Intro and Conference Calls
Hi. I’m a Sara too, but, to not confuse things, I will go by Saj or Saje or Sajego 
I got here from a comment in hohprof’s journal. It looks like a nice place, so I’m hoping I may join you.
I’m 26, living in Washington, DC, trying to get a new job, really hoping for a research engineering position at Gallaudet… something I never thought I’d do. I wasn’t deaf until I was 14. And only recently did I decide I would enjoy focusing my work on helping deaf people… more than I enjoy working for the military/government/defense department. That’s for sure.
Somewhere in the last 3.5 years I’ve learned to sign. I wouldn’t call myself fluent, but I can communicate as well with sign as I can with my hearing (50/50 ha!). I give most of the credit to a deaf co-worker who loves to chat. I feel bad leaving him behind in NJ where I used to live. I know how having someone to sign and talk to and be a true friend at your job just makes a huge difference. I don’t have anyone like that here in DC either.
I wanted to comment a bit on how hearing people criticize our support sometimes. There is a service (free to US federal employees, not sure how much for other people) at http://www.fedrcc.us that provides real time captioning, CART, for telephone conference calls. Basically you schedule your meeting (48 hours ahead) and the captionist will call in. Then you go to a website and can read her text from the meeting.
I’ve used it 3 or 4 times maybe. The website software isn’t that great. It depends on javascript and is hard on the server. When it works it’s really great. Just like using CART in person. Words are 95% accurate and show up a couple of seconds behind the speaker. You can save the transcript at the end too.
Every time I use this service, my co-workers ask me to get them the transcript so they’ll have a record. Then, they complain about how bad it is. It doesn’t show anyones names (how would the captionist know that?). It doesn’t always have the right words (last time the captionist used “naif C” instead of NAVSEA). Some things are incorrectly recorded. And other complaints.
What they don’t get, or appreciate, is how much it really DOES help me! There is no way that I’d be able to hear and follow a conference call just by dialing in. there is also no way a normal relay operator could keep up. No one ever wants to take notes for me… or even fill me in after. It could be weeks before they get any official meeting minutes sent out, if they even bother to send them. They should at least appreciate that I’m getting a service that would normally cost over $100 an hour for free.
This doesn’t really bother me too much though, because I know how much it helps me, even if it isn’t perfect. I can at least follow along and have some idea what was discussed.
September 16th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
Hi Sara! Welcome.
September 16th, 2005 at 9:30 pm
Hi Sara DC - how lovely to see you here
September 18th, 2005 at 11:15 am
It is funny, (and a very good point) about how hearing people are so critical of the services that we receive, once they experience them as a consumer of said services. I think that there is this disconnect, where they think that the services are 100%. We deal with them day-in, day-out, so we realize exactly how they’re not 100%, and how to work around the issues. People who haven’t dealt with the services as a consumer, are suddenly thrust into a world of less-than-perfection, and it can be jarring.
ie: Not everything on TV is closed captioned. Not everything that is closed captioned is closed captioned accurately. Not everything that is closed captioned, and captioned accurately, is captioned for the benefit of the hearing impaired consumer (ie: no indications of tone/etc.)
ie: Not every interpreter is literate in both of the languages being used. Not every interpreter that is literate in both of the languages being used is able to know all of the vocabulary for a less-than-common topic ie: technology, science, etc. Not every interpreter who is both literate and has a good vocabulary is fast enough to keep up with the instructor, the students, and other elements of a normal class.
ie: Notetakers are not always going to capture the information that you want, or even that you need. They are not always going to have legible handwriting, and may miss class some days. (Note: I always found it beneficial to request TWO note-takers, and to have a list of back-up volunteers. My notetakers have always commented on how taking notes for me as well as for themselves allowed them to increase the quality of their notes.)
September 19th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Anyone able to think of any other accomodations/devices/systems for the Deaf that people think are better than they really are?
My hearing aids are a good example–people think they’re like glasses and that they’ll give me 20-20 hearing, when in reality they’re more like a magnifying glass. Helpful in some situations, not so much in others.
If most hearing people could hear through my hearing aids the way they make me hear, they’d be shocked and dismayed.
September 19th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
I get this a few times with adaptations.
