I was born hearing. When I was ten days old, I became very sick and was overdosed on some medication that had been prescribed for me. My mother didn’t find out that I was deaf until I was nine months old. She was devastated, but unlike many mothers, she had faith in me. I went to a deaf and blind preschool but my mother wanted me to go to a hearing elementary school. There was a meeting between the Deaf preschool and the school district. The administrators at the Deaf preschool kept speaking negative things about me and about what I couldn’t do. One teacher stood up and said, “Let me tell you what Brooklyn CAN do.” She changed my mother’s life and mine. I went to a hearing school all through elementary, middle, and high school. I was a successful child growing up. I overcame all the negative words and attitudes towards me; I ignored people when they said that I can’t do this or that because I am deaf. I proved them wrong. I was the main female character, Ophelia in the play Hamlet in sixth grade. I was the president of the student council in sixth grade also. I was a point guard, three pointer, and MVP on the Championship Basketball team in middle school. When I wasn’t playing basketball, I was the school mascot, a falcon, for the other school sports teams. I was an exchange student in Taiwan and Student of the Year in Mandarin Chinese. I had a GPA of 4.0 through middle school and high school. Last year, I won a pageant and became the princess of my town, Miss Laverkin. Later, I was often asked to perform and be a motivational speaker down in the Southern Utah area. The reason why I am telling of my success is because I showed the Deaf community that they can do anything they set their mind to even though they are deaf. My goal is to help the deaf community be in a better position. I want to help mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents or anybody who has a deaf child to know that it not the end of the world. All they have to do is become informed, give guidance and opportunities, and show their child love and support.
Since I grew up in the hearing culture, I wanted to see the view of hearing mothers who just had a newly diagnosed deaf child. I want to give them hope through my own story, and the stories of other deaf people, that their child can be successful throughout their life. I also want to know what the deaf people’s point of view is in being successful in life. What are they against or not against in their culture? I know that we have more than a million deaf people across the world. I am going to interview deaf people and have them tell me their stories and experiences and what kind of impact the deafness had on their life. The deaf also need to see there are so many opportunities and they need to learn how to seize it rather then not do it. They also need to learn there are hearing people that are willing to help and they need to accept their offers. I’ve written a separate survey for the deaf and for the hearing. I want to know what the hearing think about the deaf and what the deaf think about the hearing. I’m going to interview some successful deaf people and how they overcame some things that hearing people said that they couldn’t do. I am going to ask them some ideas of how to make the deaf world a better place.
I believe that the problem is based on perception of how hearing people view deaf people and how the deaf people view themselves. I want people in the hearing culture to accept people with disabilities in their life. Everyone has a right to do anything they set their mind to. We should all be equal and treated the same. I want hearing people to accept and support their deaf child. I interviewed a director from the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. Her name is Marilyn Madsen and she helped me expand more ideas of what I can do to make the deaf world a better place. I want to stand up for my Deaf culture and show people that we are equal and that we need be treated the same. And I want to continue to show hearing parents of deaf children that with their guidance and support their child can have a full and successful life.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Let the Copula Be
In Sonya Lanehart’s essay, “Let the Copula Be,” Lanehart discusses that she previously believe the “good” and “bad” use of English. She grew up learning from her family, her school, and her teacher. She wanted to be a speech pathologist. She attended the University of Texas. She took couple of a classes and she realized that there are no such things as “good” and “bad” English. English was based on the historical use of Language.
As Sonja L. Lanehart attended the University of Texas, she took “History of English Language” and “American English” to pursue her dream of helping people speak better English. As she took these classes, she noticed that there are varieties of English all over the world today. She also read a book called, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. “Darlene trying to teach me how to talk. She say US not so hot. A dead country give- away. You say US where most folks say WE, she say, and peoples think you dumb. Colored peoples think you a hick and white folks be amuse. What I care? I ast. I’mhappy. But she say I feel more happier talking like she talk. . . . Every time I say something the way I say it, she correct me until I say it some other way. Pretty soon it feel like I can’t think. . . . Look like to me only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind.”
The more she learned, the more she believed that English can vary as long as we can understand each other. She previously corrected other people on their English especially her family. Now that she had learned about the History of English, she doesn’t want to correct others anymore. Others kept asking her for help and she noticed that they didn’t believe in themselves. She said, “I embarked on a new journey to find and reclaim my homeland. I have gone from one end of the continuum to the other, and I know it has been a change for the better. My family still expects me to correct them. I struggle with that because they believe in me more than themselves.”
I really enjoyed Lanehart’s personal experience with English. I don’t believe there is a “good” or “bad” use of English. People learned from where they came from, from their family, from their culture, from their school. In my deaf culture, deaf people don’t always write perfect English. My mom raised me to learn how to speak and how to write. I learned how to sign Exact English. Signing Exact English taught me how to write in proper word order. Most people in the deaf culture sign American Sign Language. The difference between signing Exact English and American Sign Language is that Exact English is signing every single word and American Sign Language is conceptual. For example, Exact English, I would sign, “I am going to the store.” American Sign Language would sign, “Store, I go.” But what matters the most is understanding each other. Learning how to communicate in English with each other is the most important thing.
As Sonja L. Lanehart attended the University of Texas, she took “History of English Language” and “American English” to pursue her dream of helping people speak better English. As she took these classes, she noticed that there are varieties of English all over the world today. She also read a book called, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. “Darlene trying to teach me how to talk. She say US not so hot. A dead country give- away. You say US where most folks say WE, she say, and peoples think you dumb. Colored peoples think you a hick and white folks be amuse. What I care? I ast. I’mhappy. But she say I feel more happier talking like she talk. . . . Every time I say something the way I say it, she correct me until I say it some other way. Pretty soon it feel like I can’t think. . . . Look like to me only a fool would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind.”
The more she learned, the more she believed that English can vary as long as we can understand each other. She previously corrected other people on their English especially her family. Now that she had learned about the History of English, she doesn’t want to correct others anymore. Others kept asking her for help and she noticed that they didn’t believe in themselves. She said, “I embarked on a new journey to find and reclaim my homeland. I have gone from one end of the continuum to the other, and I know it has been a change for the better. My family still expects me to correct them. I struggle with that because they believe in me more than themselves.”
I really enjoyed Lanehart’s personal experience with English. I don’t believe there is a “good” or “bad” use of English. People learned from where they came from, from their family, from their culture, from their school. In my deaf culture, deaf people don’t always write perfect English. My mom raised me to learn how to speak and how to write. I learned how to sign Exact English. Signing Exact English taught me how to write in proper word order. Most people in the deaf culture sign American Sign Language. The difference between signing Exact English and American Sign Language is that Exact English is signing every single word and American Sign Language is conceptual. For example, Exact English, I would sign, “I am going to the store.” American Sign Language would sign, “Store, I go.” But what matters the most is understanding each other. Learning how to communicate in English with each other is the most important thing.
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