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The Riverbend Awareness Project brings you a new conversation each month about important causes and issues in our community. Every month of 2024 we will sit down and have a conversation with a professional from our community about significant issues like heart health, Alzheimer’s, literacy, and more. We’ll then share that conversation with you on the Riverbend Awareness Project Podcast, with the goal of sharing resources, and information that will help you have a better understanding of the particular problems, and solutions, associated with each topic.
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this podcast episode are solely those of the individuals participating and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Riverbend Media Group or the Riverbend Awareness Project, its affiliates, or its employees. It is important to note that the discussion presented is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified health care professionals for any medical concerns or decisions. The Riverbend Awareness Project is a product of Riverbend Media Group.
Melissa: Welcome to the Riverbend Awareness Project. Each month, we learn about important nationwide topics that also affect our community.
Emma: September is National Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Month. We've invited Heidi Smith, the deaf and hard of hearing services coordinator from BYU Idaho, to join us today.
Melisa: Thank you so much for coming in, Heidi.
Heidi: Of course. Thanks for having me.
Melissa: Yeah! First off, we wanted to ask about what is your role as the deaf and hard of hearing services coordinator?
Heidi: Basically, my job is to make sure that anyone who's deaf or hard of hearing has equal access to the classroom, especially the audio in the classroom. I also coordinate with them and their instructors to make sure the instructors are aware of how to have a deaf student in their class, and to help them communicate if they have any issues. And then I also do some counseling, like guidance counseling for our deaf and hard of hearing students as well.
Emma: That is really cool. What inspired you to work in this field?
Heidi: Actually, it's kind of a weird story. So I didn't initially intend to work in this field.
I was introduced to sign language as a teenager. I volunteered at a school for students with disabilities, and there were a lot of nonverbal students there that use sign language to communicate. So that was my first exposure. And so then I took some continuing ed classes and learned more sign language.
My aunt and uncle actually adopted a Deaf son, and so then I learned about sign language in the Deaf world. So I kind of learned about it backwards.
Then I studied sign language when I was at a university in Chicago. So that's what I thought I wanted to do when I was a young college student, but I didn't finish my degree. I got married and had my babies. And when I had my 6 kids, I ended up going back to school and getting my bachelor's degree.
I got a degree in education, so I became a teacher. And then I went and got my master's in TESOL, which is teaching English as a second language. And so that's what I did for ten years. And then the job at the university came open. And when someone explained what they were looking for, it was kind of like what I was doing with TESOL, providing access to people who had a second language mixed in with the Deaf culture I had from my younger college days and my sign language.
And so it just kind of seemed like the perfect fit. And, yeah, I love it. I'm so glad that that's the path I ended up in, but it wasn't the plan.
Melissa: It's cool how that works out. Like, life takes you different directions, but you can end up where you need to be.
Heidi: Yeah, absolutely.
Melissa: What are some of the services and support systems provided for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing? And not necessarily just for, like, obviously the university, which is what you can speak to the most, but maybe other ones outside of the university kind of setting too that you know of?
Heidi: Yeah, absolutely. So probably the most common thing that everyone sees or knows about is closed captioning. So closed captioning of videos that they see in class or during homework, that kind of thing. And then, of course, sign language, if we have a student who's deaf and that's their main form of communication, we'll provide sign language interpreters for them, both in class and just at campus events and things.
And that's a community-wide thing. If a deaf person were to attend a musical concert or something, the law requires that that venue provides an interpreter if requested.
One of the lesser known things is something like transcription. That's where if there's audio, spoken audio, we provide a transcript of it written out for the deaf or hard of hearing person to read. There's also live transcription, which is probably the most common request after captioning. And live transcription is where there's a person listening to the live meeting, like the class or radio station or something, listening to that live thing, and a person outside is typing what is being said.
And the deaf or hard of hearing person has a computer screen or an iPad or something, and they are able to read in live-time what is being said in that meeting. So that's one that we get a lot. Those are probably the most common.
Melissa: Made me think about devotional, because I had a roommate who enjoyed— she knew some sign language, and so she enjoyed sitting further back, obviously not right in the reserved seating where they had the monitor with the person signing. And then also, I don't know if it was a live transcript, but it looked like it was because sometimes there would, like, be a pause in the closed captions...
Heidi: Yes.
Melissa: when they were talking. And it was nice to like... if I missed something, I could look up and read the captions and be like, "oh, okay." Like, write it down. So... I don't know. Is that normally a live transcription?