I’ve had friends try to steal my V-Tek (cctv that magnifies print so I can see without dying) they think they’re neat but all I know is that its bulky and difficult to use when I really just want to be able to pick up the paper and read it like everyone else.
Screen readers are not as nifty or inclusive as people think either, you get the funky pronounciations and trying to read things (especially narrative) in monotone is a nightmare.
Its better than nothing so I’m not complaining, its just not as perfect as everyone thinks it is.
September 19th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
Okay, I have one: how about when you go to the movie theaters and they claim to have “assistive listening devices available for the hearing impaired” (a CYA attempt to accommodate us legally) and all it is really is a walkman with headphones. Don’t know about the rest of you BTE guys, but headphones don’t work too well when worn correctly.
Oh, by the way, I was at my friend’s house watching TV the other night, and we couldn’t get the captioning to work (he has a widescreen HD plasma TV) - turns out it won’t work in HD widescreen format, so my friend had to adjust the TV to normal mode. You’d think that’d be the end of the issue, but then the captioning was so HUGE it took up half the screen!!! They better work out the kinks on that one before I can afford to buy a plasma! Even my friend was shocked at this huge oversight.
September 19th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
Hearing aids are often at the root of some of the ‘understanding’ problems I encounter, I think. I mean if hearing people could get a blast of what we hear whenever we wear them, I think they’d have a rather clearer understanding of what it is like to live with being deaf. They ought, in fact, to be shocked and appalled by what even quite expensive digital hearing aids “sound” like. Most hearing people even intelligent and sensitive ones think it’s somehow just a matter of deafies hearing things less loud than they do, and so we just have the volume cranked up a bit with hearing aids and problem is solved… If only it was ever that simple.
And from that kind of incomprehension come headphones of a kind that are not the slightest use for most hearing aid wearers those things are really annoying aren’t they? I do have (and use) some very large headphones which go completely around my ears (and aids) and those are more useful, for me at least.
As for lack of captions, it’s the main reason I hardly ever go to the movies (but do watch lots of DVDs), and also why I often don’t bother with TV there are many more programmes over here (UK) that are *not* captioned than in the US I think so, relatively, I suspect you guys are “lucky” but do you also get hearing people moaning about the captions being on the screen? “Do we have to have those?” I have been asked more than once. On one notorious occasion one whole sentence after the same person had made fun of the way I said something. Grrrr.
Oh dear. This is getting very rant-like. I’ll maybe add something a bit later. By the way, Julie: I have a flat-screen TV (one of the ones that is about an inch deep) which gets captions really clearly and well. But I know the system is a bit different in the US and it sounds as if someone may have blundered with the design from what you’re saying.
September 19th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
Hah, my parents TV has captions, and the captions work marvelously except for when the built-in DVD player is in use, then captions don’t work at all. A friend of mine and I went up to stay there for a few days, and my friend and I spent about an hour trying to get the sucker to work. I gave up, and said that we could just watch the DVD as eye-candy. But she kept on trying until she got it to work.
I love that girl. 
I think that younger people are cooler about issues and the technology that surrounds them than are older people. With older people I’ve often had to explain why the captions were necessary! Younger people are like “Oh, captions. Yeah. Jeez, why isn’t that working? Let’s fix it. Stupid TV.”
September 27th, 2005 at 12:16 am
Hello, new-Sara, my-Sara, Nigel, Alli and Julie-I-don’t-know!
After being directed to this thread by my-Sara, I thought of something. It’s the difference between physical accessibility and what I’m calling information accessibility.
If you’re not a consumer of wheelchairs or prosthesis or ramps or lifts, you can still have a decent idea of how they work. They’re all physical things that you can see and imagine. The limitations of various means of physical accessibility are broadly apparent.
Information accessibility, though, is very different. If you’re not a consumer, you’re not likely to have the slightest idea of how/if/why something works or doesn’t work. People think that hearing aids should work like glasses or contacts. (Not that those work perfectly in extreme cases). While people might notice that close captioning isn’t perfect, they don’t *realize* it if they’ve got the sound in the background as a crutch.
I remember the first time my-Sara explained to me the various options for captioning at a movie theater. I was appalled.
