I was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback. I was thinking it would be good for my son to use at school. Sometimes he wants a last minute meeting with a teacher or study time with friends. He often uses his text screen on his phone for this but the teachers are not good at texting and resort to paper. This would allow for real time conversation. One feature I like is he can later download the conversations to his computer. One drawback is it weighs six pounds. Any thoughts?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
I am sorry I can't help you sell your technology
I sometimes get emails from people wanting to advertise on my blog. I got another yesterday. The funny thing is it is always for hearing aids. I understand many people use them but my son threw his away at age nine! So my blog is not a good place for that.
So I feel it would be weird to make money advertising something that we don't use or have any connection to. It would feel like I was taking advantage of my son or sending a mixed message. I feel my blog should only advertise things I understand and use. There are things I would advertise.
For years I have always turned to them for awesome products. They are always friendly and quick to ship. I often order "100 Signs For Parents". I keep them in my purse to hand out and give them to my student's families. You can get an order of 50 for $20.
This school was my son's only bi/bi program. He was three when he started and we moved a year and a half later. They don't advertise but they could use support through donations. They have two really awesome teachers you could contact to help. Stephanie Johnson and Richard Kendall are in my opinion people who made a huge impact on our lives and two of the best educators I know. The school demographic is poor but the families are invested.
We were lucky to live close by and see some amazing productions. I would advertise them in a heartbeat.
Those are just a sample of what I would advertise on my blog but hearing technology just doesn't work. My son was walking though Deaf Expo and he said,
"Mom all these people are trying to make money selling me something to make my life easier. I don't need anything to do that"
To clarify, he does use a cell phone, VP and computer. We did find a cool tool at the Expo, UbiDuo, that we are checking out. What he was talking about is all of the company's set up to "support" deaf people baffles him. He loves all of the technology that makes his life easier but technology that makes folks more hearing is not on his radar.
So I will not be advertising hearing aids but I know there are a lot of folks with great blogs who can.
Wave your hands in the air
I have been posting about our trip to DeafNation in Los Vegas. This story is helps illustrate how many people were there.
We were looking at a shopping mall in a fancy hotel and became very hungry. Food in Vegas is expensive so we were pleased to see a food court. It was packed but we managed to find a table. As we were eating my daughter looked around and noticed how many people were signing. She was so excited. She is used to being the only people signing in public. She started to count them. Then she made up a game. We were to wave are hands in the air every time we saw a deaf person. The same way deaf people applaud.
I am sure my seven year old looked funny applauding at our table. My son got up to get a bag for our leftover food and the man next to him turned to see my daughter with a big smile waving her hands. He waved back and questioned about what she was doing. I told him and he looked a bit confused. He was signing something I didn't understand. He then signs that he is from Argentina. He and a friend flew from Argentina for the Expo. Of course we struggled a bit to communicate because we were signing in two different languages but we managed pretty well.
As we were walking out we noticed this packed area was full of deaf people from all over the world. It is hard to explain how that felt. This public place was a sea of flying hands.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I will open comments but please....
So it has come to my attention some folks want to post anonymous on my blog. In the past I have had a bit of trouble with this because the content of some of the comments were not appropriate for my son to read or just crazy enough to distract from the topic. I do want to hear from everyone who has an opinion.
I have changed my settings to allow this, please respect my son and our family by only using language that your mother would approve of. Remember this is public and if you make a fool of yourself by posting something crazy I will find a way to let your entire family know you are so prolific at low register thinking. This may include portrait tee shirts with text distributed to your local visitor information office.
Warmest regards
Haddy2dogs
How We got Our Pink Wrist Bands
So Last Sunday we ventured out to Treasure Island hotel in Vegas to register for DeafNation Expo. We left our hotel and quickly realized 110 degrees was a bit taxing. Our plan was to take a bus down the strip to our destination.
We arrived at the bus stop with two deaf families. The ticket machine was designed to cause chaos and I suspect there was a hidden camera involved. We all tried to figure out the system as the machine randomly stole our money. everyone was hot and confused. Finally everyone had a ticket, the transit system had $27 extra and we were ready to go. The line was long but we all managed to squish on the bus. Once we got going I noticed hands flying everywhere. Nice. We managed to meet people from Florida, Canada, Washington and Kentucky in this short ride.
So the idea was people were to arrive the day before the Expo to get the pink wrist band. We entered the hotel and got directions at every turn with a simple "Expo where go?".
We got a bit confused but noticed the casino was full of deaf folks. I asked a group sitting in a large circle for directions. Turns out they were from our area and really friendly! We exchanged information for later and went up to register.
The elevator opened to a mass of people waiting in line. I knew we shouldn't have to wait because I registered online and was going to go ask for help but my son said," Mom let me do it, I sign better". This is his world and I love it.
They opened at 12:00 we arrived at 12:45. We were told they were already out of wrist bands! This seemed so awesome to me because it felt it was going to be huge. While we waited we met more people. It was crowded but there was a sense of excitement and the wait allowed for people to mingle. They took our forms and sent us away with key chains. We were to present them on Monday to get out coveted pink wrist bands.
We walked away and ran into a counselor from a family retreat we attended years ago. She was in charge of my daughter's group at the camp. We all loved her. She has since moved. We told her we don't go to the retreat anymore because it is CI focused now and that isn't our thing. She laughed and agreed.
It was the day before the Expo opened and we already having fun.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
One Thing I Get...
He does not belong to me.
The hardest thing I hear is my kid is special. At the Expo I am told he is different and needs to go....to that high school...to the program....to that place.. far from me.
I get that my son is special
I get that he signs with beautiful ASL
I get that he is different
but so I am I
Trust me with him
He is Deaf
I know he needs to move away fom us
Give us time
Party Time
So Sunday we braved the hot weather and crowded bus to go to the opening party for DeafNation on Freemont street in Los Vegas. When we got to the bus tons of people were pushing to get on. I spotted someone signing on the top level and asked her if there were seats open up there. Without skipping a beat she looked around and told us that there were four seats left. Membership has it's privileges.
It was so different for us to be surrounded by deaf people. The hearing portion of the crowd was the minority and they all looked a bit confused. Haddy said he felt like he was on the "Truman Show". If you have seen the movie you will understand.
When we registered they gave us a pink wrist band. So if we saw someone with this we knew they were part of the expo. People were so friendly and it was easy to share information and meet people.
When the event started the lights above us showed a film made for the expo. Look above Haddy's head in the photo. We met folks from all over and most told Haddy he was lucky his mom signed. We would hear this over and over the next couple of days.
So it was an awesome start. It felt like a deaf city.
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