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 "2 cents" on the topic. I have only 2 objections (and irritations) about Deaf adults and CIs:
1. Those few deaf who "pre-CI" were ASL'ers, involved in Deaf Club, Deaf friends etc. But "post-CI" dump all of that and act "Hearing". I know 2 people who were such types. After their CIs have stopped signing, stopped attending Deaf socials and dropped their Deaf friends. When the local Deaf Agency hosted workshops, one such individual was there and when it was time for questions, they asked questions orally. One Deaf lady waved at her and signed "Use ASL!", but that person shushed her and said "I'm speaking!". The interpreter was struggling to sign what she was saying but admitted after the workshop that she had a hard time understanding her speech.
Do you feel "superior" to Deaf?? Come On!! Whether you admit it or not, you're STILL Deaf!! No matter how hard you try you'll never be "totally immersed" in the hearing world. Need an example?? - Group conversations - tell me if you can keep up with 4, 5, or 10 people all chatting at each other at once?? Hmm??
2. The few Deaf people in the Deaf Community who "shun" other Deaf who have CIs. They refuse to interact or acknowledge them, or treat them as "inferior" to the rest of the community. Or even as "inhuman" such as calling them robots or machines.
Do you feel "superior" to CIs?? Come On!! Do you treat other Deaf who choose to wear Hearing Aids the same way?? In my opinion, as a Deaf adult, CIs are on the same list as Hearing Aids, just another option to "hear" a little bit better. Whether it's for the job (hearing factory noises or machine alarms), hearing environment noises like approaching cars (in my case being legally blind this helps me to "get around in public" a little better), or hearing your kids scream "MOMMY I'M HURT!!!" (I need "some" hearing to compensate or balance for my lousy eyesight eh?).
So before I hang up my referee shirt again I just want to close with a quote by Helen Keller:
"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings"
We're all humans, why don't we start treating each other with respect and dignity; Hearing towards Deaf, Deaf towards deaf, deaf towards Deaf, and Deaf towards Hearing.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
DeafBlind Access - Where??? (Part 2)
(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 errands. The white cane feeds her information about her surroundings via a touchpad on her belt, "Amy's Bodega is on your right" the touchpad spells out in Braille. She slowly taps her way down the street until the touchpad informs her "Post Office across the street on your left". She stops at the crosswalk and feels the crosswalk button until it vibrates, signaling that it's safe to cross. She crosses and enters the post office. Making her way to the counter she takes out her CommuniBraille" and types in "May I have 2 stamps please?" The CommuniBraille voices her request and the postmaster slips 2 stamps into her hand.
Meanwhile across town another DB person who has some sight enters the grocery store. He's wearing computerized sunglasses and is carrying his handheld "ASLContact". He searches the aisle signs which the sunglasses magnify 4 times, he finds the canned goods aisle and walks down. An employee approaches him and talks to him. He notices her and holds up his ASLContact to her. A small sign on the front requests her to speak into the microphone. She asks again "Do you need help?" The ASLContact's screen lights up and a computerized figure signs in ASL. He types in "I'm looking for Chicken Soup" and a voice speaks his request.
Alright, alright, (clicking TV off) now that was farfetched eh? Is any of this possible?
Some of it actually is getting close to reality. Let's go over the scenarios:
"CaptionBrailler" - There seems to be 2 products available called the "Braille TeleCaption System" and the "Closed Caption/Braille Computer System (CCBCS)". Notice I said "seems", these products are listed on www.deafblind.com 's listing of equipment available. But further research turns up nothing on the internet.
"CommuniBraille" - There is a product that allows communication via "instant messaging". It's called the FaceToFace by Freedom Scientific (www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/facetoface-product-page.asp). It's a pocket PC with Bluetooth technology that allows the DB to have conversations wirelessly with anyone they need to. The DB types on their Braille keyboard and the other person types on a keyboard on another handheld PC (included). But can it convert Braille to Voice like I imagined? No, not yet.
"Computerized White Cane" - Is this available? No it's not (but would be kewl). But there is a white cane that uses sonar (like bats) that alerts the user via vibrations. This would alert the user of objects either overhead or in front of them.
"Vibrating CrossWalk" - Yes this product is available! More and more "Audible Crosswalks" are popping up across the US and Canada which alert the "Hearing Blind" to cross by loud beeps. Sadly though there are very few tactile vibrating crosswalks.
