Purina Walk for Dog Guides - Hearing Dog and hosting Orillia Walk

I was looking around on the internet for info on Dog Guides as I am thinking that Michelle and I will do the 2013 Walk for Dog Guides in Barrie.

I found this blog about a person/dog team from 2009
http://lifewithahearingdog.blogspot.ca/2009/03/update-on-dog-guide-walk.html

Here is the actual top page of her blog: http://lifewithahearingdog.blogspot.ca/

Some links found today

Some links:

Royal View Deaf Church (London, Ontario)

Fall Feasts of Israel - Sep 29 2012

Deaf Pentecostal Ministries

Deaf AMEN - Different ways of signing Amen from around the world

An insight to my experience at camp the first year I went (2005). I had about the same experience as the lady who wrote this. It is still an adjustment, but easier as I prepare myself mentally ahead of time and after. It is totally a different Culture.

"At one time, like so many other people who had not tried to learn American Sign Language, I thought it was used only by people too lazy or stupid to master signing in English word order. I had found ASL confining. Using PSE I could make the sign for beautiful, gorgeous, striking, or pretty while mouthing the word to make my choice clear. This appealed to my writer's heart, in love with the nuances of the English language.

I didn't realize that skilled ASL signers could show similar nuances with facial expression and body movement that changed the meaning as surely as an English word did. The more I devoted myself to studying ASL, the more I began to appreciate its richness. The arch of an eyebrow, the expansive­ness of a movement, or a slight change in posture all added interesting meanings to a sign. The masters of ASL wrote as skillfully with their bodies as any of the best authors I had read.

I had gone to the Gallaudet campus for a few brief visits since my Spring Week trip in college, but it had little to offer me when I wasn't a skilled signer. This time was different. I never knew that going to school could be such a pleasure. I had always gone to classes in places that were geared for hearing people. And I had always been an exception. At Gallaudet, be­ing deaf was ordinary and acceptable. I had never experienced such liberation.

When I went to the cafeteria, I could ask questions about the food and easily understand the answers. If I stopped at the student center to ask for information or grabbed someone on the recreation staff to ask the hours for the weight room, I had no worries. Everyone knew sign language or could easily follow my "deaf voice." If they didn't, it was judged to be some fault of theirs, not mine.

There were no raised eyebrows at my high-pitched voice and no fumbles for a pen or paper. I didn't have to contend with poor lighting or people who mumbled. Everything was designed to accommodate someone like me.

My teacher signed, and so did all the other students in my class. For the first time I participated in classroom discussions. I went to lectures. I went to cultural events. Everything was new and exciting and I just could not get enough of it.

At the end of my first week at Gallaudet, I drove back to Winchester for the weekend. I needed to stock up on groceries, so I stopped at a supermarket. I walked inside the store, as I had twice a week for the past year, and suddenly, for the first time, I felt frightened. The din was unbelievable. And every­where I looked I was surrounded by people saying things I couldn't understand. It was such a complete change from the past week that I could barely handle it. This was the world I'd grown up in, but suddenly I felt like a foreigner coming to it for the first time. I was so shocked by the depth of my feeling that I clung to my cart for several minutes before my hands stopped shaking. "

Heppner, Cheryl M. “Seeds of Disquiet” – 136 & 137, Gallaudet University Press 1992

Link to Lion's Foundation of Canada Dog Guides Website

http://www.dogguides.com/

Recommended book:

Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love (Hardcover)
by Myron Uhlberg (Author)

You can borrow this from the Link to Barrie Public Library

 

or you can purchase from Amazon or Chapters

 

 

"In his moving memoir, Hands of my Father, Myron Uhlberg captures the essence of one exceptional family’s life in Brooklyn in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Uhlberg is a compassionate writer of truths. His book is full of surprises, written with a generous, loving spirit. In vivid scenes–sometimes wrenching, sometimes mischievous and sometimes hilarious–he takes us inside the singular world of his childhood. And there the reader discovers the profound, everyday courage exemplified by each member of the Uhlberg family."—Lou Ann Walker, author of A Loss for Words

 

 

Unfair Hearing Test

 Link to youtube to watch

A presentation of the "Unfair Hearing Test" portion of the Canadian Hearing Society's "The Unfair Hearing Test: An Interactive Listening Experience" CD.
Presented, with permission, by the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association - Newfoundland and Labrador (CHHA-NL).

