My young daughter sits on my lap as we flip through her Precious Moments storybook about the birth of Jesus. The room is quiet. She watches wide-eyed as I flip through the cardboard pages. Although it is a picture book, there are so many words that I have to paraphrase to stay within a young … Continue reading
Ouch! It Hurts to Lipread the Dentist
As I sat in the patient’s chair gripping the vinyl armrests, a mask-wearing dentist probed my mouth. Her findings nearly busted my jaw: Multiple chipped teeth, a recessed gum and six cavities. One cavity for each year I put off going for a check-up. I tensed even more as she injected anesthesia into my infected … Continue reading
Mom Goes to Press for Captions
It never ceases to amaze me how strong moms raising special needs children are. This morning, my local newspaper ran an editorial by a mom infuriated by the lack of captioned movies at local theaters. Read the entire Captioning Editorial. A portion of the editorial is also included at the end of my post. Her words, which captivated me … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom’s 5 Tips for a Happy Holiday with Hearing Loss
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. But for the 1 in 10 people with hearing loss, it’s also the most challenging time for communication. Lipreading Mom should know. I’ve had 10 years of holidaytime hearing loss experience. The whole family is packed around the dinner table, busily chatting about their good fortune and laying … Continue reading
How to Strike Up a ‘Deaf’ Conversation
It’s sad but true. I’ve observed friends, family and strangers with perfect hearing reluctant to talk to someone who is Deaf. I’ve seen this happen in restaurants, libraries, the post office and church. Something Lipreading Mom has committed to doing is to initiate an ASL* conversation with people I don’t know. These are people I … Continue reading
Joy to the World! Baby JoJo Has Come
It’s easy to go through the day feeling like nothing special or out of the ordinary can happen. As a Lipreading Mom with progressive hearing loss for almost 10 years, I often have my moments of feeling unsure about the future. But when I’m tempted to wallow in self-pity, I think about the surprise that came into my … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom Wants Captions!
Well, it’s about time. As I’ve written about on this blog before, I’m among the thousands of Deaf and hard of hearing moviegoers fed up with not being able to understand movie dialogue. Now a group is sueing Cinemark theatres for lack of captioned movies. This is a theater chain that hasn’t yet embraced captioning technology … Continue reading
Why I Write from Home
Staying at home with kids: Is it really for me? Lipreading mom’s confession: I didn’t think so before I had my first child. The office environment suited me well. I was working for a women’s organization and writing for its magazine. There were weekly planning meetings, phone interviews and research projects to occupy five days a week. In fact, I … Continue reading
Walking and Advocating with My Kids
Advocacy is always a work in progress… for everyone. That’s why I decided to include my 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter in a Deaf and hearing loss awareness 5K walk/run this past weekend. We walked with leaders from our local Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Chapter. I use the work “walk” loosely. My son decided to speed walk … Continue reading
Not Too Sick to Advocate
After several days of a pounding headache, congested throat, stuffy nose and clogged ears, I was in tears. Having sick ears was like poison with my already compromised ability to hear. Hearing aids became useless; all they amplified was the dull rumbling of fluid in the ear drums. And the pounding head made it difficult … Continue reading
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