Deaf Cafe is what? It has nothing to do with coffee but you can buy coffee there....This is what I'll be sharing about today. For the past 4 years I have been involved with a group called Deaf Cafe. Since there are a few other groups in other cities, we identify ourselves by the city we are located in. Thus... I belong to Deaf Cafe, Flint in Micighan. There is a Deaf Cafe in Louisville KY and Lexington KY as well. In previous years, there were other Deaf Cafes in Mississippi, OK and WA. For various reasons, they are no longer operating. It takes A LOT of teamwork and commitment to make Deaf Cafe successful.
So what is Deaf Cafe? Its a two hour monthly variety program all in ASL. Its a ministry that focuses on sharing the gospel with Deaf (hearing too) who would not normally attend a regular church service. This is usually the age group between 18 - 40. Deaf Cafe is NOT a church. Deaf Cafe does not operate as a church or follow any structure as far as what a usual church service is. While all our members are active church members and are Christians, they belong to different Bible believing churches and come together as common believers to do Deaf Cafe. Deaf Cafe is the unexpected! You never know what the program will be like until you see it.
Deaf Cafe, Flint has a program the second Saturday of the month from September to May from 6pm - 8pm. During the summer months we take a much needed break and attend a weekend retreat together. The team is made of two parts.... there is the "stage team". There are currently 9 adults and 3 children on the stage team. They are part of the drama, songs and any action that is "on the stage" during the program. The other half of the team is called the "support team". There are currently 11 people on the support team. They do things in the background during the program. That includes work in the snackbar area, childcare, registration, ushers, lights and videotaping. All these team members are a joy to work with and they all have one thing in common which is the most important thing they all need to have....
A strong desire to serve the Lord. All Deaf Cafe members are volunteers. None of us are paid. This is truely a gift of love for the Lord, sacrifice of our time and faithful commitment - especially for the stage team members who meet once or twice a week to brainstorm ideas, write and practice dramas and fillers, select and practice music, find videos that fit our theme, create games, etc. Lots of emailing each other back and forth with ideas until the program comes together. This is done every month with fresh ideas.
While there is a lot of work involved, Deaf Cafe is fun too. It's a joy to serve with other Christians. We laugh, we joke and we have a great time together. We are all good friends. But like all good friends, sometimes we have our "moments" too. Because we are Christians, we can honestly share with each other, forgive, forget and move on. We try to never to lose our focus and that is to glorify the Lord through our works, words and actions.
An average of 80-100 people show up each month for Deaf Cafe... these include both deaf and hearing of all ages. We also get students from local colleges who are taking sign language classes. Deaf Cafe is a safe place where they can observe Deaf culture, see ASL on the stage (there is no voicing) and have the opportunity to use their new skills. For the Deaf, Deaf Cafe is a great place to meet and see each other and catch up. Its "clean" entertainment for the whole family.
The program consists of two parts. There is a 15 minute break in the middle for snacks, etc. We have a theme. Then we usually have one Bible related drama, one up to date drama, several short dramas for fillers. We have maybe 3 songs.. some with all the team.. some with the audience..some are solos or duets with team members. We have games that we make up ourselves with prizes. We have audience activities. We show both funny and serious videos as they fit our theme. This is a very busy 2 hours filled with different activities. Deaf Cafe ends with 10 minutes of devotion and quiet time.
My job? My job as part of the Deaf Cafe team is tech work. I'm the one behind the laptop and projector. I'm not on the stage much but do fill in as needed in songs or dramas. I am the one who creates all the powerpoints and puts the program together. There are three of us who are the "core" decision makers and the three of us put together the majority of the program with ideas and suggestions from others. We are constantly on the lookout for new ideas, new videos, new filler and drama ideas or powerpoints, etc. I am constantly learning new things. This is something that many deaf need to do more of... keep learning! Don't limit yourself to your comfort zone. Get out of your boat and try something different. I never thought I would ever sign a song in front of an audience but I have... twice! I did a solo during Deaf Cafe and I'm sure I will do others in the future.
Is Deaf Cafe something you might be interested in doing for your own group? You can contact me anytime for more information on how to get started, etc. We want your help spreading the Word of God. There are so many Deaf (hearing too) who are lost and need to "hear" the Gospel in their own language. You can check out Deaf Cafe, Flint at their website....www.deafcafeflint.com
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Deaf and Hearing Aid
If a person who is deaf wears a hearing aid, are they still deaf or are they now hard of hearing? There is no right or wrong answer for that. Its a personal question. I am deaf. I wear a hearing aid and I consider myself deaf. My twin sister is deaf. She also wore a hearing aid and she will never call herself deaf. She sees herself as a hearing person with a hearing problem. She now has a cochlear implant and still considers herself hearing with a hearing loss. She has no contact at all with deaf culture and is 100% in the hearing "world".
More than two months ago, before I went to bed, I put my hearing aid on the nightstand beside my bed. I normally put my aid on the dresser with my glasses but it was one of those nights I was especially tired. I did take off my glasses and put them on the dresser but after I was already in bed, I realize I hadn't taken off my hearing aid. I was too tired and didn't want to leave my warm bed so I just removed my hearing aid and put it on the nightstand next to me. That was the last time I saw it.
I work from home. When I am home, I do not wear my hearing aid simply because I don't need it being home alone all day. If I have to go out, I will wear it. If I have to deal with hearing people, I will wear it. It's mostly to help me with communicating with the public. Just makes a lipreading a little easier. That day I did not leave my house so I didn't wear my aid or even think about it. It was the next day I realized it was gone.
