Photo by: jddunn

Personal Computers. We call them PC’s for short. Have you ever noticed how your PC personally reflects who you are?

We make PC’s our own when we set up their design. From selecting specific desktop backgrounds to how we organize random bits of information, we give them our unique thumbprint. The way it looks and the way we tend to interact with our PC’s often fit our personalities. They have become a part of us.

Photo by: neyoung82

When the power goes out, we are shamefully aware of how disconnected we feel from the world and from ourselves. Some of us experience a deep sense of loss. In this day and age, we are dependent on, if not addicted, to our PC’s.

Photo by: Eponymous One

It’s the same thing when we lose a term paper, a photo, or someone comes and messes up our personal settings, we flip out!

In my own family, my husband, son and I each have our own computers. However, only my computer is hooked up to a printer. This means any homework projects, maps and directions and other things that need to be printed will have to use my PC. As a result, my PC is the family PC, and not entirely my own. Grrrrr…

Photo by: llja S.

This means that I have to frequently check the SafeSearch Filtering on my preferences, weed through my son’s Nintendo and YouTube bookmarks to find my own faves, delete stuff that is inadvertently gunking up my system with shareware, and try to figure out what new program, software download or firewall is that my husband just installed on my PC — without asking! Sigh.

I read an article recently about a college law student who said he had no problem giving a robber his wallet and guitars, but when it came to his computer, he drew the line. When the thief asked him to hand over his laptop, the law student wrestled, punched and pummeled the robber to make sure his laptop was safe!

“I basically grabbed him and threw him this way, and he held onto the bat so it threw him to the ground,” he said. . . . “It’s my baby,” he said. “Don’t mess with my computer.”

Remember the story about the thieves who mistook a 3 year old boy’s Cochlear Implant for a cell phone headset? We are a society obsessed with technology. And why not? “Technology is fun, it keeps us in touch, it provides us with a link to our loved ones no matter how far the distance,” says RBChallenger in his article, Is America obsessed with technology. “…you can carry on a conversation with a person half way around the world and feel as if he/she is right next door.” I think many of us agree that technology has not only made our lives more enjoyable and easier, it has changed our lives in ways that are too numerous to count.

Photo by: Cobalt123

People like Jordan Pollack believe that “ultimately we will be wearing our computers as part of our bodies.” Pollack goes on to say:

Photo by: Jim Frazier

“We’re coming to the age of wearable computers in the age of wireless, and I’ve been waiting and watching that for a long time, since I fashioned a one-hand keyboard in 1985. I think the new devices like the Blackberry and the PDA/Phones are really the beginning of wearable computers. You’ve seen people with cellphone buds in their ears all day long. These wearable computers are not what the pundits and nerds said that they would be, but people are carrying them around all day on their belts, using them all the time, and they will evolve into something approximating the science fiction communicator, voice together with videos, MP3’s, fax, and e mail. It will all be something that you live with all day long, and we’ll become untethered as a society.”

And yet, there is still the ongoing pro/con debate about that little piece of technology that is surgically inserted inside the skulls of many deaf children and deafened individuals around the world today.

Photo by: The Mallison’s

A comment left on Deaf4Life, an online UK forum in the deaf community, sums it up:

“It occurred to me, that never have I ever known such a spirited defense of a piece of technology like the cochlear implant. It is obsessive, and proselytising. It’s a frigging religion…. I’ve used hearing aids all my life, while they are useful, I’ve never been obsessed them that I felt the need to endlessly pontificate about them. I’ve never known Deafies or deafies to worship them, the way the implant is.”

We all know that technology changes fast, and that it is human nature to fear and resist change. Yet due to economic pressure technology keeps changing whether people need it or not. Are deaf people being steamrolled into using something they don’t want or don’t need? Or, are they being lead toward understanding and using technology that might bring about extraordinary changes to their lives? It’s an ongoing debate.

Late-Deaf, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »

T. Alan Hurwitz, President of the National Technology Institute for the Deaf; Vice President and Dean of the Rochester institute of Technology for NTID presents: “Teamwork and Inclusionary Leadership” at the ALDAcon, 2008. Used with permission. Filmed and transcribed by LaRonda Zupp

Transcript:

Alan: I feel honored to be here at this wonderful club with these wonderful speakers. Yesterday, we heard Christine Seymour’s presentation, which was an excellent talk. Then, we followed up Dr. Davilla whose speech was also wonderful…

…I was born profoundly deaf. Both my parents were deaf. Apparently, on my father’s side there were several deaf or hard of hearing family members. Our son is hard of hearing. I’m deaf. My father is deaf. His sister is hard of hearing. How it came about, we don’t know. Our family came from Russia so we don’t have a lot of history beyond my grandfather, but there has been a lot of deafness in my family.

