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Serving Deaf Patrons in the Library
 SpeakUpLibrarian I want to let everyone know that the American Libraries Association is offering a 2 part workshop on Serving Deaf Patrons in the Library.The topics include:an overview of the different ways deaf people communicateunderstanding and meeting your library's legal obligation to serve the deafstrategies for communicating with a deaf or hard of hearing person in the libraryt...Sun, Jan 22 2012 Tyler's Journey of Hope
 SpeakUpLibrarian I met Tyler Swob last year when I traveled to Costa Rica with Discovering Deaf Worlds. I am so proud to share with you Tyler's upcoming advocacy effort with Push America. Tyler's video (ASL only) and story are shared with his permission. Please join me in supporting Tyler on his journey!Did you know that there are over 54 million Americans living with a disability tod...Mon, Jan 16 2012 Switched at Birth is Back!
SpeakUpLibrarian Vasquez and Kennish families of Switched at BirthTonight I had a chance to watch last night's season 2 premier episode on Hulu. I was glad the storylines took up right where they left off so it was a smooth transition to the new season. Bay and Emmett are decidedly together and although it's not easy they are committed to each other. In this interview with the creator...Wed, Jan 04 2012 Switched at Birth Returns January 3
SpeakUpLibrarian During my holiday break, I'm watching the previously aired episodes of Switched at Birth in preparation for their winter premier. Did you know they are now available on Netflix?Beginning January 3 the series begins anew on ABC Family channel. It will air Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and 7 p.m. Central. An all day marathon of the first ten Switched at Birth epi...Wed, Dec 28 2011 BlondieManaSabahatBerisa liked this Blog Award and an Announcement
SpeakUpLibrarian I've been awarded the Leibster Blog Award by Liz of Cats and Chocolates. Thanks so much, Liz.This was quite a surprise to me. I had not realized she was a long time reader and I had not been to her blog before. To my delight, we have common interests like reading, animals, and chocolate. She is deaf and interested in sign language, BSL in her case. Please stop by her ...Sat, Dec 17 2011 Oops! Not Again!!!
SpeakUpLibrarian I took my hearing aids out Friday night and noticed an ear dome was missing. Uh oh. It had stayed behind in my ear! An ear dome is the tiny tip that fits inside the ear canal.Regular readers may recall that this same thing happened to me once before, almost exactly a year ago. That time an ENT doctor removed the stuck ear dome. Because it was evening this time, I had ...Tue, Nov 29 2011 A Laid Back Guide to Hosting a Holiday Meal
SpeakUpLibrarian I've done a traditional Thanksgiving meal before and I have the photos to prove it. But this year I took a different approach. Possibly a saner approach, definitely more laid back.Since the end of October I've been recovering from a virus and haven't had the stamina or energy to do much more than work, drive my teenager around, and sleep. (You may have noticed my blog...Fri, Nov 25 2011 I'm Thankful for You, Deafies!
SpeakUpLibrarian I'm using deafies as a term of endearment and as inclusively as possible. Some of the people listed below are hard of hearing, some are deaf, and others hear just fine. But all touched my life in some way this year and deserve a Thanksgiving shout out.Thank you from the bottom of my heart toABC Family for airing Switched at Birth.Andy and Ben, the CODA brothers, for m...Wed, Nov 23 2011 A Deaf Writer and His Deaf Character: A Review of Deaf...
SpeakUpLibrarian Deaf Sentence by David Lodge isn't a new book. It was published in 2008. It was new to me, however, and I have reader Joe from Washington State to thank for bringing it to my attention. Joe wrote to tell me he enjoyed my blog and tell me about this book. While I was reading the novel, I couldn't believe how similar the narrator's experiences with misunderstanding love...Wed, Nov 23 2011 Gotcha, Mom
SpeakUpLibrarian I don't usually think of my son as a CODA (child of deaf adult) , but we had two moments recently that were rather CODAlike if you will. The first one happened at the public library. I went there to pick up my son. He was sitting in a comfy reading area in a far corner with his nose in a book while waiting for me. When we got in the car, he told me that he could hear ...Tue, Nov 22 2011 Twitter and a Test to Alert the Deaf Community in Case of...
