Miss-Delectable
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DeafNation Expo is a trade show and social event -- it's just not loud - Los Angeles Times
If excitement were measured in decibels, then Saturday's events in Building 7 of Pomona's Fairplex fell flat. Despite thousands of people in attendance, the only discernible noise in the giant warehouse was the steady hum of an air pump attached to the children's bounce house.
But things are not as they sound at DeafNation Expo, a touring trade show. What may seem like a mild affair to those with hearing is blasting in full color for the hearing impaired.
Fingers flashed furiously as families communicated in American Sign Language. Friends tapped one another's shoulders and engaged in animated conversations, many using the event as a reunion. Vendors made exaggerated facial expressions as they hawked electronic devices and exotic deaf cruises, beauty supplies and bibles.
Only visitors with hearing felt the absence of music on the overhead sound system or the lack of microphones on stage.
Some patrons lingered over a modest display of antique teletypewriters and black-and-white photos of James C. Marsters, the Pasadena orthodontist who first conceived the idea of converting audio tones into typed messages. Others tried on T-shirts that read "Got ASL?" and perused the rows of books and DVDs, leaving their names and videophone numbers on sign-up sheets.
At one booth, salesman Richard Glasgow, 60, showed off a line of products that included text-telephone devices, vibrating alarm clocks and a portable gadget that flashes when someone knocks at the door. He and his wife, Lydia, are both deaf and work as dealers for Krown Manufacturing, which specializes in merchandise for the hearing impaired.
The Moreno Valley couple discovered the company at a DeafNation Expo three years ago and have enjoyed working in a business that caters to the deaf lifestyle. Richard Glasgow believes that one of their items, a fire alarm outfitted with strobe lights, could have saved the two deaf women from his hometown who died in 2007 after their mobile home caught fire.
"My heart was broken," he recalled. "That's why I sell these products."
Uniting deaf vendors with people who could use their goods was exactly what brothers Joel and Jed Barish had in mind when they founded the expo in 2003. Both born deaf, they wanted to offer others a comfortable place to convene.
If excitement were measured in decibels, then Saturday's events in Building 7 of Pomona's Fairplex fell flat. Despite thousands of people in attendance, the only discernible noise in the giant warehouse was the steady hum of an air pump attached to the children's bounce house.
But things are not as they sound at DeafNation Expo, a touring trade show. What may seem like a mild affair to those with hearing is blasting in full color for the hearing impaired.
Fingers flashed furiously as families communicated in American Sign Language. Friends tapped one another's shoulders and engaged in animated conversations, many using the event as a reunion. Vendors made exaggerated facial expressions as they hawked electronic devices and exotic deaf cruises, beauty supplies and bibles.
Only visitors with hearing felt the absence of music on the overhead sound system or the lack of microphones on stage.
Some patrons lingered over a modest display of antique teletypewriters and black-and-white photos of James C. Marsters, the Pasadena orthodontist who first conceived the idea of converting audio tones into typed messages. Others tried on T-shirts that read "Got ASL?" and perused the rows of books and DVDs, leaving their names and videophone numbers on sign-up sheets.
At one booth, salesman Richard Glasgow, 60, showed off a line of products that included text-telephone devices, vibrating alarm clocks and a portable gadget that flashes when someone knocks at the door. He and his wife, Lydia, are both deaf and work as dealers for Krown Manufacturing, which specializes in merchandise for the hearing impaired.
The Moreno Valley couple discovered the company at a DeafNation Expo three years ago and have enjoyed working in a business that caters to the deaf lifestyle. Richard Glasgow believes that one of their items, a fire alarm outfitted with strobe lights, could have saved the two deaf women from his hometown who died in 2007 after their mobile home caught fire.
"My heart was broken," he recalled. "That's why I sell these products."
Uniting deaf vendors with people who could use their goods was exactly what brothers Joel and Jed Barish had in mind when they founded the expo in 2003. Both born deaf, they wanted to offer others a comfortable place to convene.