I love The Amazing Race. If I had the energy, I’d like to appear on it and have the opportunity to travel… but it’s hard to take in all the places and thoroughly enjoy them when you’re constantly go, go, going. Besides, I don’t function well on little sleep. Meet Margie and Luke, a mom …
January 2009 archive
My Son's Hearing
I got a surprise from the school nurse. She said that my youngest, a five-year-old kindergartener, failed his hearing test twice. The state required that she notify the parents and ask for a follow up. His hearing was fine until this point. The problem appeared only in his right ear and at the highest pitch …
A Religious School Teacher's Story
One of my best friends emailed me because she has a new student in her religious school class who has a cochlear implant. She and her sister are in the 4th class together despite the person with the cochlear implant is in 7th. Here’s how my thoughtful friend explained the situation: “She doesn’t us American …
Closed Captioning on Inauguration YouTube Channel
The Inauguration YouTube channel features videos recorded by President-elect Obama, Michelle Obama, Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) Executive Director Emmett Beliveau, and others. President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden are working on making this the most accessible inauguration in history. PIC is partnering with Project readOn to add closed captioning to our YouTube videos. Read more …
Deafbarrassing Moment for 2009
First, let me tell you about the T feature on hearing aids and cochlear implants. It’s one of the coolest features ever. When you switch from M (microphone) to T (telecoil), you hear nothing except what comes through the phone receiver or headphones. So it’s great for listening to music while on a walk — …
Voice Recognition Cell Phones
We finally feel a part of the cell phone revolution as more phones come out with keyboards, more people use SMS, and more apps become available to help us communicate through text. Then I read an article in the local newspaper that keyboard phones might become obsolete thanks to voice recognition technology for cell phones. …
Healthy Hands
Never thought about it until today — shame on me. If I used ASL on a regular basis, this hand injury would’ve been more frustrating. I couldn’t type much for six weeks, so imagine trying to sign with one hand. As you can see from the photo, the splint allowed me to move my four …
Hearing Reader Asks for Dating Advice
A reader wrote to me about her relationship. I told her I am not in the best position to advise and asked if I could post it as I think she would benefit from a community response rather than one person’s experience. After all, deaf people have all kinds of experiences. Here’s her note: I …