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As some of you might know, I know very little sign language. I was mainstreamed in a school that did not provide a dual setting to learn the English language and sign language. I was never against learning sign (as some of you think I am) but when I was younger I preferred to talk and I always will. There have been times that I wish I knew ASL like when I went to a couple of local Deaf Fests. My experiences at these events were not great because the minute that I would start to talk, they would walk away from me. I know you are thinking that my cochlear implant was a problem but the fact that I had a CI never entered into the equation because I didn't even get remotely close to getting through the preliminary greetings to tell them I had one. It was hurtful at first but I needed to learn more about the culture and I made a decision that I wanted to learn ASL because I think it is a beautiful language, just like dance.
"Way out of my league," I thought to myself.
Once I took a seat, I started to study the hand movements. I learned more sign language in 2 hours then in the past 20 years. The deaf people that I met were patient and took the time to show me different signs. There was even a couple of interpreters there which was helpful because I was the one that needed interpreting :)
Overall, the deaf bingo game was a good experience for me. I made some new friends, left with a boatload of signs, and I am planning to go back. My only complaint is that I didn't win... blah!
Deafcone was just activated last Tuesday and already had a couple mappings since! Ahh... those first few weeks are fun times, fun times indeed. I think he hinted around that he has an activation video that he is attempting to caption yippie!! I will be looking forward to that!
Cyborg Queen was activated last Friday! She seems to be doing fairly well; she is in that "Oh boy! its loud!" stage. She can already tell a difference between using the CI and the HA... I'm very excited to see how she does with hers :)
Mike Chorost had his junior partner activated on January 24th and I am having such a joy reading tale of his two ears :) He is already able to localize sounds! I am over the moon for him!
Sam Spritzer has an up and coming activation slotted for February 15th for his second ear. It seems like it is taking forever to get here which is good for me for an undisclosed reason, but for him, i can't wait!
My friend Joleen is being turned on Valentines Day! She went and had her stitches taken out last Tuesday, which went fine. Then her Audi hooked her up to the computer to test drive the first four electrodes and she heard her Audi talking! She said it sounded far away which is normal but it sounded just like her hearing aid! This is an ear that she has never ever used a hearing aid and I am not allowed to divulge how long that has been :) Now she is antsy in the panties for activation! Thank goodness, my dear Audi didn't tease me like that!
Amy is another one with a February activation! Its the ears of the Aquarius :) She is slotted for the 12th. One more week to go girl!
Shari has become a candidate for a Cochlear Implant! (doing the wave) She is in the beginning process of picking out which brand of CI to get. I really like reading her blog because she is not only deaf, she suffers from Ushers which is a disease that causes progressive blindness but it offers a completely different perspective.
Jillian is a little one that will be having surgery tomorrow. Her mom has been fighting with the insurance company for quite some time to pay for the surgery and she finally got approval back in December! I got my fingers crossed Jilly!
Seek Geo's is my favorite vlogger because he signs AND he captions his videos which helps someone like me who doesn't know how to sign. I have learned a lot just from watching him and I am looking forward to watching many more! I like the way he thinks too, he believes that everyone should respect one another! He is so entertaining to watch and is pretty easy on the eyes if you ask me :)
Val who is the mother of two adorable children with cochlear implant just posted a video with subtitles! Go check it out!
Mike McConnell at Kokonut Pundit has quickly become one of my favorite spitfire blogs to read. The southerner has become the first vlogger on Deafread to use his voice and not sign but he captions to make sure not one single person is going to miss what is being said. Some people are upset by this because he does know how to sign, I'm just slapstick happy that it is captioned!
Another blog I just discovered is at http://www.bluejeansguy.com/ which uses ASL and he has started captioning his vlogs!
If I forgot someone, shoot me an email and I'll revise this faster then you can learn to say "How are you?" in Urdu :)
I must end this post with paying homage to the NEW YORK GIANTS!!! Hopefully, the Giants will set the tune that the Yankees will march right to the World Series this year.
33 comments:
Hii!!
