My name is Julie and I was born with Cerebral Palsy (CP) which has resulted in mild walking difficulties, and manual dexterity. I also have a speech and hearing impairment. I was recently fitted with Phonak’s latest hearing aid model, Quest/Q90 in September 2012. The first word that strikes my mind when I was turned … Continue reading
Meet Sarah Churman, YouTube Star and Author of Powered On
You may remember Sarah Churman from a popular YouTube video. She sat in an audiologist’s office, waiting for her implantable hearing aid to be activated. When the “switch” turned on and Sarah could hear, her emotional response brought many of us to ears—Lipreading Mom included. Watch that captivating video here. That’s why I am thrilled … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom’s Service Dog Finally Has a Name
After two months of living as a nameless yet lovable canine, our Service Dog finally has a name—thanks to one Lipreading Mom reader. And the winning name for our furry friend is… Congratulations to Monica Hood from Ohio for suggesting the name SERVANE which, she writes, means “service of God.” My 8-year-old daughter, who owns … Continue reading
How to Learn Sign Language When You Can’t Sign to Save Your Life
Lipreading Mom has an embarrassing confession to make. Whenever someone signs, I stare in confusion, trying to draw meaning from their moving fingers. I’m not proud to admit that while I can learn and regularly use sign language at home and church, I don’t always understand what another person is signing to me. I may … Continue reading
Do You Have a Hearing Loss Question? Ask Lipreading Mom!
I’ve always wanted to be Dear Abby. In the fourth grade, I taped an envelope to my school desk with the words “Have a question? Ask Shanna!” scribbled on it. Friends would write notes with questions about homework, friendship, and when to start dating (My advice to the latter: “You’re too young!”). So it seemed … Continue reading
Please Don’t Judge My Blog By Its Photo
I just had someone make fun of the photo above on my blog. Let me share the story of why I use it… Once upon a time, my sweet little girl, who has the prettiest smile I know, chipped and discolored her front tooth in a playground accident. She was 4 years old. On the … Continue reading
And the Winner of Lipreading Mom’s Captioned Movie Oscar Race Is…
I think we have an Oscar upset. In my quest to watch all of this year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Picture in their captioned glory, I’ve seen seven out of the nine films. In last week’s post, I was a Life of Pi fan, due to my inaugural experience with watching a 3-D movie … Continue reading
The Oklahoma Town Where My Hearing Loss Story Begins
Washita, Oklahoma, is the inspiration for my 2009 novel, Lip Reader, a story of one family dealing with genetic deafness. I hadn’t visited that town in 13 years, not until I drove down the dusty two-lane road in search of answers to my own hearing loss. The reason I wrote Lip Reader—a book that is … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom’s Nominees for Best Captioned Oscar Movie Are…
And the nominees for 2013 best (captioned) motion picture are… Okay, the Oscars don’t actually honor captioning. But in this day and age of many American movie theaters now showing first-run films captioned, it is a treat to visit the cinemaplexes where I live. For the next 30 days, I am on a mission to … Continue reading
How to Hear Someone on the Phone When You Have Hearing Loss
My ears have a love-hate relationship with the phone. For 12 years, I’ve struggled to hear conversations from a variety of telephones—a regular landline, amplified phone, mobile phone, cell phone with Bluetooth capabilities. I tried phone captioning, but the captions didn’t always interpret word-for-word. Sometimes the words were scrambled or misinterpreted. That’s why I loved … Continue reading
