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Computer would help a deaf Little Havana woman care for her mom - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com
Leonides Avalos knows that what she really wants for Christmas can't be found under a tree.
That doesn't stop the 44-year-old woman from asking.
Her Christmas wish: for her mother, Clara Rodriguez, to get better.
Clara, 68, uses a wheelchair. She cannot walk because of an ulcer on her right leg. She also has a big bulge on her left side. Her daughter thinks the growth is related to the kidney problems for which Clara receives dialysis treatment.
''The doctors don't tell me anything,'' Avalos, who is deaf, said in Spanish Sign Language. She communicated with The Miami Herald through an interpreter during a recent interview.
Avalos uses the bus to take her mother from their Little Havana apartment to the hospital for regular dialysis treatments. She said doctors don't communicate with her in sign language, either in English or Spanish, because they don't have to.
''I know my mother needs medical attention, but I don't know if they're making her better,'' she said.
Avalos arrived from Cuba in April with family members, and she now lives with her mother and her youngest son Lazaro, 14.
They share a tiny efficiency apartment that holds three twin-size beds, a dining table, kitchen stove and television set.
Avalos has been struggling to take care of them both. Mother and daughter pool their monthly disability checks, which total $1,017, but their rent alone costs $600 a month. They have to stretch every penny for groceries, electricity and other bills.
Avalos doesn't have a job and can't get one because of her own high blood pressure and asthma, said Lazaro, an eighth-grader at Ponce de Leon Middle School in Coral Gables.
Avalos' lifeline to the outside world is a video relay system -- a webcam and monitor she uses to communicate in sign language to an operator, who then translates the signing into audible words for the other party on the phone.
Friends and family say that what Avalos needs this Christmas is an Internet-ready computer and printer.
''A computer will help her improve her communication,'' said Brenda Rosario, her teacher at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, where Avalos takes daily classes in American Sign Language, computers and reading.
Technology won't fix all of her problems, but Avalos said a computer would help her communicate with others more effectively, which may help her mother in the long run. Nowadays, she has to walk to the home of her eldest son, Yolexis, 25, to use his computer.
And being heard and understood by others will improve her own quality of life.
''When I first came here, there was no way of communication,'' Avalos said. ``The sign language is different in America. I was frustrated.''
With a computer, she can e-mail relatives in Cuba, her teachers at the Center for Independent Living and operators at the video relay system.
Avalos could research medical information for Clara and look up part-time jobs. She also could help Lazaro with his homework, which requires a computer.
When it comes to other wishes, it is almost impossible to get Avalos to open up about her own needs. Instead, she signs about what can make life easier for Clara and Lazaro.
A microwave oven. A new portable bathtub seat. The seat Clara uses wobbles because it doesn't fit the bathtub.
New clothes and shoes for Lazaro. Clara needs clothes, too, in a size 20. Shoes in a size 10 would be a plus.
Most of all, Avalos said she would like help from the community to care for Clara.
''Maybe a church or another group can send an interpreter to the hospital with me so I can understand what the doctors are saying about my mother,'' Avalos said. ``Or maybe there's a place my mother can go while I'm in school so she won't be alone.''
Leonides Avalos knows that what she really wants for Christmas can't be found under a tree.
That doesn't stop the 44-year-old woman from asking.
Her Christmas wish: for her mother, Clara Rodriguez, to get better.
Clara, 68, uses a wheelchair. She cannot walk because of an ulcer on her right leg. She also has a big bulge on her left side. Her daughter thinks the growth is related to the kidney problems for which Clara receives dialysis treatment.
''The doctors don't tell me anything,'' Avalos, who is deaf, said in Spanish Sign Language. She communicated with The Miami Herald through an interpreter during a recent interview.
Avalos uses the bus to take her mother from their Little Havana apartment to the hospital for regular dialysis treatments. She said doctors don't communicate with her in sign language, either in English or Spanish, because they don't have to.
''I know my mother needs medical attention, but I don't know if they're making her better,'' she said.
Avalos arrived from Cuba in April with family members, and she now lives with her mother and her youngest son Lazaro, 14.
They share a tiny efficiency apartment that holds three twin-size beds, a dining table, kitchen stove and television set.
Avalos has been struggling to take care of them both. Mother and daughter pool their monthly disability checks, which total $1,017, but their rent alone costs $600 a month. They have to stretch every penny for groceries, electricity and other bills.
Avalos doesn't have a job and can't get one because of her own high blood pressure and asthma, said Lazaro, an eighth-grader at Ponce de Leon Middle School in Coral Gables.
Avalos' lifeline to the outside world is a video relay system -- a webcam and monitor she uses to communicate in sign language to an operator, who then translates the signing into audible words for the other party on the phone.
Friends and family say that what Avalos needs this Christmas is an Internet-ready computer and printer.
''A computer will help her improve her communication,'' said Brenda Rosario, her teacher at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, where Avalos takes daily classes in American Sign Language, computers and reading.
Technology won't fix all of her problems, but Avalos said a computer would help her communicate with others more effectively, which may help her mother in the long run. Nowadays, she has to walk to the home of her eldest son, Yolexis, 25, to use his computer.
And being heard and understood by others will improve her own quality of life.
''When I first came here, there was no way of communication,'' Avalos said. ``The sign language is different in America. I was frustrated.''
With a computer, she can e-mail relatives in Cuba, her teachers at the Center for Independent Living and operators at the video relay system.
Avalos could research medical information for Clara and look up part-time jobs. She also could help Lazaro with his homework, which requires a computer.
When it comes to other wishes, it is almost impossible to get Avalos to open up about her own needs. Instead, she signs about what can make life easier for Clara and Lazaro.
A microwave oven. A new portable bathtub seat. The seat Clara uses wobbles because it doesn't fit the bathtub.
New clothes and shoes for Lazaro. Clara needs clothes, too, in a size 20. Shoes in a size 10 would be a plus.
Most of all, Avalos said she would like help from the community to care for Clara.
''Maybe a church or another group can send an interpreter to the hospital with me so I can understand what the doctors are saying about my mother,'' Avalos said. ``Or maybe there's a place my mother can go while I'm in school so she won't be alone.''