Aw, I'm flattered! Wow, I had no idea about these two (Jennifer & Val) provided captions, I gotta check these out after this. I'm thrilled that Mike (Kokonut Pundit) provided captions on his as well.
The same goes to Blue Jeans Guy and I'm sure there will be more in the near future. I strongly encourage to let everyone know it is always a personal choice so if they want to do it, go for it!
I remember about six months ago, someone asked me why I was the only one that provides captions on all vlogs so far. I told her not to worry because I know soon or later she will see more of them from others. He he.
Thanks again! :-D
Hugs
-SG
Hii!
I'm so pleased to get to know you more and reading your blog. I am thinking about trying to have my vlogs captioned. Pray for me.
Go, girl! Glad to know that your world is open to all kinds of experiences, deaf included.
Hey doll!! Thanks for the mention! I went and checked out several of your linkies...and have been having fun visits!
I wish we had Deaf/HOH activities a little closer to here. The nearest ones are over an hour away, and I don't get to go as much as I want to :(. I'm glad you got to go play Bingo...maybe you'll get lucky and actually win next time! :)
Ahhhh.....not gonna reveal what the 15th is???? Ok....lets see....nahhhh, I'll keep the secret for ya but thanks for the shout-out. I plan to video my activation too!
This post brought back memories! I remember feeling the same way when I was first introduced to ASL. And I played bingo a lot with the seniors group that I started over 20 years ago. :)
I also know what he 15th is..... I won't say either.....
Love the links and will check them out. Home sick today with stomach bug. Send it to Jeresy..
Me? A "spitfire"? LoL. Thanks. Secondly, I'm not quite a "southerner." Sure, I moved to Georgia when I was 10 (from Tacoma, Seattle) and acquired a southern voice. My younger sister had it worse.
Just wait and watch for more of my "spitfire" vlogs. I'm a just warmin' up.
Geo - I'm trying to make a captioned vlog myself but I am not finding it to be that easy to make the video. I think I have to make a script or something :) I must have tried 50 times (thank god for rechargable batteries) :) I'm obviously going to talk but if I know the sign for it, I will do it. It just takes one person to set an example and you have done it :)
Deb ann - I'm looking forward to getting to you guys too :) thank you for reading me, it means a lot :) I will pray for you, it is a little time consuming but overall I think it is worth it but it it is up to anyone if they want to take the time out to do it.
Sam and Val - I appreciate you all keeping the 15th under wraps :)
Jen - I am so surprised because apparently a lot of the churches have deaf organizations. I'm not what you call an overly religious person so I would have never known this unless it was for my religious deaf friend :)
Ann - I am very opened minded, except for cannablism. I draw the line there :) A lot of people are quick to jump the gun and draw misconclusions about me when it is just the opposite..
Karen it is was a very interesting experience, but it was a lot of fun and I left with a hell of a lot more then what I had when I walked in.
It is time consuming at first when you are learning the basics of vlogging and subtitling. Just take your time and soon it'll get easier over time.
For me, either I can do it by script and copy it for the subtitle or wing it and listen to what I said and type in the subtitle.
Either way, but the investment is that you get to reach a much wider audience whether you sign or talk.
Abbie,
Glad to know that you are finding your experience positive with the Deaf community by joining bingo games. It is the best way to pick up ASL by being immersed in the environment. Way to go!
As you can see that adding captions are time consuming, that's why I didn't do it. How about giving a handswave for vloggers making an effort to provide transcripts as well? Do you find reading transcripts help you to recognize signs as well?
sEE WHAT YOU STARTED. You're a mine of information, thanks for the links.
Barb DiGi,
I find it interesting that every time when some people said good things about captions, you jumped in saying transcripts.
You have to understand that since vlogs were founded a few years ago so we have praised some of them for providing transcripts all along. I have praised them in one of my videos many months ago.
So, now with captions because it is as you can say "brand new" thing to talk about so which is why we are praising them for it now.
It's like we first saw Electric cars that came out and we'd end up talking about it all the time until years later Hybrid cars came out, we are talking about it now.