Heidi: Yep. That is live transcription. So, yeah, that would be one of our trained transcribers typing live what's being said in devotional, and it's appearing on that screen in live-time so they can read it.
Interestingly, those people actually learn to kind of type in a shorthand form so that they can type it that fast live, and then the computer translates their shorthand typing into the actual written word. Now though, our devotional is actually done through AI. We have an amazing live transcription program that we're using now.
Melissa: [Inaudible] ...that technology is advancing that we can do that.
Heidi: Yeah.
Emma: What strategies do you use to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing students have equal access to academic resources?
Heidi: So, of course, those accommodations we talked about are a big part of it. But also... Just kind of when an instructor gets a deaf student for the first time, they're really nervous. They're not sure how to make sure the student has what they need, and so they need a little instruction on strategies. So some of the strategies we teach them are things that might seem like common sense, but not always.
So for instance, if the professor is going to turn and write on the board or something like that, they need to remember to not speak while they have their back to the students. One, because the student's less likely to be able to hear it or to read their lips or their facial expressions, but also it's very nerve-wracking to the student to think, "oh, are they saying something? What am I missing?" So it causes a lot of anxiety and stress when you turn your back on a deaf person. So that's one strategy we teach.
We also provide things like preferential seating, letting the individual decide what seat is going to help them to either be able to hear the best or see the best. Anytime you can make something visual, that helps them a lot because anything that their hearing is missing, they might be able to get through context clues of the visual things that are either written out or just seen. Facial expressions are amazing for helping with context. And so we try and give that strategy.
Also the strategy of just realizing to be patient with the deaf individual and to kinda slow down a little bit, but to not disregard them. One of the biggest kind of frustrations for someone who's deaf or hard of hearing is when they miss something and they ask, "what?" And they want you to fill them in on what they've either missed or maybe they didn't quite understand, and they're dismissed. Like, "oh, don't worry about it. It wasn't that big of a deal." That's so frustrating for them. They wanna know what's being communicated.
And so we try and remind the teachers: don't dismiss them. Give them give them your time and your attention and just clarify. They just need some clarification.
Emma: A follow-up to that, and it's something you already answered a little bit, but how can these strategies also be implemented outside of an academic setting?
Heidi: Yeah, just anytime you encounter someone out in the world who has a hearing loss of some kind, again, just that patience and giving them the attention that they need. There's some great resources just probably right in your pocket, like your phone. If you are at a restaurant or a business and someone comes in who has hearing loss, you can pull out your cell phone and just text back and forth. You don't even have to swap phone numbers. You can just text and hand them your phone and they can text back and forth like that. That's an amazing part of technology, right?
If you don't wanna do a phone, you've got pen and paper, but also hand gestures. Sign language started with hand gestures that became natural over time and used by the community as a whole.
And so just making it visual. Facial expressions are huge. A lot of people don't understand that part of sign language is actual facial grammar. There's parts of signs that you have to do with your face, not just your hands. And so making sure that they can see your face and your expressions will help a lot with context.
Melissa: And it's interesting just to think... because, like, we all have different abilities. Everyone has. And so being understanding of people's abilities or lack of abilities—in whatever context—is a good reminder. And then asking questions like, "how can I do this better to communicate?" And I think that's really helpful. All that information, like, it would make sense, but we don't think about it because that's not our world, versus someone who is facing... or who does have hearing loss.
Like, that is their world.
Heidi: Yeah. And they all have preferences, communication preferences. And so if you just ask, "how would you like to communicate?" They'll show you. They'll help you. They wanna get the message across and they wanna understand you. So just a simple, "hey. How can I help you?"
Melissa: What are some common obstacles that deaf and hard of hearing individuals face?
Heidi: From what I've heard from a lot of my students as well as family members that I have that are deaf or hard of hearing, large groups are a big stress for them. That's an obstacle because— I mean, think about it. If you're in a large group setting at a party or a big meeting, everybody's talking, and you might have all your attention focused on the main person who's talking, and then suddenly someone across the room says something and everyone turns and maybe they laugh or they're shocked or whatever, the deaf person has been paying attention to the person who is speaking so they could read their lips and catch as much as they could, and now the attention's somewhere else and they've missed it. They don't know what has happened. They don't know if they're the ones being laughed at or if something, you know, terrible has happened.
