I didn’t’ know there was a litmus test for friends, but apparently there is. However, it only works if you are Deaf.
Sarah told me that it is not 100% foolproof, but almost.
In Sarah’s Biology class, the textbook noted how something that is scientific can be tested. Well, this is definitely science because it is being tested repeatedly.
Many times, people will come over to Sarah and start speaking to her.
Sarah’s response to this is to pull out a notepad and to write them a note that says, “I am deaf. I cannot hear you. What did you want to say to me?”
If the person then says, “I am so sorry!” That person will not become a friend. Period.
Sarah has also noticed second interesting scientifically testable point.
If the person then exaggeratedly says to her “Can you read my lips?” Sarah will respond by shaking her head and mouthing the word, “No.”
At this point, without exception, the person asking this question looks disappointed, says, in a dejected voice, “Oh”, and turns and walks away.
Obviously, this has tested their intelligence, or lack thereof.
Despite the fact that Sarah now knows what to expect as a result of this second test, she is always amazed. Amazed that there are so many stupid Hearing people.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Story of the Day 8/24/2010
Today seems to be an addendum to the story from yesterday…..
Again, we find ourselves in Biology class answering questions with our lab partner- or, at least this is where Sarah finds herself.
And Sarah is signing the answer to the question about the lizard.
And the interpreter gives her a blank look. She doesn’t even try to interpret what Sarah is signing- the entire long sentence of about 7 words.
So Sarah starts over again, even slower.
And again, even slower.
And Sarah is signing this very and spelling the word out very slowly like you would to a very young child.
She does this 5 times, and then a sixth.
And when that is not working she explains what the word means, because maybe the interpreter doesn’t know the word in English, either
And this is happening while Sarah ‘s lab partner is patiently waiting to find out this one sentence that Sarah is trying to share with her- a sentence that answers the question on the worksheet.
But we should be thankful for small favors.
And, I am feeling grateful that whatever her weak areas are, the interpreter actually used the correct word when she signed “sex”, yesterday.
Again, we find ourselves in Biology class answering questions with our lab partner- or, at least this is where Sarah finds herself.
And Sarah is signing the answer to the question about the lizard.
And the interpreter gives her a blank look. She doesn’t even try to interpret what Sarah is signing- the entire long sentence of about 7 words.
So Sarah starts over again, even slower.
And again, even slower.
And Sarah is signing this very and spelling the word out very slowly like you would to a very young child.
She does this 5 times, and then a sixth.
And when that is not working she explains what the word means, because maybe the interpreter doesn’t know the word in English, either
And this is happening while Sarah ‘s lab partner is patiently waiting to find out this one sentence that Sarah is trying to share with her- a sentence that answers the question on the worksheet.
But we should be thankful for small favors.
And, I am feeling grateful that whatever her weak areas are, the interpreter actually used the correct word when she signed “sex”, yesterday.
Story of the Day 8/23/2010
This is a story about Biology class.
I hope you are sitting down.
It is about tarantulas.
Of course, it is kind of connected to the story from yesterday. That is the story that I never wrote. It was also about Biology class and the interpreter, and the funny look Sarah got after she made a comment to her lab partner - the sort of funny look that told her that her words had been mistranslated. But that story was not about tarantulas. And sex.
Yesterday, when the teacher asked her if she wanted to have a lab partner or to work alone, Sarah told the teacher that she wanted to work alone. It is much safer than having her words misinterpreted to another student who will then think that Sarah is either weird or retarded. But the Biology teacher was, apparently unfamiliar with the wonderful jobs the interpreters have done with these situations in the past and gave Sarah a lab partner.
Sarah should have known better than to think that she could give any input and rely on it to correctly interpreted, but she must have been feeling lucky, or maybe just like taking a risk and she actually ventured to try to say something to her lab partner.
But as we could have predicted, it just earned Sarah one of many strange looks she has gotten as a result of some of these interpreting gaffes.
Yesterday, when she told me about it, I asked her if she had tried to get the situation corrected, and she told me, “No.”
I asked her if she was going to tell her TOR (teacher) about this, but she told me, “No, I am too tired of all of these problems with the interpreter. These things happen every day, over and over. And it s hard to remember to tell her these things because they happen over and over all day long.”
And I sighed.
That was yesterday.
Today, she came home, puzzled.
