Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: ASL

  • Let It Go– in American Sign Language

     

    For three hours, we stood in the freezing cold filming one take after another.  We took a few breaks huddling in the car trying to get warm.  All this for a music video.  The song is “Let It Go” from the movie, “Frozen.”

    No professional filming. No expert editing. Just two deaf girls signing their hearts out to music that they love. The two girls, Ren and Keely, have been together since they were six years old.   Here it is in all its perfect imperfections:

     

    More Ren and Keely music videos:  Ren and Keely on YouTube

    Follow them on Twitter: @renandkeely

  • If You’re Deaf, How Can You Use the Phone?

    kso putz zvrs

     

    “If you’re deaf, how can you use the phone?”

    For most of my life, the phone was my enemy.  Even though I grew up hard of hearing, my brain couldn’t interpret sound into comprehensible English over the phone. My dad tried for years to get me to practice by calling him at work, but all I heard was a bunch of sounds that made no sense.  Every once in a while, I’d get lucky and understand a phrase or two. We came up with a system where I’d ask him questions and he’d respond with a “No, no.” or a “Yes.”

    As a teenager, my dad handled all the calls coming in, including the ones from guys.  You can just imagine how fun it was to deal with that.  “Yeah, Dad, tell John I’ll go ice skating with him. What time is he picking me up?”

    When I first became deaf after a fall while barefooting as a teen, I had no idea at the time it was going to turn out to be a blessing. After a few months of struggling in my classes at Northern Illinois University, I had an epiphany one morning: I could continue to be miserable about being deaf, or I could change my attitude and become the best possible deaf person I could be.  I chose the latter and began to learn American Sign Language.

    Little did I know, that decision would lead me to be able to access the phone in a whole new way.  In fact, most days, I’m on the phone interviewing someone for articles or an upcoming book. ‘

    So, how does a deaf person use the phone?

    For me, it requires a sign language interpreter on a videophone. I simply dial the person I want to call and the interpreter appears on the screen.  I use my voice to talk on the phone and an interpreter signs everything the other person says.  I use ZVRS for this service.  Keith St. Onge (2x World Barefoot Champion) and I spent two and half years on the phone while writing his book, Gliding Soles, Lessons from a Life on Water.   When we first started working together, Keith and I didn’t know each other at all.  We spent hours and hours on the phone crafting his life story with interpreters switching places to keep the conversation flowing.

    The ZVRS team came to the World Barefoot Center in Florida to capture how a deaf mom and a World Champ wrote a book together:

     

     

     

     

  • ZVRS Reveals VRS with iPhone4

    Over 200 folks gathered at the Hard Rock Cafe in Philadelphia on July 7, 2010 for a private event hosted by ZVRS. Tim Rarus took the stage and talked about the history of video relay service. “In the old days before the TTY,” he explained, “if you wanted to make an appointment with your doctor, you either had to find a neighbor to make a phone call or drive to the doctor’s office to make the appointment.”

    Now… imagine…  today…

    “You reach in your pocket and pull out your iPhone4 and you make a call using video relay.  Yes, today, it is now possible with ZVRS to make a video relay call!”

    Three people from the audience, including Gallaudet president, Dr. T. Alan Hurwitz, made historical video relay calls from the stage.  It was absolutely amazing to watch each of them communicate via using a cell phone– how many of us have dreamed of that day?  The day is here!

    Quoted in the Apple Insider: Apple Insider Article

    Quoted in the MacApper: MacApper Article

    Quoted in the Today’s iPhone:  Today’s iPhone

    Engaget Article:  Engaget

  • Dr. Suzette Garay, National Speaker, Instructor

    Dr. Suzette Garay is the owner of Baby Signs 4 U and is a national speaker.  She was the first Hispanic Deaf woman to obtain a Ph.D.

    Sign Language Classes at Apple Ridge Academy

    The Benefits of Using Sign Language with Preverbal Babies 

    Tell me about your job.  How did you get into this line of work?

    My primary work is teaching.  I teach the following Psychology, ASL, and Parent/Infants (hearing pre-verbal babies) to utilize sign language before they speak.  My desires to teach be it in a school, college, and/or private practice has been a long-standing dream of mine since I was in high school.  My decision to become a teacher comes from experiencing my own personal frustrations, lack of access to information, and/or discrimination to participate in opportunities due to poor special education services or no interpreters llowed in my classes back then in 1970’s.

    What is the best part of your job?

    Seeing how children are inspired, motivated, and determined to excel after knowing it is possible (role model) when their teacher standing before them has done it.

    What are some of the challenges of your job?

    -Convincing parents that all things are possible even if their child cannot hear or has something lacking or limiting them learning in the same way most children learn. 

