Someone stole a Deaf Student’s Hearing Device from school. I’m sad to say that it doesn’t surprise me because something similar happened to me. Only the item cost a fraction of what a cochlear device costs. When I worked with the Federal Highway Administration, I had to sit at a table meant to hold books, a fax machine, and printer. Due to lack of space, I made it my “office” and kept my TTY there.
You figured it out. The TTY was stolen. This is in a Federal government building. You can’t get in without a badge. I hope it wasn’t an employee, but logic dictates otherwise. I got a replacement and it hasn’t happened again.
That’s one reason I feared getting a cochlear implant. It’s more expensive than a hearing aid. I have a backup, but it’s the awful body-aid style device and I don’t want to go back to it after growing up with one.
Cochlear Implant Stolen
Deaf Children
First I’ve heard of this. According to this short article, two babies are born deaf every day with 90 percent having hearing parents.
Signing Web Pages
I’ve been hearing about avatars and the latest does sign language. This avatar compares nothing to the ones we see in forums, pictures of favorite people, shows, things, and whatnot. Sites and applications adapting human avatars have them walking in front of the Web content you’re viewing much like a tour guide.
It sounds like the sign language avatars work in a similar vein based on reading the news report. Great concept and wonderful for those who know sign language, British sign language in this csae. However, I think captions work better since it reaches a wider audience than just sign language.
Writing Proper English Follow up
I got a great comment from Alicia Lane. Rather than putting it in the comments of the post from April 14, I’m posting it here. She offers an argument that I had not considered. However, I still can’t compare English / ASL to those who speak Spanish as the primary language and English as a second language. You can’t use ASL in writing. That’s where English plays a role. Nonetheless, tricky situation as Alicia raises important points to consider.
I think Bosson touches upon a concept that doesn’t get discussed enough: because of its inaccessibility, English ends up being a second language for many deaf children—and they face similar language acquisition issues as hearing children learning English as a second language. Studies have shown that those who have a strong foundation in their primary language do much better in acquiring English, regardless of whether their primary language is (for example) Spanish, French, or ASL.
Ambition
I’ve spent my entire career working in an office setting where you have your analysts, specialists, team leaders, managers, and directors. When I first started my career as a management trainee with a government department, I had high ambition. I wanted to go into the workforce, learn my way around, and climb, climb, climb. Management—the ultimate goal. At this point, I believed I had no barriers except the fact I couldn’t carry a conversation on the phone the normal way (I discovered the relay service not long after joining the government).
While in the year-long training program, we attended many courses related to leadership including public speaking, dealing with difficult people, and policies. At the end of the year, the program placed us with one of the agencies. I worked in the Federal government for three years and then we moved back home to Texas.
Wearable Captioning
Will wearing captions be fashionable? 🙂
Emergencies
We have “fire marshalls” on every floor in my office and I have two buddies who would look out for me when an emergency occurs. Our building has those bright, painful lights (think bad disco lighting), so I can’t miss those nor the sound (awful). But I could be in a meeting or the ladies’ room when something happens (hope not).
Emergencies do happen. It’s scary that many people don’t take the alarm going off seriously. When I was five, I was in a fire at my grandparents’ house. We all got out, but Grandpa had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Article: Warning the deaf in an emergency
I-Caption
Handheld Individual Captioning, I-Caption makes Big River performances at Ford’s Theatre accessible to the deaf. Wicked is coming to Dallas. Why can’t I-Caption come along? 🙁
A similar item called COMMplements from Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has been licensed.
Mainstream or Not?
For my parents, the decision to mainstream me into public school was an easy one. The other option was to send me out of town to the school for the deaf. They didn’t want that. I’m glad they decided that as I’ve had some awesome teachers in my public school career. I didn’t feel secluded in public school. Well, at least, not till I was older because I felt like I didn’t fit in with a crowd… nothing to do with my hearing. Read Parents of deaf children make tough decisions.
Writing Proper English
Ed Bosson wrote a great commentary in response to the great article from the New York Times on December 7, 2004 titled “What Corporate America Can’t Build: A Sentence” by Sam Dillon. I believe that even if a person’s first language is ASL, the person should know how to write correct English. ASL is a spoken not a written language. But as a person who doesn’t use ASL, I figured my words would not have as much meaning. However, Bosson uses ASL and he believes in the same thing. Reprinted with permission from Ed Bosson.