Inspirational Stuff | A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Yes, It Is Time for Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids

There’s a small, passionate group of people in Illinois who are working to get the state of Illinois to pass a bill in the Senate that would provide insurance coverage for hearing aids.

For people of ALL ages.

Not just for children, like many other bills in other states.

If you live in Illinois, this post is just for you. The time is NOW. Yes, now–to call your Senators, fax a letter, or send them an email and tell them: “Please support SB 68 which provides insurance coverage for hearing aids for people of all ages in Illinois.”

That’s all you have to tell them, that one, simple little line.

We have a shot at this. Senator Ira Silverstein and Senator Jacqueline Collins are sponsoring this bill and they are very supportive of it. Senator William Haine is the chairperson of the subcommittee and he is hard of hearing. A group of us went downstate and testified in front of this subcommittee on March 11th. You can read more about it here:

Chicago Moms Blog: The Time is Now for Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage

Do you feel the same way?

Then let’s take some action. Here’s the contact information for the Senators:

Senator Ira Silverstein (Bill sponsor) isilverstein@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5500

Senator Jacqueline Collins (Bill co-sponsor) : senatorcollins@sbcglobal.net 217-782-1607

Senator William Haine: whaine@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5247

Senator Duffy:   dan@senatorduffy.com 217-782-8010
Senator Forby:   gforby@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5509
Senator Hendon:    ihammons@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-6252
Senator Burzynski: senatorbrad@verizon.net 217-782-1977
Senator Munoz:   amunoz@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-9415
Senator Syverson: info@senatordavesyverson.com 217-782-5413
Senator Hayes: jhayes@sentedem.ilga.gov

All it takes is a small, determined group of citizens to change the world.

Just like Margaret Mead said.

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I Survived a Drive-By Shooting

For weeks, I walked around with my Kevlar vest on. I knew that the guys with famous elbows from Men With Pens were coming over to my place on December 14th. I debated whether or not to tidy up the place, hide the dust bunnies and shove the clutter into a Rubbermaid bin.

Nah, I thought to myself. Gotta let it all hang out. After all, that was the whole purpose of having the hired guns shoot up the place. I simply tightened up my vest, put on my protective glasses and waited.

Check it out:

Drive-By -Shooting Sunday: Deaf Mom World

I knew I had one ace that they couldn’t touch– after all, the talented Harry designed the banner for this blog. I was really surprised to learn that Harry thought he could touch it up a bit:

“Well, it’s a nice sign,” James paused at the door, looking back over his shoulder. “It’s simple, clean, fresh looking and it’s clear what this place is all about.” That was a bonus in itself. He would have inverted the green and blue of the title of the sign for better readability, but beyond that, he liked the globe and the arrow that showed where this woman lived.

Then again, James was biased. And so was Harry.

Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t critique our own work. The drops of water on the globe seem a little out of place, and we would have removed that. The color scheme chosen to match the existing site is a nice choice, though, giving a welcoming effect from the start. Nicely done.

My husband also commented about the water drop when he first saw the banner, but I like it. I love how it symbolizes my favorite place to be– out on the water at Christie Lake. It also reminds me of my waterskiing memories. So that water drop is staying.

I was happy that they left me mostly intact and that I didn’t have to head to the hospital for major surgery. Unfortunately, the clean up will have to wait until after the holidays, so the readers will have to deal with the clutter for a while.

I’m just very, very disappointed in James and Harry. They came dressed from head to toe in black and wore ski masks.

I didn’t even catch a glimpse of a naked elbow.

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John Denver Song Makes Me Think of Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children

I spent the afternoon playing around over at Overstream, learning how to add captions to a video. I figured that it was time to learn, especially since Stephen Hopson and Glenda Watson Hyatt will be joining me to present at SOBCon’09 and we’ll be talking about web accessibility.

I selected a John Denver video, Children of the Universe, since I know that song by heart. But there was another reason for me to choose that song: it always makes me think of deaf and hard of hearing children. How different we all are, yet we are all brothers and sisters. As different as we are, we make up one universe.

“To understand that life is more than always choosing sides.”

It’s captioned. Enjoy!

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Blog Action Day–Taking Action to Make a Difference

The day is here: Blog Action Day. Today, over 10,000 blogs will spotlight the issue of poverty and raise funds to make a difference. Kudos to Easton Ellsworth and the team behind Blog Action Day.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to blog about today. My kids are deaf and hard of hearing and they attend school in a district that is well paid for by taxes. They are receiving an education that is lacking very little in terms of resources and access to projects. They have access to digital hearing aids, interpreters, FM systems and itinerant teachers.

