InMyLingo Blog

Is Budapest a step closer to the home of summer Deaflympics?

dfman18@gmail.com — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:54:00 -0400

The news is spreading that Budapest may be the host city for the 2013 Summer Deaflympics. After much difficulty trying to secure a location for the games, maybe Budapest, Hungary will be the answer.

http://www.h3.tv/deaflympics/h3-special-reportage-of-deaflympics-2013-from-budapest-hungary/

Can Deaf and Hohs take foreign language courses?

dfman18@gmail.com — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:34:00 -0400

What are reasonable accommodations for deaf and hard of hearing students in foreign language courses?

"Many secondary and postsecondary institutions have foreign language requirements that students must satisfy prior to graduation or for satisfactory completion of a program. This requirement applies to all students but fulfilling those requirements for a student who is deaf or hard of hearing may not be possible due to their hearing loss."

For more, go to http://www.pepnet.org/faq/faq18.asp

Students education denied because of her deafness

dfman18@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 07:01:00 -0400

"The Kanawha County (in W.VA) school board has denied a deaf student's transfer to South Charleston High School because the school doesn't (or wouldn't) offer the services (interpreters) she requires." http://t.co/8rw5Bng

According to Maria, a local interpreter in West Virginia it appears to be a common practice in Kanawha County and perhaps in West Virginia. Her deaf daughter was a victim too.

"Kanawha County continually does these things, and kids are left without interpreters. My daughter used to attend Kanawha County Schools. We moved to another county, and have been fighting there for 5 years for a qualified interpreter. I've had to home school one year; the next year for the first 2 weeks, they had no interpreter and they expected me to volunteer until they could find one. (Knowing they wouldn't look for any other interpreter, I didn't, of course.) Then there were two years of a qualified interpreter, but he quit. Since I'm the only educational interpreter in the county, this will be my second year of interpreting for my own daughter, because they refuse to do more than post the position in county. And since this is a HUGE conflict of interest, I don't feel like I can advocate for her against the school. I'm employed there and it would be too easy to use the things I learn while interpreting, which would go against my ethics and code of conduct. Her father has had to take that on by himself now. It's a huge mess. I've even let my "paraprofessional" certificate the school needs to expire. This way, on paper I'm not qualified anymore and they have to post my position again, but it hasn't been, of course. Now the school itself is amazing, and everyone "gets it" there and understands at school I'm NOT mom, but the county needs to get its act together."

After reading Maria’s comments, I was curious and wanted to find out more concerning her problem. I followed up some more and she was kind enough to answer a few of my questions to help clarify the situation. Here are her responses to my questions.

What is the name of the school and county where you are having problems?
“We are in Evans, WV. It is Jackson County Schools.”

What defense does the county use for not trying to find a qualified interpreter (that is not related to your family)?
“The county says they have been making a "good faith effort" to find a qualified interpreter. This has consisted only of posting the job opening in the county. Although lists of contacts for interpreters, agencies, and ITP programs have been provided, there hasn't been any effort made in contacting any of them. I do know that most qualified interpreters in our state choose to stay away from educational interpreting for several reasons, including the low salaries, extra duties assigned, and unqualified "sign language specialists" making more money because they have been there longer. That's a whole other issue, though! “

Have you tried any legal action against the county?
“I have not tried legal action, only threatened to do so. I have let my state paraprofessional certificate expire now so, by law, they are required to find someone to fill my position again. That still hasn't helped. I told the county I would apply for my new certificate and continue working for them with another student after they found someone. There is even another qualified interpreter that used to work for this county who is unhappy at the neighboring county. No attempt to contact him has been made so far, and our personnel director knows the interpreter wants to leave his current county. Since I want to work in the schools and prefer to be close to home for my kids, I don't want to have to fight with the county for which I'd like to work. My husband has had to take on advocating himself. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place! “

How does your daughter feel about the situation?
“I can't tell you how my daughter feels. I can tell you she cried before school started this year because she didn't want me interpreting for her again. She said that she preferred to have different interpreters each year so she could see different styles and learn new things. I can ask her to e-mail you later through my email address her thoughts and feelings if you wish.”

