I am at home right now in South Dakota observing how the heat is taking its toll on the grass.
Enough said by looking at my farm, as there is heat wave going on right now.
Thought I would give you a peek of my farm, seeing how the grass is actually greener on the other side. Mom watered the lawn near the house.
Here are my brief remarks at the ADA Celebration in Sioux Falls, SD:
Thank you for inviting me to come here today; I am honored to be here.
The Americans with Disabilities Act has made a huge impact on my life. Without the ADA, I wouldn’t be who I am today.
Here’s why… when I was discovered Deaf at 2 years old, my parents sought out advice from many different professionals, including South Dakota School for the Deaf (SDSD) and South Dakota Association for the Deaf (SDAD).
SDSD had outreach and workshops for parents with Deaf children to attend. That is how my parents became well-educated on how to raise me. Throughout my childhood, I would have “special visitors†at my home, observing my progress while I thought they traveled long ways to just play with me! In reality, those teachers taught my parents to be a parent to their Deaf daughter.
My Dad said I was born in the right century, just old enough to watch TV with a caption box, a few major network programs were captioned at that time. TVs were being installed with captioning chips due to the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 which required that all televisions manufactured after that 1993 must have the caption chip.
When I was just old enough to start having good friends, MSN, ICQ, etc was online at the same time. One computer dealer said we were probably the first home in Day County to have internet because my parents wanted me to be connected to the rest of the world (My family likes to be technologically advanced, they got their first computer when I was one month old!)
Speaking of technology, BlackBerry became popular just when I entered college; I finally have a pager, my younger sister already have a cell phone herself. BlackBerry even WORKS in rural South Dakota!
The ADA made life easier for the parents of a Deaf child… the law that requires schools to provide interpreters, no ifs ands or buts about it… MUST provide an interpreter, no matter how much it costs. Because I live in the rural community in northeastern corner of South Dakota, it is pretty difficult to find an interpreter.
The quality of interpreters was brought up when I was in third grade. This issue was brought to the attention of SDSD and SDAD who came to my aid in support for a better quality interpreter. The interpreter that I had wasn’t qualified to interpret for me that time. When I began the fourth grade, I got another interpreter who really opened up my world. I had never known that my peers actually contributed to classroom discussions and learned that students are supposed to work independently. My prior interpreter did not show me that I could do the same thing as my peers.
There are many impacts in the educational field. And there are still issues yet to be resolved, like captioned internet videos, movie theatres, etc but with ADA on our side, it can be resolved with no ifs ands or buts about it.
We are here to celebrate the ADA and appreciate the opportunities became possible through ADA!
Thank you.
