Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother

Famous CODAs
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Decided to take a break for myself while kiddies are at day camp and surf the internet. I was originally looking up famous Oklahomans and found one famous actor who's also a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult) and decided to compile a list of other CODAs. - Lon Chaney - "The Man of a Thousand Faces", well known as the Phantom in "Phantom of the Opera" (1...
Culture Fri, Jul 18 2008 hide this blog

Nothing Lost - Nothing Gained
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother This has been my mantra all afternoon last Friday and a good part of last weekend. I was at the eye doctor last Friday in the hope of improving my eyesight like I researched in my last posting. Turns out he wouldn't recommend implanted lens for me because: 1) too nearsighted for help (my prescription for glasses is -7.00 and -5.00) 2) retinas are too long and thin 3...
Culture Fri, Jun 13 2008 hide this blog

Scam Artists and Disabilities
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother For as long as time itself, people have taken advantage of various disabilities to gain monies, things, or "just for a good laugh". From the classic person on the street corner with sunglasses and a cup of pencils or "fingerspelling cards" for money; to "kids" calling themselves on relay so they can make up the stupidest calls to hear th...
Audism Culture Mon, May 19 2008 hide this blog

What to do???
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Been a busy couple of months here in Oklahoma! Finally got my Permanent Resident card from Immigrations back in January. Then went to get my SSN # (thats SIN # for you canucks). Started job hunting with hardly any luck, living in a town of 5,000 people with the big companies being WalMart, Lowe's and Walgreen's. Got a call from Walgreen's to come in and finish th...
Higher Education Audism Mon, May 12 2008 hide this blog

The CI Debate
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother It's been awhile since I posted last. Been busy being Mommy. I survived March Break and hung up my Referee shirt. After separating arguing kids all week I go online to DeafRead and see "arguing" about CIs, ASL, "CI people treated differently" etc. etc. So I'm putting on my Referee shirt again and jumping in the middle (snickering). Here's my &quo...
Language Audism Tech Culture Fri, Mar 28 2008 hide this blog

DeafBlind Access - Where??? (Part 2)
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother (Rod Sterling's Voice) "..... This is the dimension of imagination. It is the area which we call....The Twilight Zone" (Spooky music) In an apartment, a DB person is watching TV via her "CaptionBrailler", finds out the weather will be sunny all day. She collects her "CommuniBraille" and her computerized white cane and heads out on her er...
Media Language Tech Culture Sat, Mar 01 2008 hide this blog

The Natural Urge to "Gawk"
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Being a person with two disabilities I've grown up with "gawkers". You know the type, people that just have to stop what they're doing and stare at you. It's a fact of life for people with different disabilities. Whether you're Deaf, Blind, in a wheelchair, a little person, missing a limb, or have scars - you've lived with being stared at. The majority...
Language Culture Fri, Feb 29 2008 hide this blog

DeafBlind Communication - Addedum
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Adding one more form of communication: 4. Oral method. There are "DB" people who do learn to speak. Even Helen Keller learned how to speak and gave oral presentations all across the country. I am oral too, spoken English was my first language. I've been oral since I got my hearing aids at 2 years old (and my father would say that I haven't shut up since). Do...
Culture Fri, Feb 29 2008 hide this blog

DeafBlind Access - Where??? (Part One)
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother The other day I did an internet search for DeafBlind Accessibility products I was suprised to find it amazingly limited! On one Accessibility Products "Vendor" site, there's about 200 products for "Deaf or Hard of Hearing" such as: ttys, videophones, visual alerts, pagers, volume controls, amplifiers, closed captioned televisions, captioned phones...
Media Language Tech Culture Tue, Feb 26 2008 hide this blog

DeafBlind Communication
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother There are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the US (according to the National Federation of the Blind). There are approximately 1 million "functionally deaf" people and 8 million "hard of hearing" people in the US (according to a Gallaudet study). There are approximately 70,000 DeafBlind people in the US (according to t...
Language Tech Culture Mon, Feb 25 2008 hide this blog

What's with the Nick??
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Hi, Ever wonder what's with the Nickname Rusty_Coyote?? Well sit back and I'll tell you the tale.... Way back I was on CompuServe (Gawd do you remember that??) and my original nickname was TCB. For my initials as well as "Taking Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (think you can sign that one MikeSZZ??). I met a guy online by the nick of RandyCyoT....
Tech Sat, Feb 23 2008 hide this blog

Hearing Ear Dog Stories 2
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Transcript:Hi, I'll now talk Hearing Ear Dog Stories Part 2.The dog's now about 10 years old and my kids were 4 and 2. We decided to go to the Mall and wander around. My daughter was in the stroller and my son was running around. We were walking along when the leash tugged me back, the dog wasn't following. I looked back to see him squatting. I screamed "Not in t...
Culture Mon, Feb 18 2008 hide this blog

A DeafBlind's Perspective on Subtitles
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Transcript:Hi, I want to give you my perspective as a DeafBlind person on Subtitles. There have been many Vlogs on this debate. I let you know that I agree with Mike, our audience are ASL users so I'm signing straight to ASL users, simple as that. If you want to educate hearing on Culture, etc, then subtitle it and address it straight to them. But I'm signing ASL to A...
Tech Culture Mon, Feb 18 2008 hide this blog

My Hearing Ear Dog Stories
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Transcript: Hi, I had a Hearing Ear dog for 11 years. I have many stories about how Hearing people react to the dog. Most Hearing Ear dogs are small like poodles or shelties. But I told the school I can't see well so I need a bigger one. They said OK and gave me a 60 lb. dog and an excitable one. When the phone rings he gets all excited and pounces on me full force. I...
Culture Mon, Jan 21 2008 hide this blog

3 Disabled Funerals
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Transcript: Hi, I wanted to tell you a joke but I had a gut feeling I better check "ASL Laughs" Vlogs, Dang he already told that one! Now I had to think of another one. Ok, there was a man working as a caretaker of a graveyard. He was working when he spotted a funeral, but this funeral was different. People were standing around tossing stuff into the grave. ...
Art and Storytelling Thu, Dec 13 2007 hide this blog

Ever have one of those days....
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Last week there was one of those days where everything just goes wrong. It started off with my daughter being sick and throwing up. She's in our bed watching cartoons and weakly asks me to get her clothes. Her clothes are in the bottom drawer so I just sat down on the floor to get closer. After selecting some clothes I got up and then realized that I had just sat in s...
Art and Storytelling Tue, Nov 27 2007 hide this blog

Being deafblind
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother There are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the US (according to the American Foundation of the Blind). There are also about 1.3 "legally blind" Americans. The term "legally blind" refers to vision of 20/200 or less or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. I have 20/200 vision myself. I wear glasses that correct my ...
Tech Culture Fri, Nov 16 2007 hide this blog

Misprounced Nursery Rhyme
Confessions of a DeafBlind Mother Transcript:Hi, I want to share a story with you. I grew up orally as I was the only Deaf in a hearing family. When I was about 4 to 6 years old my older cousins always made me recite the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet" again and again. So I would say it "Little Miss Muffet....." When I was finished they would bust up laughing and tell me "t...
Language Art and Storytelling Fri, Nov 16 2007 hide this blog