The Ear of My Heart

Fairlady interviews LaRonda Part 1 ~

Posted by LaRonda on June 25th, 2008

Closed Captioned

Join Fairlady as she begins a series of interviews with
LaRonda Zupp from Ear of My Heart.

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Family, Gallaudet, Meaning, Miscellaneous, My Story, Parenting, Video Clips | 8 Comments »

A Complex Mixture of Deaf Identities ~

Posted by LaRonda on June 21st, 2008

Transcript below

Join LaRonda as she reflects on how each person is greater and more complex in their personal identities and make-up than the sum of their subdivided (D/deaf/HH/Late-Deaf/CI user) parts.

(5:08 Mins.) Hosted by: Videoserver.us

Transcript:

Hello. It’s nice out tonight. Yes, it is night time. It’s 7pm, but it’s still daylight. The sun hasn’t quite set yet. I’m sitting in my back yard right now just chillin. Yeah… I should do this more often…

I just got back, a little while ago, from a workshop. I lead a panel of speakers. (Yes, i worked on a Saturday! Oy!) anyway, it was a good workshop. There were many people in attendance. The make up of the audience was mixed and diverse. There were Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, CI users, those who used FM systems and a variety of others, including some who were hearing as well. It was a great mix of diverse people.

The panel, itself, was also diverse. There was a big “D” Deaf person (native ASL user, Deaf school graduate born to hearing parents).

There was also a little “d” deaf person who happened to be born deaf. He went to a mainstream school, (did not sign) later received a CI, then transfered to NTID, learned ASL in college and became fluent. This panelist had many different identities wrapped up on one person!

Another late-deafened panelist grew up hearing, had a deaf mother and hearing father, she signed a bit when young, became hard of hearing later in life and then a while later became profoundly deaf. By then, she knew ASL and she also got a CI and got her hearing back and it was like she was hearing again. So her identity swing like a pendulum from hearing to Deaf to hearing again. Wow!

The final panelist was a hard of hearing woman. She did not ASL and did not get a CI. Apparently she was “not deaf enough” to receive a CI, which was interesting.

All of these panelists had such a mixture of identities. The audience also showed such a variety of identities and it really impacted me. You know, I tend to work with Deaf people all over. Actually, I usually work with signing d/Deaf people. However, i have worked some with seniors who are losing their hearing due to age, and a variety of others. But I realize that today, we simply no longer fit into one box. Not even within our respective groups.

I asked the panelist how they identified themselves. For the Deaf panelist, that was easy. He was proud of his Deaf identity and strong in his cultural language of ASL. But all of the other panelists could not stay with just one label. They couldn’t! They were either “deaf-hard of hearing,” or “deaf-late-deafened-hard of hearing-hearing” or “hard of hearing-not deaf enough”, and on and on… Wow!

We really are a diverse group of people!

However, the one thing that everyone seemed to agree on matches what I recently vlogged about. Does UNITY mean agreeing and /or being the same? No. It simply means MUTUAL RESPECT. Respecting each person with individual stories and needs. We all recognized that we need ACCESS to information and understanding, yet how we receive that access, and what access is fitting is different for each individual.

So, can we assume that close captions will cover everyone’s need for access to information? No, we can’t. For example, a Deaf person might say, “Well, I can read English, but it’s not my strength. I prefer information in ASL.” Yes, this could be true for some.

Still others might say, “Oh sure! I would love more information in ASL because I want to learn more about ASL, but I really don’t have much opportunity to mingle or socialize with Deaf people who use ASL. Therefore, I must depend on captions for access.”

That’s how it it. Anyway, my point is that we make up a diverse world. There is no one-size-fits-all anymore, even in our respective groups (D/deaf/hh/l-d… etc.). We’re just a mix!

I’m glad YOU are YOU, and I am Me. We are all HUMAN. We’re all made from the same DIVINE STUFF.

(Pause… yeah…)

We all BELONG.

(Bye ILY wave)

ASL - Sign Language, Deaf, Deafhood, Hearing Loss, Late-Deaf, Meaning, Miscellaneous, Support, Video Clips | 24 Comments »