They're not really sure. And so they always feel a beat behind, like they're missing out on something and they have to play catch up. That's something I hear a lot from that community. And so that's definitely a struggle, and they wanna be filled in when stuff like that happens.
Another thing that's sometimes frustrating for them is just noisy areas. Restaurants are a big deal. My daughter, she's hard of hearing, and she hates restaurants. And we didn't realize when she was a kid; she would get so overwhelmed by restaurants, and it's because of all that other background noise. It becomes a very, very anxious situation because they're not sure what they need to be hearing and if they're hearing the waiter correctly, things like that.
So noisy situations, especially... An amplification device, like a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, amplifies everything, not just the speech, which is what we wanna hear. It amplifies everything. And so the clink of the, you know, noise in the restaurant of the glasses and the utensils and things just makes it all that much worse. So definitely noisy environments.
And then things like dating can be really tricky because both with dating and with employment, a lot of deaf and hard of hearing people are not sure, when do I let these people know that I have this disability. Is this something I have to tell them upfront? "Oh, by the way, I'm deaf or I'm hard of hearing," or can I wait? When is it too late? When have I waited too long to tell people about my hearing loss?
So I know that that is an obstacle a lot of times out in the world. Like, when do I disclose this? How do I disclose it?
Melissa: How do we, I guess, address these obstacles and kind of make sure we are supporting individuals who are facing them?
Heidi: I think if you're aware that they have a hearing loss, just, you know, ask, "is this seating area gonna be okay? Would you like to sit here?" You know, give them preferential seating. Again, not just in the classroom, but just in the natural environment.
Give them a say that can help them to have the best experience. When it comes to, like, the workplace, what I've seen and experienced a lot of times in the workplace is if they bring up a complaint, like, "I'm struggling with this. I can't hear very well." A lot of times, they feel brushed off or dismissed like, "well, this is just how the environment is. You chose to work here," you know, kinda just buck up and deal with it kinda thing. And so a lot of individuals with hearing loss end up leaving their employment simply because they're not accommodated.
And a lot of companies and individuals are trying to just follow the law and do what they have to do, but that's not always the right thing. Right? Just following the law, that's great. Follow the law, but there's more you can do to accommodate by just simply asking, "what do you need? How can I make this experience better for you?"
I know of one particular individual; her work environment was just so noisy, and she simply asked, "can I have a separate working space a little bit away from the noise?" And that was just too much for the employer to provide. And that, to me, seems like, really? You couldn't do that?
So just use some common sense and just ask, "what is it you need in this situation?" And every situation is gonna be different. So if they feel comfortable enough to speak to you about what's going on, I think that's probably the biggest thing you can do to help them is just make them comfortable so that they can share what's working and what's not.
Emma: One of the things you said is that... Hmm... like, every situation is different. And I think every person is different too— you've talked about, like how with... there's like so many different levels of being hard of hearing or being deaf and like how that all works. So what are some of the common causes of hard of hearing or deafness?
Heidi: Yeah. So there's such a wide range of both hearing loss— like the level, the severity of their hearing loss— and, again, yeah, how they became deaf or hard of hearing.
So, obviously there's hereditary hearing loss where you'll see it generationally. The mom and dad might be Deaf, the children might be Deaf, and so on. And you might assume that that's a sad thing, but for a lot of Deaf people in the in those families that it is hereditary, it's almost celebrated. Like, "oh, you take after mom and dad. That's awesome." You know? So it's not necessarily a sad thing for those in the Deaf community to be born Deaf.
Many people become deaf through illness. Maybe they, you know, got sick with a long hospital stay and their hearing never recovered. For others, it's just multiple buildups of, you know, ear infections over long periods of time that deteriorate their hearing.
Birth defects— so maybe it's not hereditary, but they're still born deaf because something just didn't form correctly.
Sometimes it's from an injury, like a head injury or an actual injury to the cochlea or the ears themselves.
Sometimes it's noise exposure. That's why people who shoot guns and things are told to wear ear plugs.
Melissa: Construction workers
Heidi: Yes, construction workers.
So there's a wide range of how it happens, and then also the severity. Some people can get by with hearing aids just fine and have almost, you know, perfect hearing where others with a hearing aid, it might still only be, you know, 50, 60% hearing. Same with cochlear implants.
A lot of people think a cochlear implant solves it. "Oh, they can hear now because they go straight to the cochlea," but it doesn't. They still might not have a large range of hearing.
