November 2005 archive

Instant Messaging and the Deaf

I can’t imagine how different my life would’ve been had instant messaging hit the scene while I was a teen. Sure, I discovered online chats in my late teens, but it was no where like what you see today as explained in Hearing Instant messaging reaches out and touches deaf people. My family discovered Prodigy …

Continue reading

Deaf Dogs

Deaf woman finds homes for deaf dogs has an interesting statistic that I had never heard before. According to the article, “deafness is more common in dogs with white (or merle-patterned) coats.” Apparently, Dalmatians are on the top of the list with 10 to 12 percent born deaf. My dog, a beagle, who passed away …

Continue reading

Fig Newtons and Olive Oil

Kids make fun of each other. That’s an accepted part of childhood and growing up. It’s unbelievable what kids in 6th grade say nowadays. Words I’d never heard people say until at least high school. No matter what I do, I can’t prevent my kids from learning things too young. As a parent, I do …

Continue reading

Captel Phone

Since the state of Texas had a special offer on Captel phones for its residents at $99, I got one. It’s great for making calls, but receiving calls are a pain. Making calls: Just pick up the phone and dial the number while ensuring the caption button is lit up. You can also hear the …

Continue reading

UpYourBudget Adventures and Sales People

Last Friday, I did something out of character. I spontaneously drove to downtown Dallas to join the UpYourBudget Treasure Hunt. I wrote about it here and here. From a deaf perspective, I ran into two challenges. One, if you find the UpYourBudget sticker, you have to call the number on the sticker. I figured my …

Continue reading

Patriotic Duty: Voting and Sitting on a Jury

Since Tuesday was election day in the U.S.A. and I saw this article from New Zealand that talks about deaf on juries. Sign language interpreters are making it possible for the deaf to do jury duty. I remember a few years ago reading about a court that had technology so a deaf jurist could read …

Continue reading

iPod Captioning… Not

iPod does not have captioning capabilties as confirmed by an article and in this Washington Post interview and many blog comments / postings. There is also a good article on the topic, but I can’t share the article with you because it’s copy-protected AND you have to register to view the article. Hence, my rant …

Continue reading

Listening to Talk Radio

My speech therapist recommended I listen to a local radio station as it has the weather report every ten minutes as I know what they’re talking about and have a better chance of recognizing words. I try to listen to everything, not just the radio. Once when Paul was near a radio, I asked him …

Continue reading

Banning Deaf Drivers

Oh, thank goodness I live in the U.S. It’s probably the best place to be deaf. Countries like Japan have a ban on deaf drivers. Though I’d rather not be chauffeur, I can’t imagine what my family would do if I couldn’t drive. My whole life would turn completely upside down if I couldn’t get …

Continue reading

Parents Who Are Not Supportive

Alex dropped me a line and soon we started having an email conversation. I learned she’s fluent in ASL. She’s not deaf nor does she have a relative that is. Not a teacher either. Anyway, I enjoyed getting to know her and she mentioned a person who wanted to use ASL, but her mother was …

Continue reading