stu.dicio.us is a great idea and would’ve helped me a lot in college… but what are the chances fellow students who take the same classes would use this service? I entered my university and there were only NINE notes from classes I never took. I also entered the university I attended as a freshman and that had one note. It’s going to take time to build this up besides with students changing (graduating plus entering freshman), it won’t be easy to inform the new students about the service.
Deaf Statistics
The Dallas Morning News writes a story about a teen who is deaf and doing very well with a cochlear implant. He has a bright future ahead of him.
The article also looks at the contoversy with cochlear implants. Here are insightful statistics on deafness and cochlear implants that appear at the end of the story:
According to the Food and Drug Administration’s 2005 data, nearly 100,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants.
In the United States, roughly 22,000 adults and nearly 15,000 children have received them.
Cochlear implants were first approved by the FDA in the United States in 1985 for adults and in 1990 for children.
Since 1990, the North Texas Cochlear Implant Program has given about 350 children cochlear implants.
About 1 in every 1,000 infants is born deaf. Another 1 in every 1,000 infants has a hearing impairment significant enough to make speaking difficult.
More than half of all deafness or hearing impairment is believed to have genetic cause(s). Recessive hearing impairment accounts for the largest portion of deafness or hearing impairment.
About 90 percent of infants who are born deaf are born to hearing parents.
Sources: Callier Center for Communication Disorders and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Interestingly enough, I went to House Ear Institute in 1984 to learn about cochlear implants. At the time, they were not FDA-approved (stats say 1985) and only had a few channels.
deafCensus
deafCensus aims to provide access to a database containing services and resources related to hearing loss. The site also contains national demographic data on deaf and hard of hearing individuals for organizations, service agencies, community resources, and academic and research institutions. It has over 7000 entries and should become a great resource.
Closed Captioning in Google Video
About time someone did something! Closed Captioning Hits Google Video says that Google is captioning select videos. You can see a list of videos with captions here. Mostly stuff from NOVA and documentaries, but you can find a few fun videos like Mariah vs. Whitney. Unfortunately, the captions are a little faster than the singer.
MyHearingHealth.com
MyHearingHealth is a blog for anyone with a hearing loss and their loved ones – it’s a place to learn, share and grow. The site’s vision is to create a vibrant community and it accepts blog posts and feature articles from our readers in addition to the content written by Clarity and The EAR Foundation.
If you don’t have a blog, here’s a place you can share an experience or a story. You’re also welcome to contact me and I’d be glad to post the story with your name or anonymously. What I like about the site is that it’s open to submissions from anyone. I can only share so many experiences here, but when you include the community — you gain real insight into life with hearing loss.
Fans Sue for Captions
Hearing-Impaired Fans Sue for Access to Closed-Captioning. Go fans! Get ’em! Can you tell I’m a Dallas Cowboy fan? It was fun living in Washington, DC for six years and watching the Cowboys win the Superbowl twice!
When I finished my assignment with one of the agencies, they gave me a Redskin shirt for a going-away gift. I wore it… for workout when I could sweat all over the shirt and make it yucky. 🙂
Deaf Comedy and Jokes
Well, as a lipreader-instead-of-sign-language-user, I can’t catch these videos from DeafJoke.tv. But I get the third comic strip and I love it. Though I may not use an interpreter, I’ve had plenty of situations when I had delayed reaction or laughter because someone had to tell me what happened. Funny snakes, too.
I hate it when I have to ask people sitting around me… “What’s so funny?” “What did I miss?” “What did she say?” I’m sure it comes across like I’m not the brightest bulb in the box.
Ken “Prof. Glick” Glickman wrote a few humor books on DEAFinitions — I have a couple of them. He sends DEAFinitions on a weekly basis. I also remember enjoying Kathy Buckley‘s comedy routine on TV. She was hilarious. I’d like to share one of her funniest lines… but I can’t quite recall the set up and it’d ruin the joke.
Magnetizing Implant
Recently had a couple of funny incidences with the implant. I was changing out the batteries and thought I dropped one. I looked all over the floor for it and it refused to be found. I put all three batteries in and was about to put the implant back on when I saw a battery stuck on the magnet piece.
While playing tennis, I take off the implant to dry my head and the implant with a towel. I accidentally knocked off the implant and freaked because I was standing next to the water cooler and the trash. It wasn’t on the ground, so I got scared that it fell into the bin with the cups and some still had water in them.
The tennis instructor was talking to me and I was losing my mind trying to pay attention to him and find the implant. Finally, I said “I dropped the implant and can’t find it.” Someone pointed to the metal cup holder where the implant appeared. Talk about relief!
Captioning News: Not Good News
Time to start writing! From DeafNetwork:
The News Just Got Worse!
By Cheryl Heppner
In addition to the two exemptions announced today, the Federal Communications Commission has sent out 250 more letters granting captioning exemptions! They are apparently poised to send out another huge batch of letters that will amount to a total of about 550 exemptions.
Nothing about these other exemptions has appeared in the FCC’s Daily Digest to notify the public. The FCC is just making them available in the Public Reference Room. You wouldn’t even know to look for them there.
Experience the Awareness
Last Friday, my kid’s elementary school held a program called “Experience the Awareness.” The point of the program is to have the kids learn about the struggle behind the different disabilities and learning differences. Kids rotate through 10 stations, spending about five minutes (too short) at each station.
We covered muscular dystrophy, missing limb, injured limb, autism, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, asthma/speech, blindness, hearing loss, and wheelchair. The deaf station required the kids to put cotton balls in their ears, put headphones over them and listen to the music. Then they would take one cotton ball out to see what it’s like to only catch some of what they hear.