Uncategorized | A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Need Viagra? Insurance Will Cover It–Not Hearing Aids

Dear Illinois Senators,

We’ve got a bill up for consideration, S. B. 2516, and I hope you’ll pass it. You see, there are five generations of folks in my family who wear hearing aids. Every time we need new hearing aids, we need a doctor’s prescription to order them. Every time we inquire about insurance coverage for our new pieces of ear technology, we’re told, “Sorry, insurance companies rarely cover hearing aids.”

It is time to change that.

From the research I’ve done, it appears that it would cost anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars to provide coverage for hearing aids in Illinois. There really shouldn’t be any opposition from insurance companies– after all, hearing aids have to be medically prescribed and they certainly aren’t cosmetic devices as they’re sometimes described.

You see, without hearing aids, I literally cannot enjoy any music, hear the doorbell or turn at the sound of my kid’s voices. I can’t hear a single thing without my hearing aids.

Senators, think about the Illinois residents who have been prescribed hearing aids but who are facing the uphill battle of no insurance coverage for these medical devices. You can change that for Illinois residents. You can make history in Illinois and say, “Yes, the time is now to provide insurance coverage for hearing aids for Illinois residents of all ages.”

I will thank you. My family will thank you. The deaf and hard of hearing residents and their families of Illinois will thank you.

Read on for more:

Insurance Companies Cover Viagra, But Not Hearing Aids

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
1 Comment »

Merry Christmas from the Putz Family

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Putz family!

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
2 Comments »

Hearing Folks Can Call Each Other, Why Can’t Deaf/Hard of Hearing Folks?

“I am really frustrated,” said a customer recently. “Every time someone calls my Z videophone from a Sorenson VP -200, their number shows up as an 866 number and I can’t call them back. Hearing people don’t have any problem calling from a Verizon phone to a Sprint phone, so why do we deaf folks have so many problems?”

Indeed, as a Sales Manager for Zvrs, I shared that same frustration as this customer. Several times, I would see a missed call from an 866 number and I’d have no way of calling that person back. The 866 numbers no longer function, except when a caller uses a VP-200 to call another VP-200. When a person uses a videophone from a different company, the call is automatically routed to a relay interpreter.

I also learned that Sorenson customers automatically have their 866 numbers displayed as the default setting. This is the reason why the 866 number is showing up in the caller ID instead of a local number. However, Sorenson customers can change the way the caller ID number is displayed and set it so that the LOCAL ten-digit number is displayed instead.

How to change the 866 number to display the new local number:

Go to Settings > Personal > User and then select “Local.”

Fo more information about calling 800/866 numbers, read the two editorials by Dr. Z and You:

The 800/866 Fiasco

The 800/866 Fiasco, More Information

Update:

The FCC has temporarily reinstated the 800 numbers and ordered the 800 numbers to be put back into the national database so that they can function from one provider to the other. This means that for the next four months, the 800/866 numbers will connect properly between videophones.

Ed’s Telecom Alert shares more on this issue: VRS 800 Issue.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
4 Comments »

Fashionable Hearing Aids

I came across a post this morning, The Shame of Wearing Hearing Aids and it brought back memories. I was one of those kids who hid a hearing aid under long hair. It wasn’t until I was in college that I finally wore my hair up and my hearing aid perched for all to see. Kinda sad, eh? All those years spent trying to hide something that was basically a part of me– except I didn’t want any part of it.

I decided to raise my kids with a different attitude about their hearing aids. From the start, we went with brightly-colored earmolds with swirls and glitter. I even joined my daughter in getting matching glitter earmolds. I’m pretty sure I saw my audiologist hold back a gulp when I asked for the blue with glitter when she squeezed the earmold goop into my ear.

So far, no one has had the guts to tell me that I look foolish sporting glitter at my age.

Despite my years of preaching about being proud of those two pieces of technology on their ears, my kids had minds of their own– each of them have made decisions about color vs. minimal color. My 12-year-old recently decided that he had enough of the wild colors and chose clear earmolds at the last fitting. After years of wearing boring beige hearing aids, the oldest went for a slick black pair with clear earmolds. It was now my daughter’s turn for new hearing aids and we sat down to go over the colors for a new pair of hearing aids. Staring at the hearing aid website, I was floored at the color choices. When I was growing up, it was pretty much beige and black as the choices.

I was pretty sure she was going to pick out something cool.

“Look, there’s zebra and giraffe patterns!” I exclaimed. “And look at this cool blue and whoa– that purple! Oh and look–they have this cool see-through hearing aid!”

She picked beige.

Yes, boring, typical, oh-so-ordinary… beige.

“Mom, I’m going to be wearing these hearing aids for a couple of years, maybe even into adulthood,” she said. “Do you really think I want to go to prom with a giraffe pattern or purple– what if it doesn’t match my dress? Besides, I can change my earmold colors anytime I want.”

Yeah, she’s got a point there. Earmolds are $125 a pop. Hearing aids are nearly five grand.

“The beige looks nice,” I said.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Christie Lake Adventures, Uncategorized by DeafMom
23 Comments »

Why I Love My Z-150 Made by Tandberg

Just a year ago, I was making phone calls mostly by text relay or a Captel phone and occasionally by webcam using video relay. In January, I took a position as a Sales Manager for Zvrs and I was introduced to the Z-150 videophone which is made by Tandberg. Tandberg is a world leader for videoconferencing and apparently Cisco feels the same way– they purchased Tandberg in a recent deal for three billion dollars.