SpeakUpLibrarian If you live in the United States, have a Twitter account, and would like to participate in an evaluation of FEMA's emergency alert on November 9th, please see this blog post by Xpressive Hands: Deaf Eye: Do Emergency Warnings Catch Yours.Mon, Nov 07 2011 ALDAcon 2011 Day Three
SpeakUpLibrarian Now that Halloween is over, I can get back to blogging about my experiences at ALDAcon. Last night I was too busy at the front door, keeping Rusty in, while handing candy out to costumed children to continue my story.On Friday, convention goers had an exciting event to attend - Julius Caesar - the first live captioned play to be held in Indiana. History in the making,...Tue, Nov 01 2011 ALDAcon 2011 Day Two
SpeakUpLibrarian My day began with continental breakfast and a newcomer's meeting. I enjoyed this event very much. It was informal in nature. Longtime members of ALDA and representatives from the ALDA board introduced themselves briefly. Then, we newbies took our turns introducing ourselves. When it was my turn, I mentioned that I write a blog, and one of the regional directors asked ...Sun, Oct 30 2011 ALDAcon 2011 Day One
SpeakUpLibrarian It was a last minute decision for me to attend ALDAcon (the annual convention of the Association of Late Deafened Adults) in Indianapolis. I had never been to an ALDAcon before and I had been holding out because I still felt guilty about being away from my family during my trip to Costa Rica last February. I gradually changed my mind after working on the program book ...Sun, Oct 30 2011 My New Hearing Aids in Different Sound Environments
SpeakUpLibrarian In my previous post on my new hearing aids, I wrote about the speech banana and the sounds that I miss. My hearing aids boost the amplification for the frequencies of sounds I don't hear. The catch is they also boost the volume for environmental noises in those same frequencies. Check out the chart below and you will see that the sound a fan makes is right in the plac...Mon, Oct 17 2011 The Chicago Walk4Hearing in Photos
SpeakUpLibrarian We had a sunny day with a bit of wind.Temperatures were brisk in the high 50s-low 60s range.Here I am at the starting line with my official walk hat and my team tshirt. My son Charlie walked with me. Together we raised $600.Before the walk began, there was balloon twisting and face painting for the kids.Ronnie Adler, Walk Chair, announced that 1,000 peo...Sun, Oct 16 2011 Why I Need Hearing Aids
SpeakUpLibrarian As part of this series of blog posts on my new hearing aids, I thought I would explain why I need hearing aids in the first place. In a nutshell, I need hearing aids to understand speech. The audiology chart below shows where the sounds of speech are in comparison to other sounds. You can see that they fall within a banana shaped outline. I have colored in yellow the ...Thu, Oct 13 2011 Advantages of My New Oticon Hearing Aids
SpeakUpLibrarian Oticon Agil ProI've been hearing better with Oticon since last Thursday. Because I want to do justice to my description of how I am hearing now, I am going to take my time writing about this so I get it right. In this first post, I'd simply like to list a few of the advantages I've noticed with my new Oticon Agil Pro aids over the pair I wore before made by Unitron. T...Mon, Oct 10 2011 Walk4Hearing: Raising Awareness and Funds to Assist People...
