Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: hard of hearing

  • Financial Peace University with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Folks

    Last night, Joe and I discovered something new about each other.

    I’m the “Free Spirit.” He’s the “Nerd.”

    I’m the “Spender.” He’s the “Saver.”

    And it was time to learn some Financial Peace about it all.  Six years ago, we had no debt other than our mortgage and a car payment. Then we moved two blocks down into a bigger house. Then we lost our entire investment in a flower shop. The property taxes nearly doubled and our savings account dwindled.Then one kid left home for college.

    Sounds like a bad country song, doesn’t it?

    Then… instead of taking up knitting or some sensible leisure activity, I rediscovered my passion for a very expensive sport and started flinging twenty-dollar bills at every driver who would pull me barefooting.

    Uh oh.

    We signed up for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at our church along with several other deaf and hard of hearing folks. Meghan Vozzolo generously provided the interpreting:

    Over in Minnesota, Adan and Emily Burke are leading a Deaf Financial Peace University class:

    And over in Minnesota, they’re starting them at a young age:

    If you’re deaf/hard of hearing and interested in joining a Financial Peace University class:

    Adan Burke (Minnesota): adan(at)burkeconnect.com

    Karen Putz (Naperville, IL): karen(at)karenputz.com

    It’s time to live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.

  • Would You Trade Passion for Hearing?

    “I don’t know what it’s like to be deaf, but I do know what it’s like when something is important to a person,” a new friend wrote. “I have a question for you, if God or man came up with a solution to restore your hearing, and in exchange you had to give up barefooting, which would you take? I’d bet the farm that you’d take the deal.”

    To this new friend’s surprise, I’d take the barefooting over restored hearing.

    You see, I’ve been deaf so many years now it is just a part of me. I’ve long moved past the stage of grief and into living. That doesn’t mean I still go through periods of time when I get down about the communication difficulties and wish for hearing. I had a lot of moments like that yesterday when I struggled to understand the conversations flowing around me at the barefoot tournament.  But to give up a passion? No can do. Now if I could have both, that’d be a different story…

    This week’s guest post over at Lipreading Mom explores the topic of why going deaf became a blessing for me:

    Why Going Deaf Was a Blessing for Me

    Special thanks to Shanna Groves for sharing my story.

    How about you– would you give up your passion if it meant being able to hear?

  • Todd Hlavacek, Software Engineer

    Todd Hlavacek software engineerTell me about your job, career, or calling. How did you get into this line of work?

    I’m a software engineer.  I knew back when I was a gangly teenager sitting in front of my Apple IIgs writing BASIC that I wanted to be in the computer field writing code.  Ever since that epiphany, I worked my butt off to get in the field.

    What is the best part of what you do?

    Solving the world’s problems.  🙂  Seriously, an analogy comes to mind here.  Think of Michelangelo working on the Statue of David.  He had a vision of what he wanted the statue to become.  The result of his hard labor was a beautiful statue.  It’s the same way I feel with my work.  The best part of what I do is I get something in the form of written requirements for a “problem,” and I work using some or all of the skills I have to get to the end result — a beautiful statue written in software code.

    What are some of the challenges?

    Admittedly, in a field like this, my deafness would be more of a hindrance, but fortunately, technology has progressed to the point where there are engineers, hearing, deaf and even blind, who do work remotely.  In order for them to do their jobs effectively as remote engineers, tools have to be utilized over the internet that I as a deaf engineer have benefited from greatly —

    1. Instant Messaging
    2. Go-To Meeting (similar to Microsoft’s old NetMeeting)
    3. Video Conferencing where other call in, and I can call in using Video Relay from home
    4. Smartphones — believe it or not — because now with the capability to text, IM and all on a smartphone, deaf engineers now can be a part of the “on-call” rotation with other hearing colleagues.

    One challenge still remains — face to face brainstorming and design meetings where my presence is needed.  I use sign language interpreting services for that.

