DeafMom

People with Disabilities in the News
DeafMom This week's round up of people with disabilities in the news: No Vision? No Problem. This Guy Can Repair. Texas School for the Deaf Athletes Real-time Text in the Future Lee Woodruff: Honesty about Children with Disabilities Heroes Portrays Deaf Actress Summer Camps for Kids
Tue, Aug 11 2009

Captioning on the Web? Of Course!
DeafMom Last year, there was a bill in Congress that would have made companies like NBC, ABC and other big ones to make their videos accessible. Finally, there was going to be the chance to see TV shows on the web and access them with captions and descriptive media. It didn't pass. Representative Ed Markey from Massachussetts has introduced the 21st Century Communi...
Thu, Jul 23 2009

Disney Makes Strides Toward Accessibility for Deaf Customers
DeafMom Back when my kids were younger, we took them to Disney twice. I was so disappointed in their lack of captions for their movies and TV displays. We haven't been back at Disney for years, but I recently received this announcement forwarded from Dana Craig who works at the LIFE CIL in Pontiac, Illinois: AUDIO DESCRIPTION NOW AVAILABLE AT DISNEY! Disney en...
Sun, Jun 07 2009

Deaf Family in Chicago on ABC News
DeafMom I woke up on Sunday morning and tuned into Karen Meyer's ABC broadcast on a deaf family who faced the choice of whether or not to pursue cochlear implants for their deaf children. Michael and Jill Stark are deaf, and when their son Jeffrey was born, he was diagnosed with profound hearing loss. The Starks wrestled with the decision whether or not ...
Fri, May 22 2009

A Trip to Ruby Falls
DeafMom The kids were off for spring break last week so we took a road trip to South Carolina and stayed at a Marriott condo on the beach. My sister works for Marriott and with her friends/family discount, we were able to snag a two bedroom condo for a rock bottom price. On the way back home, we kept seeing signs advertising "Ruby Falls" along the highway.&nb...
Wed, Apr 08 2009

From Brightly Colored Earmolds to Inconspicious Ones
DeafMom "I want the plain, clear earmolds," my youngest son announced at a recent visit to the audiologist. The audiologist tried suggesting a different mix of colors to replace the red-white-and-blue earmolds that were being replaced. "Aw, are you sure you don't want to try a new color combination?" I coaxed. He wasn't convinced. ...
Mon, Mar 02 2009

Let's Make Hearing Aid History in Illinois
DeafMom Senator Ira Silverstein has introduced Illinois Senate Bill 68 in Illinois to require insurance companies to provide hearing aid coverage, up to $2,500 per ear. This bill is unique because it does not have an age restriction attached to it. This bill will provide coverage for people of all ages in Illinois. Isn't it about tim...
Mon, Feb 16 2009

The High Unemployment Rate
DeafMom Every day, the news seems to get worse every time I open up the business section of the local newspaper. Thousands of people are getting laid off each day. Back in December, my neighbor was laid off from his job as an electrical engineer. Just the week before, we were talking and he mentioned that he thought he was pretty safe and wasn't worried ...
Mon, Feb 09 2009

Deaf Reporter Continues to Share Stories
DeafMom Every Sunday and Thursday, Karen Meyer shares stories centered around people with disabilities on ABC News in Chicago. She delivers her news segments using both sign and voice and the segments are open-captioned as well. When Karen first began as a reporter, her first broadcast was met with a small shower of opposition from some commenters on local radio s...
Sun, Jan 18 2009

Here's to an Accessible 2009!
DeafMom Over the weekend, I sat at the kitchen table with my extended family and my cousins, marveling at how quickly the years go by. "Remember that song, '1999?'" I said. "I remember partying to that song in college, and that was in 1984. 1999 seemed so far away."And here it is, 2009. I'd give anything to keep the wisd...
Mon, Jan 05 2009

People with Disabilities in Commercials are Frowned Upon
DeafMom I'm shaking my head over this one. While humming through Twitter this evening, I started to notice a couple of tweets with the following link: Helping the Deaf and Blind Buy From Us "Are we supposed now to spend more with retailers who show empathy for the deaf and blind?" Tom Steinert-Threlkeld wondered. "Christmas certainly is a time for charity ...
Tue, Dec 23 2008

Thank You, Dish Network
DeafMom Over at the Do It Myself Blog, Glenda Watson Hyatt is spotlighting businesses that strive for access for people with disabilities. Today, I'm extending my thanks to Dish Network: A few days ago, I was wrestling with the closed-captioning on my TV. In my household, our eyes aren't getting any younger and the captioning on the LG TV was ve...
Sun, Dec 21 2008