When I was born, my parents know immediately that I was deaf. So, my mother grew up in a strong oral environment, and had a very wonderful education. My father, however, had a very late start. His parents were from Russia and when they found out he was deaf, they didn’t know what to do with him. He was sort of left to the side. They owned a grocery store business and they left my father in the back of the store until he was 13 years old. But then, they found out about Iowa School for the Deaf and they put him in that school. That was the beginning of his formal education.

So, later, my mom and dad met. My father was by then proficient in ASL and my mother didn’t know how to sign. How they got together is a mystery. Love is blind. They got married and then over the years, my mom developed ASL skills.

When I was born, my mom knew right away that I should get an early education and she encouraged me to read. She read to me and told me stories and encouraged me to read books when I was young. As I was growing up, my mother was always taking me along with her to meet other deaf adults — deaf and hard of hearing adults; people who were successful in their jobs — farmers, teachers, factory workers and those who worked in different fields. She always encouraged me to go up and meet these people and talk with them.

Often times, my mother would take me with her to deaf clubs where they would have meetings — business meetings. They would have officers such as president, vie president, secretary, treasurer, and as I watched, I was fascinated at how deaf people could run these meetings and make some decisions. So that was my early exposure while I grew up, from the age of 4 or 5 through 8 or 9 and son on, to the deaf world. I attended those clubs and watched, observed, and talked with deaf adults.

My parents would often take me to the bowling alley where they had deaf tournaments, and the basketball tournaments. And, I would continue to meet many wonderful deaf people. And often times, my mother would find wonderful written stories about successful deaf people who had become leaders, such as those who became president of the National Association of the Deaf, or those deaf people who had become involved in different areas. Deaf people who had become chemists or engineers.

My mother would always say, “T,” … (I told Lucy the secret of my first name: T…. anyway, that was a secret between my mother and myself.) … but anyway, my mother would always encourage me to read stories about successful deaf people. Often times, my mother would say, if they can do it, you can do it! So I incorporated those things and that influenced my life as I was growing up.

Alan: …Become involved in organizations who are made up of various communication skills, and different attitudes, different ways of thinking, etc. As a result, you will find different ways to communicate with different people.

…Give responsibility. Challenge yourselves. Often times, certain people tend to take over and do too much by themselves. There is an art of delegating responsibilities, which is important. We need other people to be involved. We need to motivate them to take on some of that responsibility.

…Fundraising… Fundraising is a challenge! By nature, I’m not a good salesperson. For example, if a deaf group asks me to sell raffle tickets, I don’t like to ask people to buy them. I will end up buying them all myself! So fundraising is important. What you need to do is find people who have those skills, those people who are good, “go-getters,” people who know how to sell! That’s important.

Now, in my present position, one of my major responsibilities is fundraising and development. I have a person here in the back of the room named Brian Hansel. He’s my development officer. He’s over there. (Hand waves)… I have had to learn how to work with my development team so that I could accomplish my goals. That’s an important function for groups like ALDA, for local chapters, or wherever. That raising of money will support your ongoing activities.

…Make contact with key people and determine your priorities. That’s so important.

…Rewards. You must find ways to praise people, to thank people for their donations and recognize people for what they have done to support your organization to become better.

(Alan on crab theory:) We, deaf people, need to support and encourage each others success. When we become successful, then we reach out and pull up other deaf people so they, too, can be successful. That’s something that we need to think more carefully about.

…Often times, people tend to work in isolation. They have that “I know it all” attitude. they think that everyone supports them, but they find out they don’t have the alliance they think they do. They don’t have that support. So, it’s important to share the vision and get more people involved so that you can make more progress.

…And then there is that Me, Me, Me attitude… We need to change ME to WE. We are all in this together. Imagine, maybe in some rural town, there is this huge tree that needs to come down. The people of that community take turns chapping and hacking away at that tree trunk. For years and years and years, they chop at that tree, each taking turns, sharing the effort to chop away at that trunk, over and over through time. Then, all of the sudden, there comes a man on a white horse, in his white clothes and white hat, who rides into town. he gets off his horse, looks up at the tree, pushes it over and the tree falls to the ground. He then turns to the townspeople and says, “Hooray for me! I did it! I did it!”

