Have you ever...

Bebonang said:
I don't think that is not funny when you are putting her down like this. It was a very serious incident that she was not aware of what was going on, just because she is deaf. There was fire alarms and fire smoke that could have happen to her on her fourth floor. I am glad that she is okay and lucky to be alive. I agree with Topgun that the Hall Director should checked all students' rooms to make sure everyone is out of the building. If the Hall Director knows about her deafness and will be there for her to wake her up and get her out of the building for safety. You think that she is idiot for doing that. Grow up. :roll:
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You obviously misread me. I am not making fun, except a brief light hearted comment about the naming of a smoke detector.

Should I assume you prefer this become a lawsuit with damages paid out? I was applauding the OP looking at this as a chance to right a wrong without a financial reward.

Read the rest of my replies in the topic before you assume I am poking fun of him. I thought I offered good advice throughout this thread. Does everything need to be settled in court?
 
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verilu said:
I'm not a girl. Where did you get that impression/
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I assumed you are a girl. Sorry for my mistake, but still no matter, male or female, the Hall Director should have checked all the rooms that the students including you occupied during your school term to make sure everyone is safe and out of the building. That was my response to Saywhatkid about your ordeal. I have not gone to your PM profile if you had mention that you are male. Everyone here sometimes make mistake on the persons that are on AD. :Oops:
 
To respond to the question- there have been several occasions, but one hit me the hardest. When I was 16 I worked at Teddy Crafters, and was so accepted among the staff I didn't feel deaf at all. When I found out that a position for Key Holder was open and they said they needed someone who had been there 6 months (I had been for a year) I eagerly said "I'd love to!" But they turned to me and said "Oh, you can't do it, people call in sick in the morning and you can't do phones. Sorry." Keep in mind this was a 3 dollar raise. They weren't able to find anyone so hired someone new and 15 years old to be a key holder. It was so shocking to me I went to the backroom and cried by myself. This is notable because I never cry like that in public haha.. I think it just shocked me because I wasn't expecting such a response from someone I had come to respect.
 
verilu said:
Everyone knew I was hard of hearing. I gave the University my hearing test sheet and everything that proved I have a 90db loss. My RA knew I was deaf. Since they cutted the disability office for the year, I had to report to the dean of students for my accommodation.

I did report to the dean of studens about this whole incident. Gave him a hard lesson to learn. Since three weeks, no changes have been made to keep me safe. I did everything myself just to make them be aware that I need help even though I had accommodation last year(notetaker).

Keep in mind that nobody told me of this incident until my youth minister told me. Not even my RA told me about what happened. They wanted to keep everything under cover.

THe school newspaper mentioned nothing of me. They mentioned about what happened to the police officer but not me.

Someone knew that I was in the building. But they didn't tell me.
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Oh, I didn't mean whether they knew you were HOH or not. I was trying to suggest that maybe they knew you were out of the building already (since you mentioned you were meeting with your minister), and therefore already knew you were safe and didn't need to go looking for you.

Are you sure they didn't know you were already out of the building?

I'm sorry that no one told you and that they haven't taken any measures or learned anything from the incident though. I just want to make sure that you have crossed out the possibility that they would have been worried for you if they didn't already know you were okay.
 
Bebonang said:
I assumed you are a girl. Sorry for my mistake, but still no matter, male or female, the Hall Director should have checked all the rooms that the students including you occupied during your school term to make sure everyone is safe and out of the building. That was my response to Saywhatkid about your ordeal.
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I agree that every door should have been opened during this. No way a building is considered clear if doors remain closed. My father was a volunteer firefighter. I understand fire protocol.

That is why I encouraged the OP to pursue this in a way that solves the problem for others, not just to accept a monetary check for damages.

I do not wish to argue with you. We have a differing opinion on my sense of humor. So it goes. Back to the topic....
 
I wish Jillio would get here and explain what responsibility the student had to make sure he had flashing alarm during this incident.

I did not even realize he was not in the building. I would think there would be no cause for a lawsuit if a fire happened and you were not there.

It seems in my memory that you must inform them of your need for the alarm. It sounds as if he is attending a hearing college where they are not used to deaf students.
 
It is the student's responsibility to inform the school of his needs.

He can't win a suit unless he can prove that he suffered damages. Since he wasn't hurt in the fire, he has no damages.

He should aggressively pursue getting an adequate smoke/fire alarm for his floor and room immediately. He should also have a placard on his room door that states he is deaf in case of emergency notification. He should present the dorm supervisor with a document that states his emergency needs, and have the supervisor sign a copy stating that she has read and understood the document.

I'm surprised that the dorms at verilu's school don't have a better fire alarm system installed. At the college where I work, all the buildings have the new strobe alarms.
 