Do you think this problem has had an adverse affect on your daughter schooling?
“As far as her schooling and the effect the whole mess has had on it, I'm not sure how to answer that. Her grades haven't changed enough to notice. I try hard to keep everything separate, and I'm interpreter only at school. The only real difference I see is testing. If I were with any other student and they were taking a test, I would interpret a written test question if that student requested (depending on the test, circumstance, etc). Then if the student needed further clarification, I would have that student address the teacher. With my own daughter, I have her address the teacher first if she has a question about a test question so there is no doubt the answers are coming from the student. I try to stand at the other end of the room during testing, and for the standardized tests, I didn't even enter the room where she tested. There was, however a DHH teacher who signed who administered that test, so she wasn't cut off from communication.

The first several weeks I interpreted were much more difficult. She didn't understand that I couldn't be mom and fix drama issues between her friends. She kept wanting to act as if she were home and could chit-chat with me during class. I had to explain that I was just like her old interpreters, and if she's signing, them I'm voicing what she signs. It took a few voicings for her to realize that I meant it, and then she started understanding the difference between mom and interpreter. The teachers had to explain the the other kids that they could tattle on her and she really would get into trouble at school whether the mother was here or not. Little things like that come up now and then, but overall it hasn't been as bad I had anticipated.

I know you come from the interpreter's perspective, but I hope you can see it from a parent's perspective. I hate to tell other interpreters what I'm doing now, because I don't even agree with it on a professional standpoint. That said, as a parent I can't afford to let my daughter fall behind in school unless she does that on her own. Thanks in advance for your understanding.”

Maria, I understand the difficulty of your situation. I sympathize with the problem you have had in finding a qualified interpreter for your daughter. Trust me; I come from a Deaf person’s perspective when it comes to dealing with interpreters. I did have interpreters in my classrooms and not all of them were THAT great...This made for some nightmares to remember for the rest of my life, so I can imagine how difficult it would be for your daughter.

I wonder if any of our readers could give any advice to help Maria with her problem???

Additionally, I looked up for other nearby interpreters using my website, InMyLingo. There are 3 other interpreters within 50 miles and 20 interpreters within 100 miles...

My website, InMyLingo, is designed to help people find qualified interpreters. It’s a common problem that deaf folks or others needing an Interpreter don't have a good single source through which to find interpreters or agencies, as well as other needs related to communication such as Video Relay Systems. That is why I created InMyLingo, to help people find qualified interpreters.

(video in ASL version)

Sean Berdy on Keith Wann's ASL Radio

dfman18@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:27:00 -0400

Sean Berdy, from ABC's Family hit summer show - "Switched at Birth", will be on Keith Wann's ASL radio show - for more information go to http://aslradio.keithwann.com/ Sept 21st, Weds night 8 to 9 pm EST. Tune in audio or follow along with our live captioning!

Sean Berdy on Keith Wann's ASL radio show

------ Keith Wann's comments below ------

We will also be announcing the winners of the ASL Awards (Vote now!!)

First Annual coda365 ASL Awards!

coda365 is thrilled to announce our first ASL awards show! And we need your help to make this a success. We have several categories that are presented below. Please send your nominations to Votes@coda365.org. We will then on September 14, take the top three candidates from each category and send the list to our newsletter for a final vote. The winners will be announced on the Weekly ASL Radio show "That Keith Wann Show" (http://toginet.com/shows/thatkeithwannshowculturalbridges) on September 21, 2011 8pm EST. All winners will receive a certificate and a trophy!

