Big ALDAcon Welcome

I didn’t think I could get much more excited about attending the ALDA conference—pardon me, the ALDAcon (love that name!)—but then yesterday I got a welcome e-mail from the President-Elect of the organization.  And I don’t mean a form e-mail that got sent to everyone, this is a personalized e-mail.

I had completely forgotten that when I filled out my registration form, they had me fill out a separate “newcomer” form.  It asked my age range, interests, hobbies, hearing loss, preferred communication method(s), etc.  So here is my e-mail from the ALDA president:

Dear Louise,

Less than one week to go before the convention...I can’t wait!

Thanks for filling out your registration form.  There is a newcomer from […] named […], who shares your interests in knitting and writing.

I’d like to know more about your interest in anthropology—I also find that fascinating.

I am sorry about your sudden onset tinnitus—that must be very disturbing, both literally and figuratively.  We can talk about it at the Con and I’ll see if I can find someone who knows more than I do to talk with you about it.

Events for you at ALDAcon include our Newcomer Workshop on Thursday at 8:30 am, the Newcomer/Chapter Leader Breakfast on Friday morning early—plan to get a good night’s sleep Thursday—and newcomers are included in a big way at the Farewell Brunch on Sunday.  We are so looking forward to seeing you! 

Cynthia Amerman

ALDA, Inc. President Elect

Newcomer Chair for ALDAcon 2010

I am seriously impressed by this!  Not just the e-mail, but the extent that ALDA is making us newcomers feel welcome and important.  (Brandt and I missed the Newcomer Orientation at the HLAA conference by about 10 minutes, so I can’t exactly compare the two.  The NAD conference didn’t have anything for newcomers, which I thought was strange until I got there and saw hundreds of Deaf people congregated in the hotel lobby—and realized that was the newcomer orientation.  If you’re Deaf, you probably just walk up and say ‘Hey, I’m new!’)

Now back to practicing my ASL!

  

ALDAcon 2010

I’m going to another conference, and it’s going to complete my trio of conferences for people with hearing loss!  Brandt and I attended the Hearing Loss Association of America conference last year, and the National Association of the Deaf conference last month; next week, I will be attending the Association of Late-Deafened Adults conference.

Each of these organizations has a different approach to hearing loss.  NAD members view themselves as a “linguistic minority” who belong to Deaf Culture, which relies primarily on American Sign Language for communication.  HLAA members aim to remain in the Hearing World as much as possible.  ALDA is the middle ground between the other two.  As the name suggests, it is aimed towards people who became deaf later in life, implying that they are culturally Hearing.  However, ALDA embraces many forms of communication, including ASL—the ’con even offers workshops on learning sign.  Here is their statement on communication (which I love!):

The Association of Late-Deafened Adults is about communication and acceptance of every deafened individual. Some people lip-read, some sign, some use hearing aids, some have cochlear implants, and some need to have others write down what they are saying—and at ALDA all the above is okay! ALDA’s official communication philosophy is “Whatever works!”

Members of ALDA call themselves “ALDAns,” the annual conference is the “ALDAcon,” and e-mails from members are signed “ALDA-best to you!”  It seems like an organization that strives to be easy-going and inclusive.  I honestly didn’t know much about it until last year, when I read about it for my certification as a Hearing Loss Support Specialist.  Then my Deaf friend Julia, who is a local ASL teacher, recently told me that she loved ALDAcon and suggested I check it out.

View of Pikes Peak
from Garden of the Gods

Unfortunately Brandt can’t go because of work (I know he said that about the Philadelphia trip and came anyway, but this time he’s serious), so I’ll be on my own.  My flight to Philly was my first time flying by myself; the flight to Colorado Springs will be my first time changing planes by myself.  But I’m determined not to worry about the transportation (Brandt was sweet enough to buy my plane ticket for our anniversary a few weeks ago, so I could afford the trip), and instead focus on how excited I am about attending!  I’ve never been to Colorado, so that’s really exciting, and there is going to be a group tour to the Garden of the Gods park, which has a gorgeous view of Pikes Peak.  Our tour bus is even going to have an ASL interpreter on it!  ALDA vowed to make this ’con the cheapest possible (it’s less than half my trip to Philadelphia!), as well as give enough time for sightseeing.

Since I knew that I would be way too shy to introduce myself to complete strangers once I got there, I asked one of the ALDAns in charge of the ’con if she could ‘introduce’ me to some fellow attendees over e-mail.  I have struck up an instant friendship with one lady (a Cochlear Implant wearer and fellow ASL student), and am about to e-mail another.  I’m a lot less nervous now that I have someone to meet up with—and practice my signing with!