Reba said:
It is the student's responsibility to inform the school of his needs.

He can't win a suit unless he can prove that he suffered damages. Since he wasn't hurt in the fire, he has no damages.

He should aggressively pursue getting an adequate smoke/fire alarm for his floor and room immediately. He should also have a placard on his room door that states he is deaf in case of emergency notification. He should present the dorm supervisor with a document that states his emergency needs, and have the supervisor sign a copy stating that she has read and understood the document.

I'm surprised that the dorms at verilu's school don't have a better fire alarm system installed. At the college where I work, all the buildings have the new strobe alarms.
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Good points here. I often wonder; what would be the added cost for strobes in all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors? At the very least, they should be required in all rental/dorm settings such as this, along with hotels and the like.
 
verilu said:
Everyone knew I was hard of hearing. I gave the University my hearing test sheet and everything that proved I have a 90db loss. My RA knew I was deaf. Since they cutted the disability office for the year, I had to report to the dean of students for my accommodation.

I did report to the dean of studens about this whole incident. Gave him a hard lesson to learn. Since three weeks, no changes have been made to keep me safe. I did everything myself just to make them be aware that I need help even though I had accommodation last year(notetaker).

Keep in mind that nobody told me of this incident until my youth minister told me. Not even my RA told me about what happened. They wanted to keep everything under cover.

THe school newspaper mentioned nothing of me. They mentioned about what happened to the police officer but not me.

Someone knew that I was in the building. But they didn't tell me.
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I am sorry, but if you want to be safe, then you will need to take action. This means to attact the situations from all positions. If the dean will not do anything then go higher than the dean until you arrive to highest office. If nothing will be done, then write your local news paper and tell your story.

They must by law provide you a safe fire exit from their building. Tell your parents too. They can sue for you. You can sue too. Tell a lawyer! Do whatever you must!

Be friendly to them, but argue with them and tell them they are wrong.... Let them know you will not rest until you have a safe exit from your dorm during a fire.
 
Bottesini said:
No they should give you remedial education to learn how to take care of yourself and get accommodation.
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Yes, Bottesini is right. They should have told you and gave you the options before ever accepting you. They should have asked you if there would be anything you needed in case of an emg.
 
I am sorry... but.. I am having a hard time sympathizing here.

I am thinking to think you should had received an orientation in deaf technology before entering university-- I did. I was introduced to strobe lights, audio alarms, doorbells, smoke detectors, bed shakers, new models of TTY and such before I went to post secondary.

Before you can sue the pants off the university, you also need to learn how to advocate for yourself and hold up your part. Yes, the university did some wrongs as well, but it's moot points if neither parties held up their ends.
 
bwright6 said:
To respond to the question- there have been several occasions, but one hit me the hardest. When I was 16 I worked at Teddy Crafters, and was so accepted among the staff I didn't feel deaf at all. When I found out that a position for Key Holder was open and they said they needed someone who had been there 6 months (I had been for a year) I eagerly said "I'd love to!" But they turned to me and said "Oh, you can't do it, people call in sick in the morning and you can't do phones. Sorry." Keep in mind this was a 3 dollar raise. They weren't able to find anyone so hired someone new and 15 years old to be a key holder. It was so shocking to me I went to the backroom and cried by myself. This is notable because I never cry like that in public haha.. I think it just shocked me because I wasn't expecting such a response from someone I had come to respect.
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We ,deaf people, need to tell them, hearing people, that there are ways around the phone issue. Hearing employers need to be educated about it. Tell that person that you do not accept that excuse because there are TTDs, VP, pagers, Emails, and captel phones.

The phone excuse is not an excuse anymore with all the technology available now.
 
:gpost:
It is indeed disgraceful and definately no excuse!!!

@ OP-->I too am suprised that your college doesn't have strobe fire alarms!! You should definately fight your corner! there is no excuse for this, you could probably also go to the local newspaper if you wanted to get your story heard which might get more action taken (just be careful though as this might upset people at college!)

Good luck and I'm glad you werent hurt
 
Reba said:
I'm surprised that the dorms at verilu's school don't have a better fire alarm system installed. At the college where I work, all the buildings have the new strobe alarms.
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I was just thinking the same thing. Every dorm I've ever been in (8 or 9 from 4 very different colleges and universities) have strobe fire alarms. They're installed as standard not just for deaf/hoh students, but also to help prevent harm to heavy sleepers, people using ear plugs (really common in dorm life), anyone who may be sleeping off alcohol or drugs (also really common), kids listening to loud music, etc.
And why wasn't the problem with notification and lack of a strobe addressed when the dorm did fire drills? I know for certain those are required at regular intervals in order to be in compliance with government standards. I think it's usually once or twice a semester.
 
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