Third NFTA Meeting

Thursday, March 28th, I made my third attendance at the NFTA meeting.   I had no clue what was going to happen when I was there that time.    When I got to the meeting room, it was packed.   Thank god there was an empty chair for me to sit in.    There was another girl in a wheelchair that was partly deaf there.    It was nice to see her again too.  She was just starting to learn to speak sign language.   This time I decided not to be a chatterbox and to try to listen to what every one else was saying.

 

While I was there I noticed these people didn’t bring up stuff regarding deaf people.  The only time they seemed to mention the deaf society was whenever I was talking about it.   Other than that they would be discussing everything else.   The meeting wasn’t about me anyway.   Who am I to think that, so it’s okay.   I was just there to listen, and I tried to keep my mouth closed.    Last time I felt I took over the meeting by talking non- stop.  So I did my best to stay silent.

This time I managed to stay quiet for about 15 minutes.   By then I couldn’t wait any longer to say what I had to say.    Come on I wasn’t trying to be a show off.  There was just some things I had to get off my chest.   They weren’t talking about deaf people, so I interrupted and started a whole new topic.   I had no clue what they were talking about before.  It doesn’t matter, they all knew I was deaf.  What I was saying must have been off the point, of what they were discussing.    Since I was deaf, I can get away with it.

I made my announcement finally.   I told the NFTA staff, the directors of NFTA and whoever else was there to go and learn some sign language.   The top people who worked for NFTA that I never seen before looked at me.  So I told them you can go look on YouTube and learn it for free.  They just nodded, like okay.   Did you know that everything everyone says at the meeting gets recorded?   Well I knew I was being recorded word by word.  So I had to watch what I was saying.  It seems like I was telling some jokes at the meeting also.    Well that’s a good thing.    The girl in the wheelchair that was partly deaf looked at me in surprise.   I just think It would help the deaf customers if more people would make an effort to learn how to sign a few words.   So that was my speech at the NFTA meeting.  It probably had nothing to do with what they were discussing, but so what.  I said what I had to say.

Happy Easter Everybody!

The World

Good evening everyone. In my past I have avoided attending certain social gatherings because I was afraid I wouldn't understand what was going on. Being deaf is not an easy thing, especially when the world is not very well educated on deafness.

Last week I decided to attend a Young Life Banquet. At first, I hesitated and wasn't sure if I should go. There would be a lot of people there, but none that are deaf like me. This was an important for the high school kids and my daughter was going. She has been in this program for a few years and she really likes it. So, I decided to give it a try.

When we got there there my daughter introduced me to some very nice people from her group. And they made me feel very welcomed at the banquet. So I took a seat in the huge fancy dining room right in the front by the stage. The food was pretty good there. This place was packed, and I could see why. Well I really enjoyed going to this special dinner. The event lasted for a few hours, but time flew by fast. I couldn't really understand everything that was being said by the people up on the stage. It was kind of hard to lip read everything. The good thing was I was able to lip read half of what was being said by the speaker. So I had a pretty good idea of what was going on there. I enjoyed it anyway and I am glad I went. Now I have a much better understand of what the Young Life group means to the high school kids. It's time for me to get out in the world more and to attend more events.

The Ghost In The Night

Back in the 1980's when I went to college in Rochester, NY at NTID/RIT I met a man name Mark that was graduating that year. He wanted to take a trip to his cabin before dropping me off at home in New Jersey. As he was going to throw a little graduation party there and he invited all his college friends to come. As he was driving along, we came to Galway, N.Y. The scenery was beautiful and different. There were a lot of valleys and hills all around. And the flowers out there were really pretty. Finally we came to the cabin that his family owned. It was in the middle of nowhere out in the woods. The place looked pretty creepy from the outside and inside. It was so old. And inside the cabin it looked like it was from the 1800's. There was old fashioned furniture in there and on the left side a very old looking closet. It was so dark in there with no lights inside. Even the clothing that was hanging on a wooded pole out in the open looked old fashioned and old. We went fishing on the canoe in the lake,and I caught some fish. Afterwards we had a cookout outside and waited for his friends to come. Nobody showed up, and boy was he mad. He told me they were never really his friends after all. I looked around outside and noticed that there were no people and no other houses around. We were alone out in the country in the middle of the woods with no electricity. Then we went inside and since there was no t.v. or any phone to use, I read for awhile. Then went to sleep.

Something woke me up at 2 in the morning. A man over seven feet tall with red angry eyes was staring at me. He had the look telling me to get out of his house. This man looked like he was from the old days in the 1700's. He reminded me of those men from the past that used to chop wood out in the forest. He had a beard, a red t-shirt and jeans on and was a bit heavy. I couldn't hear what the man said to me, as my hearing aids were off. I was so scared because I was afraid he was going to hurt me. He looked so mad and his red eyes were totally evil looking. I have never been more frightened in my whole life. First thing I did was scream as loud as I could and hid under the covers. My friend didn't see it, but I kept pointing at that man. In the morning I told Mark to get me out of there right away. So we packed our things and left the place. Before we left, I drew a picture of the ghost and left it in the drawer in the cabin. Mark returned alone the next day to get his things. He must of been really brave to do that. I guess he didn't believe me when I told him what I saw. And I never went back there again.

