Happy Birthday, Liz! Have a Klondike, on me!
Category: Uncategorized
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Phillies Take the Championship
Yes, I know I grumbled about baseball earlier. I wasn’t too happy about having to first postpone and then drive back home from our vacation up in Michigan. But the drive back was oh-so-worth it: the Phillies won the championship game yesterday.
Steven was the first batter up and he cracked a nice triple:
The Phillies and the Angels battled back and forth until the sixth inning. They were tied, seven to seven. Steven was playing first base and he attempted to make a double play, but the ball sailed over the third baseman’s head. The Angels scored a run. Steven’s face fell and my heart ached for him. I have to give credit to our coaches– they kept their cool and maintained a positive outlook for the kids.
The Phillies were able to hold the Angels to one run and then the Phillies went up to bat. It was one out and the Phillies had two kids on base. Jeremy, a brown-haired kid with an impish grin stepped up to bat. He racked up two strikes and a ball. The Angels pitcher fired a ball that was a bit high and Jeremy went for it. I should actually say that he hacked it, because he swung his bat as if he was going for a pinata and the ball sailed in an arch, bounced hard at the edge of the infield and sailed into the grass between center and left field.
The Phillies rounded the bases and won the game, 9 to 8.
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Deaf and Hard of Hearing People at the Drive-Thru–Go Inside!
I’ve been getting a rash of new comments on the Steak ‘n Shake incident at my old blog site. All of the recent messages have the same comment: Deaf and hard of hearing people are not welcomed at the drive-thru. Go inside!
Here are some of the messages that were left:- Karen,
I do regret that this situation happened to you. There have been many misjudgements of character here in my branch of service also. I have encountered many unsuccessful people in the food industry. I personally apologize for anything that was done for you and hope that our company does everything that you hope to get from them. I hope that you will find heart and be able to visit Steak and Shake in the future. Maybe just avoid the one with the bad management?- 8:13 AM
- I’m Hearing Impaired Too, but my
take is a little different than yours.The last thing I want is special
treatment, law or no law.
I would park the car and walk in
and give my order.
Because you had no problem communicating at the window , he saw no reason why you couldn’t do
it over the speaker and neither
can I.- 7:04 PM
- Karen,
I feel for your situation and of course this could have and should have been handled more appropriately.I would like to point out that you spoke several times about the ADA and reasonable accomadation. You even threatened the associate with this.I have nothing against folks with disabilities and even agree that certain accomadations need to be made but consider this.Would it have not been reasonable for you to just go inside to order? There is nothing wrong with trying to meet these challenges of communication half away but for some reason you make it sound as if going inside to place the order was unreasonable and out of the question.The whole thing sounds silly for both sides. I wish you the best!- 9:48 PM
- GET OUT OF THE CAR AND GO INSIDE
- 12:11 PM
next time just go in and order.
Have we gone back to the days of separate water fountains, where certain people were allowed to drink out of THOSE water fountains and other people were regulated to another one? Those comments reveal the same attitudes, that drive-thrus are reserved for a special class of people. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing, you get your little fanny out of the car and walk inside. No drive-thru service for you.
Not only do we have to fight for physical access at the drive-thru, we have to deal with attitude barriers as well.And by the way, Anonymous, it’s not called “special” treatment. It’s called equal treatment.
- Karen,
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News Flash: Phillies Beat the Reds
I was hoping they would lose.
Steven, my youngest kiddo, suited up this morning for a playoff game. His team, the Phillies, was playing against the Reds. Steven’s friend Blake, was on the other team.
When the playoffs loomed early last week, I was telling the Phillies coach, Dave, that we had vacation plans. We were planning to head up to Michigan last Thursday, assuming the Phillies would be out of the playoffs quickly after Tuesday’s game earlier in the week.
They won.
In the last inning, Steven was playing first base–he fielded a runner out and threw to third for a double play to end the game. Right after the game, Coach Dave came bounding over. “You’ll have to cancel your vacation plans!” he grinned.
So when the game began this morning, I was pretty sure we’d be finished with baseball in a few hours. After all, we were playing a team with one of the best records–they had only lost two games the entire season.
Sure enough, it was the last inning and we were down 8 to 6. We had two outs and then Steven came up to bat.
Uh oh. Joe and I looked at each other. The last time Steven faced the same situation, he struck out and that was the end of that game. He was pretty bummed out about that. We were afraid that it was going to end on a bad note.
Steven swung–strike one. He swung again–strike two. The third base coach came over to talk to him and told Steven to move in closer to home plate. I held my breath. I was so afraid it was going to end on the next pitch.
