Ever have one of those days....

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 some "Puppy presents". After grumbling and change of clothes it was time to give some meds. I use a medicine syringe which you can draw the amount of meds needed and just squirt into the kids mouth. Nice 'n easy right? Well not today, somehow the syringe got clogged and the squirt turned into an explosion of pink, sticky, gooey medicine all over the both of us. Then my washing machine started having Grand Mal Seizures and was afraid it'll fall thru the old floor. The knob on the dryer broke off and I ended up having to play "dryer cycle roulette" with a pair of pliers. "Come on gimme Permanent Press....ohhhhh". The pliers slipped off and pinched the hell out of my thumb which I was using as a feeler guide. And last but not least, I was replacing a toilet paper roll and of course when you open a new package to take one roll out, the roll next to it has to jump out too. After setting up the first roll, I got down on my hands and knees to look for the escaped roll. Couldn't find it 'til I got a gut feeling to look in the toilet bowl. There it was, sinking as it absorbed all the water, I put my head down and let out a groan. My daughter comes in and says "Are you sick too Mommy?" "No, but lets both take a nap eh?"

Misprounced Nursery Rhyme

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 "tell me again, tell me again!" So I would recite it again. When I was older at a family reunion my cousins asked me "do you remember when you were small we'd make you recite Little Miss Muffet then we all laughed? Do you know why?" I said "I thought it was silly to be scared of a spider". They said "No, it's because you couldn't pronounce "curds and whey" you always said "turds and whey".

Being deafblind

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 vision to 20/100 and 20/80. Even though I wear glasses, I use a white cane when I'm out and about, to avoid the many potholes and sidewalk cracks. Mainly I use the cane as an identification to warn other people that I may not see you or your car.
Well, in a small town of around 5,000 people I've learned that people around here may not have had exposure to disabled people as they would in a bigger city. Some people have no idea what a white cane signifys and I've had close calls with cars nearly missing me because they assumed that I saw them and I was going to "stop and wait for them to pass the crosswalk/driveway". So, I wrote a "letter to the editor" for the local newspaper to introduce myself and explain a white cane. That has helped a lot. So, the misconception of "you can't be blind, you're wearing glasses" is not true. Not all vision problems can be corrected to perfect 20/20 with glasses or contacts.
The same goes for being Deaf, it doesn't mean that I'm in a world totally void of sound. I use a cochlear implant (check out Advanced Bionics) and at the other end of the spectrum is that because I have an implant doesn't mean I have perfect hearing either!
So being dual disabled has it challenges; such as figuring out who is calling from where, or someone pointing out something. "Over here - Over there" does NOT work with me! My husband and kids have had to learn to be a little more descriptive when calling for me or pointing at something. They'll go "I'm on the floor by the couch" or "the bird is on 3rd branch on left".
I am perfectly able to do many things on my OWN! Hence the misconception that blind/deaf/deafblind cannot "survive" without assistance from "ablebodied" people. My husband was in a group one time while I stayed home with the kiddies. He explained to the group that I was deafblind. One lady instantly said "Ohhhhh you are so great to give up your entire life to be her caretaker!" He smirked and said "Me? No! She's the caretaker, takes care of the house and our 2 kids".
Lastly, there's the most annoying misconception of all; "you meet one deaf/blind person, you've met them all". Just because I "share" a disability with another person doesn't automatically mean that we'll share the same interests, hobbies, faith, political affilation, or background. Take for example: I couldn't book a room at a hotel one time because they've had a bad experience with other Deaf people trashing their rooms. Does that mean *I* will go and trash my room? Stop pigeon-holing us!!
I'll come up with more misconceptions later or y'all can share yours.

Why am I blogging??

Mainly I'm blogging to keep myself sane. Like Dr. Phil says "If you're out at a restaurant and you order "wa-wa", it's time to get some adult relationships". The last movies I've seen are "Shrek" and "Cars" and everything else related. I need mental simulation.
Another reason is after watching some ASL (American Sign Language) Vlogs on YouTube I go "yeah I've got a similiar story" or "that reminds me of another joke". So would like to post my own vlogs.
Thirdly, to post my experiences in the "deafblind" realm to educate others, quite simply "ignorance = uneducated".