Punishment

When my family went to Johannesburg, South Africa when I was around 12 years old, we went to visit Granny. My dad was born and raised in Africa, but he had moved to the United States to get away from his mother, she was too bossy. One night my parents decided to go out for a while and Granny left Alex my step grandfather in charge of me and my brother. Then Granny and my parents left and we were alone in the apartment with Alex who was sitting in a wheelchair.

We were bored, and since it was nice out, we wanted to go outside to explore and play. When I was young, I didn't understand that I wasn't allowed to come and go without a parent with me at certain times. Back in the 1970's people weren't educated on how to speak to a deaf person. So Alex didn't communicate with me where I could understand him, since he didn't know about my deafness. Me and my brother started walking out the door without saying anything to Alex. I just assumed it would be okay since we would be back. The reason I didn't say anything because I couldn't hear him at all, he muttered when he spoke.

So we tried to sneak out of the apartment without being noticed. Bad idea, Alex started
yelling, so I went up to him and asked what he wanted. He started talking really fast in a very mean way. I said what a few times, and he got mad at me. So I just told him we were going outside to play. Then he nodded and mumbled. I had no idea what he was saying as he spoke very low and didn't face me when he spoke. I thought he said it was okay because he shaked his head like yes. But he really was saying no we can't go outside till our parents come back home. And I never heard that part. So even though he said no we can't, I left with my brother. Alex was in a wheelchair so he couldn't run after us. We played outside for an hour, and I nearly got lost coming back since I wasn't there often. My brother showed me the way back to the apartment. When we got inside, Alex was steaming, and his face was all red with a strange look. My brother got scared and went to the other end of the room to get away from Alex. At that time I didn't know why my brother did that or why he was scared. Alex was saying stuff that wasn't nice and my brother heard it and he stayed as far away from him. He was only around 5 years old. But I never heard what he said due to my hearing loss. Alex looked at my brother and said come here! My brother wouldn't move and I told him to do what Alex says since he was the boss. My brother said no! This was weird because he always listened to my parents, but not to this man. Alex gave up on him and then told me to come here. My brother told me don't do it. And I asked him why. He just said for me not to listen to Alex. Well my parents always taught me to obey adults that are in charge. And I had no idea what I was in for. So I started to walk towards my step grandfather and my brother got even more scared and he said come back. And I said no I got to do what Alex says. Finally I was standing in front of him and he said put out your hand. I turned around and my brother said don't do that. I was just a kid, so I had no idea why he wanted to see my hands. My parents raised me well they never hit me once in my whole life. They were excellent parents. So I put out my hand to experiment and see what happens. I thought he wanted to give me a hug or something. Or to compliment me on the bracelet I was wearing. Before I knew it he put his hand high in the air and swung it down on my hand so hard and I heard a whack! It felt like a giant heavy rock just landed and crushed my hand. Boy I was in pain and I was screaming and crying. He hit my small tiny hand so hard that it stung like crazy. I ran back to my brother and cried. My brother said see I told you not to listen to him.

I was really relieved when my parents came back and I ran crying into their arms. And they hugged me. After we left, I told them I didn't understand why grandpa smacked me. They explained to me I wasn't supposed to play outside and they also said he should of never hit me like that. And then I told them well I didn't know I never heard grandpa say I can't go outside. And my parents understood. After that I never went back there, I wanted nothing to do with that man. Unfortunately he passed away before we went back to Africa to visit again.

Thanks For Stopping By

About Me

Subtitle Glasses, Not For Me

Weird Looking Glasses

                                     Is this the best movie theaters can do is give us Subtitle Glasses?   Whoa, I'm not wearing these things.   One thing I'm fussy about is germs.   Do these glasses get shared?   I am not wearing glasses that other people have been wearing and touching.   If I ever have to use these I will be sure to bring a germ sanitizer, with tissues and wipe them off before they go on my face!     Are you telling me that if someone is sick with the flu, sneezing and coughing and wiping their germs on these things that you will pass them on to us and make us wear these?   That is totally rude of movie theaters to do this to the deaf people.  No thanks, I'd rather go rent a captioned dvd movie and watch it in my home safe from germs than to risk getting sick in your movie theater.                                 

Did these strange glasses come from out of space?

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•                         Movie theaters have no idea what deaf people really want and need in the movies!   You movie theater owners can't fool me.   They did what was convenient for them, not for the deaf community!   Oh my god.   The more I think about this, the more annoyed I am getting about the subtitle glasses invention.   So now you movie theater people figured you got us deaf people off your back and that we will quit begging for closed captioning!   You're wrong I'm going to continue to request for closed captioning screens without those crappy glasses till the end until the deaf community get what they really need!  What the deaf needs is to have all movie theaters close caption all the movies up on the screen for all their shows!  We didn't ask for captioning on germy glasses that makes the captions too close up to our face!  Thanks a lot for this cheap invention.    After all these years you still did not give the deaf people what they asked for.