Final Project, Deaf 101: "My Deaf Journey" December 16, 2008

This final project chronicles a few of the events of 2008 as I explore and grow more familiar with the Deaf World.

Here is an English free translation of my ASL story:

Hi there! I'm Kevin.

My Journey in the Deaf World..
What does journey mean exactly?
Moving from one place to another? Sure, it means that!
But it also means three other things: change, and growth, and improvement.
Journeys involve the past, the present and the future - all together.

My past. My past Deaf journey begins with my grandfather who lost his hearing at age 20 to scarlet fever.

[insert Cecil Wickstrum picture here]

He was an engineer and an architect. Do I remember him? No. He died when I was four.

My mom would tell us funny stories about him. Heres a short one

He had the old style hearing aidwith the box on the chest and the earplugs remember those? When my family came to visit, the kids ran around the house and caused a ruckus. When it got too loud, he turned his hearing aid off to enjoy peace and quiet!

He loved technology.

My present. I began learning sign language in August 2007. At my first Deaf Starbucks in November at Kahala Mall, I met a married couple from England.

[insert Andrew and Eileens photo marriage photo here]

Andrews the husband - he's deaf/blind, and his wifes name is Eileen, and shes hearing. We talked for 3 hours. It was good fun.

This year I did three mainland trips in the Deaf World.

In May 2008, I went to an interpreter's conference in Long Beach - I met a lot of interpreters.

In May, I went to gay/lesbian conference in Chicago met interpreters there and watched a lot of them working.

In October, I went to San Francisco to meet a deaf library manager in the deaf center at the Main Library. Wow, its a huge building!

SFPL has a Sorenson VRS phone booth. KCC will have a VRS phone booth early next year!! I'm excited about that!

[cut to shot of schematic for Lama Library Videophone]

My future? I want to become an interpreter If Im good enough and fluent enough I want to work at a VRS.

[cut to Mary and me at HOVRS reception]

My best woman friend is a VRS Interpreter - Mary. She works at HOVRS here in Honolulu.

I am happy on my deaf journey Im enjoying my journey very much!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• deaf culture
• deaf world
• asl
• American Sign Language