DeafNation - Orlando

Hey guys, I’m going to DeafNation this weekend and I’m really excited to go. I’ll be meeting my friends from the Orlando deafblind retreat. I’m also hoping to meet some new people from DeafRead [and perhaps practice more of my signing ;)]. This will be my first deaf convention so I’m excited. I also got a haircut because I didn’t want to deal with long hair anymore. Thanks for watching!

First Vlog for DeafRead

Hi everyone, my name is Tiffany and I am learning to sign and I know I sign clumsy (but that comes with time!). I describe my upbringing as an oralist and having CI since three, and reimplanted at five because it broke for some reason that not even the researchers knew why. I love doing sports and I enjoy swimming, biking, running, snowboarding, triathlon… well, thanks for watching. =)

Note: I tried to keep try to ASL syntax, but please be patient as I continue to grasp the language as I have no one to practice signing with except via VP (I got it last Saturday as a matter of fact).

Second note to editors: I have no idea what is going on with my vlog because it’s not exactly showing up so I apologize for the repost. I understood the error now so it’s fixed.

Blessed be the Internet

While many of us may enjoy finding wild things on the internet like crazy webcomics like Penny Arcade and xkcd.com and 4chan, I have to say one thing that I am very happy about–networking. I realized that if internet never existed today, my life would have remained a solitary life in terms of interacting with other people that have the same disabilities as I do.

Internet really have changed the face of the world in many ways, allowing us to talk to anyone at any time we choose. The Y! Live chat is one example for us. If not for the internet, I would have been unable to research the issue about CART and then finding deafread, learning many different types of issues and people with variety of interests and personality, and being able to communicate with my former teachers that led to going to a deaf/blind Retreat in Orlando.

At this point, I really can’t imagine what life would be like right now–well, actually I can imagine, I probably would be continuing to try and interact with other people and bombing, failing that like whoa and sticking my nose in a book all the time. I probably would use the phone more as well, but with great reluctance.

Without the resources online, I wouldn’t have met so many amazing people, hearing, deaf, blind and deafblind alike due to my varied interests like anime/manga, sports, art, and generally making friends. However, I do agree that moderation is needed to not allow internet take over your life.

That’s happened to me a few times, I admit, but right now, I am finding a good moderation so I am pleased, though I am still struggling to find that moderation as I still stay up late to be online and get up early next morning to go to school. Not good for me.

Just a friendly reminder from me to you if you also spend inordinate amount of time online–don’t forget to go outside and smell the roses, online will still be here when you get back. smile