Monday, April 8, 2019
Fifth (sixth) blog
Hello everyone. I want to talk about a great camp experience from a few years ago. The name of the camp is Camp in Motion and it is located in Austin, Texas. “Camp in Motion is designed for kids who are 5-20 years old, have mild to (moderate) cerebral palsy, other almost same (similar) neurological (diagnosis)”.[1] Camp in Motion is “Dell Children’s adaptive sports camp partnership with YMCA of Austin.” [2] Here is more information about Camp in Motion.
I went to Camp in Motion when I was sophomore of high school. I went there because my physical therapist thought that it would be a good way to get therapy for the right side of my body in a fun environment. I went to camp for two weeks. During the first week of camp, I felt a little nervous because I didn’t know what campers like me would do during the day. I was with mostly hearing campers; however, there was one other deaf camper, a boy, who was younger than me. I noticed that the deaf boy had Cochlear Implants like me. He wore his to camp while I didn’t. Cochlear Implants can’t get wet and in camp, we sweated a lot and swam in a pool. I also didn’t want to lose my Cochlear Implants.
I was a little frustrated with communication access at first. It was hard to communicate with people because no one else knew sign language. Later, I understood what was going on a little better when I was paired with a hearing “buddy” who knew a little sign language. I was lucky to have a buddy who could communicate with me during the week. I had a lot fun with my buddy and the other campers. We played different games and did a lot of fun physical activities. We did warm ups before we started the camp day and cool downs at the end right before parent pick up time. After my Mom or Dad picked me up, I was always exhausted because of all of the events of the day. It was tiring but fun.
One day, my buddy had to leave to go off to school and I was alone without a buddy. I still did a lot of things with other campers, but I also spent a lot of time watching the other campers and their buddies. The deaf camper and his buddy caught my eye and I watched them. I started to notice that they were struggling to buddy communicate. I told myself that he was deaf like me and he probably knew sign language. I knew that I needed to help the deaf boy understand what was going on and what he needed to do.
I got up from the floor and walked over to them. I read lips so I understood what his buddy was trying to tell him. I started signing what the buddy was saying to him. I introduced myself. He asked me in sign language “Are you deaf?” I said yes and I asked him “Are you going to Texas School for the Deaf?” He said yes, and he asked me the same question. I said yes. I helped him throughout the day until his mom picked him up.
One woman, the camp manager, saw what happened and told my Dad when he came to pick me up. She asked my dad if I could be a buddy to the deaf boy and also a camper at the same time for the next week. My dad told her to ask me and my dad interpreted what she said. I did not realize that she watched me while I helped the deaf boy. I said yes to the opportunity because I enjoyed seeing the deaf boy understand what was going on like me. Also, we both knew and understood the same language. The second week, I worked as a buddy and camper at the same time. I enjoyed my job as a buddy.
I decided to come back to camp again the next year, when I was junior in high school. For the first week, I was asked to be a buddy again and was teamed with a cute hearing little girl. For the second week, I was just a camper and I had another buddy to work with me for the week. Still, I sometimes helped another camper who was deaf and had autism. I worked with different campers and helped them. I really enjoyed it. I really miss that camp and I hope I can return to that camp and as staff someday in the future.
[1] Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. “Camp in Motion - Cerebral Palsy Adaptive Sports Summer Camp.” Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, www.dellchildrens.net/camp-in-motion/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2019.
[2] Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. “Camp in Motion - Cerebral Palsy Adaptive Sports Summer Camp.” Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, www.dellchildrens.net/camp-in-motion/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2019.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Fourth (Fifth) blog
Meeting “Panama” and “Winter”
When I finished the 4th grade, my parents picked me from school. I saw a lot of bags in the back and asked where we were going. They said, “you will see.” We drove for the rest of that day and stopped at a hotel to rest and be ready for the next day. I kept asking where we were going, but they still said, “you will see.” I was so irritated about it. Finally, the next day, we arrived at another hotel and they said, “we are here.” We were in Florida and they said that we were on vacation.
