Jamie Berke from About.com, has many links to employment topics on her site:
About.com: Deafness and Employment
Jamie has been an About.com Guide for ten years. Here are some of her highlighted topics on employment:
Job Search Frustrations of Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Business Owners
Hiring Deaf and Hard of Hearing People–From the Employers Side
True Life: I’m Deaf
Do you have severe or total deafness? Are you a deaf student, about to graduate and go out into the world on your own for the very first time? Or are you currently attending a school for the deaf but about to transition to a mainstream school? Perhaps you’re trying to find a job but experiencing difficulty because you are deaf? Are you hoping to get a cochlear implant or to be fitted for a hearing aid to significantly improve your ability to hear? Are you a member of an advocacy group, fighting to gain more rights or assistance for deaf people?
If you fit any of these descriptions, MTV and Gigantic! Productions want to hear your story.
MTV’s True Life is a long-running, award-winning documentary series where young people share their stories in their own words. We hope that, by allowing people to tell their stories and communicate directly with their peers, we can impact the way people interact and engage with the world they live in.
If you appear to be between the ages of 16-28, and would like to share your story, please email us at casting@gigantic.tv and be sure to include your name, location, phone number and a photo.
Since 2001, Gigantic! Productions, a New York City-based production company, has been producing hard-hitting, award-winning documentary programming for networks such as MTV and CMT. Please visit our website: www.gigantic.tv to find out more.
When Heather Whitestone became Miss America back in 1995, I watched the pageant with great interest. This was the first time in history that a profoundly deaf contestant had become Miss America. A video clip of that moment can be viewed here: Video of Heather Whitestone.
I read Heather’s book, Listening With My Heart
Daphne shares the long hours that were spent on language and speech: “…I had to devote all my time after supper to working with Heather on her speech therapy as well as her schoolwork–and now the Beka material on top of it all. Some nights we’d finish so late that I’d send Heather on to bed at 10 or 10:30 knowing I’d have to wake her up before five the next morning so we could go over the words for her spelling test.”
Daphne had an amazing amount of dedication to her daughter–and it helped that Heather had an amazing amount of drive to match.
I found myself relating to Heather in a situation where Daphne tried to encourage Heather to be upfront and open about being deaf: “Like most teenagers, she wanted to belong and not stand out from the crowd. Usually she wore her hair in a style that covered her hearing aids. As a result, many of her high school classmates never realized Heather was deaf.”
Yup, been there, done that. Did it so well that many students didn’t even know that I wore a hearing aid until a news article appeared in the high school newspaper featuring me and my friend Shawn, who was also hard of hearing. It took me nearly a year after I became deaf before I could wear my hair up in a ponytail with my hearing aid perched on my ear. Comfortably. In public.
Daphne also touched on social bluffing and how difficult it was for Heather to participate in conversations. “Lunchtime was especially miserable for Heather,” Daphne wrote. “She found it nearly impossible to pick voices out of the constant roar of cafeteria commotion in her ear. That meant she had to rely almost totally on lipreading around the lunch table. ‘I get tired of asking my friends to repeat what I don’t hear,’ she admitted. ‘And I think somtimes they get tired of me asking. So I just laugh when the people around me laugh. That makes me sad. I want to be part of the conversation. But I’m not.’”
That particular section of the book made me sad as well. I think it is so easy for us parents and professionals to get caught up in the accomplishments of deaf and hard of hearing people and forget that on a deeper level, if communication access isn’t accommodated for, then deaf and hard of hearing people still get left out of conversations and social situations. From what I see in my own district, there’s still a lot of social isolation going on and we’re not addressing the social/emotional issues of mainstreamed students.
As for Heather, she has gone on to open her own company and line of beauty products. She’s married and has three little ones of her own. She’s a spokeswoman for the Starkey Foundation and Cochlear Americas and has bilateral cochlear implants.
We may have looked a little wild last night, but it was actually very mellow and low key. Happy New Year to you all! 
And yes, that’s Ginger Ale, not champagne in the kid’s cups! 
Goodbye 2007–it was a nice year!
It’s one of those weekends…
We have three dogs, four adults, and six kids in the house and there’s a couple more adults and kids joining us for a New Year’s Eve party tomorrow. Lauren’s friend Sarah, came in from Texas. The hubby made me promise that there would just be “a few people” this year. Thank goodness that he doesn’t read this blog.
