[NFB-DB] FW: a piece for the blog

[Ineko Gary]

Hi Doula 
Years ago here in Tampa Florida I’ve got enough location from the same place I can connect. And my sister filled out my part of the application. And then I took the application to my Ali allergist who did my hearing test and gave me updated hearing aids. Because he said the ones I had was for people who are hard of hearing. He said my hearing test showed without hearing aids I am the big D for deaf deaf and with hearing aids I am big HH for severe heart of hearing. Because when I was about 11 years old I started losing my hearing. But at six months old I went blind in the hands of my birth mom. So we never did figure out how I went deaf. We believe it’s somewhere on my Dead side of the family or my birth mom side of the family we just don’t know. But years ago right before I got my first guide dog back in 1997 I consider myself death blind. For the application for the guide dog school. And every time I got a new guide dog I would lose more of my hearing until I got my guide dog number four in 2016 when I realized I no longer could hear voices and I was just guessing what everybody was saying. Lucky half of the time it was correct. And then vocational rehab known as we are here in Tampa Florida paid for me a hearing test and my Bluetooth hearing aids. That the jelly part goes in the ears then there’s a tube that goes up and connects to the hoarder piece that goes behind the ear. And my audiologist said these are for people who are deaf. So yes I consider myself deaf blind I’m proud of it and I also use tactile sign language. And when I got a prove through I can connect. I sent an email saying that I already have an iPad, and iPhone, and a Apple MacBook Air. And I told him I cannot see print and cannot hear my voice over. So I qualified for a focus 14 blue braille display. And I can link that up to my iPhone or iPad. But I mostly link it up to my iPhone. Because I don’t want to carry around a big iPad. And I  Also received a updated Borrell note touch plus. And did not have to pay for either of them. The guy name Bapin came to Tampa and trained me on both at different times. And I am so happy and thankful for my sister and my audiologistFor filling out the application for iCan connect.

I will definitely keep you in prayers that you will receive the technology to help you awesome.

Sending lots of love always
Ineko & Frisco 

Sent  from my braille note touch +

> On Aug 20, 2021, at 4:51 PM, Doula Jarboe via NFB-DB <nfb-db at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
>  
>      I originally wrote this article for The Blind Coloradan, the Colorado affiliate’s newsletter.  But I thought people here might appreciate what I wrote in light of the discussion about identifying personally as being Deafblind.  Enjoy.
> Warmly,
> Doula
> Secretary National Deafblind division
> President of the Colorado Association for the Blind, Hard of
> Hearing, and Deafblind
>  
>  
> How Do You Know if You Are Deafblind?
>  
>      Until a few years ago, I didn’t really consider myself to be Deafblind.  However, once I thought about it, the amount of hearing loss I have without hearing aids is enough of a deficit for me to feel like I’m deaf.  But when I filled out the application for I Can Connect, I was very confused about if I qualified for the hearing loss part, because there wasn’t a clear statement for level of hearing loss.
>  
>      For those of us who happen to be blind, we have a clear legal definition.  If your vision is 2200 or less, then legally you are considered blind.  This definition exists for the Social Security Administration, SSA to have a clear cut way of qualifying blind people for assistance.  But when it comes to defining deafness, there isn’t anything so clear cut.  From a medical perspective, deafness is broken into categories based on levels of hearing loss.  As far as a legal definition of deafness, that is a bit more complicated.  Such definitions can be different from the ADA to different states’ laws.
>  
>      I think this is the other challenge with hearing loss and the word deafblind.  Hearing loss is so gradual, that it can be difficult to detect.  Even for someone like me who has had hearing loss all of my life, my loss is so gradual it’s difficult to detect.  That’s why it’s important to get a yearly hearing test.  But I think the other issue is the stigma of semantics and what people are comfortable with.  Some may be more comfortable with saying they are hard of hearing, or don’t hear well.  And when someone says they are Deafblind, many times people don’t know what that means.  Because just like with blindness, it covers a broad spectrum.  There simply needs to be more education both within and without the blindness community so there is a better understanding and more of a comfort level with this subset of the blindness community.
> _______________________________________________
> NFB-DB mailing list
> NFB-DB at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfb-db_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210820/0c7edfac/attachment.html>