Crack!
Steven connected with the ball and powered a line drive into center field. Two of his teammates crossed over the plate to tie the game.
It was the bottom of the sixth and the Reds were up. They needed just one run to win the game. Bases were loaded. The Reds popped a fly ball, the Phillies’ pitcher caught it and fired the ball to Steven on first for a double-play. The inning ended with the next batter.
The game went into extra innings. The Phillies started a hitting rally and Steven scored a double. The Reds tried hard to come back, scoring four runs, but it wasn’t enough to catch up.
Final score: Phillies 14, Reds 11.
Coach Dave came running again, but he didn’t have to tell me–by this time, I had caught playoff fever and beat him to the punch.
“Yeah, Coach, we’ll be driving back from Michigan on Tuesday for the Championship game.”
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Deaf Writer Jumps Out of a Plane… And Survives!
No, no, it wasn’t me.
It was Meryl Evans.
To celebrate her blog’s eighth birthday, Meryl vowed to jump out of a plane if readers donated $5,000 worth of stuff to give away.
Five grand–she figured she wouldn’t get anywhere near that much stuff donated. So she thought she was pretty safe. After all, a mom of three kids shouldn’t be jumping out of planes, right?
At first, it looked like Meryl would be able to keep her feet on the ground. Then at the last minute, she received a donation that put her over the line. She made an appointment with Skydive Dallas to jump on June 20th.
She breathed a sigh of relief and dismay when the weather forced her to delay the jump. “Oh great,” she told me, “More time to be nervous.”
And then she got cold feet.
Yesterday, she sent me an email. “I’m not sure I am going to do it now,” she wrote. “Technically, I didn’t get the $5k worth of prizes by June 1. And hearing some stories just made me want to stay on Earth.”
That’s ok, I reassured her. Your readers will understand.
Hell, I understand– I’m a mom of three kids and the thought of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane gives me the willies. It would be fun, yeah, but going splat–that would hurt.
Well, what do you know, she jumped.
And she survived to tell the tale.
Meryl, girl, you rock!
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The Importance of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Role Models
Before you read on, I want you to go and take a look at Stephen Hopson’s blog post over at Adversity University:
Aspire to Inspire a Kid Before You Expire
From his blog:
Around 11:30 am, the first batch of kids began to arrive. My heart picked up a beat. While my signing skills had improved over the years, I was a late bloomer in that department (among other things) because I wasn’t exposed to it until I was well into my third year of college. Over the years though, I slowly but steadily improved to the point where I was easily able to converse with just about anyone who used sign language as a primary means of communication. It made me feel bilingual.
I also had a flashback to when I was a young boy. While growing up, I never had deaf role models to look up to because there weren’t any. So casting myself in that role was going to be one very interesting experience.
Little did I know a pint-sized of a kid was going to make a huge impact on my life a few hours later.
There’s an important message in there: Stephen didn’t have any role models while growing up deaf.
Neither did I.
I like to think that deaf and hard of hearing kids today are exposed to many more deaf and hard of hearing role models today than in the past, thanks to the access to many inspirational articles found on the internet and so many deaf and hard of hearing individuals in all kinds of jobs.
Programs like the Chicago Hearing Society’s Adult Role Model Program are valuable in connecting kids with deaf and hard of hearing adults. The Chicago area kids have met chefs, vets, doctors and more. You can read more about June Prusak, the Youth Manager behind the program here: June Prusak, Youth Manager.
While there have always been deaf and hard of hearing adults who have succeeded in areas where no one has gone before, I find that they have often had someone behind them–whether parents and/or teachers–someone— and the attitude of “I can do it!” and “I will do it!”
That’s why it’s so important for deaf and hard of hearing adults to become role models for today’s deaf and hard of hearing youth. Whenever a kid wonders, “Can I do that, even though I’m deaf/hard of hearing?” having a role model to look up to or be mentored by can make the path so much easier for that kid. Even when a deaf/hard of hearing child is blazing a new path, the support of deaf and hard of hearing role models encouraging them along and saying “Go for it!” can make the difference in the life of a child.
So parents, if you’re reading this and realizing that your child hasn’t had much exposure to deaf and hard of hearing adults, take a moment to show your deaf/hard of hearing child that the world is indeed, wide open for them and find them a role model today.
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Are You Living Your Dream Life?
I asked a simple question:“Are you living your dream life?”
The question just came to me one day and I was curious how other people would answer such a simple, yet loaded question. So I started asking around. Just that question, “Are you living your dream life?”
When I asked it face-to-face, I got some startled looks. When I asked it via email, Twitter or IM, I sometimes had people asking me more questions.