So, I suppose that my point is that methods of “information accessibility” are so non-observable from a secondary standpoint that people can’t form an opinion about them. Which means that most people are just going to assume, for lack of any other knowledge, that they just work like magic.
September 27th, 2005 at 4:10 am
Jayed hi - really nice to see you over here as well
You make some great points here as you say, the assumption is that something designed to enable deaf people to hear is going to do precisely that, and as you say in most cases that’s not how it works out at all. Yes, people usually laugh at idiotic captioning (well, we all do of course), but when the sound is there too, it’s more a distraction than anything else. When the sound isn’t there, or no identifiable sound at least, then the captions are it the story as we “hear” it and that can become annoying. Just occasionally I get annoyed to the extent of wondering why I should have to put up with something illiterate. You can imagine. Hell, you know from Sara. And here in England captioning for movies is a very selective thing. Generally they have a showing at some time like Sunday mornings when they have the subtitles. The rest of the time, movies are inaccessible.
As for other information, or access to it, I wish everyone else showed as much intelligent awareness of the issues as you do. Let me give you one slightly ironic example. The audiology department at my local hospital (which provides my hearing aids etc. British National Health Service), does not have any kind of loop system in its waiting area. They have braille versions of publications (which is an excellent idea), but nothing to assist deaf people hear when it’s their turn for an appointment. As Sara said on another thread the DDA (our version of the ADA) does little or nothing for deaf people. This makes me sound bitter and resentful which in fact I’m not. Self-help comes into things here simple things like a pen and paper can make things so much easier.
September 27th, 2005 at 11:44 am
I think the assumption being made is more fundamental than “things to help deaf people ‘hear’ are just going to work”. Though, in practice, the effect is the same. I’m going to try and formulate this thought as I go so expect lots of fluffiness and maybe some handwaving.
Whether or not people have a fundamental right to information in the legal sense, people act as if they do. Outside of certain specific cases dealing primarily with governmental information and certain academic information, people expect that information is readily accessible and understandable. This common information accessibility is so normal that most people literally do not notice its presence. It’s like breathing.
Basically, it’s not assumptions about the effectiveness of hearing aids or screenreaders or captioning that we’re talking about here. It’s a world-view that says, “Information is accessible”.
Anyway, thanks about all of the nice things you said about me. I owe all of my “intelligent awareness of the issues” to my teachers and friends. And I made a horrible ass out of myself more than once while trying to develop that awareness.
September 27th, 2005 at 11:52 am
That’s interesting certainly information tends to be thought of as accessible for deaf people because we can usually read books and computer monitors. This is a huge oversimplification, but I think it’s what may lie at the basis of the assumption. And, as you say, it’s an assumption that is comprehensively wrong for so many reasons.
September 27th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Exactly! The world of information isn’t just things written. That’s a big part of the standard dictionary definition, but in actuality — in real life — information is everywhere in many, many different shapes and forms. (I’m thinking of it more in the strict logical/linguistic/computer science/mathematical way; as something that can actually be measured).
(I promise that I will not digress into the discussion of how many Deaf people lack any language at all…making the number of things written in books and comptuer screens meaningless in some cases).
Very often all of the strategies for information accessibility — hearing aids, captioning, interpreters, screen readers, CART, lipreading, note-takers, pen and paper — only get you to the point where accessing information is horribly inefficient and painful rather than being REALLY bad or impossible.
That’s why people that live in the world of totally accessible information say stupid things, like “Why don’t you just go to another theater if you don’t like that one?” (I’m sure that you can come up with many better examples).
It’s like a rich matron telling a poor man that to solve his problem he just needs to spend X amount of money…when X is twice what the poor man makes in a month.
It’s not malice. It can only generously be labeled as ignorance. It’s a total and complete lack of understanding that, like money, information just doesn’t fall from trees.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
This posting by not-the-new-Sara: http://somewhatsilent.com/?p=57 talks about some of the issues of information accessibility…but in a much more narrative and moving way than my dry blah-blah about fundamental rights to information.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:33 pm
Yes, I tried to demonstrate this at the school that had the issue with interpreters (the one that also had an issue with me sitting in the library to do my work, since without an interpreter the classroom was useless).