And the people of the community turn to each other and back to him in shock and say, “Wait a minute. We did all of the work ourselves and he gets all the credit?!”

So that’s an example of how we need to make sure we recognize the entire community and the contributions they make.

…I can vs. I can’t…. often times, we ask people to get involved only to hear them say, “I can’t.” “I can’t.” But, you have to think of a way to get people motivated and included. When I grew up, my mother was always saying, “You can! You can! You can!” She would tell me those stories of other deaf people, saying, “If he can, then you can!” I never heard the word, “You can’t!”

So, often times, when there are organizations that are developing and people need to be involved with different areas, we see the same group of people running the show, over and over and over. Why are other people not involved? Well, I commend you, ALDA, because you have a practice of changing your president every couple of years. That’s one way of getting people involved rather than having just one president who runs the organization year after year after year. With that kind of set up, other people would continue to say, “I cant,” when we ask them to do something. They would say, “I don’t know how. I can’t.”

So, keep this in mind. you all have a shared responsibility. I commend ALDA on their leadership.

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Family, Hearing Loss, Late-Deaf, Support, Video Clips | 3 Comments »

LaRonda joins the costume fun at the 20th Anniversary of the ALDAcon in Chicago, 2008. In this brief clip, she points out that even though deafened people can’t hear, they still know how to party and have fun in large crowds. (Transcript below)

Transcript:

LaRonda: (Laughing) I’m here with two other famous bloggers: Abbie and Jennifer. Let me let you see them.

Abbie: Hi everyone. My name is Abbie Cranmer. Thank you. Thank you.

Jennifer: I’m Jennifer Thorpe. (waving) (ILY)

Abbie: (Feels balloon and rocks out)

Jennifer: (Laughing)

LaRonda: These people here rock! (Holds balloon) No music. No music. (Shows sign for “rock”)

LaRonda: I guess this is what deafened people do when they can’t hear the music. They keep themselves occupied.

(People playing valley-balloon… Elvis and Spiderman making a cameo appearance… a large group doing the Macarena… More balloons being tossed around the room… Ken and Abbie dancing with a balloon in between them to feel the rhythm…)

Abbie: (Laughing)

Ken: I can feel this… it’s good. (Thumbs up)

Abbie: (Thumbs up)

(Ken and Abbie dance and laugh)

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Hearing Loss, Late-Deaf, Miscellaneous, Video Clips | 6 Comments »

We’ve certainly come a long way in our communication access options over the last 20 years. The wide variety of current communication technology available today shows America’s commitment toward meeting the diverse communication methods among d/Deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened people. Join LaRonda as she shares technology highlights from the 2008 ALDAcon exhibits in Chicago and tries one out! (Transcript below)

Transcript:

Fellow bloggers: Abbie Cranmer (Chronicles of a Bionic Woman) and Jennifer Thorpe (Surround Sound), waving.

Karen: Hello. I’m Karen Putz from Chicago. I… oh, the blog? “A Deaf Mom Shares Her World.” www.deafmomworld.com. I just met LaRonda. I’m working for CSDVRS. Have a look.

LaRonda: 1. I have to press 1? Oh!

Relay: Ok. Ringing…. Record your message.

LaRonda: (voicing and signing) Hi Brent. This is LaRonda. I’m testing out this VCO option using a new system through CSDVRS. I hope you get this message. (unintelligible…) I’m fine here in Chicago. I’m happy. I’m tired and I love you. Give my love to Paulie. That’s all. Bye. (Signing) That’s all? I’m Finished. That’s it.

Karen: You can lip-read the interpreters. You can watch their signs. You can request more ASL. You can request more signed English. You can request lip-reading only. Whatever…

Jan: Do they have a direct phone number?

Karen: Yes they have a direct number.

Russ: Hello! (Chuckling). We are here providing new services. We have 2 new services with relay. One is the mobile CapTel, which is related with the CapTel phones, and we have a new mobile web relay too. So you can use either a pager or cell phone. We (Hamilton) sponsored this ALDA conference here last night for the opening reception.

LaRonda: We used to work together! Yeah!

