Deaf people and signed language interpreters live in an uneasy co-existence. We need access to the hearing world; interpreters need to work for their livelihood. The irony of entering a dependent relationship in order to obtain enough information to be autonomous as a professional has always rankled, but that is the state of play*. A…
Category: Feature Stories
Jeffco Schools clears way for deaf school to buy land
The Rocky Mountain Deaf School saga continues! Deaf Echo writer Tara Schupner-Congdon reports on new updates in denverpost.com!
The Mad Lib legacy
In October, the world lost the humorist Larry Sloan, best known for creating Mad Libs. In this popular kids’ game, one volunteer asks the players to fill in the parts of speech in a story. Only the volunteer doing the asking knows the story, and the players’ random nouns and adjectives make for some ridiculous…
So Expressive!
Lydia Callis, signed language interpreter for New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg, is getting a lot of attention these days for her interpreting during Hurricane Sandy. She’s been spoofed on Chelsea Handler’s show, she has Tumblrs dedicated to her, and she’s even been named Hot Slut of the Day by Dlisted. Why all the attention? Is it because she’s an attractive woman doing…
Hearingsplaining
Mansplaining has now become mainstream – that phenomenon of an arrogant man explaining what he thinks he knows about a subject to a woman who knows more than he does about the subject. Or as writer Rebecca Solnit notes, the “intersection between overconfidence and cluelessness where some portion of (the male) gender gets stuck.” I’ve experienced my share of…
Exploring Hearing Privilege
In her 2008 Masters thesis, Tiffany Tuccoli states: “…hearing privileges are advantages or entitlements that are enjoyed by people who can hear which are denied to those who are Deaf. These advantages give hearing people power and authority to decide how society should be designed (p. 23).” In exploring this further we have drafted an introduction…
Not In My Backyard: The Truth About the Fight for a Deaf School’s Future
In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, a battle is unfolding that could have implications for the future of deaf education. During a week when much of the Deaf community’s attention was elsewhere, a small charter school went head to head with a local neighborhood group, with the future of hundreds of deaf…
Indiana School for the Deaf vs. Hear Indiana
Maybe you have been hearing stories coming out of Indiana and wondered what the fuss was all about. To understand the situation in Indiana, you need to know the back story. I will give you a hint upfront: oralists are up to no good. The back story begins with Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD).…
My Two Cents: Cochlear Implants
I used to feel sorry for children who had cochlear implants. I did. When I saw them it broke my heart because I really believed that their parents just didn’t understand deafness. I judged those parents. I assumed that the parents were looking for a quick fix to something that in my opinion didn’t require fixing. I…
ASL Literature, Reborn on the iPad
In addition to being a first-grade teacher, I’m also the geekminister for 15 brand-new iPad 2s at P.S. 347 The ASL and English Lower School in Manhattan. This is the first in what I hope will be a regular series on how my students and I are using the iPad to learn, read, create, and watch. Last…