SpeakUpLibrarian I am so excited and thrilled to be participating in the Chicago Walk4Hearing event next weekend. Watching this video has truly inspired me and gotten me revved up to get walking. If you would like to support this cause, please visit my walk page.Fri, Oct 07 2011 I'm Stepping Up for Hearing Loss
SpeakUpLibrarian In ten days, I will be participating for my very first time in a Hearing Loss Association of America Walk4Hearing fundraiser on October 15 in Chicago. My local support group, the Chicago chapter of the Association for Late Deafened Adults, has put together a team to raise money for both HLAA and ALDA Chicago. The twin goals of the walk are to raise awareness and help ...Wed, Oct 05 2011 29 Year Old Woman Hears for the First Time
SpeakUpLibrarian I saw a clip of this touching video on my local news today.The Esteem hearing implant is designed for adults with moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss - exactly the type I have. To learn more about this option to hearing aids, click here.I had never heard of it before today. Have you? On the website, there are stories of people implanted as far back ...Tue, Oct 04 2011 My Hearing Loss, My Self Image: A New Start
SpeakUpLibrarian Today I had my fitting for the pair of hearing aids I will receive as part of the Oticon Focus on People Award. My previous audiologist doesn't work with Oticon aids, so I went somewhere new. It was nice to have a fresh start. While reviewing my medical history with my new audiologist, I surprised myself by just how much I've learned in the five years since my hearing...Fri, Sep 30 2011 My LA Story - Part 3
SpeakUpLibrarian I am all smiles at the Focus on People Awards luncheon.Stig Seitzberg presents me with my award.Jennifer & meAfter the awards luncheon, my husband Rob and I took the Metro to Hollywood and Highland where the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theater are located. It was a hot day, in the 90s , with bright sunlight reflecting off the sidewalk which affect...Sat, Sep 17 2011 My LA Story - Part 2
SpeakUpLibrarian On Friday morning, we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then I had a video interview with Oticon. In front of a professional cameraman and sound person, I was asked questions about my blog. I was not given the questions in advance so I had to think quickly to express myself clearly. I was very pleased when my interviewer told me I was articulate. She told me ...Wed, Sep 14 2011 Oticon Focus on People Award Winners Announced
SpeakUpLibrarian Don Sims, Hearing Care Practitioner winnerJennifer Alberstadt, Adult winnerPeer Lauritsen, President of OticonSarah Wegley, Advocacy winnerDylan Dunlop, Student winnerThis photo was taken last Friday afternoon following the Oticon Focus on People awards luncheon in Los Angeles, California.I want to thank all of my readers who voted for me and took the time to read the...Mon, Sep 12 2011 Support for the Needs of Mainstreamed Deaf/Hard of Hearing...
SpeakUpLibrarian This is a guest post by school librarian Nadene Eisner. Reprinted with her permission, this article was originally posted on Deaf Politics.It takes a village: teachers and librarians can help students achieve academic successIn 2009, twenty schools for the deaf were targeted for closings or budget cuts. Throughout 2011 the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) has fo...Sat, Sep 10 2011 Complaining 101 for Advocates
SpeakUpLibrarian Megan of the marvelous Hearing Sparks blog recently wrote on Positive Communications for Accommodations. She described a situation where a request for accommodation was expressed in a rather confusing manner. Her post concluded with this question: What are some strategies you have found for approaching people to get reasonable accommodations or explain a problem? Her ...Sun, Sep 04 2011 DDW's Journey to Cambodia and Thailand
SpeakUpLibrarian Travelers with Discovering Deaf Worlds recently returned from a trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Here's a report on their adventure courtesy of DDW's Executive Director, Davin Searls: We had a wonderful group of eight travelers who bonded from day one! Even though we had the full spectrum of signing Deaf people to interpreters to a hearing person who knew no sign langua...Sun, Aug 28 2011 Don't Miss Karen Putz and Katie LeClerc in Ability Magazine
SpeakUpLibrarian The latest edition of Ability Magazine features Katie Leclerc on the cover and Deaf Mom blogger Karen Putz inside. You can download the magazine for free on Facebook. In her cover story interview, Katie discusses a variety of topics including Switched at Birth, Ménière’s disease, bullying, and cochlear implants, and more. The article about Karen chronicles her retur...Wed, Aug 24 2011 I'm an Oticon Focus on People Awards Finalist!