A couple of years ago, I attended a conference where I met an educator for the deaf from New Mexico. He described an educational system that was quite different from what my children are receiving. Many of the families with deaf and hard of hearing children were scattered in very rural areas. Many were living in what we would call deep poverty in the United States. Some of the families came across the border. He talked about how families had very limited access to the many choices that families in bigger cities take for granted.

Mrs. V's classroom

I tried to think of a way that I could ask my readers to help make a difference, a tangible difference for deaf and hard of hearing children–today. I have a project that I’m supporting over at the Chicago Moms Blog which is part of the DonorsChoose.org Bloggers Challenge. It is a fundraiser for a classroom in New Mexico for deaf and hard of hearing children in an area of high poverty: Bugs, Crystals and More for Hands On Scientists. Just $546 dollars will fund this project and make a difference in the lives of several deaf and hard of hearing students (and the future students to follow). The project has raised $125 dollars so far and the deadline to fund this project is November 21st. Perhaps my readers, today, can help this project reach its goal.

It only takes a minute to make a contribution, and make a difference. The learning that these students will reap from this project will help shape future minds.

Won’t you make a difference today?

Update as of October 15th in the afternoon:

I’m sitting here amazed, totally amazed. This project is now fully funded. A special thanks goes to all the donors: Karon, Davis, Jessica, Deborah, Joanna and Eileen. Joanna and Eileen gave today and helped to fully fund the project.

You all are amazing!

Update: Thank you from Mrs. Vogt:

Dear Karen,

Thank you so much for your donation towards hands-on science materials for our classroom with deaf and hard of hearing students. We are so excited to start using the supplies to do science experiments. We have seen some different science supplies in books and I am thrilled that the students will now get to explore magnifying glasses, lenses, microscopes, and color paddles for themselves! I have been reading lots of books and websites to find experiments that are good for kindergarten and first grade kids. Now, we will be able to do the experiments. By the way, I showed the kids pictures of the supplies we are getting, and they said to tell you that they are the most excited about the growing crystals kit! Thanks again so much!!

Other bloggers who are making a difference:

Five Minutes for Mom: Blog Action Day: Poverty

ProBlogger: Reflections on Poverty

Remarkable Parents: The Scoop on Blog Action Day

The Broad Brush: Poverty

Karen Swim: Blog Action Day: Poverty

Middle Zone Musings: It’s Time

Joyful Jubilant Learning: How Much Can We Learn in a Day?

Liz Strauss: Personal Environmental Action

Joanna Young: Words That Make a Difference

CopyBlogger: Why Jesse Won’t Go to College

Meryl.net: Blog Action Day: Poverty

If the World Had Wheels: Disability and Poverty

Face Me, I Read Lips: Blog Action Day: Help Those Who Need Hearing Aids

Amy Derby: Look, See, Do Something

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What I Learned from Stress–Middle Zone Musings

Over at Robert Hruzek’s place, Middle Zone Musings, the topic of today’s groupwrite project is:

Now see, I could have stressed myself out and agonized over what picture to put up there, but what’d I do to eliminate the stress of finding one? Why, I lifted Robert’s cute little stress picture right off his site! Of course, that would be called, ahem, borrowing, wouldn’t it?

It seems like everywhere we turn nowadays, the topic of stress pops up left and right. “Ten Steps to Eliminate Stress from your Life!” screams one magazine. “Live a Stress-Free Life,” urges another. It’s no wonder that so many magazines are tackling the topic of stress: with the stock market in the pits, food and health care soaring, and the housing market basically flat–these are stressful times, indeed.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to experience a relatively stress-free weekend. I got in the car and drove up to my parents’ house for the weekend. I left behind the hubby and children (they were completely ok with that!) and it was my first time up at Christie Lake without them. I was able to blast my John Denver/Kenny Rogers/Lonestar music without anyone imploring me to turn it down, or worse, to turn it off.

Let me give you a glimpse of why it is so peaceful up at Christie Lake. This is the view from my parents’ kitchen window:

Peaceful, indeed.

