Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
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http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2005/May/12/LNlist7.htm
Story time was just part of a five-hour deaf chat last weekend in Teays Valley.
The monthly event welcomes about 10 to 15 deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, giving them the chance to socialize with their peers through sign language, much like hearing people converse through the spoken word.
"To stay home bores me to death," he said. "See, I use my eyes to see. I can’t use my ears, so I use my eyes and that’s sign language. I’m deaf, completely deaf, profoundly deaf. Communication is done through my eyes. My life is my eyes and my hands."
Deaf Chat Coffee gatherings have actually popped up in 30 states across the nation, and Putnam County’s event is the only chat of its kind in West Virginia, according to the Web site www.**********.com.
Chat Hostess Diana Ramsey helped form the chat late last year after her friend, Sheila Edmonds, discovered a similar event in California.
Since then, Ramsey said the event has been an "awesome" success.
Ramsey said last Friday’s gathering boasted a record high of about 16 deaf and hard-of-hearing participants coming from areas including Putnam, Kanawha and Mason counties. The event is open to anyone.
The participants’ ages varied as well, all the way from 3 years old to near 80.
Ramsey said such events are important because they put the deaf in close contact with others who understand sign language, a luxury the average deaf person does not always have.
"This is a place for them to go knowing that the deaf will be there," she said. "If there isn’t a regular, set-aside time, you just have to run into someone or you have to call them up and try to make an appointment with them."
Not having close contact with the deaf and hard of hearing can create frustration and loneliness, said deaf participants Jerry Whitlock and Veronda Harrison.
Sheryl Flores, owner of the coffeehouse, said she started welcoming the chat into her business because she recognized the social needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents of the area.
"I think they’re overlooked, and that bothers me," she said. "I look forward to it because it seems like it makes people happy. People make friends, they get to meet each other and it increases awareness for those that are learning and provides them an opportunity to network with people in the deaf community."Harrison, 46, of Hurricane attended the deaf chat for her first time this month because she was encouraged that she might meet more fellow deaf friends and interpreters.
"Life is so boring when we have no people to communicate (with)," she said. "I’m working outside all the time. I mow the lawn, I build things. My favorite time is to be outside."
Harrison keeps herself busy by doing woodwork and various chores around her house. Her resume includes tiling and electrically wiring her house, along with various types of woodwork and the hope one day to replace the roof on her home.
For Whitlock, 56, of Winfield, the absence of deaf gatherings means deaf peers are hard to find. He said he can communicate with some friends at church, but for the most part, he encourages more deaf and hard of hearing to join the Teays Valley chat.
Anne Ashley of Scott Depot, who is not hearing impaired, uses sign language on Friday to communicate with members of the deaf community attending Deaf Chat Coffee, a gathering for deaf people, at Rendezvous Coffee House in Teays Valley.
"We don’t want just the same people every month," he said. "We would like to see new deaf people, we’d like for all the deaf people to come to this area so we could sit, communicate, get a larger room maybe and fill it with deaf, so we could sit, talk and communicate."
Casto is also using similar group events and a full-time job to conquer his frustrations and succeed in life. That success includes his landing a full-time job with the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston.
Casto, who issues permits to wastewater treatment plans, said he got the job against great odds and has persevered for 14 years and counting.
"I can’t quit," he said. "I have to support myself."
Franki Harrah’s mother, Maria, brought her daughter from Sissonville to Teays Valley in search of deaf role models. The 3-year-old girl was born profoundly deaf and Maria takes Franki from event to event in hopes of finding her the support and friends that she needs.
Maria said she also has no question that Franki remember most of what she sees.
"She can see that she’s not the only one," she said of Franki. "A lot of deaf kids that don’t meet any deaf adults think that one day they are going to become hearing."
Ramsey said she encourages more parents to realize the need their deaf children have to communicate with other deaf and hard of hearing peers. She said too often a parent will immediately think being deaf will hinder the child’s life, but she argues that with successful role models, the sky can be the limit."It lets those deaf children, especially, know that there are other people out there just like them," she said. "As soon as they see adults or other children that have the same language and are deaf, it changes their life."
Deaf Chat Coffee is a monthly event that is giving the area’s deaf and hard of hearing the opportunity to meet and communicate with their peers. Organizers say such events are important because everyone, hearing or deaf, needs to communicate with people who can speak their language.
WHERE: Rendezvous House of Coffee near Liberty Square, just off Interstate 64’s Winfield exit.
WHEN: The first Friday of each month. The group’s next gathering is set for 5 p.m. June 3. Each month’s gathering typically runs until 10 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Individuals are encouraged to contact Hostess Diana Ramsey by voice or TTY at (304) 562-5692, or e-mail her at iamaslsigner@verizon.net
Story time was just part of a five-hour deaf chat last weekend in Teays Valley.