Heavenly Signs - The Barrie Examiner - 26 July 2008

Heavenly Signs - The Barrie Examiner - 26 July 2008

Posted By KELLY MCSHANE

Barrie priest uses sign language to connect with deaf parishioners

Parishioners come to Holy Spirit Parish [http://www.holyspiritbarrie.ca/] in search of a sign from God and Father Keith Wallace knows just how to deliver it. "(Having sign language) shows us that we at Holy Spirit are inclusive and all members are part of our family. To have a religious and spiritual leader that you can converse with bridges the gap between the two languages," Wallace said of the separation between the spoken word and sign language.
Wallace has been a priest for more than 20 years, seven of which were spent in Toronto teaching at a school where 25 per cent of the students were hearing impaired. He said he had people in his parish who were both deaf and blind, but still managed to take the subway to get to church every Sunday. Wallace came to Barrie two years ago to join the clergy at Holy Spirit, to the delight of local hearing impaired church-goers.
"Before I came here, they would still go to church and just sit there, even though they couldn't hear anything," Wallace said. He said one of the families in his parish has a child who can hear and was able to translate the service for the hearing impaired members of their family before Wallace's service became available.
One of the five families with hearing impaired members attending Holy Parish comes from Wasaga Beach each Sunday to participate in the service. Wallace said even if there was no sign language offered, there is still a lot a hearing impaired person could get out of a service.
"Most Catholic churches are a feast for the eyes with the stained-glass windows and the wine representing the blood of Christ. They can see that and know what it means," Wallace said.
Being one of only six Catholic priests in Canada who signs throughout their service, Wallace would travel from Toronto to perform services, such as baptisms, for hearing impaired families and individuals in other areas.
"Canada generally tends to be very limited in the number of people who know sign language. The U. S. is far ahead of us. The U. S. seems to be a lot more proactive and not just in churches. Even in restaurants there is usually at least one waiter who knows sign language. Canadians can be pretty mellow," Wallace said.
Many of the younger members of Holy Spirit have chosen to learn sign language in order to communicate with the hearing impaired persons in their congregation.
"(Our hearing impaired members) remind our students not to take things for granted," Wallace said. He said people who can hear have their choice of church, but those without hearing have limited options at best.
Wallace is optimistic for the future. He said there are already three hearing impaired deacons in Ontario.

"Deaf people are taking more leadership roles in the church. That is a real trend here in Canada," Wallace said.

Holy Spirit is in the planning stages of building a new church on Essa Road. The building plans take into account the special needs of each member of the church's congregation. Members who have partial hearing loss would have the benefit wired in hearing aid system in a section of the church. Instead of stairs throughout the alter area, the church would have ramps so that all areas would be wheelchair accessible.
"One of our members wants to be an alter girl, but she's in a wheelchair. We are taking that into account during the planning of the new church," Wallace said.
Wallace said he benefits from using sign language because he has to be so expressive while signing.
"Signing has helped me to be more animated as a person. That's what signing and the deaf people have taught me," Wallace said.
Wallace signs throughout his Sunday mass, which starts at 10:30 a. m. and is held at St. Joan of Arc High School at the the corner Ardagh Road and Mapleton Avenue in Barrie's south end.
Contact the writer at: news@thebarrieexaminer.com

Some Deaf Blogs I have found around the web, let me know if you have come across any you would recommend.

Speakuplibrarian

Hearing Sparks

Xpressive Handz

On Tuesday Sep 11th we will be getting together for Sign and Coffee at Williams Fresh Cafe Barrie
Check it out on Facebook.
Barrie ASL Group

Check out ASL Camp ! - Camp 2012 at the Ontario Camp of the Deaf in Parry Sound.
Facebook ASL Camp 2012