job seeker [may require free registration] who is struggling to find a job that doesn’t require telephone work. The writer also says that employers are reluctant to hire someone with a disability. I’m disappointed to read that as I rarely ran into this sort of problem since graduating college. Furthermore, I’m a full-time freelancer so I’m constantly “seeking new employers” in the form of clients. Perhaps, I’ve been lucky.

The only time I may have run into an employer who wasn’t comfortable with a deaf person was in high school — the retailer was the only one that didn’t accept me for the job. I even had the opportunity to work in a department store’s gift wrap shop in spite of the requirement to answer the phone. I turned it down because they believed I could handle the phone. It wasn’t a loss as I don’t have a talent for gift wrapping.

Anyway, Kennedy use professional athletes as an analogy. At the end of their professional sports career, they rely on their network of friends and family to open doors to a second career. Troy Aikman and Emmitt “Twinkletoes” Smith have done well in their post-football years. Kennedy points to DeafProfessional.net, a one-year-old web site covering deaf professional issues and profiles successful stories.

Sadly, Kennedy quotes a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)statistic saying that “only 55.8 percent of the disable community has a job.” SHRM is working with the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy to provide resources to employers on hiring people with disabilities.

Posted by at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My IP Relay is available on MSN Messenger.

To use it, add myiprelay@verizonbusiness.com to your MSN Messenger Contact List.

To make a call:

• Just click on contact name, My IP Relay
• Enter the phone number you want to reach and follow the directions
• My IP Relay connects your call

Learn more at http://www.ip-relay.com/myiprelay.html. This is the same service that offers AIM relay (contact name: myiprelay). I use it most of the time because it’s faster than web-based relay services and it blends right in with my online chat application. Furthermore, I get my own phone number that goes through the AIM service.

Posted by at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I read stories from the 1990s, I’m amazed how different they could’ve turned out had cell phones been more common then. Paul and I had numeric pagers. We came up with different codes to communicate with each other. Now we both have Sidekicks and can AIM to text message each other.

Forbes explores how Gallaudet protesters kept each other informed with technology. Paul and I use our ‘kicks to stay updated on game scores, shopping questions, and children whereabouts. Is it any wonder why I love technology and gadgets?

Posted by at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)