I looked everywhere for that thing. Over the next few days I did a very thorough cleaning of my bedroom. I eventually rearranged the furniture so everything in that room was touched by my hands and searched. I dumped the contents of my dresser drawers. It was about time I did that anyways so that was a good motivation. Nothing.
We have two cats. There was one other time I had not put my hearing aid high on the dresser and one or both of them played soccer with it during the night. I had found my hearing aid in the living room the next morning. I knew there was a possibility this happened again and I did search the rest of my house as well. Nothing.
Well I eventually gave up looking. I figured it would show up some day. That was over two months ago and it has not shown up. Thus, I began my life as a completely deaf person. Without my hearing aid, I hear nothing with the exception of very low or very high sounds and they have to be next to me to hear that. How has my life been different?
Living life as a deaf person with hearing children
The first thing I noticed was not being able to understand my own children. While they are around ASL here at home, they have not picked it up as a second language. They grew up as CODAs (chidren of deaf adult) but ASL was never their language. My oldest son is away at college and has probably lost whatever signing he knew. He does remember some basis words and finger spelling but doesn't have much, if any opportunities to use it. He works for McDonalds and does sign with customers if necessary. My middle boy is 15 and very stubborn. I had to plead with him to help me with communicating with him by signing "something". Don't expect me to 100% lipread him while he make no effort to help. He now will finger spell words if I stop him and say "what?". Unfortunately, we are at the point where he really doesn't talk to me unless he wants something. That breaks my heart. I can't force him to talk and I know he doesn't talk much to his hearing father either. He is a very quiet boy that keeps mostly to himself. He does have a wiry sense of humor and quick whit. My younger... my daughter is 12 and she signs the most to me. She is involved with the deaf ministry called Deaf Cafe along with her dad and me. She does have opportunities to sign and does sign "something" when she talks to me but still not 100%. I would say maybe 50% of what she says is in sign and the rest is spoken words and mime.
But anyways... without the use of my hearing aid, I had to depend on their limited signing and my lip reading skills. It has been rough. There have been many times I've been left out when the three of them (my husband, middle boy and daughter) are talking and joking and I have no idea what is going on. My husband will fill me in but its after the fact. The last laugh after the joke is already spent. Somehow it is no longer as funny as the first time. That was when I decided I'm going to get a new hearing aid so I could rejoin my family again. While I still consider myself deaf, I function best with the use of some hearing. I do miss the sound.
More than two months ago, before I went to bed, I put my hearing aid on the nightstand beside my bed. I normally put my aid on the dresser with my glasses but it was one of those nights I was especially tired. I did take off my glasses and put them on the dresser but after I was already in bed, I realize I hadn't taken off my hearing aid. I was too tired and didn't want to leave my warm bed so I just removed my hearing aid and put it on the nightstand next to me. That was the last time I saw it.
I work from home. When I am home, I do not wear my hearing aid simply because I don't need it being home alone all day. If I have to go out, I will wear it. If I have to deal with hearing people, I will wear it. It's mostly to help me with communicating with the public. Just makes a lipreading a little easier. That day I did not leave my house so I didn't wear my aid or even think about it. It was the next day I realized it was gone.
I looked everywhere for that thing. Over the next few days I did a very thorough cleaning of my bedroom. I eventually rearranged the furniture so everything in that room was touched by my hands and searched. I dumped the contents of my dresser drawers. It was about time I did that anyways so that was a good motivation. Nothing.
We have two cats. There was one other time I had not put my hearing aid high on the dresser and one or both of them played soccer with it during the night. I had found my hearing aid in the living room the next morning. I knew there was a possibility this happened again and I did search the rest of my house as well. Nothing.
Well I eventually gave up looking. I figured it would show up some day. That was over two months ago and it has not shown up. Thus, I began my life as a completely deaf person. Without my hearing aid, I hear nothing with the exception of very low or very high sounds and they have to be next to me to hear that. How has my life been different?
Living life as a deaf person with hearing children
The first thing I noticed was not being able to understand my own children. While they are around ASL here at home, they have not picked it up as a second language. They grew up as CODAs (chidren of deaf adult) but ASL was never their language. My oldest son is away at college and has probably lost whatever signing he knew. He does remember some basis words and finger spelling but doesn't have much, if any opportunities to use it. He works for McDonalds and does sign with customers if necessary. My middle boy is 15 and very stubborn. I had to plead with him to help me with communicating with him by signing "something". Don't expect me to 100% lipread him while he make no effort to help. He now will finger spell words if I stop him and say "what?". Unfortunately, we are at the point where he really doesn't talk to me unless he wants something. That breaks my heart. I can't force him to talk and I know he doesn't talk much to his hearing father either. He is a very quiet boy that keeps mostly to himself. He does have a wiry sense of humor and quick whit. My younger... my daughter is 12 and she signs the most to me. She is involved with the deaf ministry called Deaf Cafe along with her dad and me. She does have opportunities to sign and does sign "something" when she talks to me but still not 100%. I would say maybe 50% of what she says is in sign and the rest is spoken words and mime.
But anyways... without the use of my hearing aid, I had to depend on their limited signing and my lip reading skills. It has been rough. There have been many times I've been left out when the three of them (my husband, middle boy and daughter) are talking and joking and I have no idea what is going on. My husband will fill me in but its after the fact. The last laugh after the joke is already spent. Somehow it is no longer as funny as the first time. That was when I decided I'm going to get a new hearing aid so I could rejoin my family again. While I still consider myself deaf, I function best with the use of some hearing. I do miss the sound.
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