A more silent world

First vlog
A more silent world I decided to do an introduction vlog now that my first year of classes are done. I took three 8-week classes at a local Deaf association. The classes met for 2 hours per week and we finished the blue "Signing Naturally" book. We are meeting once a week during the summer to "just chat" so we don't lose too much before the next class starts in Septembertranscript:Hi,...
Language Education Mon, Jun 30 2008 hide this blog

Charity starts in the.... desert?
A more silent world Something RLM said to me in another blog made me think. Some organizations/states/whatever cover the costs of CI and hearing aids while they don't cover the cost of equally useful tools for Deaf like Sidekicks, etc.This brings up a much larger point, though. I read that the worldwide demand for CI is about $200 million. And if 1 of every 10 people in HoH in the US,...
Tech Sat, May 03 2008 hide this blog

ASL class ending next week--boo
A more silent world I have really enjoyed learning ASL every week for the last 8 months. It has been truly helpful, and now I can see how far I've come, and see just how far I must go. My teacher was wonderfully patient for our class, and really helpful. I think we started with about 20 people, and now we end with 9. Sad, but I believe the remaining 9 will all take the 2nd level clas...
Language Education Wed, Apr 30 2008 hide this blog

My world got a little quieter
A more silent world So time flies, and my current hearing aids are 4 years old when it seems like I got them yesterday. The aid from my better ear quit working well, so I sent it in yesterday. I will enroll for a 2009 flexible spending account to get a new set of ears next year. It's pretty amazing how far things have come since I got my first set in 1999. I had the Widex Senso+ CIC ...
Tech Wed, Apr 30 2008 hide this blog

ASL Journey - Equal Footing
A more silent world My ASL class has been going almost 7 months now and I feel really encouraged. The class is much smaller now than when it began, but I think we are all doing pretty well. Something occurred to me while I was watching tonight, though. It is now nearly as easy for me to understand ASL as it is for me to understand spoken English.In everyday conversations with stranger...
Language Education Mon, Apr 07 2008 hide this blog

My daughter's first sign
A more silent world My daughter knows a couple signs now, but it is still hard because she often doesn't realize I am identifying something. It should get easier soon, as her spoken language is taking off like a rocket now.
Sun, Feb 17 2008 hide this blog

The use of AND and OR in ASL?
A more silent world Can someone help me out with a curiosity I have please? My ASL class has been going now for about 4 weeks and I am thoroughly enjoying it, but I don't understand the use of AND and OR in ASL (or if they are omitted).Are they used, or is the meaning conveyed otherwise using non-manual markers or different syntax? For example, in English I would say something like "Wo...
Language Tue, Oct 16 2007 hide this blog

How to oppose CI in infants?
A more silent world I was watching Seek Geo's vlog about this topic, and it occurred to me that yes, someone needs to provide the crucial information to parents and doctors who don't know that they and their child do have a choice. Yeah, it makes sense to have Deafies fulfill this role in a sense, but where are all the people who have been implanted without their desire or consent? [...]
Language Audism Tech Culture Tue, Sep 04 2007 hide this blog

ASL and SEE - a continuum?
A more silent world In the past couple months, I have been watching an increasing number of vlogs with variable hit rate on comprehension. At the same time I am studying a couple books, one which delves heavily into ASL syntax.One thing I notice is that there SEEMS to be quite a bit of acceptable syntax variability between signers. Do signers all fall somewhere on a continuum between [...]
Language Mon, Aug 06 2007 hide this blog

Could air travel be any less HoH friendly??
A more silent world I had to travel coast-to-coast yesterday returning from a very short-duration trip. For this reason my packing was extremely light and not well-thought-out. When I first arrived at the airport, one of my ear batteries died...doh. Oh please please please don't let the other one die. I checked all the stores in the terminal, and of course they don't carry ear [...]
Mon, Jul 23 2007 hide this blog

Why can't captions look pretty?
A more silent world I use captions for TV and home movies. That being said, I was truly shocked the first time I watched a DVD on my Mac--the captions were utterly beautiful. Nice, anti-aliased font, partially transparent font background, and all of this is customizable!Technology is sufficiently advanced at this point that there is really no reason not to expect pretty captions, but [...]
Tech Thu, Jul 19 2007 hide this blog

What does equal communication access mean to ME?
A more silent world I think it's a very hard question to answer. I believe Deaf, deaf, and HoH must make a united stand on this issue to ensure that we ALL get equal communication access, but I know the access needs differ for each of those groups. The hearing population is obviously by and large ignorant of our needs, so I believe a united front gives us the best chance to making [...]
Tue, Jul 17 2007 hide this blog

Caption frustrations at work
A more silent world So my company, who shall remain nameless, rolled out a mandatory training video about respect in the workplace, discrimination, and harassment. The video had no captions, and no DVD with captions was available to borrow. I asked for a transcript and was told one was not available.I watched the video at my desk, which must have annoyed my coworkers (high volume), and [...]
Mon, Jul 16 2007 hide this blog

ASL class!!
A more silent world After searching every local college and university, I found a local Deaf organization that offers very reasonably priced ASL classes. Hopefully it fits into my fall schedule.I am really enjoying watching peoples' vlogs. Between Signing Naturally, Lifeprint, and ASL Pro dictionary I feel like I am actually "getting" much more over the last month. I am still amazed [...]
Mon, Jul 16 2007 hide this blog

Random curiosities
A more silent world I use captions on TV/cable for basically everything because my speech discrimination isn't all that great at normal volumes, so I know how invaluable they are. I also wish there were more open-captioned movies in theaters. But, having recently learned that some portion of the Deaf community isn't completely fluent in English, I have to wonder how beneficial the [...]
Mon, Jul 16 2007 hide this blog

ASL progress!
A more silent world I am loving watching vlogs. Favorites so far: pickled-relish, SeekGeo, and ABC. I definitely feel progress in how many signs I am able to catch, which is very encouraging. We bought a video camera to film our baby, so maybe I will post a vlog introducing myself in the next month or so--still very shaky on ASL word order so I will work on that a bit more before [...]
Mon, Jul 16 2007 hide this blog

A new hearie in the Deaf world
A more silent world So I have been toying around with learning ASL for quite some time now. I tend to be a very busy guy, so I make sure I am fully interested in something before I commit--doing something half-ass is not my style.I was born with hearing loss that has progressed more rapidly than I would have liked. I have had hearing aids for 8 years now and they are a tremendous help. [...]
Mon, Jul 16 2007 hide this blog