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Feed: QUIESCENT VOICES
Quiescent Voices - LiveJournal.com
Just posted in the deaf_gay group
26-Jul-10
Hello there! Just introducing myself. I'm reposting this in this community due to the other community being inactive.
I'm Cindy, 23, from NYC and queer/genderfluid/female.
I guess you can say I'm supportive of the deaf community as well have admiration towards it too.
Learning Sign language is very important to me, though it's been at a stand still recently. I always wanted to find a Sign Language buddy but it never happened. I guess I started to pay more attention on whether or not I should learn Signed English rather than ASL and then discovered Pidgin.
I actually had a person through the internet that would teach me, and it was amazing how I could learn via text and also me making videos of signing.
I'm a bit shy to go into more detail about how I came about this admiration towards the deaf community, but feel free to talk to me :)
Random fact about me: I have super sensitive hearing to a point that I could hear what dogs could hear and most frequencies humans cannot hear. My ear/throat doctor told me I'm super human because of this haha.
AIM: tinyredhead2
Me:
20-Jul-10
This might not be the best place to post this, but the HOH community journal hasn't been much help.
Can you guys recommend a good phone amp? I just got a new job, and they want to order me one before I start.
I previously tried one that clips onto the receiver, and it did not work at all! It sounded awful. I currently have this one at work, but think I can probably find something of better quality (sound quality is not great). http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2467974
Any recommendations?
article on deaf rapper
19-Jul-10
http://www.parade.com/news/backpage/mitch-albom/100714-finding-his-beat.html
There was this article in the Parade about a deaf man, Sean Forbes, who raps, makes his own lyrics, videos, etc. He has a deal with a recording team :)
Though, I thought he was still a teen these days. He looks so young!
He does have videos on YouTube :)
Shame!
28-Jun-10
Not only as a private deaf citizen living in downtown Toronto, I’m also writing this as someone who work for a not for profit organization that caters to the needs of deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing clients, I am ashamed of our Toronto police for their actions against the disabled. Despite the purpose of the billion dollars security wasted in the city of Toronto, the money used could be utilized accordingly to accommodate those who have been arrested. Whatever their needs are need to be met and in a professional matter that do not violate anyone’s civil rights. The not for profit organization I am very proud to be a member of did work together with the G20 people beforehand to provide three interpreters (two ASL-English interpreters and one Deaf Interpreter) in case of emergency. This was an emergency. A deaf man’s civil right was ignored and put into jail for not being able to hear. The deaf man was not able to get an interpreter because the officers believed that he was able to lipread, therefore did not need an interpreter. He was put into jail overnight without being read his rights (properly with an interpreter) and he was charged for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Keep in mind that if you put a handcuff on a deaf person’s hands (and the hands are being used to communicate), of course the deaf person will resist. The person who work very closely with us at the not for profit organization said; “Handcuffing a deaf person is like putting duct tape over a hearing person’s mouth,” he said. “It’s a violation of their human rights.” Please share and repost this as this is something we all need to show our support to.
Who decides identity? Them or me?
05-Jun-10
So I became profoundly deaf when I was two from meningitis. Even though audiologist test results states that I have severe profound hearing loss, I happen to be lucky to be able to wear hearing aids to help hear and be able to speak. Years of speech therapy, I am able to articulate quite well. My speech is not 100% perfect on every word, but anyone, even a dog still understands me.
Anyway, almost three years ago, I started getting involved in the deaf community. I was told that the individual is the one that decides if one is deaf, Deaf, or HoH. I identify myself as in between Deaf and deaf, but for less complications, I identify myself as Deaf. My problem is that many of my deaf peers continually identify me as HoH. They keep introducing me to other individuals as HoH, simply because I got lucky with hearing aids and ability to speak. I know I'm not the only D/deaf person to get lucky with hearing aids / ability to speak, and they don't seem to get that, considering that some of them can speak, but choose not to speak.
I continually have to correct my hearing peers as well, that they are not to identify me as HoH, but as deaf. For some reason, this doesn't bother me, because usually most people ask why I prefer to be identify as deaf, and that's my opportunity to educate them.
It is starting to get a bit frustrating, especially since some of my close peers / friends continually identify me as HoH, despite my protest that I am pathologically deaf, and do attend to deaf community functions enough for people to know who I am. I certainly don't feel it is up to them to decide how to identify me. I am starting to get offended, especially since I've known some people for close to 3 years...
Are there any other ways I can deal with this? Am I going to have to get a little more abrasive and put down my foot a little bit harder than usual ?