    As I tell people when they encounter a deaf engineer — “Being Deaf only means that we use a different language than English to communicate orally and verbally, it does not of and by itself mean that we can’t do the job that any able-bodied engineer speaking a different language than English can do.”

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

    Gosh, this is both an easy and difficult question to answer.  You see, I grew up with a deaf brother in a hearing family using Total Communication.  My mom never subscribed to the “oral only” or “Sign language only” methodologies.  She wanted to give my brother and I all tools from which we could utilize to be successful later in life.  Little did we both know growing up that we both would later use speech and sign language at one time or another throughout our lives wherever applicable — at home or at work.  I fought against one methodology and embraced the other.

    So, while growing up deaf was hard, I was fortunate in that I had a mother who fought for me.  I had access to other deaf/hard of hearing friends along with a good education.  So growing up was good, but not easy. Today’s deaf/hard of hearing children have it far much easier, I’d think, with a wide range of activities, organizations, and the like out there.

    What advice would you give a D/deaf/HH person who is looking for a job, career or calling like yours?

    I would say this:

    Number one, play around with the activities that will lead to your calling NOW instead of waiting until college.  Don’t just say, “I want to work with aeronautics” and sit and play games on your X360.  Find out all about aeronautics, do activities, etc.

    For example, I played with BASIC programming, along with other computer related stuff, back when I was a teenager — way before high school and through high school.  I knew right then it was for me.  I never changed majors in college.  The first major I went into was the one I graduated with.

    So, having stated that, if you are not sure but want to wait, don’t.  Find ways to do these activities, whether it be volunteering for a not for profit organization, or doing self-paced study online (there are plenty of them online these days), or taking community college classes.

    Number two, remember the saying:  “All work makes Jack/Jill a dull person” and conversely, “All play makes Jack/JIll an unhappy person.”  Find a balance in life between your pursuit of the calling and some play time.  Don’t sacrifice your social aspect in your relentless pursuit of your calling.  Don’t sacrifice your hard work by doing too much play time.  You’ll live for 80+ years, so be mindful of that.  You’ll find that your social life does in fact help you with your professional life, and vice versa.

    Number three, enjoy life.  Enjoy doing the work you want to do.  The day you stop enjoying it is the day you need to take a second look at whether the calling is for you or not.  I’ve been in this field for over 15 years now and I still feel the same excitement that I did the first day on the job.  I love what I do.

  • The 2012 EHDI Conference and Henry Kisor

    Last week, I drove down to St. Louis to join the Hands & Voices gang at the EHDI Conference.  It had been several years since I attended an EHDI conference and because I work in early intervention as a Deaf Mentor, I have a heart for this topic.  I’m one of three mentors in Illinois and one of the first trained groups.  The first child I worked with is now thirteen.

    When I attended my first EHDI conference in it’s infancy, I was only one of a few Deaf and Hard of Hearing participants at that time.  At this conference, wow! Everywhere I went, I met up with old and new friends.  The conference has truly grown from the early days and the grand ballroom held around 1,000 people for Hands & Voices board member Christine Yoshinaga-Itano’s keynote opening presentation.

    At Hands & Voices, one of our most requested presentations is Supporting Families Without Bias.  We put together a Part II of this presentation that goes even deeper into the topic.  When I first founded the Illinois Hands & Voices chapter back in 2003, I was often thrown in to “this camp” or “that camp” based on how I communicated or how low the lines were on my audiogram.  Eventually, more and more people embraced the spirit of Hands & Voices and began to understand my passion for our mission, “What works for your child is what makes the choice right.”  What I’m most grateful for during my years with Hands & Voices is that I’ve met so many wonderful families from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.  My kids have grown up with kids who cue/speak/sign/combine/whatever works  and they’ve made some lifelong friends.

