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Deaf panel offers personal perspectives on daily life - Features
Deaf Redbirds hosted a panel of deaf adults to discuss different perspectives on the day-to-day lives of hearing impaired individuals on September 22 at 7 p.m.
Jessica Strohfeldt, co-president of Deaf Redbirds Association, participated in the panel. She is a second year graduate student in special education with a focus on deaf and hard of hearing students.
Strohfeldt grew up in oral education and really struggled to listen because she only used a hearing aid in one ear. She did not learn sign language until she attended college in California, but she is now learning more about the deaf culture and really loves it.
When asked about using sign language as opposed to other forms of communication, Strohfeldt said, "Sometimes, when I'm with a hearing person who knows how to sign, like deaf education majors, I sign because I love sign language."
"I prefer to sign over voicing, actually, but I never voice only in front of a deaf person. It's not right, because I know how to sign," Strohfeldt said.
Heather Kuse, junior social work major, was also a member of the panel. She has experienced a combination of mainstream education and deaf student only education. Kuse attended Heartland Community College before transferring to ISU.
Kuse said one of the difficulties she faces is trying to understand other people when they speak. "Once I got into college, it became quite a bit more of a challenge for me. Sometimes people in hearing culture don't like to be looked at eye to eye," Kuse said.
When people do not look at her while they are speaking, and they are quickly changing topics, it is difficult for her to process where they are at in the conversation.
Aaron Rose, panel member, is a graduate student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is pursuing a master's degree in deaf education. Rose drove from St. Louis to participate in the panel.
Rose was taught cued speech as a child, which provides visual access to English by combining consonant hand-shapes cued at vowel placements with the mouth movements of spoken language. "The point is to visualize spoken language on the most basic level possible," Rose said.
Rose compared cued speech to phonetics and said it can be useful when teaching sign language to deaf babies. It is similar to a hearing child learning the basic sounds used to put words together.
"At six years old, I was reading at the third grade level because of cued speech," Rose said. He is a member of the National Cued Speech Association. Their Web site is cuedspeech.org. This was the first time ISU has had a panelist who used cued speech while growing up.
For students who are interested in learning cued speech, ISU provides short courses once each semester, funded by grants from a family who supports the cued speech network. A two-week long course will be provided over Christmas break.
Stephanie Lipe, instructional assistant professor in special education, participated in the panel as well. When asked if she has any recommendations for future teachers of deaf students, Lipe said, "Different kids and students have different needs. So, you need to adapt your communication to meet those needs. There are a lot of resources that you can gather."
Lipe said the most frustrating aspect of interacting with someone who does not understand your hearing loss is when people ask her questions such as, "Do you know how to drive?"
She said people have also asked her if she has a cold because her speech is so different.
"I try to teach them- yes, I'm deaf, and it doesn't matter, and I'm proud," Lipe said.
Strohfeldt believes the most frustrating aspect of interacting with certain people in the hearing community is when they are impatient or not understanding. She gave the example of when she worked at Huck's gas station last summer and had to quit after two weeks.
"People were so impatient. It was such a struggle to hear well," Strohfeldt said.
Maribeth Lartz, special education professor, is the faculty sponsor for Deaf Redbirds Association. They meet twice a month on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. in DeGarmo 208. Anyone who is interested in learning about deaf education or working with deaf people can contact Professor Lartz at mnlartz@ilstu.edu.
"You don't have to use sign language, but we have interpreters at every meeting. We welcome any and all majors," Lartz said.
Deaf Redbirds hosted a panel of deaf adults to discuss different perspectives on the day-to-day lives of hearing impaired individuals on September 22 at 7 p.m.
Jessica Strohfeldt, co-president of Deaf Redbirds Association, participated in the panel. She is a second year graduate student in special education with a focus on deaf and hard of hearing students.
Strohfeldt grew up in oral education and really struggled to listen because she only used a hearing aid in one ear. She did not learn sign language until she attended college in California, but she is now learning more about the deaf culture and really loves it.
When asked about using sign language as opposed to other forms of communication, Strohfeldt said, "Sometimes, when I'm with a hearing person who knows how to sign, like deaf education majors, I sign because I love sign language."
"I prefer to sign over voicing, actually, but I never voice only in front of a deaf person. It's not right, because I know how to sign," Strohfeldt said.
Heather Kuse, junior social work major, was also a member of the panel. She has experienced a combination of mainstream education and deaf student only education. Kuse attended Heartland Community College before transferring to ISU.
Kuse said one of the difficulties she faces is trying to understand other people when they speak. "Once I got into college, it became quite a bit more of a challenge for me. Sometimes people in hearing culture don't like to be looked at eye to eye," Kuse said.
When people do not look at her while they are speaking, and they are quickly changing topics, it is difficult for her to process where they are at in the conversation.
Aaron Rose, panel member, is a graduate student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is pursuing a master's degree in deaf education. Rose drove from St. Louis to participate in the panel.
Rose was taught cued speech as a child, which provides visual access to English by combining consonant hand-shapes cued at vowel placements with the mouth movements of spoken language. "The point is to visualize spoken language on the most basic level possible," Rose said.
Rose compared cued speech to phonetics and said it can be useful when teaching sign language to deaf babies. It is similar to a hearing child learning the basic sounds used to put words together.
"At six years old, I was reading at the third grade level because of cued speech," Rose said. He is a member of the National Cued Speech Association. Their Web site is cuedspeech.org. This was the first time ISU has had a panelist who used cued speech while growing up.
For students who are interested in learning cued speech, ISU provides short courses once each semester, funded by grants from a family who supports the cued speech network. A two-week long course will be provided over Christmas break.
Stephanie Lipe, instructional assistant professor in special education, participated in the panel as well. When asked if she has any recommendations for future teachers of deaf students, Lipe said, "Different kids and students have different needs. So, you need to adapt your communication to meet those needs. There are a lot of resources that you can gather."
Lipe said the most frustrating aspect of interacting with someone who does not understand your hearing loss is when people ask her questions such as, "Do you know how to drive?"
She said people have also asked her if she has a cold because her speech is so different.
"I try to teach them- yes, I'm deaf, and it doesn't matter, and I'm proud," Lipe said.
Strohfeldt believes the most frustrating aspect of interacting with certain people in the hearing community is when they are impatient or not understanding. She gave the example of when she worked at Huck's gas station last summer and had to quit after two weeks.
"People were so impatient. It was such a struggle to hear well," Strohfeldt said.
Maribeth Lartz, special education professor, is the faculty sponsor for Deaf Redbirds Association. They meet twice a month on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. in DeGarmo 208. Anyone who is interested in learning about deaf education or working with deaf people can contact Professor Lartz at mnlartz@ilstu.edu.
"You don't have to use sign language, but we have interpreters at every meeting. We welcome any and all majors," Lartz said.