Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Birthday Blog: Assisted Technology

Today is my birthday. Let us blog.

I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about my uncle, Norman. He's in his eighties and lives alone. He rides the bus to go where he needs to go and has always been independent. Uncle Norman has been deaf for as long as he can remember. Grandma used to say that he'd had Whooping Cough as a baby and that's what caused it.

In any case, Uncle Norman has always had a few pieces of technology that work well for him. When we ring his doorbell, his hall light flashes; it's a red light bulb. He has a TTY telephone. That means that I call the TTY operator and he or she dials his phone number (which I give him or her). When Uncle Norman picks up the phone, I tell the operator what I want to say, then say "go ahead" and I wait for a reply from him. We go back and forth, usually briefly. I'm not so used to it; it took a bit of getting used to for me.

Uncle Norman also uses Closed Caption for television. Have you ever tried to keep up with it? It's got to be difficult enough to be deaf, let alone to haveto read so quickly.

3 comments:

PS108Library said...

Hi Stacy,

Happy Birthday to you and thanks for sharing all that assisted technology has done for your Uncle Norman. My childhood best friend is deaf too. I am so grateful all the wonderful things assisted technology has done to make her part of our hearing world.

Have a wonderful day you deserve it.

Robin

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Stacy!!!

Wonderful story about your Uncle Norman. It's just so great that assistive technology allows people with disabilities to continue to enjoy the things they like to do. I am sure it must be uncomfortable for you to have to have some one else relay your conversation to your uncle but at least you are still able to do so.
I have a friend who works in the city at the League for the Hard of Hearing. He work in the hearing aid mold casting department. He has such fascinating equipment in his office. He loves being the gift of hearing to his clients.
Margie

Stacy said...

Thanks, Robin. Technology surely is a life changing matter for many people.

Thanks, Margie. Your friend must find great fulfillment in his work.

I remember when I used to work as a substitute many years ago. There was a class in middle school who had students who were hard of hearing. They had FM units to help them. It was amazing to see and work with those students. I know fingerspelling, but mostly, I had to make sure that they could read my lips. It was really interesting.