The monthly event welcomes about 10 to 15 deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, giving them the chance to socialize with their peers through sign language, much like hearing people converse through the spoken word.
"To stay home bores me to death," he said. "See, I use my eyes to see. I can’t use my ears, so I use my eyes and that’s sign language. I’m deaf, completely deaf, profoundly deaf. Communication is done through my eyes. My life is my eyes and my hands."
Deaf Chat Coffee gatherings have actually popped up in 30 states across the nation, and Putnam County’s event is the only chat of its kind in West Virginia, according to the Web site www.**********.com.
Chat Hostess Diana Ramsey helped form the chat late last year after her friend, Sheila Edmonds, discovered a similar event in California.
Since then, Ramsey said the event has been an "awesome" success.
Ramsey said last Friday’s gathering boasted a record high of about 16 deaf and hard-of-hearing participants coming from areas including Putnam, Kanawha and Mason counties. The event is open to anyone.
The participants’ ages varied as well, all the way from 3 years old to near 80.
Ramsey said such events are important because they put the deaf in close contact with others who understand sign language, a luxury the average deaf person does not always have.
"This is a place for them to go knowing that the deaf will be there," she said. "If there isn’t a regular, set-aside time, you just have to run into someone or you have to call them up and try to make an appointment with them."
Not having close contact with the deaf and hard of hearing can create frustration and loneliness, said deaf participants Jerry Whitlock and Veronda Harrison.
Sheryl Flores, owner of the coffeehouse, said she started welcoming the chat into her business because she recognized the social needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents of the area.
"I think they’re overlooked, and that bothers me," she said. "I look forward to it because it seems like it makes people happy. People make friends, they get to meet each other and it increases awareness for those that are learning and provides them an opportunity to network with people in the deaf community."Harrison, 46, of Hurricane attended the deaf chat for her first time this month because she was encouraged that she might meet more fellow deaf friends and interpreters.
"Life is so boring when we have no people to communicate (with)," she said. "I’m working outside all the time. I mow the lawn, I build things. My favorite time is to be outside."
Harrison keeps herself busy by doing woodwork and various chores around her house. Her resume includes tiling and electrically wiring her house, along with various types of woodwork and the hope one day to replace the roof on her home.
For Whitlock, 56, of Winfield, the absence of deaf gatherings means deaf peers are hard to find. He said he can communicate with some friends at church, but for the most part, he encourages more deaf and hard of hearing to join the Teays Valley chat.
Anne Ashley of Scott Depot, who is not hearing impaired, uses sign language on Friday to communicate with members of the deaf community attending Deaf Chat Coffee, a gathering for deaf people, at Rendezvous Coffee House in Teays Valley.
"We don’t want just the same people every month," he said. "We would like to see new deaf people, we’d like for all the deaf people to come to this area so we could sit, communicate, get a larger room maybe and fill it with deaf, so we could sit, talk and communicate."
Casto is also using similar group events and a full-time job to conquer his frustrations and succeed in life. That success includes his landing a full-time job with the state Department of Environmental Protection in Charleston.
Casto, who issues permits to wastewater treatment plans, said he got the job against great odds and has persevered for 14 years and counting.
"I can’t quit," he said. "I have to support myself."
Franki Harrah’s mother, Maria, brought her daughter from Sissonville to Teays Valley in search of deaf role models. The 3-year-old girl was born profoundly deaf and Maria takes Franki from event to event in hopes of finding her the support and friends that she needs.
Maria said she also has no question that Franki remember most of what she sees.
"She can see that she’s not the only one," she said of Franki. "A lot of deaf kids that don’t meet any deaf adults think that one day they are going to become hearing."
Ramsey said she encourages more parents to realize the need their deaf children have to communicate with other deaf and hard of hearing peers. She said too often a parent will immediately think being deaf will hinder the child’s life, but she argues that with successful role models, the sky can be the limit."It lets those deaf children, especially, know that there are other people out there just like them," she said. "As soon as they see adults or other children that have the same language and are deaf, it changes their life."
Deaf Chat Coffee is a monthly event that is giving the area’s deaf and hard of hearing the opportunity to meet and communicate with their peers. Organizers say such events are important because everyone, hearing or deaf, needs to communicate with people who can speak their language.
WHERE: Rendezvous House of Coffee near Liberty Square, just off Interstate 64’s Winfield exit.
WHEN: The first Friday of each month. The group’s next gathering is set for 5 p.m. June 3. Each month’s gathering typically runs until 10 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Individuals are encouraged to contact Hostess Diana Ramsey by voice or TTY at (304) 562-5692, or e-mail her at iamaslsigner@verizon.net