We stayed at a hotel on the beach. We played at the pool and on the beach and had a nice time. One day, my parents said that we were going to see something special. We went to an aquarium. I was bored but tried to make the best of it. My parents were telling me what was going on. I went to a tank and they brought a dolphin up to meet me. Her name was “Panama” and the biologist told me that she was deaf. I was so excited because I never saw a deaf dolphin before. I reached down to pet and play with it.
After a few minutes, another dolphin came up. This dolphin had a funny tail. Her name was “Winter”. It didn’t look right. The biologist said that the dolphin didn’t have a tail, so they made one for it. My dad said it was a prosthetic tail. She came up to me and I reached down to pet and play with her too. They said that both dolphins were special and that there were no other dolphins like them. I was excited because I saw that they could do what the other dolphins were doing. My parents said that they can swim and do tricks and whatever they wanted, but people needed to help them find another way.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Third (Fourth) blog
Hello
everyone. If you are new to this blog, welcome. My name is Julia and I want to
talk about how people will sometimes treat me differently because I am deaf and
have cerebral palsy.
For
example, when I was two or three years old, my teacher tried to have me sit in
a special chair that
was made of wood.
It was a different chair from what my peers used. I wanted to use the same
chair as my friends, so I refused to sit in that special chair. At the end of
the day, my teacher talked with my mom about what happened and that’s when my
mom knew that I didn’t like when people treated me different. Sometimes, I need special things and
sometimes I don’t. It depends on the situation for me.
Another
example occurred when I moved to Texas from Maryland. I was in 7th grade and it was a complete change for me. I was in a different environment and with people
had different experiences from me. When
I talked with people, I could see in people’s faces that they didn’t want to
talk with me or that they were bored with our conversation. It was hard for
some people to understand my signing because of my cerebral palsy and others,
who were hearing, had a hard time understanding my speech because I am deaf. When I tried to communicate, some people would
pretend to understand when they really didn’t. They would lie to me and pretend that they
were my friend but then talk about me behind my back. I could tell by seeing how they treated their
other friends compared to how they treated me. Also, they would be interested in doing fun
things with their friends but wouldn’t invite me. I am fine with that because it is their
choice to do that.
I
can’t do anything about what other people do and say but I can control what I
do and how I feel. I choose to be
positive and do things like smile at someone, do things to cheer someone up, or
do something good for people. In the Bible, it says that we should treat people
how we want to be treated. My advice is
to treat people nice so that others do the same for you. Also, everyone has something that they
struggle with. You just happen to see my
struggles because of my disability. I am
still human. You can smile at me or wave
and that will make my day bright.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Second (Third) blog (part two)
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Hello everyone. I want to talk about some of the differences between my deaf schools in Maryland and Texas and my university in Virginia. The difference between my schools and university are communication, classroom instruction, and two different laws for students with disabilities. I have great feelings and my confidence about things in both schools.
My deaf schools and my university have different ways of communicating, providing accommodations, and classroom instruction. There are two different laws covering people with special needs at my Deaf schools and my university. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) cover K-12 schools including my Deaf schools. The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) for employments, universities, including my university. The two different laws can be confusing to me because the laws have different accommodations, but I am so blessed to have wonderful laws to help me to be successful with education and jobs.
The cool thing about going to a Deaf school is everyone speaks the same language. Hearing people and Deaf people both know American Sign Language (ASL) in my schools and other Deaf schools. I had some Deaf teachers and some hearing teachers. My Deaf schools try to teach kids like me things based on visual and some things based on the sounds. The only difference was that some of my friends stayed in a dorm during the week and went home to see their families on weekends while I went home to see my family every day.
