Items

• 2020-03

  Old dog/new tricks! a new way to teach.....

  I finally became a video star.....that was never my intention when I started teaching fifty years ago! I am an adjunct art professor. When lockdown came and I couldn't teach in person, I had to find a new way to teach my class.....Zoom felt too complicated to me so I communicated with my students via email and videos that my husband and I made in the basement! A 15 minute video took over 3 hours or more between the filming and the editing! In addition, I really had to work hard to find the best way to communicate-the most effective way to present the lesson, as no questions could be asked as I presented the material. It really got me to think and be very clear about the subject and the best way to teach it. Once in front of the camera, I made believe I was talking to my class and just ran with it! I felt comfortable once I started. It was funny though, as we had to carefully think about camera angles and outfits that worked well as I moved! After all, this was permanently on tape...And, I had to be brave! My Brooklyn/StatenIsland accent was forever heard, as well as facial features, expressions and body parts that have always plagued me be forever seen! Overall, though, a great experience!!!! Who would have thought that such an awful, disturbing period could bring about new, positive experiences! Ah, but that is life after all, isn't it?
• 
  2020

  Zoom Meetings

  This was a meme my friends and I shared around after Zoom became the #1 way of communicating, both in work and personal lives. It's poking fun at how awkward and stiff people usually look on camera, as well as the learning curve around using different Zoom functions.
• 
  2021-08-10

  Get vaccinated so I can communicate again.

  Caption to post: As I’m sure you’ve seen and experienced, mask mandates are starting to come back. In stores, offices, and on my college campus as well. As a person with hearing loss, masks make it so difficult me for me to communicate. I rely so heavily on lipreading, seeing how the mouth moves when speaking, to understand what is said. Without lipreading, my speech recognition is around 16%. This means with masks, I can only absorb 16% of all interactions - that is incredibly isolating. When I go back to the classroom in September, it’s going to be so difficult to navigate the classroom setting when I can’t understand anyone. My teachers will have clear masks provided, but what about during group work or when students ask questions that I might also have? I’m going to completely miss out on the college experience I’ve been longing for for a year and a half because people won’t get vaccinated. I’m tired of disclosing my hearing loss to check out at a store. I’m tired of constantly fighting for closed captioning for online lectures. I’m tired of living in a pandemic where we have a solution to end it. Vaccines work. Vaccines save lives. Getting the vaccine means you’re helping deaf and hard of hearing people get back to a place where they can communicate again. SAVE this post and SHARE to spread awareness. This topic is NOT talked about enough and it’s something that affects the deaf and hard of hearing community every single day. ID IN COMMENTS
• 2022-03-25

  How COVID Changed my Marriage

  I got married in May of 2019. When I got married, I had no idea something like COVID would happen and change the dynamics I had with my husband. COVID happened the first few months into our marriage. With it, my husband had to start working from home. I won't lie and say it wasn't an issue with my husband having to not be in the office anymore. I felt like I couldn't do as many things, as my husband had to talk to clients and go to meetings, where I couldn't be too loud. Another thing I wasn't used to at the beginning of all of this was seeing my husband far more often than just before or after work. With that, I had to learn to communicate better with any issues I had instead of bottling it up as much. As we were together more, I had to learn to accommodate for that. From reading news stories early in 2020, not everyone was able to make their marriages work, and ended up getting divorced after some spouses were made to work from home. I think that is one thing people aren't always aware of being an issue in a marriage. Sometimes too much time together can have the opposite effect, especially if communication was already shaky even before the pandemic. There were a few times I did get angry with my husband for not feeling like I was being understood. With him being at the apartment more, there were more opportunities for me to get annoyed with him. At some points though, the anger wasn't even really his fault, but my own for not dealing with the lockdowns well mentally in addition to forgetting to take medicine or do other tasks. I had to learn to speak more openly about these issues rather than letting them linger. Funnily enough, it wasn't until February of this year that we both really learned to talk to each other more productively. The big fight we had was partly from me feeling jealous of how my husband would talk to his friends more often than he would me, as for a while by that point, we had gotten into a routine during COVID of both of us being on our phones way more than we should be. We later had to come to the agreement to set aside specific time for each other without using our phones. It has already been over a month since that change, and the relationship has improved drastically. Some of my habits that I made to help cope with COVID and general anxiety issues kept me from having as solid a relationship with my husband. Intimacy was another issue that came up due to my husband working from home. Even though we physically saw each other more often, we didn't kiss nearly as much as we used to. I think that sometimes kissing goes to the wayside if people become too busy. This was something we ended up having multiple discussions on, as we wanted to show more affection with each other, but did not think to do it. Overall, the biggest changes that happened in my relationship with my husband because of COVID was the way we communicated. Being together in person more often meant we had to work through multiple issues we had prior to COVID or because of COVID. Being alone together more often may seem like an ideal situation to some people looking from the outside, but with it can bring a host of new issues. Some people during the pandemic learned this the hard way and ended up getting divorced. The problems me and my husband have had were not unsolvable, but they take some maturity to work through without it causing resentment. I think sometimes of what it would have been like if COVID never happened early on into our marriage, and now I am glad some of it did, because I have become a better wife and am able to meet my husband's needs better than before. Life really did hand me one very tart lemon by having to deal with a pandemic the first few years in marriage, which many say are some of the most vulnerable years for a couple. That tart lemon has since been made sweet, but only because both of us were able to recognize problems and figure out ways to help each other.
• 
  2020-06-06

