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Top left: Claudia L Gordon, Marlee Matlin, Juliette Gordon Law               Bottom Left: Mojo Mathers, Helen Keller, Mabel Hubbard Bell

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Deaf Woman Purchasing A Car Scenerio

Suppose you are a certified Deaf interpreter and you and your spouse are at a car dealership browsing for a new car. You happen to look over and see a Deaf woman, someone you don’t know, having difficulty communicating with the sales person while filling out paperwork. You over hear the salesperson complaining that it is taking too long and that she is not getting any discounts. What do you do? 

A) Casually greet the Deaf woman and introduce yourself as an interpreter and let her know you wouldn’t mind assisting if she needs any help with communication. But don’t advise her on anything you might know about the car buying process.

B) Don’t get involved in her business. She may feel insulted if you offer and want to do it on her own. 

C) Not wanting to get stuck there at the car dealership, you grab our husband and quickly leave. 

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When parents are deaf and their children hear, family functioning and child adjustment may depend on the parents’ sense of competence and their general mental health, rather than hearing-deaf issues per se

https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article/9/2/176/492763/Attachment-in-Deaf-Mothers-and-Their-Children

I found that this quote from the journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education website hit close to home for me. This study found typically there is a bond between a mother and child, but were not the same in hearing and Deaf mothers. I believe even though a Deaf mother and her hearing child are able to understand each other signs there is definitely an emotional communication barrier. I personally had a very difficult time expressing my emotions to my mother. Sometimes I just couldn’t make the “signs” match the true hurt I was feeling. I gradually kept my true feelings inside which only hurt me more. 

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CODA Interpreting for a Family Member Addicted to Pain Killers Scenerio

Lets suppose you are a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) like myself and you are asked to interpret for your stepmother at her doctors’ office where she gets her monthly pain medication. You have accompanied her to a few previous appointments and know that she is abusing the system by getting medication from multiple doctors. Feeling like you should warn the doctor to protect your stepmother from over dozing, what do you do?

A) Under your breath mention it to the nurse or doctor, but not letting your stepmother know you told.

B) Voice and sign your statement at the same time so everyone in the room can hear and see. 

C) Even though you are not a licensed interpreter you keep to the confidentiality between doctor and patient by keeping your comments to yourself and only interpreter the conversations between your family member and provider.

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I found this research study article interesting because it gives facts regarding Deaf women with and without post secondary educations. Deaf women still in fact earn less than hearing and Deaf males. 

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http://womenanddeafness.pbworks.com/w/page/7404697/Careers

I found this brief article from “women and deafness” blog page regarding Claudia Gordon working under President Obama. It is amazing how far Deaf women have come. There are other Deaf women working in the White House. 

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I was fortunate to have lunch today with Rose Hukins. I met her while taking classes at Hillsborough Community College. Rose is a brilliant Deaf woman who has her own business specializing in Life Coaching. She told me about a time when she was taking the course to become a Life Coach and her instructor told her she was “not academically intelligent”. Rose explained how later the whole class valued her insight, comments and thinking outside the box. The professor often even asked Rose for more ideas. Rose remembering the insult, told the teacher she didn’t have “street smarts”. People might think Deaf women can’t be professional and own their own businesses, but Rose Hukins is here to prove them wrong. She helps many Deaf women find their true goals in life. She is very encouraging and is a great asset to the Deaf community. I am grateful to call her my friend. 

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It is difficult for deaf people, especially deaf women, because we get the most basic, lowest-level jobs, like cleaning jobs.

https://www.actx.edu/sandy-sloat-becomes-1st-deaf-female-to-graduate-in-truck-driving

In this article, Sandy Sloat, a Deaf woman with a Bachelor degree from Gallaudet University, became the first Deaf woman to graduate from truck driving school. Since then other Deaf women has passed their tests and are now drivers also.

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Transcript: 

“A USF student approached me asking if I could briefly give my opinion about a very wide scope topic regarding aggravating issues Deaf women, in general experience. Wow! This is a very broad topic. How do I possibly narrow it down? The student asked me to keep it brief, so okay. In general, Deaf women....I have to let you know this is such a broad topic, let’s narrow it down to, let’s say Professional Deaf women. I feel I am able to make statements about this area specifically. “Professional Deaf Women” could mean a woman working in a career and having the opportunities for advancements or promotions and our specific issues we face. I might say the #1 thing we struggle with, just like hearing women, is the term “glass ceiling” that we hit our heads on. But for the Deaf woman it’s a much lower ceiling than that of the professional hearing woman. Typically, professional hearing women say they “climb the ladder” just to be denied the chance to be equal to men. Deaf women face the same situation, but I believe at a much lower level on that ladder. Mostly because of the stigma “Oh she’s Deaf. She can’t make phone calls. She can’t do this and this, etc.”. The issue of not being able to use the phone is still, to this day, a problem for all Deaf. But now, with VRS and VRI, you would expect us to overcome this struggle that has plagued us for years. It’s just not so. It’s still an issue today, at least for me. For example, if I need to make a phone call, I don’t have to depend on my hearing coworkers because of new technology I can make video calls on my own. Unfortunately, it still takes me 4-5 times longer to make each call, compared to my hearing peers. While working, I might need to call someone to just to get answers to a couple of simple questions before I proceed to my next phone call. For me, I have to set up my video screen, talk to an interpreter who dials the number, patiently wait for the other person to answer and then explain that I’m Deaf so the hearing person understands the communication process. At this point, it’s already been 2-3 minutes, while a hearing person just picks up the phone and instantly is connected to the other person on the line. This delay of time, makes me feel I have to work longer, not to get ahead, but just to complete my tasks. So that’s what I have to say about that issue. Apparently it seems I have used up my 3 minutes - Thank you & good luck” 

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Struggles Professional Deaf Women Face

Let’s discuss Professional Deaf Women & their struggles.

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Child of Deaf Woman’s Domestic Violence

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Many aspects of the deaf community and deaf culture have prevented the deaf substance-abusing woman from being identified, diagnosed, and treated. Due to the absence of communication with the hearing world, many deaf people lack the basic information about alcoholism and drug abuse.

Counseling Addicted Women: A Practical Guide

By Monique Cohen 

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VUTYCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Counseling+Addicted+Women:+A+Practical+Guide&ots=J6cW6bfzb2&sig=r03dcc1n1n8qSuNkzF-sjyN2TM0#v=onepage&q=Counseling%20Addicted%20Women%3A%20A%20Practical%20Guide&f=false

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This article, written by Elizabeth Edgar, on The Mighty website, expresses her personal story of feeling isolated as a Deaf girl and woman. She stated many Deaf feel isolated and she was not going to let it stop her from having a family and teaching that child that hearing and Deaf language are equal. Such an inspirational story from a Deaf woman. Great read!

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I posted this link earlier on my blog, but I wanted to go back and mention also that many Deaf women feel isolated. Remember that 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents and typically those parents don’t learn sign language. The female Deaf child most likely will struggle in the real world because of basic information that should have been taught to her. In this article, a Deaf female was filling out paperwork and was confused about whether she was “male or female” because she always used “girl or woman”. This may be seem like such an insignificant thing, but it is just an example of what a Deaf person may encounter when filing out paperwork. I can remember a few times having to explain such questions with my stepmother who was Deaf when she was filing out papers for a doctors appointment. Having minimal language, it was very difficult for her to complete forms.   

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