SpeakUpLibrarian I'm very excited to announce that I have been chosen as an Oticon Focus on People Awards finalist in their Advocacy category. Oticon has selected three people in each of four categories -Student, Adult, Advocacy, and Practitioner - to be their finalists. The ultimate winner in each category will be chosen by online vote. Here's the official press release I received to...Mon, Aug 15 2011 Deaf Child Area Signs
SpeakUpLibrarian Have you seen a street sign like this where you live? There are several in my town. I've taken photographs of the ones I see regularly. They've raised questions in my mind I wanted to share with you. I'm curious to know more about them, but I don't know who to ask. This is the oldest sign I've seen. It's located on the same street as the sign pictured above. It's a my...Tue, Aug 09 2011 John Nikolakopoulos on Quiet Signs of Love
SpeakUpLibrarian Have you seen the wonderful videos for Quiet Signs of Love yet? They tell the story of a love that blossoms between two college students Daniel and Hannah. Their romance is complicated by the fact that Daniel is hearing and Hannah is deaf. Can they overcome their differences and find a way to communicate their true selves to each other? Can they find a place in each o...Fri, Aug 05 2011 Switched at Birth: What the Actors Are Saying
SpeakUpLibrarian In this week's penultimate episode, Pandora's Box or rather guitar case, is opened and a devastating secret is revealed. I'm not going to spoil the suspense for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, so I thought I would share instead some cool quotes I found by the actresses who play Regina and Daphne.When asked "What do you think is the single most important thing that you ...Tue, Jul 26 2011 EarPeace Product Review
SpeakUpLibrarian I recently received a sample set of EarPeace earplugs to review for this blog. The timing was perfect as there was a live music event coming up that I wanted to attend. Last night I attended this open air concert and tried out the EarPeace earplugs. I found the EarPeace hearing protection to be comfortable, easy to insert, and effective. The overall volume was reduced...Sun, Jul 17 2011 Finally! Says This Switched at Birth Fan
SpeakUpLibrarian Last night I watched Switched at Birth and finally got the payoff that I'd been waiting for since the beginning of this new television series. In episode 6, Regina points out to Kathryn that her biological daughter who is deaf has had to make ALL the efforts communication wise since meeting her hearing family. I wanted to cheer when I watched that scene. I realized in...Thu, Jul 14 2011 How Long Do Hearing Aids Last?
SpeakUpLibrarian How long do hearing aids last?Photo of my hearing aids, taken in 2008.I got my first (and only pair of hearing aids so far) in September 2006. As I'm approaching their 5 year anniversary, I'm wondering if I will be needing to purchase a new pair in the near future.I vaguely remember asking my audiologist this question once and receiving an answer of 7 years. A few mon...Tue, Jul 12 2011 Why Hearing Loss is Lonely
SpeakUpLibrarian I'm posting a video today that is worth a thousand blog posts. If you know someone with hearing loss, I urge you to watch it. It will open your eyes to the isolation that hearing loss can bring.I found this gem while reading the Xpressive Handz blog today. Many of you with hearing loss have probably already seen this on the internet, but for those who haven't it is we...Thu, Jun 30 2011 A Reader Asks Other Readers to Respond
SpeakUpLibrarian I received an email from a new hearing aid wearer who wanted to ask a few questions of me and the readers of my blog. My answers appear in italics. Please post your responses in the comments section. Thanks!1. I find myself frequently adjusting the volume on my aids, having come to see that as an advantage. In fact, I can turn them up loud enough so that I can hear th...Tue, Jun 28 2011 Signing to My Dog
SpeakUpLibrarian I hate to admit it but my family doesn't share my enthusiasm for ASL. They rarely use even the most basic signs with me. So naturally I turned to my best buddy, Rusty, for my signing practice. As you can imagine, he learned the signs for "food" and "outside" really fast! Today when he lifted his paw to me, I decided to sign "Nice to meet you" back to him. To my surpri...Fri, Jun 24 2011 American Sign Language Writing
SpeakUpLibrarian I just stumbled across this video on the internet. I had never heard of ASL writing before. According to the si5s website, the purpose of ASL writing is to "build ASL literature in text form". I've been working on learning ASL for some time now and I don't see this writing system as being useful to me or other hard of hearing/late deafened adults that are already flue...Thu, Jun 23 2011 Do I Have to Wear My Hearing Aids When I Drive?