  Fandom spaces forming international friendships during a pandemic 2020

  Due to the difficulty of making friends in person due to covid, I increasingly turned to online fandom spaces to find people with similar interests to me. The follow screenshot is from a tumblr group chat confirming the first international fan based Zoom call which I was part of in June 2020. CST refers to Central Standard Time, the timezone which encompasses countries of Central and parts of Eastern Europe. This was my first experience talking to people from overseas that shared similar interests to me on a video call. It lead to me join multiple groups across platforms such as discord to communicate further. It was the beginning of me gaining more international friends which have been a really important part of keeping an active social life during this pandemic. It was also an eye opening experience to hear first hand accounts of how people around the world were living through this global pandemic.
• 
  2021-07-23

  Mental Health And Remote Work: Survey Reveals 80% Of Workers Would Quit Their Jobs For This

  Teleworkers during the pandemic have experienced mental health challenges. For some individuals, working from home during the pandemic has increased their anxiety and stress levels. They have found it difficult to unplug from work, work longer hours at home than they did in the office, and struggle with the lack of social interaction. This article discusses ways that employers can support their employees and address their mental health struggles.
• 
  2021-05-14

  "Disinformation Dozen"

  This article discusses "misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines that proliferate on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter". According to the article, 12 people are behind the majority of the misinformation surrounding COVID and the vaccine that leads to conspiracy theories. Many of these theories have led some social media users to avoid the vaccine and ignore scientific facts. It is scary to think that such a small group of people are in control of so much of what we see on social media. What this small group shares and communicates to users are so widespread... I can't open a social media app without seeing some sort of conspiracy theory about COVID or the vaccine. We are so close to overcoming the pandemic, but this type of misinformation is holding us back.
• 
  2020-04-07

  Our New COVID-19 Vocabulary—What Does It All Mean?

  Before the pandemic, most people didn't know many of the terms associated with epidemic diseases and SARS-type viruses. In order to understand what was happening, people had to quickly acquire a whole new vocabulary. This article from Yale Medicine helps define some of the most critical and widely used terms.
• 
  2021

  Essential Tips for Working From Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic

  This article provides tips on how to work effectively from home during the pandemic and discusses how to set up a home office, stay connected and in communication with coworkers, and strike a viable work-life balance.
• 
  2020-06-19

  Is Working Remote A Blessing Or Burden? Weighing The Pros And Cons

  This article discusses the pros and cons of changes to productivity caused by the shift to teleworking during the pandemic in countries around the globe. Major themes are mental health and work-life balance.
• 
  2021-04-09