"Computerized Sunglasses" - There is such a product called "Bioptic telescope glasses". This product is made by Ocutech (www.ocutech.com), and are glasses or sunglasses which have a miniature telescope on top. These can magnify your vision up to 4 times.
"ASL Contact" - There are products for the computer that can translate spoken English into ASL. The limit is that the "speaker" has to program their voice into the program and then the computer can recognize the speech from that user only. It cannot be "taken anywhere" and recognize any speaker. Are we getting closer with this technology? I believe so. There are many "spoken" operated products available (such as 'Sync), so we're getting closer and closer to this being available.
Now why don't more DeafBlind have these products in their arsenal? The biggest reason is $$$. The sonic cane I mentioned runs about $700 bucks! Some day in the future things will get smaller and cheaper; hey, our home computers used to be big clunky things that ran into the thousands of dollars.
Now a little "disclaimer" - The twilight zone story told here is totally fiction made up inside my warped imagination. So don't be emailing me about "I never saw that episode!" (wink)
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 errands. The white cane feeds her information about her surroundings via a touchpad on her belt, "Amy's Bodega is on your right" the touchpad spells out in Braille. She slowly taps her way down the street until the touchpad informs her "Post Office across the street on your left". She stops at the crosswalk and feels the crosswalk button until it vibrates, signaling that it's safe to cross. She crosses and enters the post office. Making her way to the counter she takes out her CommuniBraille" and types in "May I have 2 stamps please?" The CommuniBraille voices her request and the postmaster slips 2 stamps into her hand.
Meanwhile across town another DB person who has some sight enters the grocery store. He's wearing computerized sunglasses and is carrying his handheld "ASLContact". He searches the aisle signs which the sunglasses magnify 4 times, he finds the canned goods aisle and walks down. An employee approaches him and talks to him. He notices her and holds up his ASLContact to her. A small sign on the front requests her to speak into the microphone. She asks again "Do you need help?" The ASLContact's screen lights up and a computerized figure signs in ASL. He types in "I'm looking for Chicken Soup" and a voice speaks his request.
Alright, alright, (clicking TV off) now that was farfetched eh? Is any of this possible?
Some of it actually is getting close to reality. Let's go over the scenarios:
"CaptionBrailler" - There seems to be 2 products available called the "Braille TeleCaption System" and the "Closed Caption/Braille Computer System (CCBCS)". Notice I said "seems", these products are listed on www.deafblind.com 's listing of equipment available. But further research turns up nothing on the internet.
"CommuniBraille" - There is a product that allows communication via "instant messaging". It's called the FaceToFace by Freedom Scientific (www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/facetoface-product-page.asp). It's a pocket PC with Bluetooth technology that allows the DB to have conversations wirelessly with anyone they need to. The DB types on their Braille keyboard and the other person types on a keyboard on another handheld PC (included). But can it convert Braille to Voice like I imagined? No, not yet.
"Computerized White Cane" - Is this available? No it's not (but would be kewl). But there is a white cane that uses sonar (like bats) that alerts the user via vibrations. This would alert the user of objects either overhead or in front of them.
"Vibrating CrossWalk" - Yes this product is available! More and more "Audible Crosswalks" are popping up across the US and Canada which alert the "Hearing Blind" to cross by loud beeps. Sadly though there are very few tactile vibrating crosswalks.
"Computerized Sunglasses" - There is such a product called "Bioptic telescope glasses". This product is made by Ocutech (www.ocutech.com), and are glasses or sunglasses which have a miniature telescope on top. These can magnify your vision up to 4 times.
"ASL Contact" - There are products for the computer that can translate spoken English into ASL. The limit is that the "speaker" has to program their voice into the program and then the computer can recognize the speech from that user only. It cannot be "taken anywhere" and recognize any speaker. Are we getting closer with this technology? I believe so. There are many "spoken" operated products available (such as 'Sync), so we're getting closer and closer to this being available.
Now why don't more DeafBlind have these products in their arsenal? The biggest reason is $$$. The sonic cane I mentioned runs about $700 bucks! Some day in the future things will get smaller and cheaper; hey, our home computers used to be big clunky things that ran into the thousands of dollars.
Now a little "disclaimer" - The twilight zone story told here is totally fiction made up inside my warped imagination. So don't be emailing me about "I never saw that episode!" (wink)
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