Melissa: We've got questions about that, and you're already answering some of them. That's good! Like, that's awesome. Just understanding that the hearing aids or devices aren't like... We can't hear what they're hearing from that, so don't assume what they're hearing because they have a hearing aid or device.
Heidi: Yeah. It doesn't solve all the problems.
Melissa: It doesn't solve all the problems.
Heidi: They're definitely a blessing, and they definitely help, but they don't solve it all.
Also, they hear differently through it. It's very mechanical. It's not... They don't hear the same way we do. It's more of a mechanical sound. It's not as natural.
Melissa: Speaking about misunderstandings, what are some common misconceptions people can have about being deaf or hard of hearing?
Heidi: Yeah, so when I was in college, when I was younger, I joined a deaf fraternity. And one of the things that surprised me the most was how much they loved music, and that they loved to dance. I had all these deaf friends, and every time we wanted to go out, that's what they wanted to do. They're like, "let's go to the country bar. Let's go dancing."
So I think that's a misconception. A lot of people think they don't appreciate music, but they definitely do. They love a good beat. And my friends loved country line dancing because it was very visual. They could copy the moves. You know? It was really fun. So that's definitely a misconception.
What I hear sometimes is, "oh, it's too bad they can't drive," and that's totally not true. Some people think you can't get a driver's license if you're deaf, but it's so not true. You can drive!
So those are two that I hear a lot. And then, like I already said, the misconception that a hearing aid or a cochlear implant fixes it, and so now they can hear fine.
Another one sometimes is that all deaf or hard of hearing people can read lips. That's not true. That's a skill just like any other skill that has to be developed. And so some of them are amazing at it, but, yeah, not everybody can read lips.
Emma: So earlier, we were talking about sign language and how, like, facial expressions can play a role in that.
Heidi: Mhmm.
Emma: And so we had some questions about sign language and... I don't know, when we were reading and researching for this podcast, I was reading about how there are, like, you know, there's different... obviously, there's, like, American Sign Language and then there's different sign language for different countries and different languages. And so one question we were wondering is just... Is American Sign Language similar to other types of sign language or are they, like... kinda like comparing spoken languages, like, how they're very different and then sign languages? I mean, I assume... I don't know. I don't know a lot about it, so...
Heidi: Yeah! No, yeah. So it's interesting. There's signed English, which is actually word for word signed as English, but that's not used very often. Most of the time, it's American Sign Language like you were talking about, and yeah, there's Mexican Sign Language and French Sign Language.
American Sign Language is actually the most similar to French Sign Language.
Originally, when sign language was being developed here in America, it was more culturally familiar, right? Families would use their own gestures and things and communities would use similar ones to communicate, and so there's a lot of regional signing, but...
And no one actually is credited for developing American Sign Language. There's not like a father of it or anything like that. But, Thomas Gallaudet, who was one of the founders of Gallaudet University, he was friends with Laurent Clerc, who was a Frenchman, a deaf Frenchman and an educator. And those two became friends, and Gallaudet went to France and studied how they educate the deaf over there in France. And so a lot of the influence in American Sign Language comes from French Sign Language because of that, because they then formed Gallaudet University, which was the first real Deaf school here in the States and is the most renowned and well-known university for educating the Deaf. And so, yeah, our sign language is kind of similar to that.
And we do have a very kind of backwards language structure in sign language. You don't say, "what is your name?" You would say, "your name is what?" And so it's a little different than English.
Melissa: So we were going over our questions and trying to make sure we hadn't missed anything. and the idea of technology impacting sign language, like this idea of will someone learn sign language nowadays? Because you have the phone, right? You can just text, but what happens when that phone the battery dies, or you don't have cell service, or something like that? So how do those two interact with each other, I guess, is what we're wondering about.
Heidi: Yeah. So there's definitely pros and cons that affect sign language with technology. So there's definitely blessings of technology, like being able to text and things like that, but the technology can help sign language by spreading it. I mean, there are tons of apps that you can get on your phone to learn sign language. How amazing is that? That you can pull up your phone and for 10 minutes a day learn sign language? There's some great apps out there. Yeah, so technology definitely helps to spread sign language and make it more available to everyone.
Technology also has helped with interpreting. You can jump on a Zoom call with you and the person you're trying to talk to and the interpreter can join. And how amazing is that? Because there was a time where you really had to be face-to-face to use a sign language interpreter, and that's not the case anymore because of technology.