    At the EHDI conference, I had the pleasure of sitting down to lunch with Henry Kisor and his wife, Debby.  Henry and I met  several years back when he was working at the Chicago Sun-Times as a book editor.    I first discovered Henry when I read his memoir, What’s That Pig Outdoors  and I enjoyed his frank outlook on life. I interviewed him for the Hands & Voices Communicator:  Henry Kisor, Mystery Author Unveiled.  I like to hang around Henry because he tells me nice stuff like, “You’re a natural writer.”  I would have lunch with him every week if I could.

    During the last night of the conference, Hands & Voices hosted a dinner for everyone involved in state chapters.  When I first joined the board of Hands & Voices, there were just four chapters.  We sat around a table and pondered simply how we could share our mission with others.  Today, we have expanded worldwide and nearly every state has a chapter.

    Back at my first EHDI meeting, we all fit around a single table during our Hands & Voices dinner.  At our dinner last week, we had 75 of  us seated around several tables.  As I worked my way around the room taking pictures and meeting new people, I took a few minutes to talk to a two-and-half year old boy sitting at a table with his father.  The father and I talked about how his family became involved with Hands & Voices.   The little one and I talked about the noodles he was devouring on his plate.

    And that’s what keeps me going year after year– the little ones.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Greg Pereira, Delivery Driver

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

    First of all, I work two jobs. I serve both the hearing and deaf population. I am currently a full-time delivery driver for Markwell in Miami, Florida. I drive a van from the offices in Opa-Locka as far south as Homestead and as far north as West Palm Beach. This covers roughly around a 100 mile range. I deliver cases of staples, nails, stretch film, and other supplies to warehouses in the area that are involved in woodworking, upholstery, bedmaking, furniture, flower farming, and lobster trapping. Markwell is an industrial tool and packaging distribution company that is family-owned. Yes, my family owns the company. My brother is a part-owner as well as my father and I came aboard about three months after my brother bought the company. Think I got the job because my brother is the owner? Think again–I had to earn this opportunity. I come from a hardworking family of businessmen–my brother was a longtime Verizon executive who rose through the ranks from his outstanding sales work. He earned every bit of his promotions, so when I went to work for him I had to earn the job. After some time in a trial basis, I became an employee of the company (not an owner) and I earned it because I worked hard and did what I was asked to do. It took some time to find a role, but it has been solidified by the fact that I have a safe driving record and I love to drive, so deliveries have worked out for me. I also do projects on the side. Another reason that I earned this job is that sales have been in record numbers since I started delivering for the company, mainly because of my willingness to drive anywhere.

    My second job is with ZVRS as a Z Associate. My job is very simple, I just install the wonderful Z phones we have and I do some sales work as well. I also enjoy working with customers and meeting with new people. I worked for 6-7 years in human services (working in group homes and private academies) and I decided I wanted to change my career and have always been interested in working in the videophone business. I work with great people and the job is a lot of fun!

    What is the best part of your job, career calling?

    The best part is I get to work the front lines with both jobs and talk directly to the customers. I get to listen to a lot of feedback and generally the customers are very nice and we exchange questions and answers, for the purpose of growing a good working relationship. Another great part is I get to explore parts of places I have never visited since I am on the road often. For instance, I did not know South Florida had a lot of farmland. Tourists don’t generally associate South Florida with farms, but there are a lot–and areas west of Homestead have flower farms where the supplies I deliver ensure the survival of the plants that are growing there. The best part is that the farms have been thriving since Hurricane Andrew hit back in 1992. Andrew destroyed Homestead with 200 mph wind gusts that took about several hours, but it left a lot of rain in the area which strengthened the soil and allowed the crops to flourish. One of those things in South Florida if you are a longtime resident like I am, to think about how something so powerful can eventually help in the long run. Another part of the job that stands out for me is my co-workers. In Miami, there are many people that are living there for a long time and do not speak English. The warehouse guys I work with do not speak English well but we work well together because we found ways to communicate through gestures and a lot of patience. I learned Spanish while living in Colombia back in the 1990s and I was able to communicate in Spanish with them even though I am not fluent.

