Miss-Delectable
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South Dakota News: Eye on KELOLAND
Parents with deaf children have some important decisions to make. One of the bigger ones is where to send them to school. Some choose a school for the deaf. Others choose a mainstream setting, which was the case for two sets of parents in Aberdeen.
Among the lunchroom noise at Aberdeen Central sit two boys who listen to it all with their eyes.
"A lot of hearing people and Deaf people are basically the same people. We're all humans. We all have the same needs. We all need to communicate, and it's just that one group uses their voice and the other uses their hands to communicate," Joseph Hagen said.
The problem for these two is few others in the lunchroom talk with their hands. Central is a mainstream school and students here are predominantly hearing. Joseph Hagen is profoundly deaf.
"It's like I'm alone. Sometimes it feels kind of lonely because there're so many people and not that many that I necessarily can talk to so it's like I'm in a small place," Hagen said
That's especially true during times like math when he's in one class and his friend Travis Folmer is in another. Folmer's situation is a little different. He was born deaf but received a cochlear implant when he was six to provide some hearing.
"First time I heard a word was my name, and I said 'What's that?' It was my mom, she told me my name," Folmer said.
Hagen spent some time at South Dakota School for the Deaf and says he enjoyed the easy communication there. Folmer has been in the Aberdeen School District all his life, and since learning to speak, he's made every effort to reach his hearing pears.
"Not staying away from them and looking around, but I go to them and talk and prove what the deaf can do," Folmer said.
But more often than not throughout the school day, you'll find these two together.
"Joseph and me can talk about everything. With other hearing people, I always sometimes mess up and say 'What? Repeat please.' That's why I hang out with him because I never make mistakes with him," Folmer said.
And when they're with each other they aren't dealing with anyone else's mistakes either. They aren't being talked down to or being called impaired.
"Sometimes people will say or label deaf people in ways that aren't necessarily appropriate from our culture.
We're not necessarily hearing impaired or something like this. The deaf people aren't necessarily comfortable with those labels. We just want to be called deaf," Hagen said.
The boys say they just want to be treated like everyone else. While they both use an interpreter to help with communication, there are times other people don't understand how to properly communicate through them.
"They look at interpreters and tell them to tell me. Then they left and I walked to them- 'Talk to me! I can hear, I can talk!" Folmer said.
"I'd like people to know to just have the courage to direct your communication to me. You don't necessarily have to talk to the interpreter. The interpreter will do their job. You just need to talk directly to me and we'll be able to use the interpreter to understand communication," Hagen said.
Joseph Hagen and Travis Folmer are good friends in two different situations now. Both have had one big thing in common.
"It's not like we're dumb or something, we just can't hear," Hagen said.
Not with their ears anyway, but with their eyes they listen just fine.
Parents with deaf children have some important decisions to make. One of the bigger ones is where to send them to school. Some choose a school for the deaf. Others choose a mainstream setting, which was the case for two sets of parents in Aberdeen.
Among the lunchroom noise at Aberdeen Central sit two boys who listen to it all with their eyes.
"A lot of hearing people and Deaf people are basically the same people. We're all humans. We all have the same needs. We all need to communicate, and it's just that one group uses their voice and the other uses their hands to communicate," Joseph Hagen said.
The problem for these two is few others in the lunchroom talk with their hands. Central is a mainstream school and students here are predominantly hearing. Joseph Hagen is profoundly deaf.
"It's like I'm alone. Sometimes it feels kind of lonely because there're so many people and not that many that I necessarily can talk to so it's like I'm in a small place," Hagen said
That's especially true during times like math when he's in one class and his friend Travis Folmer is in another. Folmer's situation is a little different. He was born deaf but received a cochlear implant when he was six to provide some hearing.
"First time I heard a word was my name, and I said 'What's that?' It was my mom, she told me my name," Folmer said.
Hagen spent some time at South Dakota School for the Deaf and says he enjoyed the easy communication there. Folmer has been in the Aberdeen School District all his life, and since learning to speak, he's made every effort to reach his hearing pears.
"Not staying away from them and looking around, but I go to them and talk and prove what the deaf can do," Folmer said.
But more often than not throughout the school day, you'll find these two together.
"Joseph and me can talk about everything. With other hearing people, I always sometimes mess up and say 'What? Repeat please.' That's why I hang out with him because I never make mistakes with him," Folmer said.
And when they're with each other they aren't dealing with anyone else's mistakes either. They aren't being talked down to or being called impaired.
"Sometimes people will say or label deaf people in ways that aren't necessarily appropriate from our culture.
We're not necessarily hearing impaired or something like this. The deaf people aren't necessarily comfortable with those labels. We just want to be called deaf," Hagen said.
The boys say they just want to be treated like everyone else. While they both use an interpreter to help with communication, there are times other people don't understand how to properly communicate through them.
"They look at interpreters and tell them to tell me. Then they left and I walked to them- 'Talk to me! I can hear, I can talk!" Folmer said.
"I'd like people to know to just have the courage to direct your communication to me. You don't necessarily have to talk to the interpreter. The interpreter will do their job. You just need to talk directly to me and we'll be able to use the interpreter to understand communication," Hagen said.
Joseph Hagen and Travis Folmer are good friends in two different situations now. Both have had one big thing in common.
"It's not like we're dumb or something, we just can't hear," Hagen said.
Not with their ears anyway, but with their eyes they listen just fine.
So I did the proper thing and printed this out for her (except not my response). Good article, Miss Delectable!