(Note: coda365 Founders Keith Wann and Windell "Wink" Smith Jr do not qualify for nominations and cannot win an award. Nominations can be Deaf, Hearing, CODAs, and Non-CODAs)

ASL Teacher (teaching ASL)
ASL workshop presenter (to interpreters)
ASL poet
ASL comedian/storyteller
ASL advocate
ASL interpreter
ASL radio guest on Keith Wann's ASL Radio show
ASL vlogger
ASL cartoonist
ASL owned business
ASL role model
ASL painter
ASL actor
ASL movie
ASL tv show
ASL youtube artist
ASL memory (deceased ASL user) (Award and Certificate will be given to next of kin)
ASL student

And finally the "coda365 Award" will be awarded to the person that has contributed to the ASL world, think of this as an ASL lifetime achievement award. Those nominating must submit a brief letter explaining why the person they nominated deserves this award. (NOTE: Alexander Graham Bell does not qualify for this award.) The person who wins this award will have a $365 dollar donation in their name towards a KODA camp.

Remember submit your votes before September 14, 2011. Send your nominations to Votes@coda365.org

Who will host Deaflympics 2013?????

dfman18@gmail.com — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:21:00 -0400

Logo of Deaflympics

The Deaflympics continue to encounter road blocks in finding a location for the soon approaching 2013 Summer Deaflympics. Greece, the original location for the next summer Olympics, cancelled their plans to host the sporting event due to financial problems in the country. Turkey made an offer to host the games after Greece withdrew its offer. Now the Deaflympics Committee has been notified that Turkey has withdrawn its bid to host the games. They are also explaining the cancellation is due to a financial crisis in their country. Hopefully this dilemma can be resolved soon!

Article:
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=78003

(video in ASL)

A great joke for everyone!!!!!!

dfman18@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:45:00 -0400

How about a break from all the craziness in life and enjoy a joke. :-)

-----------------------

Dear Dad,

$chool i$ really great. I am making lot$ of friend$ and $tudying very hard. With all my $tuff, I $imply can`t think of anything I need. $o if you would like, you can ju$t $end me a card, a$ I would love to hear from you.

Love,

Your $on

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The Reply:

Dear Son,

I kNOw that astroNOmy, ecoNOmics, and oceaNOgraphy are eNOugh to keep even an hoNOr student busy. Do NOt forget that the pursuit of kNOwledge is a NOble task, and you can never study eNOugh.

Love,

Dad

Quiet Signs of Love

dfman18@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:25:00 -0400

Quiet Signs of Love was a response to a call from the National Relay Service to filmmakers to make a video to help promote the service to young deaf Australians.

Quiet Signs of Love from ikonfilm on Vimeo.

After looking into deaf youth, I realized that I wanted to make a film that worked on several levels.

I wanted young deaf people to feel the film's story represents their attitudes
I wanted the film to be a way for deaf people to explain their deaf culture and pride to their hearing friends
I wanted hearing people to understand and respect deaf people a little more and to challenge their own misconceptions.
I wanted a story whose heart shared the heart of the National Relay service, connecting deaf and hearing worlds.]

After going through many stories and many drafts, and speaking to many people the script evolved so it could do al these things.

The response to the film has been amazing. and I am really happy that its has achieved many of these things. Many hearing people feel they understand the deaf people they meet better, many people have been inspired to learn sign language and many deaf people feel that they have a way to explain their deafness to hearing friends. It has crystallized unstated frustrations and conflicts that lie within and between people around deafness.

Many many people have asked for more. The National Relay Service may consider it if they do another campaign, but there has not been any serious discussion.

I have collated many stories and have enough material to begin to think about a feature film that can go much further than this film in dealing with deaf issues, although this would be unrelated to the NRS and would be my own initiative. I am considering three different storylines, each quite powerful and a deep exploration of ideas around identity, language, miscommunication and relationships through the lens of deafness. These are just 5 page treatments so far and I haven’t explored taking it further yet. I might do so in a year or two.

Let me know your thoughts!

John Nikolakopoulos - Director - ikonfilm

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Quiet Signs of Love Interview with Bethany Robinson from ikonfilm on Vimeo.