Getting Answers about Closed Captioning Features
DeafMom Thanks to Banjo's World, I just filed a complaint with the FCC. Thanks to Bill Creswell, I sent off a complaint to HDMI Licensing, LLC.I did all this at six a.m. because I'm fed up. Last night, I spent an hour trying to resolve our captioning issue. We have an LG TV that has the ability to change font sizes and styles on the captioning. The current capti...
Wed, Dec 17 2008

Disability Articles in the News
DeafMom Did you know that today is International Day for Persons with Disabilities? I didn't know this until I heard it via Twitter from the Canadian Hearing Society. Are you celebrating today? Down in Arizona, a group is trying to build a nursing home for deaf and hard of hearing people. They've encountered a huge roadblock, thanks to the turn in t...
Wed, Dec 03 2008

Thank You, Barack Obama
DeafMom A short time ago, I received a tweet from a friend on Twitter asking me to help advocate for accessible videos on the Change.gov website where Barack Obama was vlogging. I wrote a blog post, Dear Barack Obama, Please Caption Your Videos, and put it on Twitter. I filled out a contact form on the site and sent it in. Today, I'm thankful--the team behind Barack...
Thu, Nov 27 2008

"Kay Jewelry" Commercial Features Signing
DeafMom "Hey Mom, come here and look at this commercial," my son said to me this morning. I went over to the TV and watched: Since the whole thing isn't captioned, I've written it out here to the best of my lipreading abilities: Man: I'm sorry my signing isn't so good. Woman: You're doing fine! Man: I'...
Sat, Nov 22 2008

Dear Barak Obama, Please Caption Your Videos
DeafMom Over on Twitter, I received a tweet from @lil-gruntlings alerting me to a video by Barak Obama that was not captioned. Did I want to help her get this changed, she wanted to know: I asked her to tell me more about it, as I wasn't familiar with the change.gov website and I was on the road. --- want to get www.change.gov to captio...
Mon, Nov 17 2008

The Language of Connection
DeafMom Over at Pipecleaner Dreams, Ashley's Mom shares a recent experience while dining out with her daughter who is deaf blind: I decided to take the kids out to lunch at one of their favorite places, the River City Diner. It’s a restaurant that strives to be like the diners of old, and for the most part, it succeeds. The menu is filled with diner staples such as meat...
Mon, Oct 13 2008

What Do Deaf and Hard of Hearing People Need the Lyrics For?
DeafMom From the National Association of the Deaf blog: On September 30, 2008, a federal judge in Maryland ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the Washington Redskins to provide fans who are deaf or hard of hearing with equal access to the auditory information broadcast over the stadium public address system at FedExField where the Redskins play. T...
Wed, Oct 08 2008

Ronda Del Boccio and Karen Putz Have a Chat
DeafMom So, how does a deaf woman chat with a blind woman on the internet? I recently had the opportunity to connect with Ronda Del Boccio, the gal who won the Affiliate Marketing Challenge that I wrote about previously on Disaboom: Storyation Lady Wins Marketing Contest. Ronda was the only person with a disability and the only woman in the contest. I original...
Fri, Oct 03 2008

Disability in the News
DeafMom Every day, I receive articles and websites from Google. Here's what has popped up recently: Over on Health News, Nicki's View shares her thoughts on the Presidential candidates and their views on Disability Rights: The Presidential Candidates' Differing Stances on Disability Rights Kathi Wolfe shared her opinion, saying that neit...
Sat, Sep 27 2008

Four Year Old with Cerebral Palsy--Drowned By Her Mother
DeafMom Joanne Hill gets no sympathy from me. The 32-year-old mother drowned her four-year-old daughter. Her beautiful little girl, Naomi, had cerebral palsy and was hard of hearing. Joanne Hill was legally drunk when she arrived at the hospital via a taxi at 3:35 in the morning, holding her daughter in a blanket. It was too late for Naomi. She ha...
Sat, Sep 13 2008

Paralympics Features 320 Deaf Dancers
DeafMom The Deaf Boy in the World posted the video (unfortunately, it's not captioned) below that shows the 320 deaf and hard of hearing dancers from China in the opening ceremonies of the Paralympics: From the Bejing 2008 Paralympic Games website: The show, carefully prepared over nearly two years, was staged in a fairy-tale setting which had the en...
Tue, Sep 09 2008

Recently Became Deaf? ALDACon Might Be For You
DeafMom Have you recently become deaf or hard of hearing? Have you become deaf or hard of hearing as an adult? Then you might want to head to the 20th Anniversary conference of the Association of Late-Deafened Adults. It's called ALDACon and it will be held in Chicago on October 29th to November 2nd. From the ALDA website: The mission of the Associatio...
Wed, Sep 03 2008

Thanks for the Captions, Bill Crestwell
DeafMom Dear Bill Crestwell: Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, again. Back in June, I wrote a post over at Disaboom about how frustrated I was to navigate through You Tube videos without captions. I shared one of my favorite songs and posted the lyrics in the blog. Along came Bill Crestwell. He left a comment: "Don't forget, I take requests at billcreswe...
Sat, Aug 30 2008