    What are some of the challenges?

    To know me is to REALLY know me. I speak so well that hearing people assume I can hear out of the left ear which is completely deaf. I’ve had hearing people come to me and start whispering in my ear for no reason. I say, “This is my bad ear.” They go around to the other side and start whispering into my hearing aid. “Nope, this is also my bad ear.” They get puzzled then I tell them not to worry, I can lipread and I can read Spanish well. I do get feedback from other customers who compliment me on my ability to speak so well. I also am told they are surprised I can drive a van. I often say, “I don’t need my ears to drive..all I need are my eyes that tell me what my hands should do with the steering wheel.” Another challenge is the language barrier. In Miami, there is a large influx of immigrants that mainly speak Spanish but also speak French Creole (those from Haiti) and my hearing customers often do not speak English. However they understand the routine I do for deliveries but sometimes they do not have much patience trying to communicate with me. The best approach that works for me is to just be patient with them myself and show them what I am trying to say to them so this way communication is smooth. Patience is also a virtue when it comes to doing home visits with customers who have a hard time understanding instructions. I myself am not 100 percent ASL. I use a mix when signing to customers and generally they understand me well. The best way is to show customers what to do–I have found they learn much faster this way. On the other hand, I was the same way growing up, I learned better when people showed me what to do as opposed to receiving verbal instructions.

    What was it like growing up Deaf/Hard of Hearing?

    I am the oldest of all the Pereira cousins, brothers, sisters. Being deaf was a full time job and it still is. I lost my hearing at 4 years old. Why, I do not know. I do not remember myself hearing. But I wear a hearing aid on my right ear. Have been this way since I was a little boy. As was the case in the 1970s, 1980s growing up there was no captioning on TV but I liked sports, action movies, and cartoons. But when television wasn’t around, I turned to books. As I did not learn to sign until I was 12, I learned to speak first and I found I could not follow family conversations so I turned to books to keep myself occupied. My grandparents had a library row full of Dr. Seuss books and those were the first books I could read. Reading then became a passion that took up a lot of my time growing up. I also lived out of the country for a long period of time at different times. I lived in Mexico during the late 1970s and in 1988 I moved to Colombia. Colombia was where I had to learn on my own, to grow up quickly. I did not have a choice. In Colombia, the high school kids I went to school with were neat dressers and looked up to their parents as role models and were very mature and polite people. Down there it was also a wide gap between the rich and the poor, and Colombians took their studies seriously. Family values were the same generation after generation. The more things changed, the more things stayed the same. I picked up Spanish quickly simply by reading, however verbal communication was difficult. On the other hand, I went to the American school and all the friends I made treated me with a lot of respect and I wasn’t the “deaf guy” in school, I was one of the guys. There was no bullying. I wore uniforms every day. On the other hand, Colombia was going through the worst period of violence in their history and I had to be extremely careful about what to say to people there, this is still a trait I follow today when talking to people, I often think of what to say before I say it. I was an American living in Colombia and it was a dangerous time, but I enjoyed my experience growing up. I fell in love with soccer and I adapted living there. Going to school there was wonderful, but I did not have sign language interpreters. Believe it or not, I did not need interpreters as I chose to adapt to having notetakers and I studied every night.

    What advice would you give a Deaf/Hard of Hearing person who is looking for a job, career, or calling like yours?