I think they got a great deal.

My life took a huge change when the Z-150 came into my life. I was introduced to single-line VCO: when I make a phone call, I use my voice to talk directly to the hearing person on the other end of the connection. I don’t need a second phone to do this, I speak directly into the videophone and the person can hear me. Perched on the screen in front of me is a Zvrs interpreter.

A few weeks ago, for the first time, I called my friend Cassie to talk about plans for our kids. In the past, we always texted or used email but I decided to give her a call because we wanted to discuss something in detail. It was the first time that she experienced a VCO call and she was simply blown away.

“How are you keeping up with me so well?” she asked.

“I’ve got a great interpreter in front of me and he’s doing a great job!” I explained. The interpreter grinned.

“It’s almost like you’re hearing,” she said.

The neat thing is that people can call me up using a regular ten-digit number. I don’t have to explain anything to anyone when I give out my number. I just tell them, “Call me,” and they do. When they dial the ten-digit number, it automatically routes through Zvrs and my Z-150 alerts me to the call with an email and then the videophone flashes on the screen. I press a button and answer with, “Hi, Karen here!”

I’m not kidding when I say that my life changed after getting a Z-150– because now I’m on the phone all the time. I used to dread making phone calls because the other person would become impatient and hang up. I still work as a Deaf Mentor on the side and I love being able to call up families and connect with them. I use the Zvrs Spanish-speaking interpreters to connect with Latino families.

Now that Cisco has Tandberg, it won’t be long until most of America has a Tandberg sitting on their desk.

How cool is it that a deaf person is ahead of the phone trend?

Update: Tandberg picked up the blog on their site: Videoconferencing Changes Deaf Mother’s Life.

Tandberg Telepresence Helps Deaf Mom Communicate Better

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
9 Comments »

Twitter, My Virtual Watercooler

I don’t understand this Twitter thing,” a friend of mine said to me recently. “I can’t make sense of it all. What’s the point of all those short sentences?”

My sister-in-law asked me the same thing and so did my neice: I Don’t Get Twitter.

That’s pretty much what I thought too, when Glenda Watson Hyatt introduced me to Twitter over a year ago. I am so glad that I listened to Glenda, because Twitter has become my virtual watercooler. In my daily life, I’m often cut off from conversations around me unless I have access to an interpreter, captioning or some super lipreading. Twitter lets me peek in on conversations (Ah, so that’s what people talk about!) and gives me the opportunity to join in. I enjoy Twitter so much that I ended up here: Chicago Moms on Twitter.

Liz Strauss is hosting a writing project: 25 Words of Social Media Wisdom. I’ve decided to join in and share my thoughts on Twitter and what it means to me:

“

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
7 Comments »

Z Ya Later!

Check out the sports section of the Chicago Tribune! I had to laugh when I saw that, because my buddies at Zvrs.com are always saying to each other, “Z ya later!”

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
No Comments »

Life Takes a Crazy Turn

My dad was diagnosed with cancer while I was out in Vegas– this time it’s a lot more serious. He battled cancer a few years back and knocked it out. This time it’s back, in the esophagus. We were sitting around on Memorial Day weekend and he mentioned that he couldn’t swallow too well and didn’t have much of an appetite. My first thought of course, was cancer and I told him so– I wanted to make sure that he went to the doctor and got it checked out.

Dad starts radiation on Monday to shrink the son-of-a-%$#*.

Send some shrinking prayers our way.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
4 Comments »

Z You at the Deaf Seniors of America Conference

I’m here in Las Vegas hanging with 1,800 Deaf senior citizens. And what a cool group they are to hang out with! I can’t help myself– I find that I get into conversations with them and want to hear their stories of growing up and where they worked at. One guy worked at Coke for 38 years…another is a tax attorney… a couple of them worked their way up at the post office to management level and all sorts of other jobs. At the Z booth, while they try out the Z-340 videophone, some of them have been sharing stories of how they had no phones and had to send letters to their friends to arrange a visit.

Today, we revealed our very own “Dr. Z,” the infamous Phil Bravin who is the original Deaf tech geek. He can remember playing around with code many years back and he recently put together a neat website for everything Z:

Doctor Z’s website

Dr. Z

Marlee Matlin arrived at noon to sign her books for over two hours. She took a moment to pose with Laurel and Hardy (yes, they work for the Z team too!):

Marlee Matlin with Laurel and Hardy

U. S. Chung, the Z Project Manager drew a crowd of his own this afternoon:

USC shows the Z-340 to Seniors

We’ll be at the Z booth on Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon. If you’re at the DSA conference, stop by and say hi!

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: Uncategorized by DeafMom
2 Comments »

Greetings from Vegas

Where in the world is Karen? In Vegas. Not exactly my favorite place in the U.S. but I’m learning to like it this week because I’m with a great bunch of people from the Z team and the Deaf Seniors of America. I’m working the Z booth all week at the conference, so if you’re in Vegas, stop by Paris and say hi.

On Sunday, we had a free day to explore the strip so a few of us went to the roller coaster at New York. Later that night we went to the Stratosphere and tried the rides on the top. I discovered that I have a new fear of heights. There was one ride that throws you over the edge– ack! Poor Manny Johnson, I ended up squeezing the heck out of his hand when we went over the edge. Later that night, I woke up in the middle of a nightmare– the brakes on the ride failed and down we went.

Thank goodness it was only a dream.

Let's go on the roller coaster!

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: CSDVRS,