(ASL version of the blog)

Why The World is Not Flat and Cochlear Implants are Logical

tedjcohen@comcast.net — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:23:00 -0400

"Why The World is Not Flat and Cochlear Implants are Logical"

by Ted

A native standing on the beach sees only the straight line horizon and assures himself and his tribe that the world must be flat. Although his boat could ride the open seas, that native never sailed out of sight of the shore because he was complacent with what he had and feared some peril in the unknown. People have feared the consequences of a flat Earth for thousands of years and only since Columbus and Sputnick have we had the technology to demonstrate we live on a globe and the logic to improve our condition by exploration.

In a similar way, there is a tribe of deaf society who are complacent to to the effects of their condition and who believe that anything that mitigates their deafness is as illogical and perilous as ship ride beyond the shoreline.

All manifestations of deaf / hard of hearing are medically defined as a physical defect; not unlike some of the dozens of ailments of the human condition vested on us by our genes or by our environment. There are many social points of view as to whether a physical defect like deafness or impaired vision or ADD or sickle cell or Down Syndrome actually creates a medical disability. What is indisputable is that all of these ailments affect their bearer and regardless of how we define a disability , the underlying fact that there is a physical defect. So for the million people afflicted with the sickle cell gene which has no obvious social consequences, but which certainly affects the life of the carrier.

Therefore, I am not able to understand those deaf people who believe deafness has no consequences. They shun hearing society and they decry any medical device, or any treatment or any intervention that might lessen their physical affliction and it's effects. When I see some misguided soul preaching against cochlear implants as unnatural and unproven intervention, he is the tribesman looking at the flat horizon and warning his people not to leave the shore. ( Yet that same preacher is "unnaturally" wearing eyeglasses, texting unnaturally in English on his smartphone, dosing unnatural prescription antibiotics and unnaturally recoloring his skin with a tat. ) Those people may debate my motives, but I have witnessed the outcome of cochlear implantation and the logic of exploring that technology is as irrefutable as sailing beyond the shoreline.

My child had a Cochlear Implant when he was 10 years old and it was the vehicle that changed his life. It did not change his deafness or his deaf awareness or transfer him to the hearing population. But like using eyeglasses for poor vision, like prescribing insulin for a diabetic, like surgical correction for cleft palate, his cochlear implant created an opportunity to mitigate the physical affliction of being deaf. In the case of my child, he acquired English as a second conversant language and to was able to participate in areas that would otherwise have been nearly inaccessible. Ultimately, my child chose not to use his implant, but the opportunities afforded him in the years as he made his way to that decision are not wasted. The cochlear implant did not make him less deaf; it made his deafness less consequential. Fifteen years later as I compare my son’s abilities and achievements to his deaf peers who were not given that opportunity to lessen the effects ... there is just no contest.

DeafMD.org; WebMD for the Deaf

dfman18@gmail.com — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:15:00 -0400

DeafMD.org is a great website I recently stumbled on while looking for doctors that are Deaf-friendly. It's a site ready to serve the needs of the Deaf Community by providing medical information in ASL videos. Keep reading if you want to find the team behind this awesome website.

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1) Is this a Deaf-owned company? (If yes, who's the name)? Are there any Deaf / HoH employees?

The DeafMD Foundation has been established as a component fund of a Community Foundation, allowing us to operate under a 501c3 (non-profit) umbrella while we raise initial funds, develop contacts, and create our own board. The concept of DeafMD.org started with a hearing person, who works as a physician's assistant in an emergency department in the Baltimore-Washington Metro area; however, we are a team of 4 volunteers, 3 of whom are Deaf/HoH. Currently, we are completely self-funded (no grants) by "extra" money our founder can set aside from his primary job as a physician's assistant. (They all wish to be anonymous).

2) What does the MD stands for in DeafMD?

