Saturday, December 22, 2012

Deaf Lady traveling By Plane

So I haven't been inside an airport in a year. So I was traveling again for the holidays. Finally parked my car in the over packed parking lot and waited for a shuttle bus. It came pretty fast, it was so cold out. Once I sat down, the driver asked me a question, and I didn't understand or hear a word he said. Luckily my daughter took over and talked for me. He just wanted to know where we parked so we could remember how to get back to our car. He dropped us off at the airport entrance and said Merry Christmas, so I smiled and waved him off. We went inside to check in our bags. The lady standing in the front asked me a question and I didn't understand her either, so I told her to repeat it. She just wanted to know if I had my boarding pass and I said yes. By now, I was getting frustrated not being able to understand anyone that worked in this place. She gave me a smile when I told her I was deaf, so I felt a little better. Then we checked in our bags, and that lady waved us off. We head over to the security gate, and I was amazed to see something new hanging in air. There were a few overhead monitors that were closed captioned telling us what can and can't be put through the security area. And I said Yes! Finally the airport is doing something for deaf people. But they didn't do enough. It was time for me to check through my things and to walk through the security line. I didn't know when to walk through and what to do, I couldn't hear or understand what the people were saying to me at the security line. And I got nervous, I just did whatever the person in front of me did and walked through. Was glad it was over with and got my things and headed to the gate thinking everything is closed captioned now, oh I was so wrong. Made it to the gate, nothing was closed captioned there. The man at the gate was announcing over a microphone about when the flights were boarding and so on, I didn't understand a word he said. I saw them open the door for people to walk to the plane, but yet, I did not know when I was supposed to go in. He kept talking on that microphone I understood nothing. I couldn't even lipread because he had his mouth covered and he was going too fast. So I gave in and asked my daughter to direct me when it was time to get on the plane, and she did. Thank god for that. Ran into my chiropractor who happened to be on the same plane as us. Waved to him and he smiled and said a few words, couldn't hear him, it was too noisy on the plane. So I just waved to him and headed to my seat. So we sat down and then they were announcing something over the speakers and did some kind of demonstration and I heard and understood nothing. Plane finally takes off up into the air and I'm getting thirsty. But all they served was peanuts and cookies that looked like dog biscuits. They gave me one and I tossed it. Why on earth do they serve us junk when they make money off us and then they can't serve some decent snacks? They didn't even give us anything to drink on the whole flight. Not even bottled water. Anyway we made it safe to our destination. Now I am very disappointed in the airport, by now I thought they would of had more resources for the deaf to help them understand what was going on wit their flights. And there was nothing past the gate. Oh well, that's life for deaf people like me.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, I see what you mean about airports. We just never think of how deaf people cope in situations like this.

    Maybe you should consider writing a really nice letter to the airport, airline and maybe writing a short newspaper article explaining the frustrations and problems that deaf people have when going away. If you gave them ideas of what could help make the experience better, then you just might be surprised, as they may implement one of your ideas. Just a wild thought.

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  2. After 40 years of dealing with frustrations of not understanding anyone in the airports I think it's time for me to do something. Thanks! I have never thought of doing that myself and I think that's a great idea!

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