The only other thing I’m worried about is the altitude.  Colorado Springs is about 6,000 feet above sea level (Pikes Peak is a whopping 14,115 feet tall, but I won’t be going to the summit), and I’ve never been at high altitudes for long.  The highest I’ve been is Clingman’s Dome, which is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains at 6,643 feet.  Brandt and I were only there for about an hour, and were gasping for breath.  My Colorado Springs visitor’s guide warns me to drink lots of water before and during my trip, so I’m going to make sure to stick to that.

Now I need to get back to studying my ASL.  ALDA-best to you!

  

ASL Withdrawal

It’s been 3 weeks since my ASL Level 3 class ended, and I am going through severe withdrawal!  And making it much worse—it doesn’t look like there will be a Level 4 (despite what my teacher told us the first night, she said I can advance straight on to Level 4!) or even a Level 3 that I could re-take this Fall.  I’m not giving up on the idea yet; after all, they didn’t think there would be a Level 3 last semester until about 2 hours before the first night’s class. 

But, I’m still having to think of contingency plans.  I don’t want to lose what I’ve already learned (“use it or lose it” definitely applies to signing!), and I want to keep improving on my skills.  I haven’t been using ASL with Brandt very much since class ended, and we haven’t been around our local Deaf Community in several months.  We really need to get back into the swing of things before I get too far behind on my signing.  I’ve been reading a few pages of my unabridged ASL dictionary every day, trying to learn new words, but I need to be using it with other people.

If there isn’t a Level 3 or 4 class this semester, I’m going to see if my Deaf friend Julia can teach me Level 4 in private lessons.  She teaches several types of ASL classes (community classes, workshops for teachers and daycares, and classes specifically for deaf/hard-of-hearing—which Brandt is going to take once he finishes his doctorate).  I’ve wanted to take classes her from since I met her last summer, but she lives an hour away and the traffic getting to her house from where we live is insane.  But she learned ASL from the same place that I’ve been attending, and she knows the Signing Naturally book well.  As much as we both dislike it, it’s THE book in the world of ASL teaching—Gallaudet University even uses it to judge the signing skills of incoming students by asking which chapter you’ve last completed.  We went through the first half for Level 3, and Level 4 goes through the second half—so I already bought it and want to finish it.

And if Julia isn’t available for private classes…well, I haven’t thought of a second contingency plan yet.  I really wish there was a local college or university that taught past Level 1, but alas, there isn’t. 

On a brighter note, I’m going to have an exciting opportunity to use ASL a lot very soon.  Stay tuned for my next post for the details!

  

’S Wrong! ’S Word!

I’ve written before about funny and confusing closed-captioning mistakes; they’re a never-ending source of entertainment and I keep a running list of my favorites.

I’m a big fan of Gilmore Girls.  Even though I’ve seen every episode several times, I still record it on DVR every day and play it in the background while I’m writing e-mails or reading a book.  Last night I was watching the episode “’S Wonderful, ’S Marvelous,” where Christopher takes Lorelei on a romantic date to watch the musical Funny Face.  I was typing an e-mail but looked up to watch the captioning as the final scene of the movie was playing, since I often have trouble understanding song lyrics and accents.  Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn were dressed in their white wedding attire, singing their love for each other: 

“You can’t blame me for feeling avarice/

Oh! ’S wonderful! ’S marvelous!/
That you should care for me!”

Wait…what?  “AVARICE”?!  Let’s check Merriam-Webster, shall we?

av·a·rice:  excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain

Umm… Maybe we should check the actual lyrics of this beloved Gershwin song:

“You’ve made my life so glamorous/

You can't blame me for feeling amorous…”

am·o·rous:  strongly moved by love; enamored

There, that’s better!

  

1 in 5 Teens has Hearing Loss

In 1994, roughly 1 in 20 American adolescents had some degree of hearing loss.  By 2006, the prevalence jumped to 1 in 5—about 6.5 million children aged 12 to 19, according to a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.  One of the authors, Dr. Roland Eavey, says,

“What we're seeing is a big jump in the prevalence of hearing loss in a very short period of time, in less than one generation.  That means we're on the front edge of an epidemic.”

The main culprit (probably not too surprisingly) is suspected to be exposure to loud noises, especially music.  Tommie Robinson, president of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, says,

“I believe this is rooted in a cultural paradigm shift in terms of how electronics have become ‘the thing.’  Everyone has something in their ears.”

Recent reports have determined that “not only do teenagers play music at louder volumes, but they are completely unaware they are doing so.” 

Dr. Eavy suggests that when giving a child or teenager an iPod (or other MP3 device), to set the maximum volume limit at a lower level.  Apple has detailed instructions on setting the volume limit on its website, as well as a page on “Sound and Hearing.”  Other informative websites are “How Loud is Too Loud?” and “It’s a Noisy Planet,” both by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders,  and “Listen to Your Buds” by ASHA.