“What do you mean, dream life?”
“Why are you asking this kind of question?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Dream life, who has a dream life?”
Whoa, baby.
But others got right down to it.
Ben Lachman, a friend from the Chicago area, was pretty open with his answer. “Nope,” was his answer. “Well, my dream life is basically pretty selfish,” he explained. “It has to do with massive financial success so that I can use that to support my hobbies and my family, as well as contributing money to causes that I support. Also, my dream life contains a loving wife and children, and those are yet to be attained.”
Ben has encountered some stumbling blocks along the way to financial success, but he has no doubt that he’ll be able to achieve his dream life.
Phyllis from Ima On (and Off) the Bima says that while her life may not seem interesting, she’s definitely living her dream life. “I have a wonderful family — husband, children, parents — we are all blessed with good health, I live in a nice home, with access to almost anything I could possibly want,” she said. “I work in what is truly my dream job: I decided that I wanted to be a rabbi when I was 12 years old and here I am. And to be honest, very few obstacles stood in my path. It all seems very charmed and I know it — and I can only appreciate it and be thankful for it, and know that blessings are here for us to accept and live and love and cherish…so even when things don’t seem quite right or I am annoyed with someone, or the kids wake me up all night or the laundry doesn’t get done, in the moment I might get cranky or annoyed (trust me, I do) but in the grand scheme of things I know how lucky I am.”
Over at Crunchy Carpets (whose motto is, “Clean socks are a privilege, not a right”–my kind of Mom!) Kerry says she isn’t quite living her dream life, but she knows what it looks like: No hassles from the in-laws, no pain for her husband, his website taking off, a home big enough for them all–and money to enjoy it.
But she’s not done. There’s also another baby and another home somewhere near the ocean or perhaps out in the country. And to top it all off, her dream life includes having her blog take off and bring in the big bucks.
Oooo, nice dream life. I like it.
If there’s anyone who I think is living a dream life, that would be Peter Shankman. The guy skydives for fun. I stumbled across his blog just a few weeks ago. Peter is the CEO of the PR firm, Geek Factory, and he recently launched Help a Reporter, which is growing so fast (11,000 and counting) that he is connecting reporters with sources at lightning speed. So when I asked Peter that dream question, he simply said, “I’m trying to!” But he also had more to share: “I think anyone can [live a dream life]–it simply comes down to not being afraid. If it doesn’t end with ‘time of death was…’ or ‘international incident,’ or ‘bail is set at…’ then why the hell not try it? You can always get a job somewhere and make money if it doesn’t work.”
Joanna Young, from Confident Writing, tells me that her dream life is in the process. “I’m creating it, building it, writing it down to make it happen and grateful for the good bits I’ve got.” Joanne recommends the book, Write it Down, Make it Happen
to take steps towards a dream life.
Some people shared emails and asked me not to include their answers in the blog. No, they said, they weren’t living their dream life. Life was hard, money was scarce, they were in jobs they didn’t like, some had no goals, and some were in the middle of life changes that could possibly lead them to their dream lives, but they weren’t ready to make those decisions public.
If there’s anyone living a dream life, I knew it had to be my brother. So I fired off the question to him. “Yup!” he responded. “Airplanes, islands and gas to get there, it doesn’t get any better.” My brother and his wife are on Kelly’s Island up at Lake Erie and they’re heading over to New Jersey in his plane to visit her family tomorrow. Ah yes, dream life, indeed.
So I turned to my friend Sue. Sue and I have known each other since college and we’ve shared a lot together. Sue went through a divorce, went back to school to get another degree, and met her current husband at a Halloween party. She’s happily married to a great guy, so of course, I emailed the question to her.
“As for the husband and kids, everything’s great!” she said. “But I want a job where I can be mentally stimulated, use my mind and make tons of money!” Her other desire for the dream life is to have someone come and clean her house on a regular basis. Oh yeah, I have that dream too.
And then Sue shot an email back to me:
“Are you living your dream life?” she asked me.
So I had to sit back and think about that for a second. And I came to the realization that, yes I am living a dream life. I’ve got a hubby and three great kids, my extended family, a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and chocolate stashed in the desk drawer. Toss in a great circle of friends, a well-behaved dog (most of the time) and a place to escape to on the weekends. I do have dreams yet to be lived, for that’s what makes the dream life so good– one can create more and more dreams to experience as life is lived.
So tell me, are you living your dream life?
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Proud Mommy Moment: My Baby Hit a Home Run!