    -Convincing people that I am worthy of my expertise when it comes to making profound decisions on a child’s life or deciding whether or not a child can learn with the best informed-choices that are available.  Sometimes, people have preconceived notions of what children with disabilities can or cannot do.

    -Avoiding the labels of being “exceptional”, “gifted”, “genius”, “having all the answers,” etc…  sometimes people try to put me on high pedestal for being the ideal Deaf, woman with Ph.D., First Latina, and/or overcoming adversity when I just want to be that “normal” person who worked hard to achieve what I had to overcome.

    -Meeting the needs or demands of the expectations people assume you can provide all the answers or hope for their child in need. So many people are desperate for your services or inspiration, but you can’t meet everyone’s need. Your only one person with so many hours available to help others.  Sometimes, you have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.

    What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

    My journey as a deaf child was very unusual than most would people would endure in their childhood.  First, even though I was born profoundly deaf, my deafness was not identified till I was almost 13 years old.  This is mostly due to the fact that I was shuffled through the welfare/foster care system which moved me in and out of more than 16 foster homes.  This means that on the average I lived with the families approximately 90 days or so.  When there was an opportunity to consider a possible hearing loss I was already moving onto another home.  Those first 13 years of my life were an incredible journey of exploring, learning, and understanding the world around me.

    After the 13 years, I finally had the right to be deaf and it changed the perceptions of how others would view me.  Some were good and some were bad perceptions of what I could or couldn’t do as a deaf child.  I loved music, in the sense of feeling the vibrations and often would be in the hands of authorities for “disturbing the neighbors” for blasting music so I could enjoy it. Schools became more restricted with learning, participating, and being treated differently with lower expectations of what I could learn or do because I was deaf or came from a lower social-economic background or simply because I was “too bright” has a handicap child. 

    Most of last 5 years of schooling was devoted to speech therapy, auditory rehab due years of needing to catch up.  This resulted in lost opportunities to participate in sports or extra-curricular activities that
    hearing students had.

    What advice would you give a deaf/hard of  hearing person who is looking for a career like yours?

    -Never take NO for an answer!
    -Always believe in yourself and only you can determine what you want to be
    or do in your life (no one should decide for you).
    -Have lots of patience with people who don’t understand your intentions to
    excel in whatever you want to do.
    -Don’t be afraid to ask for help and be grateful when others do help you.
    -Never forget where you came from or your shortcomings so you can always be glad to help others when they are in need, especially if you are going to teach the little ones who will be looking up to you.
    -Pick the right college that will give you the most support not just the name of the school because it’s popular.
    -Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe is the right thing to do even if it is not the most popular thing others want you to do.

  • We are the World– in American Sign Language

    In early February, Jane Holtz and I dropped off our two Laurens at the Desales Family Center in Michigan so they could participate in a D-Pan weekend camp.  While Jane and I stayed in our pajamas all weekend and read books, our girls were having fun with Sean Forbes and a group of fellow campers.  They produced two videos, “We are the World” (below) and “Smile,” (coming soon) in a tribute to Michael Jackson and in recognition of the Haiti earthquake.

    Enjoy!

    Photos from the weekend:

  • The American Sign Language Journey

    I’m sitting in a restaurant in Northbrook as I type this.  I have just dropped off my daughter at the International Center for Deafness and the Arts (ICODA) and I’m passing the time as she practices for the upcoming Peter Pan play.  Three, sometimes, four times a week, we make the one hour trek from our home to the tiny theatre where she joins a group of deaf and hard of hearing kids of all ages.  Each and every time, she’s so excited to go and hang with her friends.

    “Hey Mom, look at this neat ASL phrase I learned today!” she signs. 

    She’s picking up the lingo, learning the slang and gaining more and more confidence each day as she converses with the kids.  This is from the kid who spoke entire sentences at the age of fourteen months and wanted nothing to do with ASL when her hearing suddenly went south at the age of four.  She’s the hard of hearing kid who spends time yakking on the phone with her best friend from Texas, the one who is quick to raise her hand at school and jump into a hot debate– the child that I thought would never embrace sign.  

    And here she is, surrounded by a group of kids who are signing faster than the speed of light and she’s not shying away– she’s right in there asking them to repeat.  Sign it again, she signs, when the rapid-fire signing “goes over her head.”

    With a start, I realize she’s applying the same advocating technique that we’ve taught her over and over throughout the years– when communication doesn’t happen, change it so that it does.  Ask for a repeat, ask for a re-phrase, ask for it in a way that gets the message understood.  She’s soaking up the ASL and incorporating it– and loving it.

    There was a time she hated it.

    “Mom, don’t sign.  I don’t need it.  I can hear you just fine.”