The “Listen to Your Buds” website has a number of recommendations for reducing childhood noise exposure, including wearing hearing protectors.  I personally swear by foam earplugs, which block out the sounds of trains and neighborhood dogs when I’m trying to sleep.  And while I love loud bass and spent my teenage years blaring music as loud as it would go, it undoubtedly contributed to the minor-to-mild hearing loss (15 to 25 decibel loss) that I now suffer.  I’ve decided that from now on, I’m going to take a pair of earplugs with me to concerts, wedding receptions, and other loud venues.  Earplugs now come in a variety of colors and styles—even specifically for musicians and concert-goers—and I hope they can become popular among teenagers who don’t want to lose their hearing before the age of 20!

  

Another Birthday?

One of the last times the whooshing tinnitus in my right ear started up, it was right after eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  So after the whooshing completely went away again over the weekend, I wanted to test my theory that it was being caused by food (cheese dip and chicken fajitas—yum!).

The biggest drawback to this restaurant—and most restaurants, for that matter—is the noise.  There is always music playing in the overhead speakers, and sports playing on the flat-screen televisions.  We always bring the FM system, which helps cut out the background noise and amplify my voice, but it’s never a perfect setup. 

Someone was celebrating their birthday, which means the entire restaurant staff came out singing and clapping.  Brandt jumped and asked, “What on earth is that?!”  “Birthday,” I explained.  When we were done eating, we still had a lot of food left over and asked for some to-go boxes.  Our waiter dropped off the boxes and ran off, and I said, “I think we need to ask him for a bag.”  Brandt shrugged and said, “I don’t know, I guess you’d know better than I would.”  I’ve gotten pretty good at being able to tell when he’s mis-heard me, and I knew this was one of those times.  I furrowed my eyebrows, signaling that we were having a misunderstanding.  “Ok, what did you really say?” he asked.  “What did you hear?” I asked.  “There’s another birthday in the restaurant?  People are singing again?”  I shook my head and said, “No…I said I think we need a bag from the waiter, to carry all these boxes.”  He thought for a moment and said, “That wasn’t even close, was it?  And just how did I score a 90% on that sentence test?!”

As our waiter was clearing the plates off the table, I picked the FM transmitter up off the table and reattached it on my neckloop.  The waiter looked at it quizzically and asked me, “What’s that thing for?”  I explained that it was a microphone for Brandt’s hearing aids, and pointed at his ears.  “So, he can’t hear anything without that thing?” he asked.  “Well, a little…” I tried to explain.  We both looked at Brandt, who motioned towards his ears, shrugged, and shook his head.  “We’re talking about you!” I told Brandt. 

I’m always glad when people ask about the FM system.  I much prefer them getting educated about it, instead of just staring and whispering.  I also think it helps to dispel the myth that only ‘old people’ wear hearing aids!

And my whooshing tinnitus is still completely gone, so, I’m back to square one trying to figure out the cause…

  

“WHOOOOOOSH!”

It’s baaaack.  I’ve had problems with tinnitus off and on for the past year (though not nearly as bad as Brandt’s constant static).  Last summer I had a high-pitched tone in my left ear, that sounded like an old television set dying.  After several weeks of sleepless nights and a hearing test, I finally figured out that it was caused by the increased dosage of my blood-sugar medication.  I switched to an extended-release version of the medication and the tinnitus went away, other than an occasional tone that lasts a few seconds and goes away.  It was a huge relief to get rid of it, because it was driving me absolutely crazy.

Then when I was about to attend the National Association of the Deaf conference in Philadelphia last month, I woke up to a loud whooshing sound in my right ear.  It sounded like a tornado roaring inside my head, something I had never experienced before.  I could actually feel the whooshing.  I don’t have health insurance, and this happened on the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend.  I assumed that it was an ear infection, and since I was about to fly, I knew I’d have to get on antibiotics immediately.  So Brandt drove me to an emergency medical clinic, almost an hour away.  I spent $100 to find out that my eardrum was “clean and beautiful” and it wasn’t an infection.  The doctor didn’t have any advice other than to use Afrin nasal spray before flying (I already use it every time I fly).

Fortunately, the whooshing went away two days later, right before my trip.  I wrote it off as a fluke and forgot about it, until it came back a few weeks later.  This time it lasted four days, then went away again.  And it’s been coming and going since, lasting two to four days and then suddenly disappearing in my sleep.  The fifth round started two days ago.  It’s not anywhere near as annoying as the high-pitched tone that was in my left ear, but it’s still really annoying, especially when I’m trying to fall asleep.

I have no idea what could be causing this.  I take the same medication every day, so I don’t see how that could be the cause.  It starts and stops quickly—I wake up with it, then a few nights later it disappears while I’m sleeping.  I’ve wondered if maybe it is being brought on by barometric pressure, or maybe high blood pressure caused by eating a salty dinner.  I’m thinking about keeping a food journal, to see if there is a food or ingredient that is triggering it.

Whatever the cause, I’m ready for it to go away.  “WHOOOOOOSH!”