From: Karen.Keil@p0.f809.n104.z1.fidonet.org (Karen Keil)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: SHHH correction/addendum
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:24:18 GMT
Reply-To: Karen.Keil@p0.f809.n104.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:104/809.0 - Fantasy Mountain, Golden CO
X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference

Index Number: 24269

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Part 14 of 13 --- SHHH Convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Since a correction needs to be made anyway, additional info will
be added to this correction/addendum post.
            -----------------------------
            ---------CORRECTION----------
            -----------------------------
Part 6-- it had '630305-1499' for the zip code for Silent Word
Media Resources.  The correct zip code is '60305-1499'.

There were a few typos--e.g. 'norma.' instead of 'normal',
'bring' instead of 'bringing', 'mesages' instead of 'messages',
'buggys' instead of 'buggies', but these are minor.  The
correction above was the only serious typo.

--------------------------------

Some interesting additional information:

In part 8, one of the workshops was 'Hearing Impairment in North
America,' presented by Jerome Schein, Ph.D.  This man is the
author of a book, AT HOME AMONG STRANGERS: EXPLORING THE DEAF
COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES (Gallaudet University Press,
Washington, DC 20002, published 1989), a fact I didn't find out
until just now.  As far as I know, he never mentioned this book
during his lecture, but he did say that he had done research on
deaf people for a long, long time.

His introduction to his book above is very interesting.  He said
that he's often asked how he got interested in deafness.  Strange
as it seems, his interest did NOT stem from any personal
involvement with deafness--e.g. a deaf relative, a deaf friend,
etc.  He had no classes or courses on deafness at the
universities he attended.

His interest was strictly academic--"while a professor at Florida
State University, I was offered a position as a clinical
psychologist at what was then the only institution of higher
education for Deaf people in the world---Gallaudet College.  When
I arrived at the college, in 1960, I had only curiosity about,
and no knowledge of, deafness....I escaped the notion that Deaf
people were somehow inferior to other people."

I was impressed with his quiet and forceful presentation of the
workshop.  His book has interesting cases and stories, such as
the one about the Deaf couple who wanted to adopt a foster baby
they had been caring for.  The judge tried to oppose the move,
saying the deaf couple could not provide a 'normal' home for a
hearing child.  In the end, the deaf couple won, and adopted the
child.   Ironies of ironies, later the child was found to be
hearing-impaired!

--------

Post 13 had info about the book, LEGAL RIGHTS:  THE GUIDE FOR
DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE, 1992 4TH ED. $19.95.  You can
get it at other places besides SHHH.

It can be obtained from:
     Gallaudet University Bookstore
     800 Florida Avenue, NE
     Washington, DC 20002-3695

Shipping and Handling is 10 percent of the total cost of the
order or $2.00, whichever is greater.  For foreign orders, S & H
is 15 percent or $5.00.

Or....a telephone order may be placed to them, using
VISA/MASTERCARD at 202-651-5380 between 9:00 am to 4:30 EST.  Or
order from your local bookstore.

------------

Post 12 mentioned the light colors the Beachy Amish hostesses
wore at the Amish dinner.  The Old Order Amish tend to wear
darker colors (dark blue, etc). The Old Order Amish farmhomes
could be told apart just by the fact that no wiring led to the
house or other farm buildings.  Otherwise their farms looked just
the same as other modern farms (except no vehicles like pickups,
cars, etc..)

----------

I tried to maintain the objective of including information and
narrative of mutual interest to both SHHH members and non-members
on the Silentalk echo for the SHHH convention report.  A very
perceptive Silentalker pointed out the obvious omission (what
SHHH stands for---Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People,
Inc.)--for which I say 'thank you'!

Another clarification needs to be made....Rocky Stone referred to
a couple times in the report is the executive director and
founder of SHHH.  Other than that, all persons referred to were
adequately identified (I hope).

----------

Last item....the newspaper article about Henry Kisor's speech...
His picture in the paper did not do him justice.  He looked
better and more handsome in person.  Surprisingly, he was not a
very tall man, but he struck me as a gentle, quiet and purposeful
man, who was very affable to everyone who stopped to talk to him,
even the lady with the hearing dog in the lobby, who 'bent' his
ear for a conversation lasting several minutes.

The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, GAZETTE, June 27, 1992, page 1b.

DEAF AUTHOR RELATES STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

Group for people with hearing loss meeting in C.R.

by Sue Davis Smith

When Henry Kisor was 3 years old, an illness left him deaf.  it
did not make him mentally retarded, even though he's been
introduced that way.  And the solitude of his world has not
hindered his career.

If anything, he has learned to appreciate that solitude as "a
productive state" turned to his advantage, said this author and
journalist with the Chicago Sun-Times.

"In my book ("What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness") I
reveal the challenges and the problems and the acceptance I've
encountered at home and in my career.  My goal has always been to
remain independent."

Kisor spoke Friday during the International SHHH (Self Help for
Hard of Hearing) Convention at the Five Seasons Hotel in Cedar
Rapids.  SHHH is the largest consumer organization of people with
hearing loss.  Eight hundred people are attending the four-day
convention, which ends Monday.

Interest is high at this convention on how the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) will change life for the hearing impaired
and others with disabilities.

New laws applying to hiring practices and employer accommodations
go into effect in July.  The ADA will open opportunities and
accommodations, Kisor said, but it won't solve every problem.

"The ADA is important, but your own willingness to grow is just
as important in dealing with the hearing world," he said.

Kisor has encountered obstacles, rejection and awkwardness in his
own career.  The Sun-Times' book editor since 1978, he uses many
of the same tools as hearing journalists--and a few more.

"Until recently I didn't like using an interpreter.  I've gone
for 25 years in newspaper work without one and I was proud of
this independence.  But it meant a struggle."

Kisor does not speak on the phone, so his secretary acts as an
intermediary.  He tapes all of his interviews and then has his
notes transcribed.

While working on a new book, Kisor chose to use an interpreter
during an interview with a long-time Amtrak chef who "had a thick
Mississippi accent and only three teeth.  Two of them gold."

"Using an interpreter with this man, I realized how easy it was
and how much I had missed being able to see and understand at the
same time what was said.  Did I give up my independence then?  Of
course not.

"Hearing journalists use all kinds of tools, tape recorders,
laptop computers.  This was now a new tool for my job.  Only it
was an automatic two-legged recorder."

Being deaf "as the proverbial doorknob" has taken Kisor many
years to feel comfortable speaking.  During his talk at the
convention, the audience was assisted by signing and the
captioning of his speech on a large screen.

"My uncomfortableness in speaking in front of large groups
started at school, when other kids laughed at my speech," he
said.  "My strategy then was getting sick before presentations
and not knowing the answer if I was called upon.  All of that
changed when my book came out."

Kisor's publisher pushed him to extend his publicity tour to
include TV, radio and speaking engagements.  "I soon realized
that people weren't interested in my speech, but what I had to
say."

Rejection and awkwardness is part of life for hearing-impaired
and deaf people, Kisor said.  After almost 20 years at the
Sun-Times, some people at work still won't talk to him.

"What do I do about it?  Sometimes nothing.  But a little effort
could bridge that gap."

-----end of article----------

               ----end of correction/addendum post-----
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