    One of the things you must understand is that when you look for work, employers are looking for somebody who has the intangibles. Experience is one thing. The other thing is showing them you have those intangibles. What do I mean by intangibles? Intangibles are this: having a neat appearance, having a positive attitude, having a clean record (driving, criminal, etc). The other thing is you have some skills that make you talented–things that people just don’t teach. The other and most important thing is discipline. Discipline is taking the same approach to work every day with positive results. Do not be discouraged if you get turned down for a job, there are others that are waiting to be filled. I cringe sometimes when deaf/HH people think they have been turned down due to their deafness and sometimes dwell on this. People, regardless of who and what they are, get turned down at times. The best thing is to move on and keep looking and finding that job for you. Yes, a job is hard to find with the economy being in a slump, but the important thing is never to give up and keep on looking as hard as you can. Even if you find something that pays less than your previous job, take it! You will always find that you can work your way up and be back to the level you were before, even if it takes some time to get there. The job you have may not be the calling you expect it to be, but sometimes the calling comes in unexpected places. Since I work as a driver, I had to have a clean driving record. Driving takes an enormous amount of discipline. It’s not as easy as it looks. I have been doing this since I got my license at 21. Miami is known for having lots of careless and aggressive drivers, so I have to be able to concentrate 100 percent of the time I am on the road. Trust is also very, very important. Be honest. This is a virtue you MUST have. Employers can turn down anyone they feel they are not going to trust. It used to be they could hire anyone and train them on the spot but this is not happening anymore. Times have changed where there are more stringent requirements a job seeker has to go through. The most important thing is to be patient and have a positive attitude, and be honest with yourself.

  • Mom’s Night Inn, A Weekend of Connecting

    mom's night inn group picture

    When Andrea Marwah asked me to speak at the Illinois Hands & Voices Mom’s Night Inn this year, I happily agreed.  The Mom’s Night Inn weekend was like coming home all over again.  When I founded the non-profit organization back in 2003, we launched the annual Mom’s Night Inn, modeled after a similar retreat at Colorado Hands & Voices. Every year, the retreat continues to be a weekend of connection among the moms of deaf and hard of hearing children.  Andrea Marwah, the current president, has expanded the Mom’s Night Inn in central Illinois as well. There is still time to register for that: Mom’s Night Inn Central.

    mom's night inn group in circle

    This year’s theme was “Celebrating Their Gifts, Unleashing Your Child’s Potential” and the title of my presentation.  I shared my own journey of growing up hard of hearing, becoming deaf, and discovering the gifts that resulted from a paradigm shift in my perceptions.  I read an excerpt from Lee Woodruff’s book, “Perfectly Imperfect,” where she describes her deaf daughter as one with a different ability.  If you have not read her book, grab it.  Lee is an amazing writer and her book will grip your heart.  She has a new one coming out in September, 2012.

    Massages, crafts, discussions and chocolate, those are some of things the moms get to experience during the retreat.  Woven into those moments are the connections– the experience of sharing your personal journey with another mom.  It doesn’t matter where you are on the journey, or the choices you’ve made or the choices you are exploring– there’s the common bond of raising deaf and hard of hearing kids.  It’s a wonderful feeling to share the journey together.

    don't try so hard to fit in because you were born to stand out

    On Sunday, we had a panel of deaf and hard of hearing kids, from elementary to college age.  Ben Lachman also sat on the panel and shared his experience as a young adult and businessman.  Their experiences were as unique as their fingerprints.  As I sat there and watched each person share a glimpse of their journey, I’m reminded once again why so many of us across the Hands & Voices world volunteer our time with families: because every kid counts.

     

  • You Were Born to Stand Out

    “Mom, can I write all over the wall in my bedroom?”

    My daughter, Lauren, came up with this idea of writing inspirational quotes and pieces from her favorite songs all over her bedroom wall.  After a short discussion, I told her to go for it.  I forgot to consult the hubby on this one.  He was a little taken back when he first stepped in her room and found her writing on the wall, (Do you know how hard it is to paint over permanent marker!!) but after reading some of the inspirations, he agreed it was a good thing.

    Lauren didn’t do the project by herself, she invited others to share their bits of inspiration too.  So of course, my favorite quote went up on the wall.  The kids know it well, I’ve been preaching it to them for several  years now:

    “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out.”

    — From the movie, “What a Girl Wants.”

