[NFB-DB] Convention Advice

Sat May 4 16:02:36 UTC 2019

Hi Lisa,

My name is Marsha, I am the 1st VP of the DeafBlind Division. We are a fairly small division but are slowly growing. Right now our focus has been on establishing affiliate divisions and helping affiliates identify persons who are deafblind in that state. For example Maine just formed a division in September of last year. One of our focuses has been educating the NFB on matters that concern persons who are deafblind; as there are a lot of misconceptions. 

Many times individuals either become deafblind by two ways; already having a hearing loss and then losing vision or already having a vision loss and then losing there hearing. There are other ways of course. But many of us in the NFB were blind or visually impaired first and then had the hearing loss. This is good and bad; in the sense that most of our members are oral and use the little bit of hearing they have for communication. But this is also changing. For example, On our NFB deafblind division board, there are 3 members who use tactile or close vision sign language for communication. One of those persons is myself. 

I am deafblind, born visually impaired and then lost all of my vision when I was in my 20's. In 2007, I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss but have since lost a majority of my hearing. Now I am consider to be profoundly deaf. I wear two very powerful hearing aids. In 2013 to 2014, I attended HKNC where I learned a majority of the SL I use today. I live in PA and have a degree in Social work from Temple University. I work now for a Center for Independent Living as the state wide Program Manager for the PA Support Service Provider Program. I use tactile Signed English interpreters for meetings, conferences, workshops and telephone calls. Speech by far is the hardest for me to hear. 

As I work with Deafblind individuals on a daily bases, my ASL expressive skills are lacking, but can usually be understood and get my point across. My receptive skills are much more developed. My husband is also blind and is a software engineer here in PA. 

Back to the division, another focus has been helping and obtaining SSP (support service providers) for Deafblind individuals at our conventions. Last year in Orlando, we ran a pilot program that provided SSP to persons who wanted to get a meal, go to the exhibit hall, go to different workshops and more. We are still working on the possibility of that for this years convention. 

As a trained ICC person, although I do not do any training; technology is one of my many passions. I agree with you that braille displays and technology in general is not taught about from the deafblind perspective. And unless someone who is deafblind speaks up about this topic, the tech companies forget about us. There are pros and cons about every tech device out there; but like already mentioned, there is no one perfect device. 

I hope to meet you at convention. We would like very much to have more individuals step up to help further our efforts. If that is something your interested in, your welcome to email me at marsha.drenth at gmail.com or text to 469-583-1975. 

Thank you, 

Marsha Drenth
NFB DeafBlind Division - 1st VP 

-----Original Message-----
From: NFB-DB <nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Lisa Ferris via NFB-DB
Sent: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 4:52 AM
To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lisa Ferris <lisaferris at icloud.com>
Subject: [NFB-DB] Convention Advice

Hello!

I will be attending the NFB convention in Las Vegas for the first time as a DB person. I did attend once before in the early 90s (New Orleans) but I was only mildly hearing impaired then and really only identified as blind.

One of my goals is to meet as many of you in the DB division as possible and see what the division does, because I don’t really know. I have been more active in my state with DB folks, but they come from an ASL Deaf Cultural perspective. This has been wonderfully interesting to learn about, and I have appreciated getting to know them. My ASL is very basic at best, I am in a period of transition, trying to figure out how to go from blind to DB, while many of them who have Ushers are comfortable with Deafness but trying to figure out how to be blind. I am wondering if the NFB DB division comes from more of a blind perspective?

I’m not saying one is better than the other, just learning here and strive to be all inclusive. But one thing I would like to work on is better access to Braille, via better, more robust displays and devices to better communication solutions for the DB. (Using braille for in person communication or telephone communication.) But my Oregon DB peeps are largely unfamiliar with braille at all, and many struggle with written English, so it isn’t a solution they are very enthusiastic about. 

Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to anyone that will be at the convention, and also am interested in DB events and ways to deal with the convention as a DB person. So, I would welcome any information or advice you might have, and hope to be able to meet some of you there.

Lisa Ferris
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