I spent the weekend painting the decks with my Dad and sis. I had planned to winterize the jet ski and put it away for the winter after we finished up with the painting. During all of Saturday morning, I was enjoying the sun and the paining was moving along. The weather was incredible. On Saturday afternoon, I started to feel some stress. My neck was aching and my jaw was tensing up. I was trying to figure out what was causing it and then I realized what it was: I didn’t know how to winterize the jet ski and I was running out of time to figure it out. I had read the owner’s manual over and over earlier in the week, but it might as well have been written in Greek. Here’s an example of part of the winterizing process:

Prior to inserting the ignition coil to its location, apply some Molykote 111 grease (P/N413 707 000) around the seal area that touches the spark plug hole. After installation, ensure the seals seats properly with the engine top surface.

Ignition coil? Seals? And where the heck were the spark plugs located? No wonder I could feel the stress mounting that afternoon. I had texted Leaders Marine the day before and asked if I could stop in so they could walk me through the process. Sure, they said.

I borrowed my Dad’s truck and hooked up the jet ski and drove to the marine shop. My Mom came with. Along the way, we talked about a bunch of things and ironically, the subject of stress came up.

“Remember that piece of advice you gave me a long time ago,” I asked my Mom. “You told me that you used to worry and be stressed out and then you realized you were wasting a lot of time worrying.”

And then Mom finished the thought. “Yes, everything always has a way of working out, it just always does. So why get all worked up about it. I look back at all the years that I was stressed out about something or other. I didn’t have to worry so much.”

Well, Mom’s advice has stuck with me through the years and when I find myself stressed out, I have to ask myself– what is the solution? What is the worse possible thing that could happen? What can I change right now to ease the way I feel?

So much for being stressed out about the winterizing process. The mechanic from the marine shop walked me through the steps a few times until I felt confident that I could do it. Dad helped me finish the process and we put the jet ski back in the shed and put all the neighbor’s boats back in.

“I just hope I did this right,” I said to my Dad.

“Well, no use worrying about it,” he said. “We’ll find out in the spring.”

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The Importance of Fundraising And Getting Involved

I love what I’m seeing on the web today– people working together–raising awareness, funding non-profit organizations and supporting causes. Today, I want to share a few things that are important to me and I hope you’ll take a moment to get involved as well.

I’ve long been involved with supporting Hands & Voices and you may have seen the link on my blog, Donate to Hands & Voices. We don’t actively ask for donations, but our project is there for anyone who wants to support families with deaf and hard of hearing children. After four years of being involved with this non-profit organization, I can see how hard our leaders are working at the helm to make changes for deaf and hard of hearing kids today.

Over at Chicago Moms Blog, we are participating in the Bloggers Challenge to raise funds for various school projects. There are several projects there that involve funds for deaf and hard of hearing kids. Several teachers that I know have shared with me that they often dip into their own pockets to fund their classrooms and to expand opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing kids to learn more. Check out the projects: Chicago Moms Blog Bloggers Challenge.

We have another big opportunity coming up to make a difference: Blog Action Day 2008–Poverty. I learned about this from Easton Ellsworth, whom I met at the SOBCon ‘08. Take a moment to take a look (it is captioned):

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

The issue of poverty is something that we in America often do not come to experience, for even the most poor often have their immediate needs taken care of if they choose to participate in government programs. I live in an area where poverty cannot possibly compare to poverty in areas around the world. Even the homeless man who lives in a nearby town has full internet access in his parking garage home.

So join me and thousands of other bloggers on Blog Action Day on October 15, and together, let’s make a difference.

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Are You Comfortable Being Deaf/Hard of Hearing?

“My son has some issues with being hard of hearing,” a mom recently shared with me. I glanced at her son. He seemed ill at ease.

I nodded.

And I understood.

Because you see, I was in that kid’s shoes many years ago. I grew up hard of hearing and when I received a hearing aid at the age of nine, I rebelled. I didn’t want anything to do with it. Frankly, I didn’t need it. I was fine, thankyouverymuch.

I wore it during school hours, partly because I was told that I had to and partly because it made things louder, not necessarily clearer–but louder. I was embarassed about that hearing aid. I hated it. I hid it. That piece of plastic reminded me that I was different from my peers. That I stood out. So I did my best to blend in. I wore my hair down. I smiled and nodded and laughed along with jokes and conversations that I either caught snippets of or had no clue at all what was being said. When confronted with the idea that I was hard of hearing, I responded with, “Oh, sometimes I can’t hear what you say.” Never mind that I was lipreading to comprehend conversation, as I had little ability to understand words via auditory means alone.