So they can go hand in hand really well, and technology can help to spread sign language, but there is also the con that comes with it that in some instances, technology can surpass— maybe not surpass, but replace sign language in some instances, whereas, like, we can have live transcription. And now with the technology, a lot of people that have a cochlear implant and they don't have family members who can sign, the family relies on the technology of the cochlear implant and live transcription and text messaging, things like that. And that individual might never learn to sign, even though they are clinically Deaf.
And so they're never fully emerged into the Deaf culture or the Deaf world because technology has replaced that. So, yeah, it's definitely something that's talked about and debated within the Deaf world. There are definite pros and cons. It's helping and hurting all at the same time.
So the purists, you know, really want to make sure that Deaf culture and sign language thrive and flourish and are spread. But there are some cases where it is almost hurting and diminishing the use of sign language.
Emma: Are there any other technological advancements that have affected... sorry. I don't know how to phrase that.
Heidi: Yeah. Well, I mean, the biggest one, I think, the technological advancement of a cochlear implant is huge because for so long, it was just hearing aids. So that new technology and being able to go directly into the cochlea and help people that would have never had that opportunity, that's huge.
Probably the biggest one though is AI. I think, you know, Artificial Intelligence has been huge for those that are Deaf or hard of hearing. I don't know if you've seen live transcription that just comes from a computer, but in previous years, even just in the most recent years, it was clunky. It was inaccurate. You know? You'd see a swear word pop up where they definitely didn't say that, things like that. But just in the last... almost since COVID, it has really improved.
AI has gotten so amazing, and there are devices everywhere— your phone, you can instantly pull up an AI on your phone to transcribe anything that's being said anywhere at any time. That's amazing. All the computers nowadays have built-in things, like Chrome has a Chrome extension that you can download onto your computer. And then anytime any audio of any kind is on is played on your computer, it will instantly transcribe it live. That's pretty amazing.
And so for those individuals who don't have access to sign language or that isn't their first language, having an instant translator in their pocket or on their computer screen is pretty amazing. So I would say AI is probably the biggest technological advance.
Melissa: You mentioned hearing aids and cochlear implants. We were kinda curious about the different types of hearing devices that there are and how they kind of work differently.
Heidi: Yeah, so a hearing aid is fitted for the individual, and then it's adjusted by their audiologist to their hearing loss to give them the right amplification.
And nowadays, there are hearing aids that can be controlled by your phone, which is pretty amazing. So a Deaf or hard of hearing individual that is using a hearing aid, they can go on to their phone and tell it, "okay. I'm in a restaurant. I want you to increase voices and decrease background noise." Or "I'm in a museum, so it's gonna be a very quiet environment. I need you to amplify the speaker," things like that. So that's pretty cool.
And so there's the old-fashioned style hearing aids that a lot of people still use, which is totally fine, and you can even just do a mail order. You've probably seen commercials where they advertise hearing aids on the TV, and you just get one in the mail, and that simply amplifies. So that's just like a microphone in your ear. And that's what a lot of older people that lose their hearing later in life will use. But then there's the kind that I was talking about where an audiologist has fitted it specific to you and they program it for your specific needs.
There's also something called an FM system. That's a microphone that you can hand to an individual, and it will Bluetooth the sound that goes into the microphone straight to your hearing aid or your cochlear implant. So a lot of individuals will, if they're in school or in a lot of meetings, they'll purchase an FM system that will go with their hearing aid or their cochlear so that that sound can be directly inputted straight through rather than having to go through the airwaves.
And then, of course, the cochlear implant, and that's where you have a surgery done, where the doctors wire right into your cochlear. So it bypasses your ear, doesn't go through the hairs and vibrations in your ear, instead the sound goes directly to the cochlea. And then there's a magnet placed in your skull right there to hold the hearing piece on the back of your head. And so that's different than a hearing aid because it's not going through the ear, through the hair follicles and just amplifying. Instead, we're bypassing the ear completely and we're going straight to the cochlear. And that's definitely for much more profound deafness, where the ear is not working at all.
Emma: Thank you for sharing. That's really interesting. What are some effective communication strategies for communicating with people who have hearing loss?
Heidi: Definitely looking at them face-to-face, and trying to move to a quieter or close-knit environment is helpful.