She was, once again, working with her lab partner. They were answering a series of questions about tarantulas and other creatures.
Tarantulas. You know those big, ugly, furry spiders that only sociopaths keep as pets. Well, them and some of my least favorite relatives - the same relatives that I would also have to describe as big, furry and ugly.
One of the questions was, “Why is this organism covered in fur?”
Sarah was digging in her memory. She knew she had learned something about this back in 5th grade. Then her partner very excited said, “Oh, I know this one! They are covered in fur for sex!”
Sarah was writing down the answers. She carefully controlled herself and did not raise her eyebrows. But she looked at her partner and didn’t write the answer down. She was sure that was NOT the right answer.
Sarah’s partner started writing down the answer on the paper.
And the interpreter’s face turned red.
And the interpreter said she had made a mistake and misheard. The word was “feeling.” The tarantula had fur for “feeling.”
Sarah came home and wanted to know how the interpreter could mishear the word feeling and think she had heard sex.
Now, this interpreter is not a very good interpreter for expressive or receptive high school level things, but she is also not a psychologically disturbed person who would think she was hearing words connected to sexual things when she was not. Seriously, based on the selection of interpreters that Sarah has been exposed to at the high school, this interpreter is not spooky, scary nor someone who should not work with kids. So, I thought a moment.
“Sarah she meant ‘sense’ or ‘sensitivity’ and she misheard that to be ‘sex’ or ‘sex activity’.”
And then I had to explain to the deaf kid that sex and sense sound almost the same- even though they are not spelled at all the same- no “same ending” – which is the only way Sarah has to easily recognize that two words might rhyme or sound similar.
And Sarah is now worried because all she put down for the answer was “ feeling” not ”sense of feeling” and the teacher may mark it wrong- but this is all the interpreter told her- , and I am feeling slightly mischievous and sort of wish she had put down “ sex” , so the teacher would get some idea of what is going wrong in that corner of the room.
I hope you are sitting down.
It is about tarantulas.
Of course, it is kind of connected to the story from yesterday. That is the story that I never wrote. It was also about Biology class and the interpreter, and the funny look Sarah got after she made a comment to her lab partner - the sort of funny look that told her that her words had been mistranslated. But that story was not about tarantulas. And sex.
Yesterday, when the teacher asked her if she wanted to have a lab partner or to work alone, Sarah told the teacher that she wanted to work alone. It is much safer than having her words misinterpreted to another student who will then think that Sarah is either weird or retarded. But the Biology teacher was, apparently unfamiliar with the wonderful jobs the interpreters have done with these situations in the past and gave Sarah a lab partner.
Sarah should have known better than to think that she could give any input and rely on it to correctly interpreted, but she must have been feeling lucky, or maybe just like taking a risk and she actually ventured to try to say something to her lab partner.
But as we could have predicted, it just earned Sarah one of many strange looks she has gotten as a result of some of these interpreting gaffes.
Yesterday, when she told me about it, I asked her if she had tried to get the situation corrected, and she told me, “No.”
I asked her if she was going to tell her TOR (teacher) about this, but she told me, “No, I am too tired of all of these problems with the interpreter. These things happen every day, over and over. And it s hard to remember to tell her these things because they happen over and over all day long.”
And I sighed.
That was yesterday.
Today, she came home, puzzled.
She was, once again, working with her lab partner. They were answering a series of questions about tarantulas and other creatures.
Tarantulas. You know those big, ugly, furry spiders that only sociopaths keep as pets. Well, them and some of my least favorite relatives - the same relatives that I would also have to describe as big, furry and ugly.
One of the questions was, “Why is this organism covered in fur?”
Sarah was digging in her memory. She knew she had learned something about this back in 5th grade. Then her partner very excited said, “Oh, I know this one! They are covered in fur for sex!”
Sarah was writing down the answers. She carefully controlled herself and did not raise her eyebrows. But she looked at her partner and didn’t write the answer down. She was sure that was NOT the right answer.
Sarah’s partner started writing down the answer on the paper.
And the interpreter’s face turned red.
And the interpreter said she had made a mistake and misheard. The word was “feeling.” The tarantula had fur for “feeling.”
Sarah came home and wanted to know how the interpreter could mishear the word feeling and think she had heard sex.
