I was blessed that I didn’t stand out too much during my public school years. Kids who made fun of me did it in a joking way that was no different than making fun of my religion. In fact, they probably made fun of my religion more than my deafness. They often said, “Jesus loves you.”
I responded, “It’s so nice to be loved.”
The boys love to say, “I want a fig newton” or “Olive oil” because when you read lips, they come across as something else. A couple of them would say, “Read my lips,” and then proceed to do the Bronx cheer. Cute, huh?
Elementary Signing and Lipreading
Understanding the Deaf
This insightful story from a Nigerian publication addresses the two different broad types of deafness: prelingual (deaf before speaking) and postlingual (deaf after speaking). Unfortunately, there’s a bad typo in the article. “Dead” instead of “deaf” as well as a few errors. In spite of these mistakes, it’s still worth reading.
While growing up, a few kids asked me, “Are you death?”
Obviously, they misheard “deaf” as “death.”
Cell Phone Bluetooth Ear Pieces
I like them cell phone bluetooth ear pieces. They make my implant less weird-looking. Is that good grammar? Those things are more noticeable than my implant. Boy, I remember hardly ever wearing my hair up because I didn’t want people staring at my ugly beige hearing aids.
Now I wear my hair up almost all the time. I’ve got thick and curly hair, so it’s like having a fur coat on my neck when I wear it down.
In the ’70s, t-shirts with cool slogans and pictures were a hot item. The local mall had a tee store that put on whatever images and words you wanted. I wore a body hearing aid then making it difficult to see the pictures on the shirt. By the time I got the behind-the-ear hearing aids, the shirts were gone.
And they’ve come back. But I’ve got so many t-shirts now, it’s ridiculous to buy more.
So thank you, cell phone addicts, for making ear pieces cool. 🙂
Captioned Media Program
Resources available in captioned media talks about the Caption Media Program (CMP), a great program that ofers free loans of open captioned programs. The program now offers Internet streaming videos and currently has over 1000 videos. I love this part because finding online captioned media is like the needle in haystack thing.
I just finished reading Winning Results with Google AdWords (reading it to do an abstract, not to advertise) and learned something interesting. Google Video relies on caption transcripts to make its videos searchable. Well, why can’t the captions be in the streaming videos, too?
Hybrid Hearing Aid
New Hearing Aid Is ‘Hybrid’ makes no sense. I don’t see how this is different from a regular cochlear implant. One thing, though — I don’t think there is a big difference in how things sound through a hearing aid and a cochlear implant.
Deaf and Black Working to Get to PGA Tour
Black and deaf, golfer chases his dream is a nice story. I remember reading that Tiger Woods had many challenges in becoming a pro golfer simply because he was black. This guy is not only black, but also deaf. I hope he doesn’t encounter barriers, but who knows? We’re rooting for him.
Deaf in Developing Countries
This story breaks your heart and makes me thankful I’m an American. The treatment of deaf children in developing countries doesn’t surprise me.
Online Customer Service
Carter Bloodcare rules. I donate blood on a regular basis, or try to anyway. Carter makes it easy to set up an appointment as it can be done online. The donation appointment form, however, doesn’t play nice with Firefox. No biggie. I’d rather use IE than to navigate a recording to schedule an appointment. You can show up without an appointment, but you may have to wait.
Furthermore, you can check your cholestrol test results and check the date of the next time you can donate blood on the Web site. Now, if the organization would let me fill in my meds and answer the questionnaire online before I go. That’s my least favorite part of the appointment.
Know those postcards you get from non-profit organizations asking you to call if you have clothes and other items to donate? I prefer it when they leave a bag because it means they’ll drive by whether or not you call. I got a surprise the last time I received a postcard. The postcard said you could schedule pick up online.
Audism: A Name for Deaf Prejudice and Wrong Assumptions
Alicia mentioned audism in a recent comment and it was the first I heard of the word. Audism, like racism and sexism, is discrimination against deaf people.
Wikipedia provides examples of audism:
- Deaf people cannot write well because they are deaf or because English is not their first language.
- Deaf people cannot be successful without the aid of hearing devices like cochlear implants.
- Deaf people who can speak well are more successful or smarter than those who can’t or don’t speak.
- Deaf people cannot perform well in sports due to their loss of hearing, which is related to the sense of balance.
- Deaf people cannot drive. (Seriously?)
My love of sports
I’ve heard some of these, but not the sports reference, which surprised me most considering sports was my thing during my kid years. I only remember of ONE instance where my hearing loss embarrassed me in a sports situation and it happened during basketball practice not a game. We were warming up and I was practicing on the far end of the gym. Coach called us to huddle and I kept on practicing. Blush
Calling the ball in volleyball and softball was never a problem. I also played soccer and dabbled in tennis, golf, and racquetball. Heck, I was a referee with TCU‘s intramural sports program in my freshman year in college. I loved it.
I didn’t realize this until much later that sports is most likely responsible for my confidence. Had I not played, I may not have had as much confidence or success. My daughter was at volleyball practice and I saw a chance to play with a volleyball. Whenever I watched her team practice, I wanted to go out on the court and join them.
Anyway, as I warmed up — I felt more confident, outgoing and talkative. One of my fondest childhood memories is earning an most valuable player (MVP) award twice in one softball season. (Once for the team and once in a tournament.)
The idea of coaching kids …
My son had a baseball game last Saturday and it brought back a few softball memories. I got a little too excited when he hit his first double. (He struck out every time at the last game, so I couldn’t help it.) I also play catch with him trying to help him improve. We picked up oil for his glove just like my dad did for me. Back then, Dad had to pour the oil on the glove, spread it evenly, stick a softball in and put a rubber band around the glove. Now, all we have to do is spray the glove and leave it.
I’d probably enjoy coaching kids, but I’m not comfortable with the thought of it. (Ironic, isn’t it? Sports made me more confident and outgoing, but not coaching.) Although I’m used to it and accept it, I can do without the stares I get from them when I talk. No, I’ll just be a parent and watch my kids play.
A hint of audism
Back to audism. Many times when I misunderstood someone or asked to repeat something, I’d get looks of “Are you stupid?” During group conversations, I’d get lost or ask someone what the topic is — and then came the puzzled slash mad look that said they saw me as inferior.
I’ve taken up tennis in the last couple of weeks (since that’s what most adults play around here) and it’s been great to get back into a sport.
That’s why I have stuck with blogging after all of these years. People get to know me from what I post and nothing else.