TDI Rep: Hello and how are you? Welcome to TDI. We provide advocacy for access to tele-communications, media and recently we’ve added new information technology. The things that we address are listed here. (Showing display board) Com and join us next year in Washington, D.C. for our conference.

Woman with dog: …I got the dog last year and it worked out fine.

Rick: Hello! How are you? I’m fine. I’ve come here, actually just arrived. Just now. From Hayward, CA.

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Hearing Loss, Late-Deaf, Miscellaneous, Video Clips | 2 Comments »

While attending the 20th Anniversary of the ALDAcon in Chicago, LaRonda shares an epiphany or self-realization of her evolution from an “early” Late-Deafened person to an individual with a healthy Deaf identity. (Transcript below)

Transcript:

Hello! I’m here in Chicago! Yes, Chicago! Whoo! I’m in my fancy hotel room. It’s really nice. I’m here for the ALDA conference (ALDAcon). ALDA stands for the Association of Late-deafened Adults.

I knew about this organization many years ago, but this is my first time, this year, to attend an ALDA conference. This year is ALDA’s 20th anniversary! ALDA has grown quite large over this time period. It has become a big organization that has endured 20 years! That says a lot about this organization.

Well, you know me. I grew up hearing and became Deaf at the age of 17. I struggled with my identity for many years. Who was I? Deaf? Hard of Hearing? Late-Deaf? Hard-Of-Deaf? (Ha!) There were a variety different labels I tried on for size.

I guess I eventually found my identity later in my journey, past the depression and grief, and after all the personal processing. But eventually, I discovered a healthy identity in the Deaf world. I tend to label myself Deaf and I sign “Deaf” over my heart. In my ears and heart, I am Deaf.

However, I do still have the experience of growing up hearing and becoming Deaf later in my life. So I finally decided to come to an ALDA Conference to see what this organization was about. To my surprise, I’ve had an awakening. An epiphany! I found myself feeling like a stranger in a strange land! I did not expect that! It was quite a surprise for me.

Let me explain more about what I mean.

I looked around the ALDAcon and saw people with Cochlear Implants and hearing aids. I expected to see that since many people still depend on their residual hearing and use their voice to speak, talk and lipread. I expected that too. Interestingly though, there were a lot of Late-deafened people who were using sign language (not fully ASL, but more sign supported communication). That was cool! I did not expect that!

But, I found myself doing a lot of sim-com (simultaneous communication) using both signs and voice, which surprisingly, felt odd for me. I spent 5 days here. Whoo! It feels like a long time to sign and voice at the same time. Hmmm…. I recognize that my identity has truly shifted. And oddly enough, I found myself thinking, “Am I Late-deaf enough?” Kind of a shocking thought. “Do I fit in with ALDAns, these Late-deafened people, as a group?”

I did not expect these kinds of thoughts to pop up into my brain.

Many times, I have asked myself, “Am I Deaf enough? Will culturally Deaf people accept me even if I became Deaf later in life?” But now, I’m asking the opposite question. As I sit around these large circular tables, watching all these people using their voices to communicate, I realize I feel different. “Am I Late-deaf enough?” Whoo! What a hoot! It’s an awakening for me.

What’s really cool though is ALDA’s philosophy, or their motto, rather. Their motto is: “Whatever works, works.” That’s so cool. It’s kind of like the Total Communication philosophy. If lip-reading works, go for it. If signing works, great! If writing or gesturing work, that’s great and fine too! Anything is okay and anything can be used. That’s cool. I like that philosophy.

At the same time, there was a little bit of…. er…. how do I say this? I’m still shocked from the experience. Let me explain the story…

I happened to sit at a table with maybe a group of 8 people… well wait, let me go back a bit more….

When I first went into the big hall, I looked around to see where I would sit. I noticed some people off in the back chatting in ASL, so I went over to their table and sat down. Those ASL chatters were actually the vendors who had booths at the ALDAcon. Seeing their ASL drew me near and I easily joined in their conversations. It’s interesting. I found myself drawn to them… (messes up signs) UGH! My signs are off! See?! I’ve been using sim-com (signing with English on the lips). I’m thrown off! Ack! What I meant is that I was drawn to these people who sign. (Wow! Ok. Eh-hem… anyway…)

There was one woman who sat next to me. She didn’t sign, so she wrote something to me on a piece of paper. It said, “I’m jealous that you can have a conversation across the table with such ease. How do you do it?”