I’m down to one chair in the dining room. Joe’s mom gave us her kitchen set several years ago and one by one, the chairs have been tossed out as they break down. I’ve finally realized the reason that they’re probably breaking down: we have no humidifier in the house and the dry air is probably cracking the rattan. That, and the wild children that live here.
The good news is that we have some lights working in the basement. Our friend Dan came over yesterday and spent the day re-routing wires and adding lights. Here are the guys high-fiving after they turned the lights on:
My mom and my mother-in-law both tell me that the years start becoming a blur as you get older. Time starts spinning faster and faster. They’re not kidding! I swear, it was just a few months ago when we had our last New Year’s Eve party. We’re gonna miss our friends who’ve moved out of state. Happy New Year to you guys!
This morning, I came across a website that has many links to deaf and hard of hearing people:
The website is owned by Matthew Moore who owns MSM Productions, Ltd., a multi-media company that produces Deaf Life magazine. Deaf Life magazine began in 1987 and has returned to full production after a haitus. One can order the complete set of Deaf Life magazines for $1,750.00!
In March of 2006, we had a team of researchers spend the day with us at my house. One of my cousins came up from Missouri and my parents came in from Michigan. All of my siblings and some nieces and nephews were there as well. The researchers spent the day talking with each of us individually and gathering blood samples. Before they left, we sat down to a huge dinner. My mom never lets anyone leave on an empty stomach.
A few months ago, we received a letter identifying the gene with a bunch of numbers and letters. The gene at this point is rare–just two other families have been identified with this gene so far.
I posted more about this gene here: The Genetic Puzzle.
The implications of genetic research are not to be taken lightly. We knew, going into this research project, that we likely would discover information that would impact future generations in our family.
My daughter has the gene and there’s nearly a hundred percent guarantee that she will pass this gene on to her children. My sons will not.
My husband and I knew that we would likely have deaf and hard of hearing kids when we got married. That didn’t factor into our decision whether or not to have kids simply because there was a deaf gene present. We wanted kids and if they happened to be deaf, hard of hearing or hearing– it didn’t matter. Sure, we talked about how it might be easier to have kids with hearing in the normal range. And we grieved a bit when each of our kids lost their hearing, mostly because we knew that society was going to give them a rough time here and there.
In the end, it comes down to attitude. I happen to think that this world is much more interesting because my deaf and hard of hearing kids are in it. I like hanging around people who feel the same way. I avoid toxic people who think that my family, my kids are less human because our genes are a little skewed.
And I look forward to embracing my deaf, hard of hearing and hearing grandchildren someday.
Welcome to Jobs, Careers and Callings!
Some of you may know me from my other site, A Deaf Mom Shares Her World. I’m a deaf mom who is raising three deaf and hard of hearing kids. My kids are now at the point where they’re exploring “what they want to do for the rest of their life.”
I grew up without deaf or hard of hearing role models. When I arrived at Northern Illinois University, I had no clue what I wanted to major in. I explored business, computers and a few other things. I wanted to be a nurse, but a career counselor expressed her doubts. “Being a nurse requires a lot of communication and you have to be able to hear.” Years later, I discovered deaf and hard of hearing nurses, including one who works in the emergency room. She was just like me… And then I met deaf and hard of hearing doctors, lawyers, dentists, vets and even police and firemen.
Where were these role models when I was growing up?
So that’s why this site exists today– to show the variety of jobs, careers and callings that deaf and hard of hearing people are doing each day.
So if you’re a parent of a deaf or hard of hearing child and your child tells you, “I want to be a….” chances are, there’s a deaf or hard of hearing person out there doing it. And if they’re not, let your deaf or hard of hearing child blaze the way.
On Saturday night, it was my turn to host BookHands, a deaf women’s book club, at my place. I’m notorious for picking books by deaf authors or with deaf themes, but this time, I went with a self-help book, What Happy Women Know
We were missing two of our members, Karen and Kathy, who moved out of state (and how we do miss them!) and another member had a company party to go to. We had quite a lively discussion about happiness and the role of money in happiness. We took some trips back in time where we shared some happy memories. We talked about “Jobs, Careers and Callings” and how each of us approached our work in life. Some shared how the hard times in life brought happiness through a better sense of self and changed circumstances.
A great book, great discussion and a lot of food left us discovering that we are indeed a happy bunch:
