ASL Buffalo Social Hour At Spot Coffee

It's been over 26 years since I've had a chance to socialized with other deaf people. When I went to college at N.T.I.D. many years ago, I was around deaf students every single day for nearly 8 years. Therefore my signing skills had gotten pretty good and I used to sign pretty fast. When I was in college, I became one of the leaders on the Workshops On Deafness: You can read about it here at: I Was A Leader At The Workshop ON Deafness. There I even taught some sign language to others.

But all this was happened a long time ago. Back then I felt like I was a part of the deaf community. I was involved in a lot of activities with them. Ever since I graduated from college in 1988, I was thrown back into the hearing world. It's been over 25 years since I've had a chance to socialize with other deaf people. Occasionally I'd get a chance to talk to some deaf individuals once in a great while. But it wasn't very often. Then a few months ago, I joined a page on facebook called ASL Buffalo. It's a page for hearing and deaf signers that are interested in joining public deaf events in Buffalo,N.Y.

Later on facebook I got invited to: ASL Buffalo Social Hour@ Spot Coffee. I had no idea what the event was about or the purpose of it. So I forgot about it for some time. Later on, I went back to the page to read more about it. How could I put it off? Seriously, I am deaf and I really did need to socialize with others that knew sign language. It's been missing in my life for 26 years. Since I was raising my daughter as a single parent for 17 years, I didn't have a lot of time on my hands. But now she is in college and I have more free time. So finally I got in my car last night and headed to the Spot Coffee place at 765 Elmwood Ave in Buffalo, and parked in my car. Feeling shy and not knowing a single person in there, I went inside.

After meeting some hearing and deaf signers in there, I had the best time ever. Of course my sign language was weak because I have not signed much in over 25 years. But they were very understanding and very patient with me. There will be another event on February 8th at 7pm at the same place. You can learn more about it here by clicking on the link: ASL Buffalo Social Hour. It doesn't matter if you are deaf or hearing as long as you want to communicate in sign language. Then it's all good.

Learn more about my night out at Spot Coffee on Bubblews: ASL Buffalo Social Hour

If you want to join this event, then make sure to check out the dates and time on ASL Buffalo on facebook.

Or you can contact me on facebook on Deaf Talks
and I'll guide you to the right place.

In the picture, I am the girl in the back standing between the two deaf guys.

Smoke Alarm For The Deaf

I was born deaf and my hearing aids help me to hear a lot of things. For years there was just a regular smoke alarm in the place where I have been living. If it would beep during the day when I had my hearing aids on, I would hear it. But when I am sleeping I can't hear anything when I take my hearing aids off. That causes a problem.

In the past my daughter has usually been here to alert me in case the smoke alarm went off. And that was very helpful to me though it rarely ever happened. I have been wearing my new hearing aids and they cannot pick up the beeping sounds from the smoke alarm. But when I put back on my old hearing aids I heard the beeping loud and clearly. Therefore I have to take my new hearing aids back to my audiologist to be reprogrammed on a machine.

My father ordered the Gentex photoelectric smoke alarm with a strobe light. He got it from the Spectronics Corporation. This is the link to the site-Spectronics. It works very well and it surely will wake me up when I'm sleeping if it goes off. It has a flashing light and it makes a beeping sound when you test it. You can read more about it on Bubblews at: Smoke Alarm For The Deaf.

If you would like to join me on Bubblews and make extra money just click on Bubblews

Using Closed Captioning When Watching Television

Long time ago when I grew up in New Jersey, there was no closed captioning on t.v. at home. Even when I went to the South Brunswick High School in N.J. the teachers never provided captioning for me in the classrooms. Therefore I never understood what was going on whenever the teachers showed educational movies while I was in class. It was not easy for me to sit there for hours while everyone was watching a movie where I didn't understand a word being said. This problem went on for years as I attended the hearing schools in South Brunswick, New Jersey.

Then later on after I went away to college at N.T.I.D. they provided the deaf students with captioning on the t.v.'s there. So that was a nice big change for me. Having that made it easier for me to enjoy watching television more. After I graduated from college, I brought myself a t.v. that came with captioning. As far as any delays in the words coming up on the screen, it never bothered me. As long as I could understand what was going on in the show, that's all that mattered. So I really am glad captioning is provided now on television. It's a big plus for deaf people like me.

You can read more about this at:
Using Closed Captioning When Watching Television

KFC Drive-Thru Needs To Improve Communication For Deaf Customers

Last week I decided to stop at KFC to order dinner on my way to the car shop. Little did I know they haven't improved anything for their deaf customers. When I pulled up to the speaker, I couldn't understand a single word the girl said on it. So I tried to tell her to speak up and more clearly because I am hard of hearing. Well, she didn't speak any louder, and her voice still came through unclear. After not being able to pick up anything she said, I decided to put in my order anyway. After I told her what I wanted, she kept saying something else that I didn't understand. Once more I tried to tell her I was hearing impaired and that I didn't understand her. She continued to mumble, so I gave up and pulled up to the window.

When I asked her again what she said, she seemed very annoyed at having to constantly repeat herself. This was not fair to me, because I certainly cannot hear over a speaker with my hearing loss. As an employee she certainly wasn't very nice to me. After struggling to understand her, I asked her to tell the person in charge to put a sign at the front. That sign should tell the deaf customers it's okay to pull right up to the window to put in an order. But she really didn't seem to care about my ideas. I could tell she just wanted me gone by the look on her face. But I can't blame her because not many out there are educated on the best ways to communicate with the deaf. She did say she agreed with me about my idea in the end, and she was nice to me right before I left.

Believe me, KFC drive-thru places need to provide something like touch screens for deaf people to put in their orders. Speakers for deaf customers are out of the question. Or why not put up screens that caption everything being said over the speakers for those with hearing difficulties? Please do something KFC and make it a better world for your deaf customers.

KFC Problems For Deaf Customers