So, basically captions are new in this community but these ones who still provide transcripts, we do not forget them.
-SG
I am having a problem posting my comment so hope this one goes through..so I apologize for duplication.
Geo, I frowned upon your assumption about me jumping in EVERYTIME some people said good things about captions. I only made a comment once or twice in the vlog/blogosphere before this post when expressing my opinions (can't I?) about captioning. Are you confusing me with someone else? What is even funny is that this vlog post didn’t even say good things about captions but raised a question that I wanted to share my opinion about it. In this case, Abbie was making a comment that she found that making a captioned vlog was difficult and experienced a struggle to make it. I was just simply sharing my mutual feelings since I understood what she went through since I tried it once. I honestly don’t know how you and the other vloggers did it and it is amazing for you all making the effort and taking the time doing that.
Actually, don't you think you have been jumping in the discussions much more frequently than I do when it comes to captioning issues? Also, I noticed that you had a recent post about people commenting good things about captions and do pray tell where did I jump in? In addition, there was a conflict between you and the other vlogger (unfortunately) about captioning issues and again where did you see that I have jumped in? Geo, it seems to me that you are being sensitive but defensive about captioning. It is always the vlogger’s choice to do captioning or provide transcripts so we are on the same boat.
You know it is funny that you brought up how captions are considered a “brand new thing” to talk about. Except for vlogging, captioning was around for decades in films for the Deaf, movies and TV programs while ASL in videos are much more relatively new that we finally get to appreciate direct communication. However, people like you and me are not leaving out non-signers but we happen to do it in a different way so why can't we shake our hands?
So thank you for your last statement.. "but these ones who still provide transcripts, we do not forget them.” That was nice of you to include this statement.
May peace be with you.
Barb DiGi,
I'm confused now, you are accusing me of making assumptions, aren't you the one who just assumed about me jumping in every time regarding captions?
You said "there was a conflict between you and the other vlogger (unfortunately) about captioning issues and again where did you see that I have jumped in?" Actually, I see that you did on that vlogger's site, your name was on there.
In past months, I worked with people to show them how to add captions using Mac either in persons, via VP, or emails. I am always more than happy to train whenever they ask at no charges. I even offered to caption Jack's Eyes once to get the message across but unfortunately, after his video was put up, that's how the attack started.
So that leaves me confused because I thought I was doing the community a favor to include everyone to get the message loud and clear.
When people contacted me several times asking which is best way for them to do transcripts or captions, I told them it is up to them how they feel whatever it works for them. I gave them a few links to b/vlog sites for best examples, I always include yours for transcripts.
I personally like to see diversity of vlog sites, some does transcripts, some does captions and some doesn't do either to make things more interesting and give people more choice, don't you think? :-)
Cheers,
-SG
Ok, Geo, gee, I did not make an assumption about "you jumping in every time regarding caption topics" since I asked you a question while you made a statement about me. So it is a big difference here.
Ok, since you are pushing me to go into details so here it goes. When I said “there was a conflict between you and the other vlogger (unfortunately) about captioning issues and again where did you see that I have jumped in?" and then you made an assumption once again that you saw my comments on that vlogger’s site. Geo, you did not even ask me which site I was referring to! To make it clear, it was ASLpride’s site when he mentioned that "Its important as Seek Geo and drmzz mention that my vlog focus on my problem and how can I solve my problem. The rest comments between them is their arguments." So I hope you both solved the conflict by the way.
Again, I do not appreciate your attempt to make me look like that I was lying and this is not cool for you to accuse me like that.
Another thing, I don't understand why you are asking me this question:
"some does transcripts, some does captions and some doesn't do either to make things more interesting and give people more choice, don't you think? :-)"
since I am not disputing it and that I have already mentioned it in the previous comment on this blog:
"It is always the vlogger’s choice to do captioning or provide transcripts so we are on the same boat."
So what is your problem? Actually, I have decided that I do not want to discuss this any further with you since I am not interested to have this kind of conversation especially being accused once again. I tried to have a civil conversation with you at first but instead you go off stating by trying to prove that I made a contrasting statement. Not cool of you to do that at all. I have more important things to do so long.