Public service announcement for the day:In the playoff game between the Phillies and the Cardinals, Phillies outfielder, Steven Putz, smashed the ball into center field and rounded all the bases for a home run. The Phillies won, 12 to 5.That concludes this public service announcement. You may go back to your daily scheduled activities. -
A Mother’s Journey, And a Final Goodbye
It was one of those evenings.
Ants had gotten into the kitchen and were serving themselves dinner on the crumbs of food that the kids had left on the counter earlier in the day. I was filling out the school registration forms in triplicate and trying to figure out the best pay period to submit the check to cover the cost of the fees and still have enough money left over to cover the license plate fees. The kids were complaining that they had nothing to do. I sat there frustrated, because there was so much to do and I didn’t know which item to tackle first.
I went into the den to sit down and submit an article that was due and discovered that the computer wouldn’t turn on. I unplugged it, fiddled with all the wires and plugged it back in.
Nothing.
Out of frustration, I slammed my hand down on the on/off switch.
Nothing.
I unplugged every wire, grabbed the computer and headed over to Geek Squad. The technician plugged it in and it worked just fine over there. I came home and hooked it back up– it worked.
With a sigh, I signed into Twitter and decided to catch up with some conversations. I wasn’t ready to face the work that I needed to do. I came across this Tweet by Guy Kawasaki:
The link is to a slideshow of a mother and her son and a journey with cancer. Take a moment to experience it (it is captioned):
I sat there and I cried.
What I had been feeling tonight was little stuff; what this mother has gone through is huge.
And sadly, this brought back memories of Tod Morris, a friend who passed away from cancer very suddenly. You can read Tod’s story here: In Memory of Tod Morris.
So I’m taking a moment to feel that mother’s pain in losing her child and then I’m going to reach out and embrace my kids.
The little stuff can wait.
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Welcome to my World, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Hearing–Entwined
On Saturday morning, we headed up to Busse Woods for the annual West Suburban Association of the Deaf picnic. This year, the picnic was sponsored by CSDVRS Clear Blue, a program by the relay company that aims to give back to the Deaf Community. They provided lunch and drinks for everyone. Joe, my hubby, volunteered at the picnic to support the WSAD softball team and the upcoming NRAD racquetball tournament.
WSAD has a special place in my heart. I played volleyball for the WSAD team for many years. I became the secretary and then the first woman president of the club back in the early ’90s. Today, the club is run by another woman president, Julia Anderson, who is also featured on my other blog: Jobs, Careers and Callings.
There were hundreds of deaf and hard of hearing people at the picnic and hands were flying everywhere. What I love most about these gatherings is that every conversation, everywhere we go, is accessible for me and my family. There’s an ease that I can’t explain. When I gather in a group with an interpreter or if I have to lipread– I’m usually exhausted after an event. But when I gather with deaf and hard of hearing friends, my brain just seems to kick back and let all the conversat
ions roll. At the picnic, I was finally able to meet Teri-Lyn Calhoun from the Heartland Deaf Center. Teri-Lyn and I had emailed each other for a long time, but had never had the opportunity to connect until now.
The kids were having a blast. David and Steven entered a bean bag contest and they were leading in the competition when I announced to Steven that it was time for us to leave and head to his baseball game. He wasn’t happy about leaving, as he was having a good time chatting with everyone and tossing that bean bag. There was no way we could have missed the game, as his team needed to win to get into the playoffs.
Steven scored three runs, his team won by a large number of runs and the coach announced that he was going to treat everyone to ice cream at Dairy Queen. Steven has been pretty comfortable with his team this year and I watched as he rough-housed with the other boys and cracked some jokes. Sure, he fits in, up to a point. The friendships on the team are mostly surface ones. He does well with conversations that are one-on-one, but when the whole group is talking about something, he’s left out. Bless those kids that “get it” and make the effort to communicate. Ditto to the parents that take a moment to get to know us as well.
We headed home to throw brats in the oven and hot dogs on the stove. Our grill was a goner–with two huge, rusted holes and an ignitor that wouldn’t spark. A bunch of friends spent the rest of the evening with us, kicking back together, enjoying the meal and conversation. Stephen Hopson, on his Adversity University blog asked his readers to name one situation that could have gone south, but didn’t, because of a changed perspective. Here’s what I shared with him:
“I became deaf just a short time before I transferred to a college that had several deaf and hard of hearing students on the same floor. I didn’t see it as a blessing at the time, because I was going through a “woe is me” period for several weeks and mourning the loss. But it did indeed, turn out to be a blessing, for I finally accepted myself as a deaf person and brought a new language into my life along with many, many new friends.”
Here’s to the friends who fling the communication gates wide open!