I was trying to explain that _WITH WORDS I KNOW, AND CONCEPTS I UNDERSTAND_, there’s still “the teacher is moving around and turning away and moving her face” it’s not the ideal lipreading angle which is full-on front or slight angle. Then there’s the distance thing, the teacher’s not close to me, the teacher’s far away. And then there’s the “learning new information” thing–new words, new concepts, new vocabulary. Things I cannot understand visually yet.
… And they suggested that maybe honors classes were the wrong place for me…
So I capitulated and moved down to “regular level” classes, but it wasn’t the COMPLEXITY of the information that was the issue, it was the newness. I would not have even been able to take a fourth grade class on information that I was already familiar with. And they were saying that honors classes were the wrong place for me. “Try your best”, indeed.
I tried explaining to them that it was like making a kid with a wheelchair crawl to class. Their eyes glazed over.
I really kicked myself in the ass at that school by being able to lipread. They think that “lipreading” is just like hearing, including the ability to be able to mystically lipread when YOU CAN’T SEE THE PERSON’S FREAKING LIPS.
..morons.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
Yesss… “The information is there, so if you don’t have it, it’s because you didn’t seek it out”. Like the time I was staying with a family, and the family was planning a vacation, and I had no idea. Everyone knew, because they talked about it, but I didn’t know, because group conversations are of zero accessibility to me generally unless I engage myself in the conversation and retain some form of control over it. (ie: conversation leader. Jay- this is why, when I met you, I attacked you on politics, and resisted any chance of the conversation changing away from it.)
When I exhibited surprise, I was informed that they had been talking about it for at least a month in advance, and they were entirely surprised that I knew nothing about it until the morning they packed up their mini van and dropped me off at the train station.
Merely talking about things in my presence is not enough to ensure that I know about it. And this is something that hearing people have a HARD time understanding.
I’ve been with L. for 5.5 years now, and he’s finally starting to really live and breathe the way that I communicate and recieve information from the world.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:47 pm
This “information accessibility” thing is what really irks me about the ADA. Why is it that physical accessibility of places is more important than information-accessibility? Why is it that the kid in the wheelchair has the right to be in classes–fully accomodated–and the hearing disabled kid does not? Why is it that a simple inexpensive technology–however inconvenient to the deaf person (ie: rear window/reflective captionining) hasn’t propagated and made its way into all the movie theaters with their ramps and their elevators and their braille buttons and braille signs? Why is it that the “assisted listening devices” are considered adequate assistance?
Why is one form of disability protected so strigently under the law, when others are pretty much ignored? Even when so many people have that disability.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:27 pm
Its not malice.
I hear the voice of my favorite teacher, Helene, whispering in my head so I’ve got to expand on this.
Sometimes it is malice…and negligence…and oppression…
When people in positions of responsibility choose to ignore the kinds of things we’re talking about it’s not just some pie-in-the-sky “oh, but I don’t understand”. It’s a betrayal of their professional and moral responsibilities.
Sara’s comment comparing her treatment in school to expecting a child in a wheelchair to crawl to class is spot on.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
This question is what I was hinting at with my ADA comment last night.
One, it’s easy to check for compliance when it comes to ramps and elevators and braille buttons and braille signs. It’s either there or it’s not.
When talking about hearing, it’s a much fuzzier, more subjective thing. Have you ever had an audiologist look at your chart or examine your hearing aids and tell you something like, ‘Well, you should hear that just fine.” It’s tied in with the inability of people to observe information accessibility problems.
The movie theater can just throw you a walkman with headphones and say, “See, we did our bit. Now piss off”. Some hypothetical inspector would say, “Well, you know, you’ve *got* a walkman. What else could you want? Sounds reasonable to me. Now piss off, I’ve got some ramps to inspect.”
September 27th, 2005 at 2:45 pm
What people fail to realize is that THEY don’t have to seek out this kind of information. It just drifts into their brains.
If I’m listening to a radio station, and it gets a little static, I get frustrated and immediately change the station. If the TV show I’m watching has a 3-second glitch on the screen, I get frustrated and immediately start changing channels. If a web site is too slow, I get frustrated and leave. If someone is talking to me, and I can’t understand them, I try to cut the conversation short.