ASL Translation
17-May-10
Hi all,
I've been asked to interpret a spiritual song ("Prepare Ye the Way/Bless the Lord") in ASL, but my grammar and syntax are super rusty! I've included the original English lyrics and my proposed ASL translation. Any feedback and comments you could give me would be enormously appreciated!
Thanks so much!
Original English Version
Prepare ye the way of the Lord
Prepare ye
Oh bless the Lord my soul!
His grace to thee proclaim!
And all that is within me joins to bless His holy name
Oh bless the Lord
Oh yeah!
Oh bless the Lord my soul!
His mercies bear in mind
Forget not all His benefits
The Lord to thee is kind
Prepare ye
He will not always chide
He will with patience wait
His wrath is ever slow to rise
And ready to abate
Oh bless the Lord
Oh bless the Lord my soul
My soul!
ASL Version
PREPARE YOU LORD WAY
PREPARE YOU
LORD BLESS MY SOUL
YOU PROCLAIM HIS GRACE
ALL INSIDE ME JOIN BLESS HIS NAME HOLY
BLESS LORD
OH YES!
LORD BLESS MY SOUL
(MERCY OF GOD) REMEMBER
FORGET NOT HIS BENEFIT
LORD KIND YOU
PREPARE YOU
HE WILL NOT SCOLD ALWAYS
PATIENT WILL HE WAIT
(WRATH OF GOD) RISE SLOWLY
READY GO DOWN
BLESS LORD
MY SOUL THE LORD BLESS
MY SOUL!
FCC changes and future of VRS
14-May-10
I recently got an email from the Purple company about applying a Purple account to your VP-200, because VRS may disappear. So, I went to check out Sorenson's website, and there's a video of what's happening with the FCC.
http://www.sorensonvrs.com/
Basically, the FCC has adjusted the compensation rates and SVRS is all up in arms about that in a panicky mode.
Personally? I think VRS companies will find a way to keep the services going and get used to the new compensation rates.
I think it's about time we step up and offer to pay for using the videophone services. We can have monthly plans based on our VP-to-VP usage, and the use of VRS is still free for intepreted calls (but call charges would still apply, like regional and long distance charges, or maybe just a flat rate). If a Deaf user is low income, it's really easy to provide proof of income (or SSDI payments) and be granted a discount or pay nothing. If a Deaf user is a minor, it's also easy to provide proof and pay, say, $5 a month.
Monthly rates don't have to be exhorbitant, but it can help reduce the taxpayer's burden and keep these services available for us all.
If anyone asks "why should we pay?," I will ask you "are we that different from hearing people that we can't pay for services we use? After all, don't you also pay for a text/IM/internet service on a cellphone or Sidekick or PDA or BlackBerry, etc?" Hearing people pay monthly rates for their landlines, so why shouldn't we pay up, too? We don't have to pay for the interpreting service itself, but for the calls we initiate. Remember the days of the TTY? We still paid for the service of a landline, right? We still paid extra for regional, toll, and long distance calls, right?
Hearing Ignorance of Deaf Culture
23-Apr-10
Hi guys,
I am an audiology grad student currently enrolled in a Deaf culture/history/community/etc awareness type class. I was hoping to find a deaf community discussion forum. I am writing a paper for this class and was hoping to get lots of input from Deaf individuals. In class whenever we would do research/have discussion about topics (like audism, education- oralism vs tc vs bi-bi, language, etc) it seemed that we always came back to the same issue- much of the hearing world in America is very ignorant of what Deaf is. Deaf language, community, history, etc. I wanted to explore this further in my paper. Why are most hearing people unaware of this? How can more awareness happen- or does it need to happen? Should we include American Deaf history in our public school textbooks? That sort of thing. What are your thoughts on this? What type of encounters have you had with ignorance? (For example, I'm a waitress as well as a student and I know enough sign to greet my tables, take their orders, etc. but none of the other servers do. We are near a residential Deaf school and have many deaf customers. I asked another server how he interacts with his deaf customers and he said "As long as you look them in the face and talk slowly they will understand, because they can all lipread". How idiotic! I was inclined to flare up at him but realized he was just displaying his ignorance. That type of thing....) I would love to hear from yall! Also, can anyone recommend other forums/blogs I could try to get a discussion going on? Thanks very much for any input!
Problem with confronting Deaf co-workers who are racist
21-Apr-10
*For the Record, I am profoundly Deaf and my first language is ASL.