Sorry Abbie for going off the point since I didn't expect to be attacked from SG like that. I will not discuss this any further.
Barb DiGi,
We could go on and on all day so going further with you is pointless.
You were sided with one of vloggers who said that caption caused ASL students to become lazy.
I wish you well, ciao!
-SG
Sigh, I have to come back here again for clarification because there are more misunderstandings going on here made by Geo.
First of all, drmzz never said that caption caused ASL students to become lazy. He asked a question to us viewers so I wrote my opinion about it. I also did not even say that captions caused ASL students to become lazy but explained my reasons why I don’t do captioning.
Secondly, when I said earlier that “there was a conflict between you and the other vlogger (unfortunately) about captioning issues and again where did you see that I have jumped in?" You should have known that I was referring to ASLpride’s vlog since there was a conflict between you and him while there was no conflict between you and him on drmzz’s vlog post (Subtitled vlogs produce lazy ASL learners?). So that is where you got it all mixed up.
Just take care of yourself, Geo.
I think it is okay to come in here again :)
Barb,
I actually never saw a site with transcripts until I went to your site and now that I know that you do them, I'm going to add you :) I think that anything that is done to the benefit of reaching a broader audience regardless of whether it is captions or transcript, it is highly commendable! If anyone makes a vlog that is in asl, spanish, polish or pig latin and takes the time to add captions or transcripts, great! If they don't, that is great too! It isn't easy but it isn't rocket science.
I just wanted to say adding the subtitles part is time consuming but it isn't hard to do. My problem is making the actual video. Lets just say if I was a movie star and the studio was being rented by the hour, I would have been fired. I don't have the natural flamboyance when I am facing the camera myself.
Bear hug anyone?
Now you've got my curiosity up. What in the world is happening on the 15th that Sam and Val already know about?? No fair to leave a girl dangling, ya know?
Hi Abbie (doing the wave back). Didn't expect a mention. :)
I had a class of other deaf classmates in a regular elementary school growing up so I had the opportunity to learn sign and talk. I was mainstreamed in 8th grade and high school, thoug. I am mostly oral though I do know sign language, but it's more of a SEE/PSE sign. ASL is a beautiful language. Right now, everyone I talk to is hearing. My d/Deaf/hard-of-hearing friends moved away and have their own lives raising kids and all. It's more of a visual thing with me now and if I sign, I need the signer to be farther away for me to see the sign.
Geo - pls stop bashing vloggers who are trying to help. Seems like you like to stir up things and if so, pls go do it elsewhere!
Thank you for her the space now.
I'm happy to see more vloggers getting on the bandwagon now. Welcome aboard!
Steve
longoman,
LOL.. there is no bashing going on, read these comments carefully. I'm close with many good hearted vloggers so you don't know what you are talking about. Funny, you mentioned "sir up things", speak for yourself.
-SG
Geo -
I read comments before making my own so don't assume. Based on the volleys you did with BarbDigi, that's bashing. Doing more harm than good is. I believe she is done with you and so will many who read your comments. You say you're close with vloggers that got me wondering why you started off with "I find it interesting that every time when some people said good things about captions, you jumped in saying transcripts..."
That was UNnecessary and uncalled for!
Enough said. I will not respond further.
Hi!
Could we please refrain from bickering any further? I'm not quite sure what the problem is here AND I do NOT want to know but what has been said has been said and I would really appreciate just moving forward from this and leave nothing but bear hugging, chocolatey goodness and ray of sunshine comments on my blog? :)
May peace be with you all!
Longoman,
I'd love to go on and on all day with you. When these people decided to attack me just cuz I provide captions, I have every rights to stand up what I believe. And NOW you cry that I "bash" you people. I find it hilarious.
I have ZERO respect for people who attacked me to begin.
I don't need to deal with people like you. Go away for all I care.
If you are desperately to attack me, insult me or whatever.. I dare you to come to me instead of on other sites.
-SG
*to begin with
-SG
BINGO Rules, have no idea what you people are arguing about
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