This kind of control — as well as the knowledge that there are countless other sources of information — is taken so for granted that people don’t realize that it can be different. If they do realize that it can be different, they don’t *really* understand it.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:58 pm
Aha - Jayed - you’ve hit on a particular irritation of mine. Audiologists don’t just say things like that (and indeed they do you’re quite right!) but they even have the power to prove it with some modern hearing aids. Did you know that some aids no longer have volume controls because they are set by the audiologist to what s/he considers the optimal setting in relation to audiograms. So they actually have control over what a person with aids like that is permitted to hear - these are not the sort of settings that can be fiddled with at home.
Now as you know, people with hearing issues are often very sensitive to loud sounds (I hate them) and hearing aids have to be set to volumes way about normal tolerances because of the nature of deafness, which is often complicated and full of distortions of one kind or another as well as “lack” of sound.
Fortunately, my aids have volume controls and I use them a lot. The idea of giving the right to what we can hear to audiologists rather than to us as deaf (in my case deafened) individuals is something I find downright scary especially as they do *not* know best (so it’s not like genuinely objective tests for vision though those are always confirmed or adjusted by subjective tests as well). This is a case of technology actually disempowering deaf people by removing an individuals options or preferences.
When I talked to an audiologist about this, there was genuine incomprehension. “But if we set these aids to your audiogram you will get the best hearing in all situations”. Not so. Honestly not so. I nearly wept my subjective reactions to different sound environments are so obvious to me, and clearly didn’t make any sense to the audio. Example (from quite recent real life with the founder somewhatsilent): lunch in crowded restaurant with Sara turned volume down quite low as the background noise was way louder through my aids than my voice or Sara’s and we had a great conversation in notebooks. Afterwards sitting on the grass in Central Park: quiet, only the squirrels around to disturb the peace volume turned up much higher, and consequently much greater level of comprehension (well, also easier to lipread when it’s quiet, as concentration is easier). And audiologists and hearing aid manufacturers want to take away that flexibility.
September 27th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
So busy ranting that I failed to read. That should have been “way above” rather than “way about” and “the founder of somewhatsilent” rather than what I put. Apologies for lack of sense or sentences
September 27th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
Wow - in the few days that I’ve been “away”, you guys have really talked up a storm. Jayed (Welcome!) especially had some good points
After reading what everyone has stated so far, the general consensus is really the problem is not a lack of hearing, but a lack of access to information that hearing people so easily and effortlessly attain. I couldn’t agree more. All the hearing equipment and assisted listening devices in the world will never flawlessly imitate what normal hearing can gain you, knowledge-wise, in this world.
Case in point, I start a night class this week. Unlike most students worried about what books to bring or even what to wear - I’m worried about where I’ll be sitting in the classroom, or how much of this class is going to be group-discussion oriented. I use one of those nifty little FM systems (small microphone that my instructor will wear, directly amplifies sound to my hearing aids), and believe me, it’s a HUGE help when you have to simultaneously take notes and follow what the instructor is rattling on about, no lipreading here. It really works well, but what I’ve always known over the years is that the instructor is only one aspect of a class - you have 30+ other students who will be talking/commenting/asking questions - contributing to the enlightment of those around them. Uh, all those except me. That’s 30+ voices that I completely miss because my ears are literally on my instructor. So now I have to play that oh-so-fun game of “filling in the gaps”. What the FM system manufactorers don’t realize is that listening/learning is done in an “environment” - not singularly listening to one person’s voice. Frankly, I wish all my student-peers would shut-up and just let the instructor do all the talking - but hey, it’s their game and their rules. They just don’t realize, and who can blame them?
Would you buy a car or take driving lessons from a saleman who never actually drove one? Then why, WHY am I always taking advice and buying hearing aids from audiologists and hearing aid dealers who don’t have ANY firsthand experience of their own products???
September 28th, 2005 at 1:04 am
Thanks for saying nice things.
After reading what everyone has stated so far, the general consensus is really the problem is not a lack of hearing, but a lack of access to information that hearing people so easily and effortlessly attain.
All of the “audiologists and hearing aid dealers” seem to try and solve the “lack of hearing” not the lack of information. Instead of information accessibility being the number one item on the agenda, it is expected to magically flow from all of the gadgets that get thrown at you.
