One of the most challenging aspects of my teaching job is lip-reading multiple speakers’ voices during group meetings. When hands go up for Q & A at the end of staff meetings, I try hard to decipher what is being spoken from multiple mouths scattered across the room. Of course, it helps when the meeting … Continue reading
Nearly 30 years after the Americans Disabilities Act was signed into law, I’ve noticed that some employees continue to hide their hearing loss at work or do not request accommodations. Fellow blogger Shari Eberts wrote a compelling post called How to Combat the Stigma of Hearing Loss, which I highly recommend reading. There are a … Continue reading
This weekend, I had the opportunity to present the workshop “Thriving with Hearing Loss” at the Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) national convention. This was my first ALDA event and, I must confess, ALDA members are some of the best advocates I have ever seen. Here is a glimpse at what I learned from listening … Continue reading
I serve on my school district’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee. The focus is making our schools friendly and welcoming to all students, staff, and families. Conversations in the room range from better supporting the diversity of our students to promoting more inclusive hiring practices. Each committee member brings a different story. Here is how my … Continue reading
I recently finished teaching a lip reading class in the Kansas City area. One of the questions I asked attendees was, “When it comes to lip reading, what is the most visible speech sound?” Several hands were raised. “The /M/ sound,” said a gentleman who lost some hearing in the military. “I think it’s the … Continue reading
The past month has been filled with holiday and birthday celebrations, time off from work, snow, and special memories with family. We were excited to have my parents come for Christmas. After hugging each other for dear life Christmas morning, we said our goodbyes to mom and dad who left to visit other family members. … Continue reading
This past weekend, I joined more than 100 people with hearing loss or deafness at Kansas City’s first-ever Hearing Loss Summit. The crowd included fellow lipreading moms, individuals who were born with hearing loss, those who are culturally Deaf, and adults who are late-deafened. I saw several young children wearing cochlear implants or hearing aids. Sign … Continue reading
Read my lips: Lipreading is tough. A while back, a producer with the Wanda Sykes Show emailed me, asking for help in understanding a news video clip. The idea sounded enticing: Come to California and watch a video blurb that had the speaker’s moving lips but no audio feed. The truth is, many words look … Continue reading
My first experience with hearing loss occurred in kindergarten. When the teacher asked the class to listen to and respond to questions through headphones, all I heard through them was garbled speech. The audiologist later told my parents that I could hear normally, but that I just needed to pay attention. From the age … Continue reading
The Blood David’s eyes were focused on his friend walking beside him on the sidewalk. In order to “hear” the conversation, David looked right at his friend who spoke. The act of lip reading required David’s eyes to do the listening. Neither one of them saw the low-hanging tree limb until after it smacked … Continue reading
