May 2007 archive

Discovering New Songs

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 …

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Talent Vs. Technology

The Dallas Morning News [may require free registration] had a fascinating article about how much technology helps athletes. For instance, Masazumi Soejima won the Boston Marathon in his wheelchair coming in almost 45 minutes ahead of the first one on foot. What about Tiger Woods receiving LASIK to perfect his vision? He has been winning …

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Captioning a Baseball Game

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 …

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Rehabilitation after the Cochlear Implant

When a person receives a cochlear implant, that’s not the end of it. Getting the cochlear implant inserted is the easy part. The hard part comes in Rehabilitation therapy, which includes speech and listening therapy tailored based on the patient’s background. A cochlear implant won’t magically help a person hear on the phone and hear …

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Talking to Second Graders

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 …

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Politician TV

Learned that Barack Obama’s Web site contains lots of captioned video. Whether or not you support him — we appreciate the opportunity to get to know candidates as much as we need to with captioned television. I still prefer online mainstream videos and TV videos to be captioned over politics (after all, there’s something in …

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Reading to Students

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 …

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Project ReadOn and Dot Sub with Captioned Videos

I can’t believe I didn’t know about these sites earlier! I had heard about Will Ferrell’s hilarious landlord video that stars his 3-year-old daughter as a mean and drunk landlord. But I never pay attention to videos since I know most don’t come with captions… until today. Project ReadOn requires lining up the captioned popup …

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Laser Surgery for the Deaf

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 …

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Is it a Crime to be Deaf?

Interesting reading from Communication Access Now regarding a deaf woman’s terrible experience with the law in Brazoria County, Texas. As a born and bred Texan, I can happily say I haven’t had any experiences like these. Thanks to of DeafNetwork for the link.