Now, this interpreter is not a very good interpreter for expressive or receptive high school level things, but she is also not a psychologically disturbed person who would think she was hearing words connected to sexual things when she was not. Seriously, based on the selection of interpreters that Sarah has been exposed to at the high school, this interpreter is not spooky, scary nor someone who should not work with kids. So, I thought a moment.
“Sarah she meant ‘sense’ or ‘sensitivity’ and she misheard that to be ‘sex’ or ‘sex activity’.”
And then I had to explain to the deaf kid that sex and sense sound almost the same- even though they are not spelled at all the same- no “same ending” – which is the only way Sarah has to easily recognize that two words might rhyme or sound similar.
And Sarah is now worried because all she put down for the answer was “ feeling” not ”sense of feeling” and the teacher may mark it wrong- but this is all the interpreter told her- , and I am feeling slightly mischievous and sort of wish she had put down “ sex” , so the teacher would get some idea of what is going wrong in that corner of the room.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Story of the Day 8/ 22/ 2010
The student asked Sarah if she heard voices. In her head.
Sarah didn’t know what she meant.
This was last spring.
So when another student asked her the same question, “Do you hear voices in your head?” Sarah knew how to respond.
“No.”
Now, normally, we would worry about the mental and emotional state of the person being asked this question, but in this situation, the student who asked then became very confused.
“Well, then, how do you think?”
Because, of course, only people who can hear …voices can think.
Even if, as these students have demonstrated, not very well.
Sarah didn’t know what she meant.
This was last spring.
So when another student asked her the same question, “Do you hear voices in your head?” Sarah knew how to respond.
“No.”
Now, normally, we would worry about the mental and emotional state of the person being asked this question, but in this situation, the student who asked then became very confused.
“Well, then, how do you think?”
Because, of course, only people who can hear …voices can think.
Even if, as these students have demonstrated, not very well.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Story of the Day 8/ 13/ 2010 #2
I referred to my younger sister as an old fart, which she is when we are referring to a number of technological things that the 14 year old is doing with great ease- like texting.
Of course, my words were repeated back to my sister buy her 7 year old, who told her “Aunt Cassia called you a big fart.”
This created quite a bit of laughter on my end. And, as I later explained to my older niece, it is very hard to pee while you are laughing. I wasn't in the bathroom when I heard this being repeated to my sister, it is just that it kept me laughing at odd intervals for quite a while.
Meanwhile, I have decided that this will make a new and wonderful nickname for this sister, but I think I will also suggest it as an alternative name for the Native American character Aaron has in his script.
Don't assume this is an out of place recommendation. You haven't yet read the script.
Of course, my words were repeated back to my sister buy her 7 year old, who told her “Aunt Cassia called you a big fart.”
This created quite a bit of laughter on my end. And, as I later explained to my older niece, it is very hard to pee while you are laughing. I wasn't in the bathroom when I heard this being repeated to my sister, it is just that it kept me laughing at odd intervals for quite a while.
Meanwhile, I have decided that this will make a new and wonderful nickname for this sister, but I think I will also suggest it as an alternative name for the Native American character Aaron has in his script.
Don't assume this is an out of place recommendation. You haven't yet read the script.
Story of the Day 8/13/2010
We took Aaron back to college, today.
His two New York cousins, Nia and Serena, and I drove him there and then left him, waving to us very dramatically at the curb outside his dorm.
Serena is 7 , and has very enthusiastically learned a few basic signs while she has been visiting.
So Aaron is frantically waving “I love you” with both hands stretched out above his head, and I hear Serena say, “ I know how to sign I love you.”
And I reply, ”But what you really need to sign to Aaron is “ your pants are falling down and I can see your underwear.”
His two New York cousins, Nia and Serena, and I drove him there and then left him, waving to us very dramatically at the curb outside his dorm.
Serena is 7 , and has very enthusiastically learned a few basic signs while she has been visiting.
So Aaron is frantically waving “I love you” with both hands stretched out above his head, and I hear Serena say, “ I know how to sign I love you.”
And I reply, ”But what you really need to sign to Aaron is “ your pants are falling down and I can see your underwear.”
Story of the Day 7/18/2010
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Story of teh Day 7/11/2010
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Story of the Day 6/22/2010
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Story of the Day 6/15/2010
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Story of the Day 6/10/2010
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Story of teh Day 6/2/2010
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Story of the Day 5/11/2010
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