But, yeah, face-to-face communication where they can see your facial expressions, read your lips if needed. Another great strategy is to use your hands. Even though you don't know sign language, just your natural gestures of your hands can communicate quite a bit because we naturally point to things and make things visual. So that's a great strategy, anytime you can make it more visual.
And then probably just being patient, being really patient and being willing to slow down, repeat yourself, just help them to be at ease and to feel comfortable with you and to be able to ask, "what? Pardon me. I didn't hear." And then repeat yourself.
Emma: Something I read about too— so, but, you know, this is just something I read online. So I don't know if it's true or not. But I read that it's good to not over enunciate because that can make it even harder to read your lips.
Heidi: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Do not yell at them. Yelling will not help. A lot of people, when they hear someone's Deaf or hard of hearing, they think, "oh, I'll just speak louder." Don't do that. That's off-putting and rude. You know? So don't yell at them. Don't over enunciate or make it bigger because, yeah, that's definitely... They get used to trying to read lips and facial expressions as they naturally are. And so if you're overemphasizing trying to make your point by making it bigger, you're actually making it harder for them, definitely.
Melissa: What are opportunities in our community to increase awareness for those who are Deaf and hard of hearing?
Heidi: Yeah. Probably the best thing you can do if you really wanna get involved is to join the Idaho Association of the Deaf and volunteer with them. They do different activities throughout the year. So in September, Deaf awareness month, they have the walk for ASL.
The closest one to us, I believe, is in Blackfoot, and they're looking for all kinds of volunteers to help with that by passing out T-shirts and different things. So, yeah, if you join the Idaho Association of the Deaf, you can help at different activities they have yearly. There's also church groups that you can find to volunteer with and things at the university. Our university has a group called Talking Hands, and this is actually a sign language workshop that is taught by our Deaf and hard of hearing students. So they teach sign language to hearing individuals, and they also do activities throughout the week and throughout the semester just to have fun and make friends.
So if you look on the Internet, just go out there and search and see what's in your area. You'll probably find some good places to participate.
Emma: What has had the most significant impact on your career in this field?
Heidi: My career... Probably COVID because we had to scramble to figure out how to do things differently, right?
Before we kind of knew the routine, we send interpreters to the classroom if that's what the students requested, or we send a live transcriber to the classroom, and suddenly, the live face-to-face stuff wasn't available. And so we had to— as everyone around the world did— we had to figure things out differently. And so that brought a lot more technology into the classroom. We started using Zoom a lot.
We had to start outsourcing because more people needed it than ever before. A lot of students up until then had just thought, "oh, I'll just survive without an interpreter, without a transcriber. I can hear well enough." Right? But once the face-to-face contact was gone, they couldn't just survive anymore, right? They needed more access.
And so because of COVID and that face-to-face situation being removed, we had to learn to use technology more and to find more resources. And everybody in the Deaf and hard of hearing culture and community really rallied together to say, "okay. How are we gonna make this work?" Right?
Zoom was probably huge. That's what we used the most with Zoom and getting interpreters to the students that way and then, of course, learning to use AI because of COVID. I don't think AI would be where it is now if we hadn't had those two rough years. Right? It had to get better really quick.
Melissa: Yeah. And then wearing masks too. That would...
Heidi: Yes.
Melissa: be hard. Like, it's hard to hear someone who's wearing a mask if you have don't have hearing loss.
Heidi: Yes.
Melissa: So someone who has hearing loss, that's got to be incredibly frustrating.
Heidi: Yeah. Masks were very tricky and a lot of Deaf people had to try and push really hard for their right to be able to have masks removed so that they could read lips and see what was being said. Masks were really tricky for them, and there are actually clear masks. That's what we used on campus. We had clear masks so that they could see, and we had a lot of people that are like, "I want that mask. That's a lot better." So yeah.
Melissa: Alright. Did that— I did not mean to make that controversial at all. It was just like a thought. Like...
Heidi: No.
Melissa: You're trying to read someone's lips.
Heidi: Yeah.
Melissa: It helps to see them.
Heidi: Right. But it was possible to do both. Yeah. To stay safe and wear a mask and still let them see the face of the individuals they're talking to. We just... we had to find the new resource, which was, for us, the clear mask.
Melissa: Who are some of your Deaf and hard of hearing heroes?
Heidi: The first person that comes to mind is probably Daniel Durant. I don't know if you know who he is, but he was on Dancing with the Stars.
Melissa: Oh, yes! He did such a good job.