So I understood where that mom was coming from, and I understood that feeling of being uncomfortable. I wrote about Embracing the Identity of Being Deaf or Hard of Hearing previously. Ironically, just this weekend, I came across two articles that talk about learning to accept being hard of hearing:

From Mail Online/Disability Alert, Liz Jones shares her experience of finally labeling her hearing loss and coming to terms with it:

I received some bad news two weeks ago. After years of refusing to accept I had a problem with my hearing, I finally decided to go to a clinic and find out the worst, which is that I have, at best, 30 per cent hearing in each ear.

It was weird, hearing (if that’s the right word) that I am officially disabled or impaired.

But I suppose I can at last tell people I am hard of hearing – which hopefully they will understand and make allowances for – rather than doing what I have been doing up until now, which is to try to appear normal.

This has only made people – friends, colleagues on the phone, shop assistants and so on – think I am merely mad, rude or eccentric.

I first noticed I had a problem at school. I could barely follow what the teachers were saying, although they never seemed to notice.

I avoided parties and school discos because I could never join in the conversation. I would just stand there looking awkward.

Over at the Dallas News, Jeanna Mead shares her experience of “coming out of the closet” about being hard of hearing:

This is a hard column to write – I have to let go of years, decades, of hiding my hearing loss, and now I am about to “come out of the closet,” so to speak. I am hearing-impaired, practically deaf – but that is only part of the story.

That is not who I am; I define myself by so many other things, and way, way, way down on the bottom of the list is “hearing impaired.”

I lost my hearing when I was 4, which explains why my speech is so good, but I have to give credit where credit is due; my Mema worked tirelessly to coach me to speak correctly, holding my hand to her throat while repeating words over and over until I could say them the right way.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized there were hearing people in this world who could not pronounce Mexia, Rowlett, Louisiana, Tawakoni or even “congratulations.”

Getting comfortable being deaf and hard of hearing is often a journey and over at Tania Says, Tania Karas shares a life-changing day that occured when she stepped into a deaf classroom for the first time:

Hale has a pretty big deaf program, spanning from preschool until 8th grade. The students have a wide range of hearing loss. All use sign, but all use their voices as well. The classrooms are unbelievably deaf-friendly; there is one teacher for every 3-4 students, a combination of sign and speech, resource and speech pathology teachers, and a whole bunch of kids who just understood each other. I had never seen a deaf classroom before, so this was all like a dream world to me. Communication just flowed so seamlessly, much unlike the constant confusion I have encountered all my life in mainstream/”hearing” classrooms.

But what got me the most was that these kids were happy. They had crazy-colored ear molds and bright cochlear implants on display for the whole world to see. The philosophy behind the instruction at Hale was to take pride in one’s deafness. The students’ hearing loss was just a small part of their vibrant personalities - when I saw them in class, I didn’t think “deaf kids,” I thought “happy kids.” And I kinda wanted to be like them.

And that’s what I wish for every deaf and hard of hearing child or adult– to become so comfortable with being deaf or hard of hearing that you’re happy as well.

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What I Learned from my Homebirth

On Sunday, we celebrated my youngest’s son’s birthday. Eleven years. How time zips by. Every year on his birthday, I always think back to his birth.

I didn’t plan a homebirth at first. I had my two other kids via cesarean. Lauren’s birth was especially hard, because I had hoped to birth her naturally, but ended up consenting to be induced. Post-partum depression reared its ugly head and I was fortunate to find a support group to help me through it.

While attending the support group, I learned that several other moms had given birth at home. One mom had two cesareans like me.

Homebirth? Nah. That was far too radical for me. I was a good follower. I dutifully took my kids to the pediatrician and followed the schedule for vaccinations. I read the books on what to expect when pregnant. I went for the epidural and the pitocin hook-ups each time.

Then a little surprise–the lines turned pink on the plastic stick, the result of a New Year’s Eve party that we had at our house. A welcome surprise though, as we had planned to have a third child down the road.

While attending the support group, I began to dive into books about birth. My friend Beth had briefly contemplated a homebirth and she handed over Sheila Kitzinger’s Homebirth for me to read. The more I read, the more people that I talked to about homebirth, the stronger the feeling began to grow inside of me that I wanted to have a homebirth.

And I did. It was an amazing time, in more ways than one. But I also ended up being induced at home, consenting to something that I didn’t really know I was consenting to. Steven’s homebirth turned into a story that was published in Don’t Cut Me Again.