DeafMD.org is a play on words based on the online healthcare website WebMD.com. It is our desire to be THE online health education resource for the Deaf/HoH community, therefore, we often identify ourselves as a "WebMD for the Deaf, with all of the information provided through video in ASL".

3) What inspired you to start your own DeafMD.org?

DeafMD.org began as a graduate school thesis. During the founder's first year of graduate school, he was challenge to meet the needs of an underserved community. During a church service, the sign language interpreter caught his eye and he began to research the needs of the community. As a result of his findings, he moved into Gallaudet to learn sign language, and then to Chicago to work with Mt. Sinai's Deaf Access Program. To meet the health education needs of the Deaf community, to improve the health literacy, to eliminate health disparities, and to promote the overall health and wellness of our underserved population, he designed and developed the online health education resource, www.DeafMD.org. Again, with his personal finances, it took nearly 5 years to make it a reality. Since www.DeafMD.org launched in Sept 2008, we have welcomed over 180,000 visitors, had over 800,000 'hits', and enrolled over 15,000 subscribers to our free monthly e-newsletter. Additionally, 90% of the 3,700 individuals from a randomized, self-reported survey reported that DeafMD.org helps them better understand their health.

4) I see you do offer a directory of specialists who are considered "Deaf-friendly". I have 2 questions concerning this. How do you define "deaf-friendly?" Also how do you verify that they ARE Deaf-friendly?

Well, we rely on the input of the deaf community to help us recognize health care providers who ensure effective communication for them. Deaf Friendly to us means...that the doctor is willing to ensure effective communication for that patient. Usually this means that the providers will obtain a qualified interpreter on the patient's behalf. If a provider requests to be added to our list, we request references.

5) What is your ultimate goal for this website?

Our goal is to be THE online resource for the Deaf/HoH community to learn more about their health. There are other sites that offer cancer education, or genetics information, but we want to be THE trusted resource that has all of the information.

6) How do you expect to get donations to keep this running? Through medical associations / hospitals or through the people?

Many people have told our Founder that he should charge for providing this service, which he refuses to do. His standard reply is that "...hearing people don't have to pay to be educated about their health, so why should it be any different for a deaf person?" And I think that is commendable. Initially, our thought was that if every visitor would donate just $1, we would have enough money to cover all of the operating expenses and allow for growth and expansion of DeafMD.org. However, in 2 years, we have received less than $1,000 in support from our visitors. We have had over 20 grants rejected...but we continue to apply. We also hope to get hospitals on board with support. If we could get many hospitals to donate a little bit, rather than one hospital/association to donate a lot, we feel that would be a stronger and more well-received strategy.

7) What's your biggest challenge(s)?

The biggest challenge we face is a lack of funding. Without financial support, our site becomes stagnant, prohibiting growth.

8) Furthermore, without lack of fundings, how are you planning to keep up with the new technology on the Internet?

We will attempt to stay current through the same self-funded efforts that have brought us this far.

9) Lastly, I noticed there is no place for a person to visit your site and type in their questions such as forums / discussions / and so forth. I would assume it would help to build up a community and a better directory of medical tips?

Actually, visitors can use the contact us form (http://www.deafmd.org/content/contact/index.cfm) with questions. If we had a forum, discussions, etc, it hold the possibility of providing incorrect information or advice from other visitors. Additionally, it would cause our malpractice rates to skyrocket.

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Excellent! It's always a pleasure to get to know a bit more about the website and the people behind it. I certainly wish to see it continue to grow and serve Deaf people nationwide. Here is your chance to share your thoughts about this site!

Mao Zedong can cure Deaf-Mute...?

dfman18@gmail.com — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:20:00 -0400

So ridiculously amusing! You gotta watch the video! Mao Zedong, the dictator / communist / ruler of old China can cure / fix Deaf-Mutes???? Indeed, that's a great propaganda! (rolling eyes) :-)

Andrew's quick summary in ASL version

Mao Propaganda

Are there any other propaganda like this in the world???