Hey Deaf Kid

Helping Your Hearing-Impaired Child Cope

When you’re a kid with a hearing issue, nothing’s worse than being teased. If your child has hearing issues, talk to them about how to deal with bullies. Here are a few of the best lessons to teach your hearing-impaired child:
No One is Perfect: From the kid with freckles to the one with the broken arm, no one is perfect. If your child finds being deaf alienating try to strike up friendships with other mothers and talk to them about your situations. One on one playdates can sometimes be less Read the rest of this entry »

When Hands Talk The Deaf Can Hear

Hearing is something that many people take for granted. However, there are millions of people who were either born deaf or have lost their hearing due to an illness or injury. Statistics have shown that over one in a thousand people are totally deaf. Sadly, those people never get to experience the sound of laughter or music. However, the invention of sign language has allowed the deaf people to “hear” by observing the movement of hands.

Sign Read the rest of this entry »

I Wish I Could Hear You

Imagine being able to hear soft music or speech only with assitive listening devices or not at all. This is a reality for people born without the ability to hear or develop deafness or hearing loss of various degrees due to other circumstances. This number is difficult to calculate due to the vague definition for the term but some put the number between 5 and 40 million.

While some may see deafness negatively, the deaf community have wholeheartedly embraced the difference and formed a unique lifestyle and culture all Read the rest of this entry »

I Can’t Hear You Can You Here Me?

Imagine for a moment a world without sound – a silent world. Imagine not being able to talk to a person in another room, or call a friend on the phone, or a mother not hearing her baby’s cry. People who are deaf live in this world of silence. They have no ability to detect sound.

Specifically, the word deafness is a total lack of hearing or a loss of most of the sense of hearing. Deaf people are born without the ability to hear because one or more parts of the ear did not function properly; and because Read the rest of this entry »

Deaf-accessible movie theaters

New technology is making it easier than ever for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to enjoy movies. Well, not all of it is actually new. The movie The Jackal in 1997 made use of Motion Picture Access (MoPix) technology, which displays three lines of reversed captions on a display in the back of the theater and projects it on reflective panels mounted in cupholders. Recently in Massachussetts, theaters with ten or more screens were required to have at least two outfitted with MoPix. The technology also aids blind movie-goers with a descriptive video technology that describes the scenes of the film. Read the rest of this entry »

Smoke alarms for the hard-of-hearing

One thing that hearing people don’t often consider is the difficulties deaf people face with traditional smoke alarms. These devices, which generate a high-pitched sound in the presence of smoke, will not do much good to someone sleeping who is hard of hearing. New alarms are being designed with this in mind, and the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office is distributing 1,200 of them for free.The new alarms have strobe lights and bed shakers, which collectively provide insurance that the alarm will be noticed while the individual is both sleeping and awake. It’s also important that every individual, whether deaf or hearing, regularly practice their escape plans. Deaf individuals should inform their local fire department about their special needs and make sure that they have a system set up which will quickly alert the department in the case of emergency.

National Technical Institute for the Deaf

When choosing a college, students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can make the decision to go to a predominantly deaf college or enroll in special programs at another school. For those that choose the first option, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is one of the most popular choices. Located in Rochester, New York in the Rochester Institute of Technology, the school currently has 1,200 deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 12,000 hearing students attend courses at other schools in RIT.This melding of environments, which allows students to interact with both deaf and hearing peers, all takes place within a protected suburban locale. The Institute was founded in 1965 and selected RIT the next year from a number of attractive locations. The combination of RIT’s recent move to a new campus and the progressive views of Rochester businessmen helped finalize the decision. Read the rest of this entry »

American sign language artists

Those familiar with deaf culture know that deafness is not an obstacle to creativity. Many artists within the deaf community use sign language and symbolism to convey their experiences and views. A segment of these works, known as American Sign Language literature, refers specifically to stories, poetry, plays, and songs created in ASL.Video recording technology has made it possible for people from all cultures to view a particular “telling” over and over again. Today, deaf poets are also using SignWriting to record their worksusing typed symbols to represent the hand movements and shapes of ASL. Live performances take place at festivals held at Gallaudet University and Deaf West Theater. The names of Peter Cook, Ella Mae Lentz, Trix Bruce, Patrick Graybill, and Debbie Rennie are well known among practitioners of the form, as is that of Clayton Valli. Read the rest of this entry »