FIRST OFF, A disclaimer. What you see and read below are my own opinion and my experience - not by Loyola or anybody.
This page is for anybody who wishes to know more about deafness and/or Hard-of-hearing from the perspective from a Hard-of-Hearing Deaf person. Here it goes . . .
First off, the cause of my deafness is unknown, and it is from birth. My parents are no stranger to the experience of deafness since they had 2 kids who are already deaf (1 born with it, and another became deaf at the age of 8 or 9).
I have heard that my parents had hard time getting info regarding deafness way back then, so they had to improvise what they can do. What they learned, they used it on the next kid. Both of my deaf brothers went to hearing schools, except for me. Somehow, they found Holy Trinity School for the Deaf - that's where I went, and where my life began.
The reason I started this page is to spread info for other young deaf/hoh kids, and/or their parents so they can use the benefit of my experiences. I will try to think of some stuff that might be related, and if there's anything missing that you want to know about, don't hestate to email me.
I have some residual hearing left - of course I wear hearing aids, and I can hear sounds like phone ringing, door slamming,etc. But I cannot hear high pitched sounds. I can hear voices, but I am unable to make out what was being said. At times, people usually say that I turned when they started talking and I heard what they said. Uh. I turned because I heard a sound and turned to locate it. I can usually guess what the sound was. I can Lip-read, and I can talk pretty good as well. Oh, about lip-reading -- keep in mind that it is not an exact science. There is no 100% procificent lip-reader. It requires concentration, and good guessing abilities. I can usually catch most of the conversation, and usually guess what I missed. I have been doing this all my life without the benefits of an interpreter, and it is very very tiresome. Why? Because of my total concentration - I have to really listen, match it with the lipreading, and whatever I can't figure out, I fill in the blanks. That is usually why I get tired out after a half day's worth of training - plus all that concentration plus the in-class work that I had to do. That is even bad - The minute I look away from the speaker to do work on my lab PC, I lose out on what the speaker was saying.
I hate going to parties - unless it is a deaf party. Why I hate parties? All those people talking at once - I cannot sort them out, and it is even worst trying to understand the person I am talking to in places like that. I usually try to pull the person out to more quiet area and then I am able to talk with the person.
I did never went to a sign language class. I learned from my classmates at Holy Trinity School for the Deaf. I wish to clarify "sign language" - it is a method of communication via gestures. Most hearing people ususally think it is one language, but it is not. It has various forms, but mostly, ASL which stands for American Sign Language. More to come - will try to provide links to related sites.
Last year and this year, I have attended a week long convention at Brainshare (given by Novell), which has about over 200 workshops in span of a week. I just sign up for the workshops that I want to take. But I had to remember to ask for ASL interpreter when I register, and I got them. Guess what? No headaches! Ah life! I was able to follow along and also enjoyed myself.
What does ASL as anything to do with me? Like I said at the beginning, I learned ASL at Holy Trinity School for the Deaf, and I never forgot to sign. I even found a Signed Mass which means that the priest was signing, and speaking at the same time. Once I got my signing bearings back, I thought to try out a sign language interpreter and see how it goes. It went perfectly! I was able to sit back and relax and watch the interpreter, and no headaches. So I request for interpreters for really big meetings or class/workshops.
This is a very heated debate about Cochlear Implants. I don't mind cochlear implants - I even tried out for it, but the tests showed that I got more use out of my then-current hearing-aids than I would do with a cochlear implant. They did something called simulated implant, and then compared the results. Like I said, the hearing aids came out on top. It was my own decision, and I knew what the surgery will do, etc. I know that it will NOT restore my hearing. I called cochlear implants an "glorifed" or fancy expensive hearing aid.
I do not like the idea of putting cochlear implants into children - if it was up to me, I would wait until the child reaches the maturity age of 18 (or 21), and have them make the decision.
Check out other options before restorting to CI. One thing - there will sacrafices to be made for the children -- there's a possibility that the child CANNOT play contact sports. Which means no hockey, baseball, football, or maybe even swimming. The only safe sport is probably bowling. So parents, if you are reading this, ask your doctors about this - and really think this over.
What can I say? It's the greatest. My parents brought the first TV that had the caption built in that was sold by Sears. That was when close-captioning just came out, and my mother knew it was a worthwhile to buy it for me and my other brother. It was great! My hearing family was also thankful - they don't have to tell us what the person is saying on tv... In other words, it was the end to the "What did he/she say?", "What is going on?", etc.
Terms to be aware of -- regular captions, and real-time captions: Regular captions mostly used for all - most movie videos, and most TV shows. It shows on screen the same time the talker is saying. Real-time captioning --- usually seen during "live" events. For this, this requires the use of a court reporter (stenographer) so they can punch in what the person is saying, so it usually comes a second or two after the person said the words.
DVD - I was a little hestitant to get DVDs since I read that it is not very good, and I noticed it has something called "subtitles" features, but subtitles and close-captioning are not the same. Subtitles will only show what the actor/actress/thing was saying, but not the background noise. But close-captioning does. Like phone ringing, etc. I used to buy videos just like a person buying records etc. Now, I buy DVDs. It is pretty cool! I found out that some subtitles work like close-captioning while others don't.
Most people usually ask me how the heck do I get up in the morning? Well, my first alarm clock was my mother. I usually fight her when I wanted to sleep, and she wants me to wake up to go to school. She usually thinks of something to get me up. Lord forbid that I sleep on my stomach - otherwise she will give me a good smack on my behind, and as a reflex, I hit the headboard. Ouch!
Oh my mother was very funny at times when the humor gets to her (which is often). I don't know where she got the bright idea of taping my eyelids shut then wake me up. Agghh!! I am blind. But I didn't panic. I figured if I was blind, I don't have to go to school. Then I found the tape on my eyes. Drats!
I got my first electronic alarm clock for a graduation gift. It consisted of an alarm clock with an outlet at the back of it and a big motor mounted on plywood. Uh. When it shakes, it shook the whole freakin' house.
Now I am using multi-function alarm clock which flashes when the phone rings, door bell rings, sound monitor goes off, and also have a motion sensor accessory. Reason I needed this kind of alarm clock 'cause often times I am on-call, and they will call me no matter what. A few times the operations area calls me 2am to tell me that one of the servers are down. The bed shakes when the phone rings, so now you know what I mean.
If I am on one campus while the rest of them at Lake Shore Campus, and the rest at Maywood? We primarily use Groupwise Email system to communicate. I also have a tty in my office, but rarely used. I get by using ICQ which I login and stay on, and my collegues know that I am easily reachable via ICQ. It is to be used as work only.
Also, I can be reached via wyndtell pager too, so my collegues can reach me that way too.
Let me get my thoughts together on this. so Watch this space!
Umm. Am thinking of what to put here. Like I said, watch this space! :)