Birthing at home wasn’t so much the life changing event as making the decision to have a homebirth. I was torn between doing what society perceived as safe (birthing in the hospital) and doing what my instinct was leading me toward. Did I have the courage to break the status quo? Did I have the courage to look within and make a decision that that felt right to me (and my husband), despite others telling me I shouldn’t?

Making the decision was a liberating moment for me.

When decisions come from within us and are not influenced by outside factors, we hold ourselves responsible for the outcomes. We own the decisions with more rights than we could have if we allowed someone else to influence us.

So tell me, have you faced a moment in your life that shaped the way you make decisions?

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In a Funk? Grab Some Friends

I had been in a funk for the last two weeks. A gawd-awful funk. Last week, I whined about writer’s block over on Twitter. At a family gathering recently, even a relative mentioned how boring my recent posts had become. My reaction was simply to shrug.

The house had been slipping over the summer. I couldn’t remember the last time I mopped the floor. (Mom, cover your eyes.) In the last two weeks, I struggled to maintain some sense of order as the kids went back to school. I woke up each morning with a horrible attitude of, who cares? Friends didn’t really know, or notice, because they assumed that I was busy at the desk, hammering away at blog posts and articles.

The only time I found some joy was barreling down the lake at full throttle on the jet ski. Speed, glorious speed took the edge off and set my heart beating with excitement. Ah yes, the jet ski– the midlife solution to a crisis.

I sent out an email to my BookHands club. How’s everyone doing, I wondered. Anything to start up some conversation– to connect during a time when I wasn’t really connecting with anyone. One by one, they chimed in with updates. I didn’t realize it, but my replies didn’t really reveal anything that was going on with me. The funk had me too buried to notice. One of the BookHands gals dragged it right out of me. “Karen, I don’t know if u’re aware of this. But lately in most of your emails you pepper people with questions, but don’t volunteer any information about yourself or day to day experiences. We sincerely care about you and want to know what u’re up to.”

So I unloaded. ” I’ve been in a gawd-awful funk for the last two weeks. It isn’t depression, it’s what I call ‘in the rut’ feeling. Seth Godin calls it ‘The Dip.’ I call it a “I don’t give a rotten crap” feeling. It’s where you let everything go and then feel overwhelmed and have no idea what to tackle and at the same time, you don’t care about tackling anything. Ack.”

And as it turned out, others were struggling too. The Life Plateau. Emails shot back and forth. Suggestions. Tips. Support.

And I began to feel better. Things began to shift and change.

I woke up and recited five things that I was grateful for. I started the day with some light yoga. One of the BookHands gals chided me for not having some heart pumping exercise in my routine. So this week, that’s on my agenda.

Other things happened– I reconnected with the Loopies– a group of online friends that began eight years ago. We met through AOL’s Home VS Hospital Birth Forum. Some of them are grandmas now. It was a wonderful blast through the past to reconnect and see how everyone is doing. It made me aware that time is marching on–much faster than I’d like it to.

There’s a lesson here– for all of us to reach out to one another, most especially during the low times when we feel most alone.

After all, that’s what friends are for.

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Dave Freeman–A Man Halfway to His Goal

Dave Freeman.

Does the name ring a bell?

It didn’t for me. But yesterday, while reading the Chicago Tribune before dinner, I saw an article titled “Author of Quirky ‘100 Things’ Guide.”

Dave Freeman co-authored the book, 100 Things to Do Before You Die with Neil Teplica. In the book, the two of them listed exciting travel events; and together, they had done about half of them.

But yesterday, I wasn’t just reading an article– I was reading his obituary. Dave had slipped and hit his head on a glass ledge in his home. He was only 47 years old.

The New York Daily News reported that Freeman “really did live a full life.”

Freeman had run with the bulls in Spain. He’d hung his boots in an ice hotel in Finland. He stood beside the 400 stainless steel poles that make up the Lightning Field in New Mexico. And he made sure not to miss India’s Maha Kumbh Mela in 2001, a Hindu pilgrimage that happens only once every 12 years.

Considering that the book was written in 1999 and that Freeman completed half of the 100 things– I would say that he did indeed, lead a pretty full life.

US Magazine has a quote shared by Freeman’s father:

According to his father, Freeman was famous for saying, “‘We’re going to the future. Do you want to come along?’ It always made everybody laugh.”

How about you? Are you going to the future?

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