Heidi: He did a great job, but he was so personable, so friendly, but I think he did a lot for everyone to see, "oh, I don't have to be at arm's length with this Deaf person. They're friendly. They're fun." But it was also really exciting because the interpreter was always on camera with him, and I think for a lot of people, that was the first time they saw a Deaf person and the interpreter interacting together, and so it kind of demystified things.
But I think my real, true Deaf hero is probably Linda Bove. She was Linda the librarian on Sesame Street. And so for most kids, she's the first Deaf person they meet, even though it's through a TV screen, right? But Linda Bove, she was fully Deaf and used sign language, and she was on several episodes. She was on a lot over for... like I think she was on for about 30 years.
But she not only used sign language, but she taught Deaf culture. I remember one episode where the Muppets, the different Sesame Street Muppets, and Big Bird were... they had learned that her doorbell— she couldn't hear a doorbell because she was Deaf, and so her doorbell flashed, which is very common. That's what a lot of, you know, our Deaf individuals use is a flashing doorbell or a flashing fire alarm or a vibrating alarm clock to wake them up out of bed. You know, and so she introduced that to the Muppets and to Big Bird, and they kept pushing the doorbell over and over and over and making her alarm, you know, her lights flash. And so the fact that she introduced that to the world, so it wasn't just, "oh, Deaf people use sign language."
It was all the other things that are part of the Deaf world, and I loved that when they were doing that, she actually got mad at them and told them to stop, and she was just human. She was real. I think that that just kind of brought Deaf culture to the world at a very just natural, normal way that a child could understand. So I think she's probably one of my heroes.
Emma: Are there any resources that you'd like to share for people who'd like to learn more about the Deaf and hard of hearing community?
Heidi: Yeah. I would just say, I know this sounds terrible, but Google. I mean, if there's something you wanna know, it's online. You're gonna be able to find resources. There are some amazing apps that you can put on your phone to teach you sign language if you're wanting to learn.
Just like there's apps for learning French and Spanish and all those things, same with sign language. So I would say go use it, learn some sign language. Some are free. Some are more expensive, but even just, you know, your public library is going to have materials. They might have a sign language textbook. They might have books about Deaf culture. So those are some good resources.
And then just joining a nonprofit. Go find a nonprofit that specializes in working with the Deaf or hard of hearing and just volunteer. Spend some time around the Deaf community.
Melissa: Is there anything you feel like we missed that you wanted to talk about?
Heidi: It's really interesting because Deaf and hard of hearing people... you're like, is there a definite line between someone who's Deaf and someone who's hard of hearing? And there's no definitive line, and they themselves get to decide if they're Deaf or if they're hard of hearing. And based on what group they're interacting with, it might change.
So, like, my daughter who's hard of hearing, around certain people, she'll introduce herself as being deaf. But around other groups, she'll say, "I'm hard of hearing." And it's based on how they want the people around them to perceive them and how to handle them, right? So if she's in a situation where she knows there's gonna be a lot of hearing issues and people are going to maybe not be as understanding, she'll say that she's deaf because then they're gonna kind of treat her with kid gloves, be more patient. Whereas if you say you're hard of hearing, then people are just like, "oh, okay. You've got hearing aids or something. You'll be fine." And then when you don't hear something and you're like, "what?" They go, "oh, don't worry about it." And they brush it off.
They're not as careful with you if you say you're hard of hearing. Whereas if you're deaf, people are much more careful, more understanding. So, yeah, it's kind of a weird blurred line, and that's why we always use both terms.
And there's also the difference between, like, a capital D Deaf or a small d deaf. So someone with a capital D Deaf is someone who was born Deaf, has been Deaf their whole life, uses sign language, and is, like, fully emerged in the Deaf community. Whereas, like, my daughter would not write with a capital d when she writes deaf because she's not fully submerged into that world. I mean, it's definitely part of her life, but yeah. It's...
Emma: So it's like a cultural thing as well as a...
Heidi: There's so much culture to the Deaf world.
Emma: Thank you, Heidi, for taking the time to come and talk with us and sharing your insights and experiences. We really appreciate it.
Melissa: If you enjoyed today's episode, please remember to share, subscribe, and rate the Riverbend Awareness Project.
Emma: If you'd like to send us an email, you can reach us via podcast@riverbendmediagroup.com. Thanks for listening, and join us next time on the Riverbend Awareness Project.