No Insurance for Hearing Aids?
DeafMom Many people are often surprised to find out that hearing aids are very rarely covered by insurance. I work with families with newly identified babies and children with hearing loss and families often tell me how shocked they are to learn that they will have to fork over a few thousand dollars to purchase hearing aids. If they're fortunate, the state...
Tue, Aug 26 2008

I'm Sorry, What Did You Say?
DeafMom It was one of those "passing by" encounters. I was walking in the parking lot and a man was passing me by. I glanced at him, and he gave me a broad smile. "Arhh da le ba blah blah..." I stopped. "I'm sorry," I said with a smile. "What did you say?" "Arhh da le ba blah blah..." Hopeless. Ther...
Fri, Aug 15 2008

What Do You Need for Support-- Oticon Asks Parents
DeafMom If you're a parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, you may want to participate in this survey developed by Oticon, a hearing aid manufacturer. Oticon wants to hear from parents and find out what is needed after a diagnosis of hearing loss to provide information and support to families. Here's a chance to make an impact on a company and a...
Thu, Jul 31 2008

Happy Birthday, Americans With Disabilities Act
DeafMom Ok, so it's a belated birthday greeting. I was working for a Center for Independent Living eighteen years ago when the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed. It was a big time for us, as it was a law that made history and changed the course of life for many Americans with disabilities. At work, we were busy. We had several trainings and work...
Mon, Jul 28 2008

Steak 'n Shake Plans No Major Access Changes to their...
DeafMom It was only a matter of time before a major fast food corporation was going to get sued for not providing access in the drive-thru: Nebraska Woman with Hearing Disability Sues McDonalds Karen Tumeh experienced nearly the same thing that I did back in January-- a refusal of service because we could not order through the speaker. I attempted to...
Fri, Jul 18 2008

Southwest Airlines-- Flying the Funny Skies
DeafMom For years, I had heard about the legendary staff of Southwest Airlines-- how the staff crack jokes and make the flights fun. Every time I've flown with Southwest, their staff has been friendly and helpful. They allowed our entire family to pre-board so that we could get seats together on a flight last year. Yesterday, I finally got a t...
Mon, Jul 14 2008

Not Only Deaf--Today I Was Mute
DeafMom Every now and then I feel sorry for myself. I had a meeting today up in Northbrook and I knew I couldn't make it up there. So after I dropped the oldest kiddo off at football camp, I headed to the nearest Panera Bread to set up the laptop and call into the meeting. After several attempts to connect to the WIFI, I finally settled back to make the call. The f...
Wed, Jun 25 2008

Access Blocked--John Denver Videos
DeafMom Early this morning, while everyone was still sleeping, I sat down to browse through some John Denver videos on YouTube. I know just about every John Denver song by heart and can follow the lyrics because I've memorized them. I was excited to see a few songs that I haven't heard before and I was able to pull up the lyrics to follow along. I stumble...
Sun, Jun 15 2008

Smoooooch--A Kiss Makes a Mom Become Deaf
DeafMom I was browsing through the pile of newspapers on my kitchen table and I came across a very unusual story about a mother who became deaf in one ear after a kiss from her daughter. Mind you, it wasn't an ordinary kiss. No siree, it was one of those big, sloppy smackaroos that only a kid can give, and it created enough suction to jar the tiny bones in the ear....
Fri, Jun 13 2008

Schuyler's Monster--A Father Shares His Parenting Journey
DeafMom Bilateral perislvian polymicropgyria. That's the diagnosis that Robert Rummel-Hudson and his wife, Julie, received after two years of trying to figure out why their three-year-old daughter couldn't talk. They learned that this rare, neurological disorder, caused by a malformation in the brain, was the reason why their daughter Schuyler (pronounced s...
Thu, Jun 12 2008

An Interpreter with ALS (No, Not ASL)
DeafMom This morning, I was browsing through my Google alerts and came across an article featuring Kim Maibaum, an interpreter who is living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named after the famous baseball player who brought the disease into the public eye. My heart went out to Kim as I read her story. Kim ...
Sun, Jun 08 2008

Using a Videophone to Make Phone Calls
DeafMom Recently, my friend, Stephen Hopson came to visit from Ohio. Stephen runs Adversity University and is an inspirational speaker and life coach. He watched in amazement how I accessed a conference call using my videophone and called my mother-in-law with a regular phone and the videophone. Full disclosure here-- I work for Hands On, a company that has merged...
Sun, May 25 2008