  Rights were violated

  Rights were violated I wanted to share this video for several reasons. The focus is on how the police responds to the deaf mother and 1) asks the twins so many questions in front of the mom who does not know what is being said here. 2) You never handcuff a deaf person behind their back. 3) The Americans with Disabilities Act was violated. 4) The cop got mad at Mom for not “listening to directions.” Really. 5) The deaf person is the one who is left in the dark literally. She is the focus here yet she does not know what is happening. Unfortunately, this is too common in deaf and hard of hearing people’s experience with the police. This should not be the common experience in dealing with the police. There are more reasons, but the point is… this is one reason why the deaf people are so hesitant about getting help/support from the police. I hope this video as traumatizing, becomes a lesson. Police reform is much needed in so many areas, including learning how to communicate & how to work with deaf and hard of hearing people, the DO’s and the DON’Ts as seen here. I hope to see more training with the police departments in understanding how to work with deaf and hard of hearing people. I pray for healing for Mom- @burgundre Drizzy, and her twins. You can go and support her as she fights this. Trigger warning here. Posted @withregram • @kelly4access 11 year old twin girls are forced by police (Michael Rose of the North Las Vegas PD) to interpret for their deaf mom and are interrogated while she is handcuffed. @burgundre recorded recorded her encounter on FB Live. Thanks so much @dpantv for working late in the night to make this accessible!! #asl #captions #signlanguage #police #discrimination #injustice #ada #policebrutality #whyisign #askmewhyisign
• 
  2020-12-31

  2020 is the year of covered faces

  2020 is the year of covered faces. My deafness is invisible until I start signing, and I rely on facial cues, so mask wearing has been challenging. But according to @google this year, the world searched twice as much for "invisible disability" than last year. More knowledge, more visibility. Keep wearing masks and keep asking why. Check out this and other trends at google.com/yearinsearch #YearInSearch
• 
  2020-07-23

  I'm F*%!@d!

  @deafimmy is a Deaf Tik Tok creator who is posting hilarious videos on #Deaf life in lockdown and #deafculture! Check out this skit on reading lips during and after #coronavirus. 🤣 #captionsmatter #deaftiktok #lipreading Immy Nunn's Tik Tok: @deafimmy YouTube: ImImmy
• 
  2021-03-20

  If You Need To Read Lip's...

  At Muir Woods National Park the park ranger had a sign displayed, If you need to read lips just let them know and they will remove their face coverings to communicate with you. I was super impressed. This year has be rough. I make my husband do the shopping after a man yelled at me at the beginning of the pandemic because I didn't hear the cashier the next isle over when she said she could help me. The man yelled, "What are you deaf?" and I was too embarrassed to defend myself. I don't wear my hearing aids now because of the mask. Insurance wont cover the cost of the hearing aid and it costs more than my car. I am worried a hearing aid will fly off when I remove my mask so against the advisement of my audiologist I just keep them off. It's whatever. Seeing signs like this just impress me. Inclusivity matters.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Communication

  One of the things many of us may not realize is that there are a lot of hearing impaired individuals out there who have difficulty reading lips due mask wearing. It’s important that everyone be patient with others and realize that some people may be unable to understand you. Maintaining a safe distance while pulling your mask down might be necessary for effective communication. . . Special thanks my patient of mine who gave me permission to share this post. . #hearing #hearingloss #hearinglossawareness #hearingimpaired #deafandcovid #deafandmasks #covid_19
• 
  2021-02-05

  The Inhumanity of Zoom

  With the increase in teleworking due to the pandemic has come an increase in Zoom meetings. These meetings have proven to be almost inhumane in my mind, as it's very difficult to communicate with others without nonverbal cues and people use the impersonal nature of communicating over a screen rather than in person to be pushy, rude, and self-absorbed. Although the pandemic will end one day, Zoom meetings will probably still be prevalent and lessons must be learned about how to make these meetings polite, uplifting, and productive.
• 
  2020-09-26

  Family Fights

  HIST30060 My family is pretty large: I have two brothers, a sister….and a whole menagerie of animals! Gracie dog is the best, but we also have another dog, several cats, a rabbit, and a variety of feathered friends. My siblings live interstate, so we’ve been barred from seeing them since February because of border restrictions. During lockdown, we’ve been keeping in touch by having consistent arguments on our family group chat about how to rank our pets from best to worst. My brother frames it like a ‘best and fairest medal’, as you’d receive in sport. The conversations remind me of when we all used to live together at home, and they’ve provided a nice reprieve from more ominous discussions about the pandemonium enveloping society. I think the notion of ‘reprieve’ is central to the power of animals in this plague year: they distract us from our pandemic woes and force us to take a sabbatical from our anxieties.
• 
  2020-09-01

