Folks:

Too often, we take pause to write and bemoan the sad state of affairs as it pertains to hospitals and other medical providers being reluctant to provide interpreters for us deaf and HOH folks...Well, I'd like to share with you a POSITIVE experience that happened today.

My son had an appointment at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  About 2 weeks prior to the appointment, my wife and I were contacted for pre-appointment questions by the medical staff there.  During the course of the conversation, the question was asked about native languages in the home.  My wife (proudly, I might add) told the woman that our hearing son is tri-lingual, English being his first language, and that he also is fairly fluent in Sign Language and Spanish and reads at a 5th grade level with the same verbal vocabulary (he is 8, folks).  Naturally, that lead to  follow up questions about his linguistic abilities, and they learned from my wife that I am deaf, hence his signing abilities.

With no prompting, no request from my wife at all, the nurse/administrator simply stated "Oh, that is fine.  I will make a note and arrange for an interpreter to be present so your husband can follow the proceedings". 

Now, I'm like all too many other deaf individuals, it is a constant struggle for me to get doctors to understand that an interpreter is a much more reliable way to communicate with me regarding medical issues than simply "Oh, we can communicate fine.  That's what pen and paper are for".  I realize that the ADA only requires an EFFECTIVE mode of communication, and that this normally is okay with me because I am a pretty smart guy (contrary to what some of my friends might tell you) and can understand the basic terminology as it pertains to my once in a blue moon medical issues, hence, it is EFFECTIVE in my case.  However, I was feeling somewhat hesitant in this situation, because my son has been diagnosed with a mild form of petit mal-type epilepsy (Absence Seizures), and that is over my head, having never had any family history on either side to personally deal with.  But those good folks in Cincinnati took that worry right out of my head!

Fast forward to two weeks later (today).  We show up early as told, and just a couple of minutes later, the interpreters show up as well.  Introductions were made all around, and after a few minutes of social conversation, we were called back.  People, this lady (first name Tina is all I will say) was FANTASTIC.  She made the entire proceeding quite enjoyable, and was professional and courteous.  There was not a thing that I missed.  She also had an observer for the day (Stacy) whom is also an employee (new, I gathered) at the same agency, and she was great as well.  The whole experience left me feeling somewhat better about the small, but positive steps we are seeing in the acceptance of providing interpreters in medical settings.  The doctors and nurses were great, spoke directly to me instead of the interpreters, etc. with no prompting.  They obviously have their stuff together at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital and have a tremendously qualified and educated staff.

I'm not doing this because I benefit from it in any way, shape, or form.  I'm doing it because it is the right thing to do, so please allow me to say this:

To the interpreter from the Northern Kentucky Services for the Deaf (I hope I got the name right) and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital, I say "Thank You" for making today such a positive experience.  I told my wife on the way home I would be sure to blog about this because it is far too seldom we hear good things about situations such as this.  If you are ever in need of medical services for your deaf or hard of hearing child, or hearing child and you are deaf or hard of hearing yourself, I HIGHLY recommend this hospital if you are in the vicinity of it.  They truly seem to grasp the importance of ensuring good communication between all affected parties.

Thanks,
Eddie

Hello Peoples of the vast internet-

Hi. I'm currently living in New England in the U.S. I'm hearing, though I do have hearing impairment which has affected my speech (sometimes causes issues with parents of hearing children when teaching... but that's another story for another day). I am in the elementary education field and I want to go into Deaf education.

I'm currently torn between two schools for graduate studies. Each seem to have a wonderful master's program, except they cater to different philosophies.

The first school is Boston University in, well, Boston MA. They work with the bi-bi program. One of their professors has written a few papers regarding it and he's very pro. I have no issue with the bi-bi program. (I have a deaf friend who's written English is atrocious and I would rather have had him succeed with his peers than be held back for a few years. He also is working on interacting with Hearing people, etc etc.)

The second school is Smith College near Springfield MA. I like the smallness of the school. I currently come from a small school and wouldn't mind staying with a small college. Their program was a little vague but I get the impression from the admission councilor that I would work with students in their school (either Deaf or HOH). I'm not sure I want to work with HOH. (Don't worry! They're pretty high on my list-- so I'm going to go visit... in September!)

There is a Third school. But I think they are more for hearing rehabilitation. I don't want to be a special's teacher. I want to be a full time classroom teacher. That school is University of Hartford. I also am going to visit them in August to get a better understanding.

My questions for you: Comments about Bi-Bi program/teaching it/learning with it. Comments on teaching Deaf and HOH children (elementary age). And anything I should think about would be helpful.

Sorry for the long post but I have no idea how to cut and just feeling all jumbly and confuzzled.

Hi There,

Thought I'd introduce myself.. as I'm a rather "NEW" cochlear implants patient..

I'm Jen, 25 years old, from Michigan, attends university at Western Michigan University...  I learnt earlier this year '09 that I would finally become a cochlear implants patient. I lost all hearing in my left ear.. already had "NO" hearing in my right ear since 2004. Had jaw surgery in 2003 to correct my bad under bite.. in 2004 had another stapes replacement surgery, cuz i needed it in the right ear. Last year i had to get the replaced stapes taken out. cuz it was burrowing a whole in my ear drum.

so now i am a newbie cochlear implants patient in both ears. i'm retraining my brain to hear sounds. i have another appointment next week monday to get follow up and more programs for my implants. hooray!

i'm on here just wanted to see if they're other deaf students and also, i know very little ASL.. in which i'm retaking the class this fall so i can read galiege.. the irish language. i'm going to teach myself italian! via my ipod touch lol! :)

I am an avid tennis fan, player, and love miley cyrus.. and so i talk alot about that. sorry if thats not your thing..

My older sister is studying Communicative Sciences and Disorders and she needs to interview someone who has worked with deaf children as part of a paper for her Aural Rehab class.

Anyone in this community happen to fit the bill? She'll only be asking about 7 short questions about your experiences.

Comment in this entry or ship her an e-mail at isuky74@yahoo.com I'm just the messenger, so any further questions should be directed at her.

Thank you so much in advance :)

If this is out of place, could someone be so awesome as to point me out to where I should post this?

Cheers!

So here is what Google has to say about me now:

What is the current listing status for journal.amanita.net?

This site is not currently listed as suspicious.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 220 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 0 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-07-07, and suspicious content was never found on this site within the past 90 days.

This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS26347 (DREAMHOST).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, journal.amanita.net did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

And yet it still gives the warning when I try to visit with Firefox. I can't even post to my site with Firefox. I'm using IE to post this. Dammit! How do I kill that Firefox warning thing? Blah!

What are some examples of Deaf traditions? ie: Deaf President Now!Day

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