Beyond the Initial Cost--Closed Captioning Sends Out a...
DeafMom Down in Florida, there's a fight stirring up over whether or not to provide closed captioning for deaf and hard of hearing residents at The Villages, a huge retirement community with 70,000 residents. Louis Schwartz, a deaf resident, is asking the owners of The Villages to provide closed captioning on the TV programs they produce for the residents. No, says ...
Tue, May 20 2008

Captioning on the Airlines--We'll Need a New Law
DeafMom It looks like I'll have to keep dreaming. I recently shared my experience in trying to get subtitled movies on a flight from Chicago to Hawaii. I called United Airlines again to get them to load a subtitled movie on the flight home. It's not going to happen. "I'm sorry, we don't show subtitled movies for the flight you are...
Fri, May 16 2008

Activism--When the Message Gets Lost
DeafMom Veralidaine posted an article for Blogging Against Disabilism Day featuring a video of a deaf woman being surrounded by police. In the video, the woman is using her voice, explaining that she's deaf. Veralidaine noted that when she posted the video on two different forums, the discussion turned to disbelief that someone couldn't possibly be dea...
Wed, May 14 2008

Dreaming of Accessible Airline Movies
DeafMom A month before our flight to Oahu, I called United Airlines to see if they had movies with subtitles. "Yes, the movies on longer flights are subtitled," I was told. So yesterday, we boarded the plane and I asked the crew person to make sure that the movie's subtitles were turned on. "I'll check into that," she said. ...
Mon, May 12 2008

Mainstreaming is a Place, Not a Success
DeafMom Although I'm late for "Blogging Against Disabilism" day, I wanted to touch on a subject that Terri Mauro blogged about recently: The Myth of the Magical Mainstream. Like Terri, I live in a district with a very strong inclusion program in the schools. For some kids, especially deaf and hard of hearing kids, inclusion can sometimes mean isolati...
Thu, May 08 2008

Sweet Nothing in my Ear--The Controversy Begins
DeafMom The movie, Sweet Nothing in my Ear, hasn't even been shown yet. And on the web, the discussions have heated up about cochlear implants: Political Correctness on TV Sometimes Goes Too Far: Is It Really Better to Be Deaf? In his post, Michael Russnow shared his thoughts about the movie: I was at a Hallmark Hall of Fame reception the o...
Sun, Apr 20 2008

"Sweet Nothing in my Ear" Tackles Cochlear Implants
DeafMom On Sunday, April 20th, the Hallmark movie, "Sweet Nothing in my Ear," will feature Marlee Matlin, Phyllis Frelich and Jeff Daniels. The movie is based on a Broadway play. The movie tackles the controversy surrounding cochlear implants, similar to the movie Sound and Fury, which portrayed two families making different decisions about get...
Thu, Apr 17 2008

Diversity, Inc. Tackles Disability Issues
DeafMom Diversity, Inc. magazine is featuring two articles on disabilities issues on their website: Seven Things Never to Say to People with Disabilities and Karen Putz's Video Interview on Drive-Thru Access (captioned) A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York and did the video interview at Diversity, Inc. The interview follows...
Mon, Apr 14 2008

Silcon Valley--Access on the Light Rail
DeafMom The hubby and I are in Silcon Valley, CA--the home of Yahoo, Google and other giants. Last night, we hopped on the Light Rail to head to Mountain View for dinner. I haven't been on a train in a while, but riding the trains in Chicago used to be a nightmare for me years ago, as there was no way to know which stop was mine unless I memorized the su...
Sun, Apr 06 2008

A Conversation with my Deaf Son
DeafMom My oldest kid is off on spring break this week and my other two kids are still in school. We've had some great bonding time this week and some nice conversations about various things in life. One conversation that we had was about how people with normal hearing view people who are deaf or hard of hearing. I like to think that I'm raising some pretty confid...
Thu, Mar 27 2008

Read My Hips, Says Marlee Matlin
DeafMom "Read my hips!" said a sassy Marlee Matlin in a clip where the dancers were sending out messages to viewers. As I watched "Dancing with the Stars" each night, I couldn't help but be totally blown away by Marlee Matlin's dancing. The girl has talent! And I think the reason why she shines so well is because as sh...
Tue, Mar 25 2008

The Conversations I Miss
DeafMom I went out to New York this week for a couple of things, one was a video interview at Diversity, Inc. magazine. It was my first time to see a magazine company on the inside--how amazing it would be to work for a major magazine! Diversity, Inc. has a small studio where they film video interviews for their website. When I saw the tiny chairs,...
Sat, Mar 22 2008

Deaf Jurors? Absolutely!
DeafMom Back in 1993, I was summoned for jury duty for the first time. I requested a sign language interpreter and the county courthouse arranged to have one available. I was working at a local Center for Independent Living and took the time off to attend jury duty. It didn't last long. On the first day, I sat in the courtroom for two differen...
Mon, Mar 17 2008