  Digital Barkive

  HIST30060 I created an Instagram account during Victoria’s first lock-down to chronicle my experiences with my dog during the pandemic. It’s from Gracie’s perspective and purely for fun, but I think it also represents a rudimentary ‘barkive’ with insight into how ‘stay-at-home’ mandates provided refreshed impetus to interact with our furry friends and rely upon them for comfort and companionship.
• 
  2020-07-14

  Access restrictions during Victoria's second wave, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

  A regular entrance to the hospital is closed and covered with posters with public health messages and information on access restrictions in response to Victoria's second wave of infections in July 2020.
• 2020-10-01

  The COVID Pandemic and economic greed

  I wanted to share a bit about my life during COVID. My brother is currently incarcerated, and I would travel at least once a month to visit him. Once COVID hit, visitations were canceled, and my family was forced to rely on phone calls or snail mail. My brother would call us about once a week for his own sanity and ours as well. Several things have happened these past few months, which made our situation as a family more complicated. A phone call to my brother used to cost him (or us) 40 cents a minute. When COVID hit the private company used by the prison to facilitate calls, decided to take advantage of our reliance on phone calls and upcharge their prices. Phone calls now cost over a dollar a minute. Thankfully my family does ok and phone calls are not something we are willing to let go of, but I feel for families who have to choose between food, bills or funding their calling account. I know it sounds like an extreme situation, but there are families that have lost all contact with their loved ones who are incarcerated because of COVID, and these companies are taking advantage of the pandemic. Were now paying almost twenty dollars for every ten minute conversation, trust me it adds up real quick. The worst part is that these companies have contracts with the prisons, and we (the families on the outside) have no choice or say as far as what company we are able to go through to talk to those incarcerated. As if COVID and social distancing weren't enough, I'm now missing and worrying about my brother more than usual.
• 
  2020-07-14

  Decal with social distancing message, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

  This floor decal in the hospital forecourt was introduced in June 2020, one of many communications produced for both internal and external hospital audiences in response to the course of the pandemic and evolving government public health guidelines and restrictions.
• 
  2020-07-03

  My Battle Call

  Reminders such as these have been circulating. Trying to help hearing people understand some challenges those in the Deaf world are facing right now. One of them being our inability to read lips and facial expressions. Many Deaf, deaf, HoH people have been shamed in public recently because we can not understand people wearing masks. Hearing people can be very rude shouting at us, "What are you deaf or something?!?" Well, yes sir I am!
• 
  2020-04-06

  How to Communicate with Those Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

  Communication is difficult for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.
• 
  2020-06-24

  Deaf man makes masks for Deaf and HoH

  The deaf, Deaf, HoH community are scrambling to get ahold of these masks with clear windows. It really only helps if everyone were to wear them, or at least family members and people who deal with the public. Also, side note: hearing-impaired is not PC! We prefer to be called HoH. I wish the reporter had done some research.
• 
  2020-06-26

  Government vital communication to deaf/Deaf/HoH community lacking

  One of the frustrations amung the deaf/Deaf/HoH communities is the governments communication during a crisis. Several times there is no sign interpreter available on screen while politicians are speaking. Sometimes there is no live CC available. A few times, fake interpreters are speaking gibberish during a live governmental press conference, putting the lives of many in the Deaf community at risk. There are millions of deaf/Deaf/HoH in the U.S. and I feel like the pandemic had swept our needs aside.
• 
  2020-06-26

  Backorder form for communicator surgical mask

  The demand for clear facemasks is high right now for both medical professionals and everyday people. It makes me happy to see that people even care that deaf, Deaf, or HoH can communicate. Unfortunately, many of us worry for our health if we were to become sick and need to go into the hospital right now. What about medical error from miscommunication? Pencil and pad of paper seem our best bet to not be misunderstood.