Oral school

[flip]

No. I didn't miss the point. Without the phone, it wouldn't have led to cellphone and texting. Without the telephone it wouldn't have opened the doors to telecommunication and eventually video phones. Simply put, the telephone technology has made life easier today for deaf/hh people.

Yes, you totally missed the point, wow. Read some history on everyday life of deaf people in the 17th and 18th century. Take the employment rate of deaf people in the 50s and today. Your child has a much higher change of going unemplyment than deaf people 40 years ago. Text messages, video phones, relays, interpreters and so on haven't helped so far. CI's with speech/listening skills making everything better is at best vivid imagination from tech savies. Accept and move on, man.

 

[kokonut]

Yes, you totally missed the point, wow. Read some history on everyday life of deaf people in the 17th and 18th century. Take the employment rate of deaf people in the 50s and today. Your child has a much higher change of going unemplyment than deaf people 40 years ago. Text messages, video phones, relays, interpreters and so on haven't helped so far. CI's with speech/listening skills making everything better is at best vivid imagination from tech savies. Accept and move on, man.

Er, no. I didn't miss the point because I'm talking about TODAY and not 50 or 300 years ago. That was my point. The telephone industry in the beginning helped revolutionized the telecommunication industry which led to better phones and telecommunication services for deaf and hh people. It has helped spin off several phone related innovations and services such such as the UbiDuo, wireless video phone, TTY and so on. It has helped and it continues to help and provide valuable services for the public and career-minded. There are more professional deaf/hh people in the workplace ranging from doctors, engineers, scientists, business owners and so on. Ironically the telecommunication industry enabled deaf/hh people to become more independent using services and technology to their benefit. It added a few more notches in helping level the playing field. Laws and technology are the two things that'll help make it happen. It continues to move forward in that regard.

Besides, you can always wish that we're back in 1970s as adults instead of 20009 if you want. But I guarantee you that not a single Deaf person would want to do that. And we know why.

Let's not be ignorant about these things shall we?

 

[kokonut]

Nothing wrong when the child is a loner out on the playground, becoming a weirdo in high school..

Sitting in front of the computer and getting "information" on the net isn't the smartest thing to do.

Loner? Hardly. Totally ingrained with too many myths.

The internet is one of the *many* tools in education. It's not the only answer. We all know that. Do you?

 

[kokonut]

I wished I could afford all those technology. BTW, video phones is worthless to me because I don't know signing.

Just because it's a video phone doesn't mean that signing is required. You can have conversations person to person (or many to many) just as I do at work with the video conferencing meetings.

 

[kokonut]

Do you realize that you did help his language skills by signing to him? Sure, you did not need it in later life, but what happen if you didn't give your baby any visual cues? I know that when my son was a baby, I would say tree and he would not even cared. But as he kept growing, I kept POINTING (<---visual cues) so he can relate the word tree with tree. But if he was deaf, I would definitely sign "Tree" to him.

The only different is that not all CI babies can make out the sounds they hear, it take a while and some speech therapy (We we all know CI is not perfect enough on it's own without speech therapy). That's why signing to a baby is a good idea WHILE speaking.

Signing and verbal/aural approaches should be done. But it is still a parental decision on which communication methods to go for when their baby has a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Main is that they get involved in the language upbringing very early on whether it's the signing or oral/aural approach, or both.

 

[deafbajagal]

It should be the parents' decision....but the problem is many experts do not let the parents know that...or push the parents in one direction...or there's limited resources such as educational choices in that particular area.

Parents have the right to get the FULL unbiased information on what their choices are...9 out of 10 (not a real stat...just a guess, but probably pretty accurate) of them do not get the information they need.

 

[kokonut]

It should be the parents' decision....but the problem is many experts do not let the parents know that...or push the parents in one direction...or there's limited resources such as educational choices in that particular area.

Parents have the right to get the FULL unbiased information on what their choices are...9 out of 10 (not a real stat...just a guess, but probably pretty accurate) of them do not get the information they need.

I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess there. You're correct that parents should have access to unbaised information to make an informed decision. And some do, and still opt for the cochlear implant whether it's with or without signing.

