Miss-Delectable
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Being deaf no handicap for Laurier House tour guide
Victoria LeBlanc's fingers dance likes fireflies as she talks about Wilfrid Laurier rushing to Montreal by train to propose to Zo Lafontaine. It's her favourite story.
A couple looking at a portrait of the former prime minister and his wife listen, totally entranced.
Their tour guide hasn't uttered a word. The voice telling the story is that of an interpreter.
Victoria Leblanc, 21, is a deaf tour guide for Laurier House. She is seen with a bust of Laurier
Ms. LeBlanc hasn't been able to hear since she was four years old. No one knows why. Genetics, the doctors guessed.
This year, the 21-year-old is one of two deaf tour guides at Laurier House whose job is to give tours in sign language. It's a pilot project for the historic site, done through the Young Canada Works program.
Anne-Marie Johnson, the manager of Laurier House, says it's been a real "eye-opener."
"We've learned so much. They make us aware of things because we don't live in that culture."
Sometimes, when visitors come to the historic Laurier Avenue home, they're confused by having a tour guide communicate through sign language and an interpreter. They tell Ms. LeBlanc they don't need sign language. She laughs.
"I say, It's for me. I'm deaf'."
She says when student groups come through, those who have had her tour brag to their friends that they had the "deaf tour guide."
It's cool.
But it's frustrating, she admits.
Many people won't make eye contact with her. Many only ask the interpreter questions.
Thursday, when Ms. LeBlanc began her tour, a couple from Saskatchewan did a double take. They didn't know where to look or who to ask questions of.
But by the end, they were excitedly talking to Ms. LeBlanc about Expo '67.
That's all she really wants.
"So many people don't know anything about deaf people," she said. "I feel better they've met me."
Ms. LeBlanc doesn't remember what it was like to hear.
She learned to speak before she lost her hearing, and had to learn sign language as a young child. When she signs, her lips move, and sometimes you can hear her voice.
She says her voice makes her self-conscious. She once did an entire job interview without an interpreter, and the employer didn't even realize she was deaf. He was impressed with the American Sign Language skills she had listed on her rsum.
Ms. LeBlanc can also read lips. The only problems she has are overgrown mustaches and fast-talkers. Her own father, mediocre at sign language, has to keep his mustache well-trimmed.
She hails from Vancouver and studies at Gallaudet University in Washington.
Before she arrived in Ottawa this summer, she scoured the Internet to find an apartment. She found one near the University of Ottawa, set everything up by e-mail and hopped on a plane. But when she thinks back, she can't remember if she told her new roommates she was deaf.
She just tacked a manual alphabet (for sign language) up on the freezer with a magnet when she got there.
"I love interacting with hearing people, she said. "A lot of people are afraid a deaf person won't like being asked a question."
She's not afraid. She'll answer any question.
Her chin piercing didn't really hurt - and water doesn't spurt out of the hole when the earring isn't there.
And the only difference between the hearing and the non-hearing - is hearing. It's as simple as that.
Victoria LeBlanc's fingers dance likes fireflies as she talks about Wilfrid Laurier rushing to Montreal by train to propose to Zo Lafontaine. It's her favourite story.
A couple looking at a portrait of the former prime minister and his wife listen, totally entranced.
Their tour guide hasn't uttered a word. The voice telling the story is that of an interpreter.
Victoria Leblanc, 21, is a deaf tour guide for Laurier House. She is seen with a bust of Laurier
Ms. LeBlanc hasn't been able to hear since she was four years old. No one knows why. Genetics, the doctors guessed.
This year, the 21-year-old is one of two deaf tour guides at Laurier House whose job is to give tours in sign language. It's a pilot project for the historic site, done through the Young Canada Works program.
Anne-Marie Johnson, the manager of Laurier House, says it's been a real "eye-opener."
"We've learned so much. They make us aware of things because we don't live in that culture."
Sometimes, when visitors come to the historic Laurier Avenue home, they're confused by having a tour guide communicate through sign language and an interpreter. They tell Ms. LeBlanc they don't need sign language. She laughs.
"I say, It's for me. I'm deaf'."
She says when student groups come through, those who have had her tour brag to their friends that they had the "deaf tour guide."
It's cool.
But it's frustrating, she admits.
Many people won't make eye contact with her. Many only ask the interpreter questions.
Thursday, when Ms. LeBlanc began her tour, a couple from Saskatchewan did a double take. They didn't know where to look or who to ask questions of.
But by the end, they were excitedly talking to Ms. LeBlanc about Expo '67.
That's all she really wants.
"So many people don't know anything about deaf people," she said. "I feel better they've met me."
Ms. LeBlanc doesn't remember what it was like to hear.
She learned to speak before she lost her hearing, and had to learn sign language as a young child. When she signs, her lips move, and sometimes you can hear her voice.
She says her voice makes her self-conscious. She once did an entire job interview without an interpreter, and the employer didn't even realize she was deaf. He was impressed with the American Sign Language skills she had listed on her rsum.
Ms. LeBlanc can also read lips. The only problems she has are overgrown mustaches and fast-talkers. Her own father, mediocre at sign language, has to keep his mustache well-trimmed.
She hails from Vancouver and studies at Gallaudet University in Washington.
Before she arrived in Ottawa this summer, she scoured the Internet to find an apartment. She found one near the University of Ottawa, set everything up by e-mail and hopped on a plane. But when she thinks back, she can't remember if she told her new roommates she was deaf.
She just tacked a manual alphabet (for sign language) up on the freezer with a magnet when she got there.
"I love interacting with hearing people, she said. "A lot of people are afraid a deaf person won't like being asked a question."
She's not afraid. She'll answer any question.
Her chin piercing didn't really hurt - and water doesn't spurt out of the hole when the earring isn't there.
And the only difference between the hearing and the non-hearing - is hearing. It's as simple as that.