    From the time that I first lost my hearing in elementary school, I tried hard to fit in, blend in, and fly under the radar.  I became the Queen of Bluffing— learning how to laugh at the right moment and nod along in conversation– without understanding a thing. I developed elaborate strategies to get through the school day.  “I was spacing out, what’s the homework?” I’d ask the student next to me.  In English class, the teacher had us read paragraphs from a book– I’d count the number of students ahead of me, watch each of them like hawk to see where they finished each paragraph and then when it was my turn, I knew where to start reading.  If there was a discussion, I made sure to chime in with my opinion first, because I couldn’t follow the conversation and I didn’t want to say something that was already said.

    That’s why I always say that going deaf was a blessing. That was the process of learning to accept myself and embrace myself.  That’s when I stopped trying so hard to fit in, and began to celebrate standing out.  God gives each one of us unique gifts and a journey that is like no other, so why would we want to live someone else’s life?

    When my own kids started sporting hearing aids, we picked some “stand out” colors so that there was no mistaking the ornaments perched in their ears.  Lauren and I picked out matching earmolds one year– pink glitter for her and blue glitter for me.  And to my surprise, even after all my efforts of getting my kids comfortable with being deaf and hard of hearing, they still went through their own journey of wanting to fit in, blend in and fly under the radar.  The wild colors were replaced with plain, clear earmolds.  Hair grew over their ears.  I had to learn to back off as a mom and let them experience that.  Soon enough, they became comfortable again in standing out.

    Our kids were born with a different ability, as Lee Woodruff says in her book, Perfectly Imperfect.

    And we should celebrate that difference. But you’ve got to get into a place where you’re really comfortable being deaf/hard of hearing before you can celebrate that difference.  And therein lies the challenge– getting folks comfortable in their own skin.  I think back to my elementary and teen years– I spent way too much time trying to be a poor imitation of a person who could hear instead of the best “me” I could be.    At a recent closing plenary, I shared my journey and the “You were born to stand out,” quote.

    One parent came up to me afterwards.  “I’ve been telling my kid how ‘normal’ he is and that he’s just like everyone else.  He’s miserable being ‘different’ and wants desperately to fit in with others. I’m going home today with your message– and I’m going to celebrate him instead!”

  • Wanting to Be Hearing

    So, before we get into today’s post, go mosey on over to Bad Words and read Tulpen’s post:  Either Way.  Then come on back over and let’s talk.

    Tulpen’s son, Owen, told his mom, “Don’t want to be Deaf. Want to be Hearing.”

    I can relate.  That’s pretty much how I felt– from the time I first began losing my hearing in elementary school until I became deaf.  I can remember being able to hear–I would crawl into bed and listen to my dad tell me the story of Scamp and Tiny– two dogs that went on adventures all over town.  I can also remember the day that I stopped crawling into bed– I could no longer understand what my dad was saying in the dark.  I had become sick with a high fever for nearly a week and shortly after that, I had the “hard of hearing” label tacked on.  I was never able to use the phone after that.  The words that entered my brain were pretty much scrambled and I resorted to lipreading.

    I hated the hearing aid.  Hated the daily struggle to access communication.  I often wished that I had normal hearing.   I held back on life, thinking that “if only I had normal hearing I would do this.”  Or that.

    In elementary school, the kids on the bus teased me, sometimes mercilessly.  I kept my eyes straight ahead or I sometimes buried myself in a book on the rides home.  My best friend, Pattie, defended me on the bus.  Twelve years ago, I received a letter out of the blue from one of my tormenters, asking forgiveness.  He had become a born-again Christian and the teasing had weighed heavily on him over the years.

    I had long ago forgiven, I just didn’t know it.  The forgiveness came from the journey to acceptance– in the form of a severe whack on the head when I tripped on a wake while barefoot water skiing.  I was nineteen.  I could no longer hear anything without a hearing aid perched in my ears.  But it turned out to be the very best thing to happen to me.  I finally, after years and years of battling, finally accepted the whole me.  I embraced the new journey and my world filled up with new deaf and hard of hearing friends and American Sign Language became a part of life.  As for me– I was deaf– and it was okay.