 

[deafbajagal]

Ironically, the telephone that is now making life for deaf people easier. Cell phone and texting, relay operator, TTY, and now video phone.

You're assuming ALL deaf people have access to these things. Many do not make more than minimal wage. Many do not have access to these things.

For example...yeah, VPs are free...but internet is not.

When the telephone first came out, it really hindered and handicapped a lot of deaf people in terms of communication...it was someone else who invented the TTY...and went from there.

Drive thru speakers...not helpful. Alarm systems ...many are not deaf friendly. Onstar...talking gps installed in a car...not helpful. Intercom at school...nope. Those are the examples I was thinking of.

 

[shel90]

You're assuming ALL deaf people have access to these things. Many do not make more than minimal wage. Many do not have access to these things.

For example...yeah, VPs are free...but internet is not.

When the telephone first came out, it really hindered and handicapped a lot of deaf people in terms of communication...it was someone else who invented the TTY...and went from there.

Drive thru speakers...not helpful. Alarm systems ...many are not deaf friendly. Onstar...talking gps installed in a car...not helpful. Intercom at school...nope. Those are the examples I was thinking of.

Oh gosh, u just brought back memories of me standing to stay the Pledge of Allience with my peers not knowing what everyone is saying but trying to keep up by pretending to say the Pledge. I remember the Intercom going off but having no idea what is being said on it. One time there was an announcement and my classmates jumped up and down for joy, cheering and hugging each other. I aksed one of them what was happening and she said "Never mind..will tell u later" so I had to sit there like a fool smiling and clapping with no idea of what I was rooting for. I felt like such a fool but I refused to show it. Pretty pathetic, huh?

 

[deafbajagal]

One time there was a fire drill...and I was left behind! Imagine if it was a real fire!!!

 

[kokonut]

You're assuming ALL deaf people have access to these things. Many do not make more than minimal wage. Many do not have access to these things.

For example...yeah, VPs are free...but internet is not.

When the telephone first came out, it really hindered and handicapped a lot of deaf people in terms of communication...it was someone else who invented the TTY...and went from there.

Drive thru speakers...not helpful. Alarm systems ...many are not deaf friendly. Onstar...talking gps installed in a car...not helpful. Intercom at school...nope. Those are the examples I was thinking of.

No. No assumption was made on my part. Please do not ASSUME for me. I said "deaf people" and not "ALL deaf people."

Necessity is the mother of invention. There will continue to be new ideas, new innovations and new inventions to help bridge that communication gap even narrower. Laws and awareness can help with these things and have. Now, these inventions were geared toward hearing people since some 90 to 95% of the population do benefit from these things. it's a simple marketing target which it help to create demands and brings down the price. Doing so bring further innovations for the niche market areas. The thing is...don't wait for them to create something for you. If you think you have a marketable idea for a product for deaf/hh people then create a company. That is exactly what sComm, Inc did when Jason Curry, (he's deaf) started his UbiDuo (see sComm | Freedom Through Communication ) business and it's now booming. That's what Jason Yeh, who is deaf also, did when he wanted to build a communication device that at least 10% of the U.S. population would be eager to use (see Viable helps deaf callers connect - Sep. 15, 2008 ). Somebody created iSign for iPhone which is a graphical sign language reference tool (see Review: iSign | Apple iPhone Apps).

What I don't like to see is whinning of the things deaf/hh do not have. Rather I'd like to see some bootstrapping take place instead. I'd rather see people make a concerted effort to inform companies on the marketing benefit to include in the designs that would help with the rest of the 10% of the population people with hearing loss (e.g. such as your reference about the talking GPS but remember you still cannot and should not take your eyes off the road when driving but then again use your imagination on how this can be corrected/adapted for deaf/hh people...i already know how).

In the beginning, people whined and bitched about Youtube lack of CC features. Now, they have it and the CC list continues to grow. Same for Hulu.com with tv's and movies there were no CC. It's all about getting early adoption accepted by the masses first which means 90% of the population that's hearing and then it's up to deaf/hh to help these companies become aware that there is an active and willing population of deaf/hh people that they can do business with.