I looked at and read her note and wrote back with a smile, “Learn ASL.” The woman smiled, blushed, rolled her eyes and said, “Oh.” It was kind of obvious that this woman was not ready to learn ASL. She didn’t seem to want to learn ASL. Well, I continued chatting with her anyway, using my voice and signs. She seemed satisfied with me using both methods. She even asked me about a few signs and I taught her a few. She would smile, but really the two of us were not able to have much of a conversation, just a little, because it was hard for me to lip-read her. It was a lot of work and quite difficult. I found it so easy and comfortable chatting in ASL with the guys across the table.

A little bit later, that same woman who was sitting next to me wrote a longer note and passed it across the table to the vendors using ASL. She tossed the paper toward one man. He took it and read it, smiled politely, then shared it with his Deaf peer sitting next to him. That man also read the note and looked up at his friend and smiled. Then the two of them politely got up and left the table. I watched them leave, but wondered where they were off to.

The woman next to me sat there with a smug smile. I looked at her, then looked at the guys, then looked back at her in curiosity. Then I told her I was curious about what she had written. She said, “Oh!” and happily passed me her note. As I read it, I felt incredible shocked! Dumbfounded! The note said, “Excuse me. Please don’t sign. Your signs are very distracting!” I was at a total loss for words.

Inside, I felt pissed off. Really pissed off. This woman had NO IDEA about the language of deaf people or their right to have conversations in their native language. In fact, the way we were sitting around the table, with the men sitting in back of the woman, signing in her blind view as she was turned the other way watching the speakers and CART display on the screen, those vendors using ASL did not really distract her. She was looking the other way and their signs were practically in back of her head. It wasn’t distracting.

I think what the woman really felt was embarrassment about the people using ASL at her table. I think she felt that she didn’t fit in with this group. It was something to be aware of. It was important for me to understand where this woman was coming from and how she felt, yet inside, I felt angry. She knew nothing about Deaf people or their right to use their own language and communication. Still, I had to realize where I am. I am here at the ALDA Conference. Hmmm…. It’s a different place. I feel a little bit like a stranger in a strange land, but that was my land a long time ago! Hmmm…

Why did I not walk that path? Why did I chose the Deaf way? Why? Hmmm… It makes me wonder and reflect. I was just 17 when I became Deaf. Yes, I struggled and grieved for several years, but when I became skilled in ASL, I tossed the hearing aids, decided not to get a Cochlear Implant, and felt just fine. I communicated in ASL smoothly. It was fine and easy for me. Ironically, using ASL was a way to stay connected to my hearing world through interpreters. With their help, I have easy access. Hmmm…

Anyway, I found myself asking this profound question:

“Am I Late-deaf enough?”

Hmmm… what a twist! Wow!

Bye (ILY Wave)

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Health, Hearing Loss, Late-Deaf, Meaning, Video Clips | 17 Comments »

LaRonda briefly shares the celebrity-hood of vlogging. (Transcript below)

Transcript:

Hi! Long time no see.

I just got back from the DeafNation Expo here in the Bay Area. It was nice. There were many people in attendance. Pretty crowded actually. It was hot in there too. Whoo! It’s a very popular event here in the Bay Area. People flood to Pleasenton, CA. It’s a nice place.

One thing that struck me today. I felt sort of like a celebrity. I’m not sure … Is that good? Positive? Negative? I don’t know. But I feel like a lot of people came up to me today saying, “Whoa! I know you! I know you! You’re a vlogger! I see you on DeafRead or DVTV!”

I felt touched. It was pretty neat. People wanted to take pictures with me. Some wanted to chat and others wanted to talk about vlogging and how I got involved and various things like that. I felt honored to share my stories. Wow.

It’s kind of a fun thing when you’re a vlogger. You put your face out there, all over the world and people begin to notice you and tell you they know who you are. Many people come up to me often. I’m never sure who they are as I don’t know them, but I smile, say hello, nice to meet you, shake their hands, etc. Whoo! It’s a very touching and humbling feeling.

Yeah. That.

Bye (ILY wave)

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Miscellaneous, Video Clips | 2 Comments »

Part 6 of 6 video clips taken in Sacramento on the day of International Celebration of Sign Languages. 9/27/08. In this clip, Vloggers LaRonda, Don G. and Barb Digi join the ASL festivities along with Vikee Waltrip, Bridgetta Firl and others. This is the final video in this 6 part series. (Transcript below)

Transcript:

LaRonda: Hello! Guess what? There are 3 vloggers here. Don G., myself - LaRonda, and Barb (Digi). Whoa! Hi! Hi! We’re here to celebrate ASL! Got ASL? It rocks! Whooo!