During my high school years, when I participated in some activities, like cheerleading, robotics, plays, and leadership retreat, sometimes I would stay in the dorm because we had very busy days and late activities or practices and it was easier than going home. I can’t compare my school to other schools that my friends went to because I only went to Deaf schools when I was growing up. I learned about the same subjects, but I also learned about deaf history and deaf culture in addition to the normal subjects like English, math, science, and social studies or history.
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I am so proud to be Deaf and my deaf schools helped me to grow my Deaf identify. When I learned about Deaf history, I fell in love with Deaf history and I am so happy that I able to have amazing Deaf role models like Marlee Martin, Nyle Dimarco, Claudia Gordon, Haben Girma, CJ Jones, etc. I feel confidence about my knowable in my subjects and my education when I was in Deaf schools. Lot people ask me if I miss being at a Deaf school. I say that sometimes, I do. Of course, I miss my friends, but the biggest thing that I miss is communications access to everything at school. When there were the events at school, everyone was signing. If it was open to everyone including hearing people, there were interpreters. It was very inclusive.
I am happy being at Hampton University. Even though I am only Deaf person here, I have learned so much, not just in class but in life lessons like how to fight for myself to get accommodations. My university teach kids and me things based on the sounds more than vision. When I am in my university, I am learning about hearing culture and black culture more. Now that I am at Hampton University, I am so proud to be a black woman and my school helped me to grow my black identify more. When I am learning about black history, I fall in love with black history and I am so happy that I able to have very amazing black role models like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Ruby Bridges, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, etc. I feel confident about my writing and my education when I am at my university. I feel more confident about my writing even writing is tough for me because my first language is American Sign Language (ASL). My second language is English. It is ironic because English is my favorite subject since my freshman in high school even though I still struggle with writing. I am still learning about writing and different things about hearing culture but I love my Home by the Sea.
Second (Third) blog (part one)
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Hello everyone. I want to talk about the similarities between my deaf schools in Maryland and Texas and my university in Virginia. The similarities between my schools and university are getting a good education, having a social life, residential, and participating in different organizations/clubs that involve the community and students. I experienced the great feelings and gained confidence in myself in these schools.
My deaf schools and my university have some similarities in education and social life. My Deaf schools in Maryland and Texas and my hearing university are a good education for me. My first deaf school in Maryland was Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. I was there in preschool to almost half of the second grade. I learned about reading and math and about the deaf history and deaf culture. My second deaf school was Maryland school for the Deaf. I was there in almost half of the second grade to sixth grade. I learned more about reading, math and started learning about science, and social science, I also learned about the history of America. My third deaf school was Texas school for the Deaf. I was there from the seventh grade to my senior year of high school. I learned more about english, math, science, and history. I learned a lot about Science and Technology and Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) when I was in Texas School for the Deaf. The one of top deaf school in the country is the Texas School for the Deaf.
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I am now, a freshman at Hampton University. It is a very good historically black college and university (HBCU). I am learning more things like English, math, history, and different things to help prepare me for the future and my university life. I am learning more about black history, black culture, HBCU history, and the HBCU experience than when I was growing up. My deaf schools and my hearing university have a great social life for students and me. The social life in my schools have wonderful dance parties, different social events, and I can go out with my friends to the restaurants and go to places off campus. I was able to make new friends and meet new people from different states where I was in my three deaf schools. I am also able to make new friends and meet new people from different states and countries.
My deaf schools and my university have amazing different organizations/clubs to be involved in. When I was in Texas School for the Deaf, I was involved with the two organizations and two or three clubs. The two organizations are Black Deaf Student Union and Junior National Association of the Deaf. The two clubs are Tech Girls and Performing Arts. There was also one club that was also a class and that was Robotics. At Hampton University, I am not involved with any organizations and clubs yet, but my university have a lot good organizations and clubs. My deaf schools are different from public schools because my deaf schools are residential schools and kids who are in other cities that far away stay in dorms and go home on weekends. My deaf schools are the same as my university because they have dorms and they are residential schools.
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