Again, early adoption leads to more innovations and ideas on top of it. That's how things get started. The key is not to sit back and whine, pitying poor you about these things. We didn't even have the technology today 7 to 10 years ago. That wasn't very long ago and it'll certainly be a different picture 7 to 10 years from now, too. More access, better communication and improving equality.

 

[kokonut]

One time there was a fire drill...and I was left behind! Imagine if it was a real fire!!!

Then do something about it.

 

[jillio]

Loner? Hardly. Totally ingrained with too many myths.

The internet is one of the *many* tools in education. It's not the only answer. We all know that. Do you?

Not a myth at all. Empirically supported evidence. Use some of that technology you are so fond of, and access some academic research on the topic.

 

[jillio]

Then do something about it.

**begin sarcasm**Yeah, DB! You could have heard that fire alarm if you had wanted to, you big whiner! **end sarcasm**

 

[AlleyCat]

Very few deaf people I know speak in a monotone. Monotone is not synonomous with "deaf accent."

Totally agree. However, just an observation -- I had a deaf classmate (one of the 3 of us in a school of several thousand!) who spoke in a monotone -- I would never have realized that, except that I was told that by her teachers and even my mom. My mom said it was what made her voice stand out as a deaf person. Maybe there was more to that than I know about, though.

 

[jillio]

Totally agree. However, just an observation -- I had a deaf classmate (one of the 3 of us in a school of several thousand!) who spoke in a monotone -- I would never have realized that, except that I was told that by her teachers and even my mom. My mom said it was what made her voice stand out as a deaf person. Maybe there was more to that than I know about, though.

I have an ear for a "deaf voice" from having been around so many deaf individuals. I shocked a clerk in a grocery store one time when I asked her if she was deaf after she had said "Hello, how are you?" to me. She said, "How in the world did you know I was deaf?" For me, it isn't so much a lack of inflection or tone as it is the resonance. And there are some common things like certain breaks between syllables in certain words. Little stuff like that. I guess going through speech therapy with my son made me more aware of the little things.

I have heard a few deaf people with a monotone, but not that many. More, it's kind of like, a hearing person's voice comes from their abdomen where the diapragm pushes the air through the vocal cords, and a deaf person's will come more from their throat. It's just a little difference in the sound that I notice.

 

[shel90]

I have an ear for a "deaf voice" from having been around so many deaf individuals. I shocked a clerk in a grocery store one time when I asked her if she way deaf after she had said "Hello, how are you?" to me. She said, "How in the world did you know I was deaf?" For me, it isn't so much a lack of inflection or tone as it is the resonance. And there are some common things like certain breaks between syllables in certain words. Little stuff like that. I guess going through speech therapy with my son made me more aware of the little things.

I have heard a few deaf people with a monotone, but not that many. More, it's kind of like, a hearing person's voice comes from their abdomen where the diapragm pushes the air through the vocal cords, and a deaf person's will come more from their throat. It's just a little difference in the sound that I notice.

I need to call you like Pek did so u can tell me if I speak in a monotone. I do know that I have a deaf voice.

 

[jillio]

I need to call you like Pek did so u can tell me if I speak in a monotone. I do know that I have a deaf voice.

I forgot about that! Yep, I told him exactly how I could tell he was deaf by explaining to him what I heard in his speech. He doesn't speak in a monotone, but he did have some very typical patterns.

 

[Daredevel7]

I thought the monotone thing was a CI trait, not a deaf trait. The family member I have who has a CI, apparently, even though he speaks well, he does speak with a bit of a monotone. I have good intonation, so they say.. I dunno!

When I say CI trait, I mean for someone who has had a CI before developing speech.

 

[deafskeptic]

I thought the monotone thing was a CI trait, not a deaf trait. The family member I have who has a CI, apparently, even though he speaks well, he does speak with a bit of a monotone. I have good intonation, so they say.. I dunno!

When I say CI trait, I mean for someone who has had a CI before developing speech.

This is the first time I've ever heard of monotone being a CI trait. I've never spoken in a monotone even before I got my CI.