Look at Nigel’s quote from the audiologist: “But if we set these aids to your audiogram you will get the best hearing in all situations”. This person obviously isn’t thinking about information flow via hearing in varied environments. This person is thinking “if we could set this hearing aid so that you could hear the beeps the same way that I would hear the beeps then *poof* everything should be fine.”
It’s like the true problem — information accessibility — isn’t even recognized as being a problem. It’s some sort of secondary issue that should resolve itself.
::shrugs:: I don’t know. As a hearie, I feel like I’m treading out on the edges here. Some of you more intimately familiar with the issue need to chime in.
September 28th, 2005 at 1:08 am
So they actually have control over what a person with aids like that is permitted to hear - these are not the sort of settings that can be fiddled with at home.
I generally try to be polite, but I think if someone tried to give me a set of non-adjustable hearing aids, I would throw a raging fit.
It’s ridiculous that anyone thinks that removing a person’s ability to control their own environment is a good idea. Feh.
September 28th, 2005 at 6:29 am
Julie-
Just a thought, would it be possible for you to request a CART system? In my experience, a good CART typist will outperform an interpreter (which I know isn’t an option for you) and will also allow you to partake (at least receptively) in the student part of the discussion. I’m only mentioning this, as I’m still kicking myself in the butt for not knowing about CART when I was in HS, and spending so much frickin’ time dicking around with interpreters, when my school could have just hired a CART service and been done with it.
A bonus, is that I think you can get transcripts of the class, to boot.
September 28th, 2005 at 6:37 am
Yeah, audiologists are a funny bunch. I’ve got some complaints with mine, although she’s quite a wonderful person overall- there’s some elements of not listening when I say “I really think that a change in such and such a direction would be beneficial”, when she believes that the change mentioned would not be beneficial.
What I’d like to see in hearing aids is a bunch of manual pre-sets (much like on a digital camera ie: night mode, close up mode, landscape mode, auto mode, etc.) I’d like to see “restaurant mode”, “quiet mode”, “movie mode”, etc. BUT, I’d also like my hearing aid to have a jack that I can connect to the computer, and create my own damned sets, based on the observations that I’ve made in the different pre-set situations.
Ie: I want my hearing aid to be geared for me, adjustable by me, and to some degree programmed by me.
Current hearing aids are made for people in their 90’s. I’m a tech-savvy 25 year old who is analytical and a control freak. :p
September 28th, 2005 at 11:06 am
Yes! - and as a not-that-tech-savvy no longer even remotely 25 year old I totally agree with you. I want to have the ability to tweak these things just how *I* want them not what an audiologist tells me I want them. Grrr.
September 28th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
What is exactly a CART typist?…
September 28th, 2005 at 1:12 pm
Said transcripts that you can then sell at a high price to your fellow students.
September 28th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
a CART typist is a real-time captioner that would accompany you to your classes or meetings, and would basically type them up like a TV captioner, and they’d be thrown up on a screen at the front of the room, or possibly on a laptop screen in front of you. They’re usually very fast typists, and can follow multiple threads of conversation just like regular captioners can. Not perfect, obviously, but my recent experience is that they’re much easier to come by than interpreters, and usually much better trained. *sigh* Learned that wayyy too late. :p
Google “CART caption real time” and you’ll get a lot of info. They’re usually used in courtrooms, but I think you can request one for school situations or lectures or business meetings, particularly if you don’t know sign language.
September 28th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Particularly the fellow students that didn’t bother to come to class.
September 28th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
Julie- CART stands for “COMMUNICATION ACCESS REALTIME TECHNOLOGY (CART)” It’s considered the best option for post-lingually deafened children and adults. (as opposed to sign language interpreters or nothing) Oddly, NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT IT. This is something that should have been offered to me in HS, and that should have been offered to you on a regular basis.
September 28th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
You are also entitled to a notetaker, arranged for and possibly paid by the school. I always asked for two. You can’t be expected to listen and take notes at the same time. :p My rationale was that I shouldn’t be penalized if one notetaker forgets to include something, and that having two notetakers increased the liklihood of one of them knowing that something was pertinent.