    Then one by one, my kids started collecting audiograms.  David was nearly three, Lauren was four, and Steven was two– and then we started killing more trees and collecting IEP paperwork.  And like Owen, each one of my kids has had their days when they wished they had hearing in the normal range.  And when they expressed that, my heart always did a little blip.  More often than not, it was a cycle– a season in their life– where they became more self-aware, or they matured, or a struggle of some kind would trigger it.  The rest of the time, all was well–they would settle back into being comfortable and happy with life again.

    And it might surprise some of  you to know that I even have moments of self-pity when I wish I could hear.  I had one of those moments while sitting at a banquet after a tournament this summer– and tears started to fall.  My friend Sharon was my interpreter that night and I told her what I was feeling.  I was reflecting over the whole summer of tournaments. “I wish I could hear the announcements, the conversations that flow around me, the jokes that get told on the boat– I miss out on all that stuff.  And sometimes I can’t lipread some of the folks I meet…” I whined.  Yes, I whined.

    We are human. In moments of humaness (is that even a word?) all of us wish for something else.  Thinner, taller, younger, smarter, richer–whatever it is, that darn grass is always greener somewhere else.  But ultimately, we have to cultivate that little patch of green we’re standing on.  We have to bloom where we are planted. Corny–yes–but it’s something I live by.

    Oh, and those announcements that I wished I could hear? Well, at one of the tournaments, another barefooter said to me,  “You’re lucky you can’t hear Dave (the announcer) — he goes on and on and on– sometimes I wish I could turn my ears off.”

    The grass is always greener…

     

  • Chicago Tribune TribLocal and Chicago Now Posts

    I’ve been writing for the Chicago Tribune TribLocal and the Chicago Now blog since fall of 2010. It has been fun seeing my stuff in print and online.

    Yesterday, I had the opportunity to interview Kristi McNaron and Laura Ball from The Dave Ramsey Show about their weight loss success. This is a wonderful, inspiring story of friendship:

    Co-Workers Lose 150 Pounds Together

    To read the rest of my Chicago Now posts:

    Barefoot in the Burbs by Karen Putz

    From the TribLocal:

    The Importance of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Role Models

    To read the rest of my TribLocal Articles:

    TribLocal by Karen Putz

  • Lipreading Strangers at the Door

    The short woman at the door was of Asian descent. A teenager stood by her side, I assumed it was her son. “Oh you’re here for the dog cage!” I said. “Come on in!”

    The woman shook her head and said something. Said a few more things. None of which I could lipread. “I’m deaf,” I explain. “I read lips.”

    The woman said a few more sentences. Nothing made any sense, it wasn’t anything I could lipread. “I put a dog cage on Craigslist, are you here to pick it up?”

    The woman shook her head. More mumbo jumbo. Every once in a while, I encounter folks that are just physically impossible for me to lipread and this was proving to be one of those situations. “Oh! Are you here to pick up your daughter?” Lauren and her friend were standing nearby, and her friend happens to be Asian.

    “That’s not her parents,” Lauren told me.

    I was stumped. I couldn’t figure out why this woman was at my door. She tried again to help me to understand why she came knocking at my door but it was futile. I couldn’t lipread even a single word. Then the gal whipped out her iPhone and started a movie. As it turned out, she was from the Church of God and she wanted to tell me about God, our Mother. She brought a bible out of her purse and pointed to the scripture of Revelations that made reference to God, our Mother.

    “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I won’t be able to understand the movie, I’m deaf.”

    She pressed play. The movie was captioned.

    After she left, I just had to smile. Accessible movies– we’ve come a long way. Now all I need is the Accent/Lipreading Translator app and I’ll be good to go next time someone knocks at my door.