Don, Barb and LaRonda: Yeah! Whoo!

Barb: Celebrate & enjoy!

LaRonda: They’re here, in the flesh! Whoo!

Barb: We need to try to accommodate the broad diversity.

Don: I think you can accommodate diversity, yet at the same time, keep your own values.

Barb: Hmmm… but what if those values don’t fit with their values?

Barbara: I’m Barbara Morrison from the deaf school in Fremont. Yeah! (Hands waving) Really, it’s been wonderful today. MANY people have gathered here today. I feel inspired and really feel the spirit of ASL here. It’s truly wonderful among the people here.

Judy: We’re here to celebrate and we hope that our language becomes a universal language and an English equivalent language.

Woman: That’s a beautiful dog.

Woman; Thank you.

Dog: Yawn

Deaf-Blind Interpreter: … without limits… not bad…

Tanja: A deaf group got together and want to file a complaint because CSD in Fremont has to suffer a 10% budget cut, yet public schools do not have the same cuts. So here’s their petition. Please help. Come and sign your name here.

Vikee: I just moved back right on time! I’m thrilled to see the crowds of people to my right, in the back, people in the middle, and this small row in the front, and people to my left. The sun seems to hot for many of you. I feel sorry for the interpreters, really. I really, really feel sorry for them, and they’re all wearing black!

Interpreter: (Showing his brown shirt, not black)

Other Interpreter: You always have to be special.

(Interpreter talking…)

Vikee: … (signing in broken SEE signs) TO - THE - FLLLAGG - OF - THE - UUNITED - SSTATES - OF AAMERICAA - WHICH - STAAANNDS - ONE - NAAATIONN - INDIVISIBLE - WITTTHHH - LIBERTY - AAAANNND - JJUSTICE - FOR - A-L-LLLLL.

That language is simply no good! It’s really pea-brained. I felt like a nit-wit signing, over-exaggerating my mouth and speech, and sticking my tongue way out! Really, they had me really practice protruding my tongue. I was a good licker! Really! … A-S-L… That was a GIFT! It is a gift to each one of us. But we got that gift through hard work! Truly hard work! We’ve been working since 1880 when we had to accept an oral system. But we protested, and we achieved!

Sheri: Whoo! I’m getting some pretty good exercise here! I better have lost 5 lbs. after today! Haha.

Bridgetta: I was at the Deaf President Now protest at Gallaudet University and I went with the Deaf people there to our nation’s capital. I went to another protest at Gallaudet University 2 years ago called Unity For Gallaudet and joined the crowds there. But I have not yet been to the state capital here in California, and I’ve lived here for for 12 years. I still haven’t seen an Deaf event happen here at our state capital. But, Pah! It’s the first time for this kind of event here, and I get to be involved with my fellow Californians. I’m really thrilled to be here today.

Children who start signing at an early age, those who start signing in their pre-school years, grow up to have a 90% success rate of passing the high school exit exam. This means chilred deserve to have early language access. Start them early so they all can pass the California High School Exit Exam.

Olaf: I’m enjoying the ASL festival. Finally! It’s about time we got together here! Pah! My father is looking down from heaven today. (Attletweed) He’s up there.

Rossana: Hello. Hello. It’s a bright, beautiful day. Ahhh…. ILY

Felix: Hi!

Matilda: Hi!

Chriz & friends: ASL! Whoo! We support ASL! Yes! Yes! ASL-day rocks!

David E: Hi LaRonda! It’s wonderful to be here today. All these Deaf Californians gathering together here. Wow! They’re really showing their support at this event. How many? I can’t count. Maybe about 1,000. Yeah, 1,000. And, I notice many old classmates. We’ve been enjoying a reunion of sorts as we bump into each other. Some, I haven’t seen since I graduated. Leanring about their lives, their journeys, wow! I feel it in my heart. This is the place to be today. This ASL celebration event. (Hands Waving)

(Showing t-shirt: “I love ASL.”)

ASL - Sign Language, ASL Stories, Deaf, Miscellaneous, Support, Video Clips | 3 Comments »