Photo by: CARF

MOTHER FATHER DEAF DAY was established in 1996 by CODA [Children of Deaf Adults] International, an organization that focuses on hearing children of deaf adults. Each year, the last Sunday in April is set aside for hearing children [and the deaf community] to honor Deaf parents and recognize the gifts of culture and language they have received from them.

The 3 video clips below pay a tribute to Mother Father Deaf Day as LaRonda and her friend Linda share some stories as deaf moms with hearing children. Deaf v/bloggers are invited and encouraged to share KODA/CODA stories this week, or experiences you have had as D/deaf or hard of hearing parents raising hearing children (i.e.: heartwarming tales, humorous escapades or scary moments) in honor of this special day (April 29th, 2007).

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ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Deafhood, Family, Grief, Hearing Loss, Humor, Late-Deaf, Love, Meaning, Miscellaneous, Music, Parenting, Spiritual, Support, Video Clips | 9 Comments »

Photo by: “Jackie”

You Are Special ~ A heartwarming children’s story about a puppet named Punchinello. Written by Max Lucado and told in ASL by LaRonda Zupp. Modified for deaf children. Translation written below the video clip for those who do not sign….

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ASL - Sign Language, ASL Stories, Deaf, Love, Meaning, Miscellaneous, Spiritual, Support, Video Clips | 25 Comments »

Allow me to invite you on a journey to your heart-center — that place of Divine Light and Love. In the video clip below, I have created a “Loving-Kindness Meditation” that is meant to be visual and without sound so that both Deaf and Hearing people can view it equally. It’s about 6 minutes long. Sit back, relax, soften your view and open your heart and enjoy. A blog post follows with more questions and insight.

Photo by: “-sel-”

When I meditate or pray, I often focus my thoughts on my heart-center and address my prayers to God as “Divine Light.” While this may sound like some New Age mumbo-jumbo, it actually comes from a place of my Catholic/Christian roots…

How do we find Compassion for those who are vengeful, dangerous, hateful or malicious such as the murderer in the VA Tech tragedy? How do we find Compassion and Forgiveness for those who persecute, discriminate, start wars, or seek to demean, degrade or destroy all who we are, our core identity, the essence of our being?

How do we find Love for those who try to break us by telling us we are not good enough, not smart enough, not right enough, not religious enough, not deaf enough, not hearing enough, not whole enough, not loved….?

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Deaf, Love, Meaning, Miscellaneous, Spiritual, Video Clips | No Comments »