(Just giving you idiotic advice based on my own experiences. Whee.)
September 28th, 2005 at 10:27 pm
hehe - that’s all we really have to go by, advice from our own experiences:) Ah boy, my class starts tomorrow night - probably a little too late to get some CART services (okay, maybe not but I’m being a lazy girl). So annoyed with how worked up I get over a CLASS. I really wish I could just breeze in, sit down, and anonymously learn with no obstacles - getting all wishy washy here.
Hey, where’s Adam been at?
September 28th, 2005 at 10:52 pm
Adam’s lurking, I’m sure. I get emails from him occasionally. The last comment he posted here was a hello to you, after seeing your picture.
September 29th, 2005 at 10:52 am
(evil grin)
September 29th, 2005 at 3:49 pm
aw shucks
September 29th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Shucks is all you have to say? You’re just smitten by my pic
.
September 29th, 2005 at 7:47 pm
Hope your class is going well / has gone well. Good luck!
September 30th, 2005 at 10:00 am
I echo jayed’s wishes for your class.
Hope it went well, and you’re enjoying it.
October 1st, 2005 at 6:55 pm
Thanks to all for your well-wishes - I had my class a couple of nights ago, and amusingly enough, I think I’m a little too knowledgeable for this class (the instructor even pulled me aside expressing his concerns). But I’m going to stick with it, got nothing better to do on Thursday nights anyhow, lol. Good thing it’s only one night a week, and I made my boss pay for it, hehe.
The only hearing issue I had with my teacher is that he was constantly unwittingly holding up papers in front of the FM microphone, which resulted in a muffled voice on top of (this is the worst) a loud scratchy sound affect of the paper crinkling and brushing up against the microphone (think tornado-roaring loud on my end). I’m sure people wonder what’s my problem when they see my face wrinkling in annoyance and audiological pain. It’s that expression you make when someone’s raking their nails down a blackboard, ye-ugh.
hope you’re all having a good weekend:)
October 1st, 2005 at 7:03 pm
Yay Julie - great that the class went well, though the FM hell you describe is something I know too. I’m just back from 3 days in Paris, so I have been having a lovely rather extended weekend (though it was work-related - heh, that’s my excuse!)
The French are mostly quite deaf-friendly I find. But here’s an amusing and/or annoying and frustrating scenario. I had to visit someone in the British Embassy (a fantastically beautiful building where I am doing something in November). Question: how do you get into the British Embassy (the entrance is on a very busy and noisy road)? Answer: by waiting for one of those squawking boxes on a wall to say something. That’s something completely inaudible, and in fact the road noise was such that I couldn’t tell whether there was any sound at all coming out of it. Of course they have to be very careful about security and such, but I was standing on the pavement in frustration, watched by two French policemen who must have wondered why I was not responding to the squawks. Actually, one of them eventually did realise and came and did the talking for me, which was decent of him.
Hope you’re having a great weekend too
October 2nd, 2005 at 10:15 am
Ugh, I hate those squawk-boxes. I tend to walk over to someone and adopt them as my personal hearing-ear dog. “Hi”, I say. “I’m deaf and cannot hear that infernal thing. Would you pretty-please let me know what it’s saying?”, and I flutter my eyelashes like a fool. Of course, it might only work because I’m young and female. :p I’m glad that the policeman helped you out. Nice chap. I love people who are observant of other’s difficulties.
Glad you had a lovely extended weekend in Paris. It sounds wonderful!
October 2nd, 2005 at 10:19 am
It was a lovely weekend - and also a scary one, as I was presenting an advance copy of my new book to the composer’s widow - who gave us a huge amount of help. After two hours of minute scrutiny she expressed herself completely delighted. After that I was able to relax, after holding my breath for two hours
Yup, I was very grateful to that gendarme. Decent guy who actually noticed things!
November 10th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Hi, Sara, how do I contact the *other* Sara?
November 10th, 2005 at 7:14 pm
Which Sara is the other Sara?
There’s Somewhatsilent Sara (Sara E- that’s me) and then there’s Other-Sara (Sara G.)
Kevin, emailed you.
?
November 11th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Hehe - clear case of TooManySaras error