SpeakUpLibrarian My last post on Switched at Birth raised the topic of deaf drivers. It got me to thinking more about the Hearing Aids restriction F on my own drivers license. I wrote about how I came to get that restriction on this post last year about renewing my drivers license. At that time I assumed it meant that I need to wear my hearing aids when driving just as the restriction...Thu, Jun 23 2011 Thoughts on Switched at Birth, Episode Two
SpeakUpLibrarian Switched at Birth, a new television show on ABC Family continues to raise deaf awareness. Here are my thoughts on the latest episode.I was really pleased to see the question of "Can people who are deaf drive safely?" addressed in the second episode. I think that's one of the most common misconceptions hearing people have about the deaf. In this episode Daphne's biolog...Sun, Jun 19 2011 Reflections on Switched at Birth
SpeakUpLibrarian Last night I watched the premier episode of Switched at Birth on Hulu as I don't have access to ABCFamily television station. I found out later that it's also available for viewing through the ABCFamily website. There's an excellent recap and review of this episode on Elizabeth's Eh?What?Huh? blog so I'm going to skip retelling the story and get straight to my reflect...Wed, Jun 08 2011 Happy M-----s Day
SpeakUpLibrarian When I arrived in the parking lot at work on Friday, a coworker called across to me. Because of the background noise present, I didn't catch what she said and asked her to repeat as I walked over to where she stood. "Are you a martyr?", she asked in her accented English. "Am I a martyr? I said in confusion. "Do you have children?" she clarified. Oh, am I a mother was ...Sun, May 08 2011 Technical Difficulties at the Open Caption Movie
SpeakUpLibrarian Last night I took time out of my busy schedule to attend a captioned movie showing at a theater which had recently changed management. Although the available times were rather inconvenient as the only showings were midweek days at 2:00 and 5:15 p.m., the film they were offering, The Adjustment Bureau, sounded intriguing. In addition, I wanted to show support for a fri...Wed, Apr 27 2011 Discovering Deaf Worlds
SpeakUpLibrarian I still have a follow up post from my trip that needs to be written about ANASCOR, the national deaf organization of Costa Rica. In the meantime, I hope you will take a few moments to watch this new video that explains the mission of Discovering Deaf Worlds. It's very well done and makes me proud to have an association with this organization. Perhaps you'll consider g...Mon, Apr 25 2011 The Words JUMP OUT At Me
SpeakUpLibrarian Maybe it's just me, but ever since my hearing loss was diagnosed, I've become aware of references to communication and hearing loss in all sorts of reading material. Kind of like how once I became pregnant, my eyes were opened to seeing pregnant women everywhere I went. Once that experience passed, I became oblivious to them again. Heh.Today I'd like to share two exam...Tue, Apr 19 2011 Doing It 'Our Way'
SpeakUpLibrarian ....We'll do it our way, yes our wayMake all our dreams come trueAnd do it our way, yes our wayMake all our dreams come trueFor me and you. [Laverne & Shirley]Doing things the hearing way often doesn't work for those of us with a hearing loss. Instead, we have to be creative and come up with new ways that work for us. Recently, I was responsible for a banquet ho...Tue, Apr 12 2011 Million Dollar Marlee Matlin
SpeakUpLibrarian I have really enjoyed watching Marlee Matlin on this season's Celebrity Apprentice. On tonight's episode, she raised a million dollars for Starkey Hearing Foundation!!! This is the American hearing aid company that donates hearing aids to needy children around the world. To learn more, visit the Starkey Hearing Foundation website. Last year, I wrote about this organiz...Mon, Apr 04 2011 Communicating at Don Juan's Organic Farm
SpeakUpLibrarian I wanted to give you an idea of what it was like for me to travel in a Spanish speaking country while on a tour with deaf adults who communicate in sign language. This very short video made at Don Juan's Organic Farm will give you a glimpse at my experience. Keep in mind that I know some Spanish, so when Don Juan spoke I tried to listen to him and watch the ASL interp...Tue, Mar 22 2011 |
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