    It has been fun watching the metamorphasis over the years, how the diverse communication modes have weaved in and out of her life and how she’s grown and changed.  I love how she’s been able to find her niche with a variety of friends– hearing, hard of hearing, deaf/Deaf. 

    I’m often reminded of something that I first heard from Janet DesGeorges and Leeanne Seaver about the parenting journey when it comes to making choices for our kids:

    Nothing is set in stone.

    Sometimes when we set out on a certain path, we think we’re heading down that path for a long time.  And sometimes our kids lead us down a different path or change the direction in our sails. 

    Sometimes the time is just right for a new direction and as parents, we just have to give our kids the opportunity to explore all the different paths.

  • The D-Pan DVD Giveaway Winner!

    We had 25 entries for the D-Pan DVD Giveaway and thanks to Random.org, we have a winner!

    Daisy from Compost Happens! (Gotta love that blog title!)

    Congrats, Daisy!  Your D-Pan DVD will be on its way for you to enjoy soon!

  • It’s No B.S. Mom, I Love You Too!

    I grew up in a family with five generations of hearing loss. My Great-Grandfather, Grandmother, my mom and all of her siblings were deaf or hard of hearing and none of them knew sign language. All of my siblings have hearing loss as well as my children and one niece.

    My mother’s hearing began to decline in her twenties. All of my brothers and sisters were born hearing and one by one, we each lost our hearing. My oldest sister was three years old when she fell, hit her head and instantly became profoundly deaf. My parents sent her off to live with my aunt and she attended Central Institute for the Deaf, an oral school. My brother Dennis was 36-years-old when a wooden beam fell on him at work and he woke up in the hospital two days later with a severe hearing loss. My sister Jeanie began to lose hearing in her 20’s and a few years ago, she slipped on a rug and became profoundly deaf.  My brother Kenny has a mild hearing loss that began a few years ago from a fall while barefooting.

    I came along 10 years after the last sibling was born. When I was five, I was diagnosed with a moderate to severe hearing loss. I muddled along in school, receiving a hearing aid in 4th grade and speech therapy. Because I “functioned” so well and was able to keep up my grades, I was pretty much lost in the system. Teachers lavished praise on the “girl with the hearing loss.”  My loneliness was often overlooked.

    My life stayed this way all through my school years. I made friends with a select few who could look beyond my hearing loss. In high school, I met another girl, Shawn, who also wore hearing aids and we became fast friends. We each shared the horror of dealing with group situations and the anxiety that came with it. We learned to adapt so well that some of our friends had no clue that we wore hearing aids. (I never wore my hearing aid outside of school or during the summer.)  Of course, we missed out on the punch lines of many jokes while laughing along with the others.

    When I began attending classes at the local community college, I started to fear that I had no future ahead of me. I had interviewed for several jobs, but no one had the courage to hire me or deal with my inability to use the phone. I took one job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant and earned money mostly by babysitting. The future began to look pretty bleak. The few guys that I dated weren’t good marriage prospects. I began to wonder just where I was headed.

    On a whim, I decided to transfer to a college that had a program for deaf and hard of hearing persons. My mother reluctantly supported my decision. She was afraid to see her last baby go off to the great unknown. How in the world would I cope at a university when I could barely get by at the community college?

    Just before going off to college, I was water skiing on my bare feet and I turned to cross the wake. I fell hard, and for the next few days, I kept feeling like I had water in my ear. I had become profoundly deaf.

    Going off to college turned out to be a blessing. At first, it was quite a culture shock. I was living on a co-ed floor with people who signed so fast that it was intimidating. Little by little, I was transformed. Slowly, I was introduced to a Deaf life to the point it felt like “coming home.” I was in a world where hearing didn’t matter. It was a world where, if I missed the punch line of a joke, someone would kindly sign it over again until I could join in the laughter. Of course, occasionally I encountered: “Sorry, train gone!”

    My mother and siblings began to see a new person blossom in front of them. I introduced them to a TTY, and a new, accessible world began to open for them. My mom admitted that she wished she had known more about sign language while we were growing up so that we could have had access to interpreters.

    When my oldest son became deaf, my mom began to ask how to sign certain things. It made me smile to see my 70-year old mom signing to my kids. One of her favorite signs was the sign for “I love you,” which is made with the thumb, forefinger and pinky finger extended and the two middle fingers bent downward.

    Every time we got into the van to leave to go home, Mom would flash her “I love you” sign. There was only one problem though…

    Mom would occasionally forget and leave the thumb bent inward, which turned the sign into “B.S.”

    It is quite a picture to see Mom flashing her “B.S.” sign when we are pulling out of the driveway. It always puts a smile on my face.

    It’s no B.S., Mom. I love you too!