I had an awkward confrontation with a co worker (not really a co worker per se, just someone who work in a different department). She approached me and asked about how I’m doing. We chatted for awhile and I asked her what she did on the weekend and she mentioned that she went food shopping and I recognized the places she was talking about so I said ‘so, you go to Food Basics, right?’ and her answer were; “no, i don’t go where the foreigners shops”. I was a bit taken back and remembered that okay, I may have misunderstood her signing so I asked her again ‘What’s wrong with Food Basic?’ and she explained that she didn’t like all the ‘nasty smelly people who buys weird food’. I sat there thinking ‘what am I going to do? How do I answer this person?’ and usually if it were a hearing person, i would react differently but because this person is Deaf and understood what being oppressed were like, I had to explain it differently. I explained to her that I thought it was inappropriate for her to talk about the ‘foreigners’ that way and that we all face oppression and why do it again to other people? She took it as a big offense and kept reiterating that it was a ‘Deaf Culture thing’. The thing about is that I’m part of the Deaf Culture and community. That was definitely not a Deaf Culture thing. The worst thing of it all is that this co-worker actually work in an department that cater to the needs of Deaf immigrants and I wouldn’t want her negative attitude to be around her clients. Who does that anyway? Blame culture for doing or saying really discriminatory things?
xposted to my journal and other communities
Interpreter Question
13-Apr-10
Thanks to everyone who offered to help and who answered my previous questions about employment for my Deaf Culture class.
This time, our class is talking about interpreters.
Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with interpreters they'd be willing to share with me? You can just answer in the comments. Or you can send me a private message if you'd rather.
I guess I'm mostly looking for experiences with signed language->spoken language (such as ASL/English) interpreters. But if you've used another type of interpreter or something like CART, I'd be interested in hearing about that too.
Thanks in advance. I'm really looking forward to hearing people's experiences. It's class that's prompting me to ask, but I'm genuinely interested for myself as well.
31-Mar-10
Hey everyone! Recently my boyfriend and I have been searching for a movie called Goal 2: Living the dream. However, each time we find it, it has no CC and it is only subtitled in Spanish. :(. Does anyone know where we might be able to turn to find movies that are subtitled in a different language in English or have a better idea of what to do? Since right now I almost feel like maybe we should just give up wanting to watch the movie?
Thanks!
Deaf Culture Homework Help
30-Mar-10
This is my first time posting to this community, so I do hope asking this here is appropriate.
I'm hearing and studying for an ASL competency certificate. I'm in ASL 4 now and Deaf Culture 2. In my Deaf Culture class, we're currently learning about employment as it relates to the Deaf world.
Part of my assignment is to contact a bunch of employers, companies, etc and ask their human resources department questions. (Argh! I hate using the phone.)
But another part is to ask Deaf people about their employment history. Just some simple questions, like your first job, where are you working now, are there other Deaf people there? What accommodations have been made for you, if any (flashing light fire alarms, an interpreter, etc)? And that sort of thing.
Anyone out there reading this mind answering some of these questions for me?
I have wondered how accommodating my own workplace would be. I work in a public library, and we're constantly under budget constraints. Would they consider hiring an interpreter to be an 'undue hardship' and not bother to do it? I'm not sure.
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help me out.
25-Mar-10
With those of you using SK3 (maybe SK2 as well), is anyone having trouble staying logged on to various websites and doing some functions on secured websites (i.e. paying a bill)? I am constantly logging into LJ, even with checking off that little "keep me logged in" box (or "remember me" or whatever it is).
Also, anyone experiencing problems with losing their text msgs and contacts?
It's really annoying at how few options we deafies have when it comes to devices with full keyboard and decent data-only plans.
Deaf/signers in Sacramento area?
20-Mar-10
Hi everyone!
I'm a student living near Sacramento, California. Specifically, I'm a hearing speech/language pathology graduate student who wants to provide (gasp) culturally competent services for d/Deaf and hard of hearing clients at some point in the future. One of the things I am doing in order to reach that goal is to learn ASL as well as possible. I have only had the time to take classes up through ASL 2, but I've been told that my signing is more advanced than that.
I'm looking for signing buddies in the Sacramento area. I go to a sign language group once a week, but most of the people there are still learning the ABCs, and I need practice with fluent signers - or at least, signers who will give me more of a challenge since I take to languages quickly. Is there anyone in this community who lives somewhere near me and would be interested in meeting up for coffee sometime to chat? I'm a bisexual(ish) guy who's happily married to his husband, so I'm not looking for anything beyond friendship. I just want to learn more ASL and meet members of the Deaf community in a more natural environment until I can continue my classes!
In case anyone asks, I am on the email lists for the local Deaf center, and go to events when I can, but I'm looking for something more.
Any takers? The coffee's on me!
THE TV LIESSS!
14-Mar-10
I rented a movie on RogersOnDemand that said it had captioning, which we PAY FOR.
We go to watch the movie and there's no captioning! Uugh.
We called the cable company and it's HOPEFULLY been sorted out. Won't know for sure until the bill comes in to see if they've been up to any sneakiness.
UUGH. I was ready to call myself and holler at them.
Has that ever happened to you?! UUUGH *urge to kill RISING*
(x-posted from Deaf comm *& my LJ)
Camping with hearing aids
10-Mar-10
I am going to be camping next week. I will be without power for the hearing aid dryer I normally use. Does anyone have suggestions for a work around? I have micro molds for my Oticon Delta's.
On being stuck in a hearing world..
04-Feb-10
It kinda frustrates me sometimes. I was four when I lost a good chunk of my hearing, and I could already speak and read fairly well, thanks to my mother relentlessly teaching me with flashcards. I wish I had been taught ASL from an early age...I feel like I'm straddling two worlds-the d/Deaf & the hearing world. I sound like a hearing person, but I don't hear as well as the average person and sometimes it shows. And then there's the fact that I am given the expectations to hear as well as a hearing person, or to function as well as a hearing person, and am treated differently all the while. Some people start enunciating their words at me, or they yell, or they just assume I'm completely deaf and start gesturing at me, expecting me to understand their clumsy gestures, and responding with either pity or frustration. I HATE that. I hate pity. Being hard of hearing isn't the great, grand tragedy that most hearing people think it is. I don't remember hearing in both ears. I don't remember not having a hearing aid. I don't even remember the exact moment where I lost most of my hearing. I'm not missing out on anything. I'm not sad about the fact that I have to wear a hearing aid to communicate effectively with others. I'm just frustrated about the fact that I feel stuck between the d/Deaf and the Hearing world, and that I'm missing out on so much of the d/Deaf world, and d/Deaf culture because I was never taught ASL as a child, and what little ASL I was taught is starting to slip from my memory. I don't know any d/Deaf people so I never get to practise. I also can't afford ASL classes.
Sometimes I wanna just take my hearing aid out and then go about in the world as a mostly d/Deaf person, but then my lack of skill at ASL becomes starkly noticeable. Then I remember that a good chunk of the Deaf community in Moncton gathers at Champlain Mall on Friday evenings and I really want to go, because it's PERFECT for learning new signs and getting more practise. THEN I start to imagine myself being nervous and flustered and making an ass of myself because that's happened so many times in the past at Deaf Camp, at the ASL class I used to go to, and when I was in high school and went to the APSEA building in Halifax to meet other d/Deaf & hard of hearing people nearly every year until I was about seventeen. I really do know JUST enough ASL to make basic conversation, but I often forget it when I'm put on the spot. I get awkward and start speaking or writing notes back and forth because that's what I'm used to.
I want to MOVE from this and LEARN ASL fluently so I can feel less stuck and less frustrated and less inept in the hearing world. d/Deaf culture/history is so awesome and I want to be a part of it. But what if I'm not even accepted within the d/Deaf community because I function too well as a hard of hearing person, or of I speak too well, or something? I doubt myself. I get insecure. I don't know what to do, how to move past this...
Damn this lump in my throat.
(Cross-posted from my LJ and hard_of_hearing)
Otosclerosis?
02-Feb-10
10 years ago I had strange noises in my left ear, but the audiologists and doctors I saw couldn't nail down what it was. For the past couple years I've noticed a marked difference in the hearing between my left and right ear and after a comedy of errors (THREE TIMES people telling me it was due to ear wax buildup, removing any earwax and me still having a problem with hearing in that ear), I've been diagnosed with Otosclerosis.
Eventually I'll have surgery (a stapedectomy, likely, which is removing the stapes bone and replacing it with a prosthetic device). But right now they've decided that my hearing loss isn't quite bad enough to warrant it. I somewhat beg to differ as I struggle to understand people in daily life, but I'm scared to DEATH of surgery.
Does anyone else have Otosclerosis here? Or had surgery to fix it? My Dad did many years ago (like 30+ years) and he is now completely deaf in that ear. From what I understand complications can be common with this surgery and can result in complete deafness in the ear.
This scares me for one main reason: I'm a musician (classical, teach at a university, and I also play Irish traditional music in my spare time). The thought of losing all hearing in that ear is frightening and while I'm glad this possibly can be corrected with a 100% (or nearly so) return of hearing in that ear, I also know it could result in complete deafness in that ear.
I'm looking for any experiences anyone might have with this.
I'm also wondering if a hearing aid could be helpful until I get the surgery or if this isn't something that hearing aids would be able to touch. I have some trouble with understanding people when they speak to me, especially men. I can hear that they're speaking but the words aren't clear unless they speak up. It's made for a lot of frustrations lately as I have to ask people to repeat themselves over and over again. So if a hearing aid could be of potential use for this I'd happily pursue it until surgery is needed.
Thanks for any help anyone can give me!
Kind of a weird question...
27-Jan-10
Can someone tell me, show me, or link me to how to ask for emergency help in ASL? Things like "I need help," "I'm scared," etc. I don't know any ASL, but I know it's becoming more and more common and a lot of people know it now... I don't know, I think it would be useful if I ended up in a sketchy situation. (Which seems to happen to me a lot.) And even if it wouldn't actually be useful, I think I'd be more comfortable if I knew how to do it.
I hope I'm not like being politically incorrect here. :/
Hearing aids shenanigans
20-Jan-10
So, my audiologist apparently oversold my hearing aids battery life by, oh, about 50%, which means that they basically go through batteries in 6-7 days rather than his stated 10. And that's with wearing them barely 8 hours a day. So yeah, for the time being I'm kind of resigned (lol) to wear them even less, and keep them mostly for school and the odd family event where me not having them is likely to cause drama (anything involving grandparents, more or less). The only problem being that for the time being, I told myself I'd be a good girl and listen to my audiologist for the first month, wear them intensively, go see him, and then slink gradually into bad habits. Part of the problem I have with that is that I've already more or less planned for a 500$ batteries budget (apparently they're made of unicorn poop), which is already rather much to spend on that. So if anyone had any tips to get longer life out of these batteries, I'd be super thankful :) (I already keep them stocked in the freezer, plus it's winter and it's Canada so yeah).
On a happy sidenote: OMG I HAVE MY FIRST CLASSES WITH TERPS - I used to be resigned to lipread my way through college, then I had a talk with the head of our school's interpretation services, then we decided to do a test, I felt reassured, and so far, I've got like... I went from more or less one page or two a class to a dozen pages of notes, and I have classes with more (and better) notes than a full semester in prior years, in two weeks :D - in short: I am stoked, it's night and day.
what is this?
20-Jan-10
As a certified massage therapist, I have to renew my certification every four years. It is now that time, so I went looking through the board's website for information on how to do so. The website, however, is very vague and uninformative about the process, so I decided to call before sending money to the wrong person.
I call and wait for a "customer service representative". After a few moments, the phone is answered by a woman who introduces herself very quickly and not nearly loudly enough. I have a moderate-severe hearing loss - and my hearing aids are broken right now - so I asked her if she could please speak up and indicated that I had a hearing loss and was having trouble understanding her. Note that I've called other establishments (like my university) also today and have no trouble hearing and understanding them on the phone. So it wasn't a "just me" thing.
The woman, in return, becomes very snippy and says sarcastically, "So you didn't hear anything that I just said?" (and she had only been speaking for about five seconds, so it's not like I let her go on for minutes). She sighs loudly and repeats herself, but is not as "pleasant" as she was when she first answered the phone and still continued to mumble on some parts. Finally I just gave up because I didn't want to put up with her anymore - but should I report her to her supervisor?
ipod headphones?
06-Jan-10
my mother has bilateral cochlear implants, and my brother bought her an ipod nano for xmas, she asked me to find some headphones thatll useful for the implants, pls give me some suggestions
Hearing aid cleaner and storage box
28-Dec-09
My audiologist has suggested I get a cleaning and storage box. Specifically one that drys them as well as hits them with UV light for cleaning. Does anyone here have suggestions on which ones to get (or avoid)? I have Oticon Delta's with micro-molds.
24-Dec-09
i neeeed advice...
If any of you who are still in college?!?! this question if for you.
I did miserable in my class this semester, what i need is any tips etc.. for those of you who have cochlear implants in one or both ears? how do you cope? what are study aids that help you? how do you make your profesoor understand that they need to give you a lil special treatment? just anything!! i dont wanna be kicked outta college, and im trying to get a bachelors degree? ugh..
merry christmas to you all. bleh! sucky christmas.
02-Dec-09
i am deaf, and i cant use the telephone yet.. its very frustrating, i dont know how to use relay services, and i would love to be able to phone doctors offices, and etc.. even my own grandparents in fla and even just my own parents.
i am cochlear implants patient... i would like to call disney and seriously, have them reconsider me as an applicant for their college program for spring semester 2010. bleh.
help please!
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