49
Amy
Many people wonder what it’s like to be deaf. Are Deaf people hiding inside their homes to avoid hearing society? What can they do to make their life interesting and amusing? Perhaps hearing people think that deaf people can’t really experience life or accomplish anything. They may wonder if Deaf people have real lives, something beyond Deafness.
YES! Some Deaf may hide in their homes, but that is not for me and most Deaf people. We are no different than people in the hearing society; some accomplish a lot, and others do very little. I have many accomplishments and experiences in my life beyond Deafness. I believe if you want to do something, you can just do it, no matter if you are Deaf or hearing. I have done many things in my life as a Deaf person in a hearing world.
As a teenager, for two summers, I worked as a corn detasseller, the only jobs available to fourteen- and fifteen-year-old kids, except for babysitting, which I never did. The work was hot and dirty, but I made money. Once in a while I worked at my father’s grocery store. Both of these jobs were in the hearing society. Even though I interacted with the hearing people, I didn’t really communicate with them much as my job was something I did as an individual. Both jobs gave me good experiences and added some delight in my life.
For six or seven hours a day I walked through miles of corn stalks snapping off the tassel, high on the top of the corn plant. If it rained that day or the day before, it was very dirty work slopping through the mud. One morning when I was going to work in the corn fields, I got on the wrong bus. My crew leader was working with another group, and I followed her onto the bus instead of going with my regular bus and crew. I was surprised to see all boys on the bus because boys and girls did not work in the same fields. My crew leader said to me, “What are you doing here?”
I said, “I don’t know. I thought this was where I was supposed to be. I followed you.”
While the crew I should have been with was already in the field working, I was riding a bus in another direction. The ride went on for a long time. I just sat back and relaxed. I did not know it but, the assistance crew leader had called my mother at work and asked, “Where is Amy? She is always here every day. Is she sick?”
“What?” My mother said. “I left her at the bus pick up point at 6:30 this morning. Where is she?”
Neither my mother nor the boss knew where I was. Later the supervisor called my mother and said, “Don’t worry. I found Amy. She got on the wrong bus. We’ll see she gets to where she belongs.”
That night when Mother got home from work she asked me, “Were you worried or scared when you realized you were on the wrong bus?”
I said, “No, I thought I was getting a little vacation. I was glad I did not have to work!”
After earning my master’s degree, I decided I wanted to live in the southwest, as I never had been there. I applied and got a job as a middle school teacher at the Deaf school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I taught there one year, and for the next six years I was an ASL instructor for the Interpreter Program at Santa Fe Community College. Wow!
During my time in New Mexico, I directed a school play, obtained my scuba diving license, and was treasurer for the American Sign Language Teachers Association of New Mexico. On the weekends, to gain more experience and to see what I could accomplish in hearing society, I worked at the GAP store. My job was as a stock person. I put clothes on the shelves or unpacked the clothes that had just been shipped to the store. It was a much different experience than working the in the cornfield. At the GAP, I had to interact with hearing employees. I communicated through paper and pen. When they had a meeting, they hired an interpreter. I worked there for about four-and-a-half years. The best part of that job was I could buy clothes at half price. I did it with a big grin on my face!
During the six years I live in New Mexico, I traveled throughout the Land of Enchantment, which is rich with many cultures and old ruins. I even visited the bat cave, Carlsbad Cavern. I also took a cruise that I won to the Bahamas with my brother.
In 2001, I decided to reach a higher goal. I became an ASL coordinator and lecturer at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (UNL), so I moved back to my home state after being away for fourteen years. For some people what I have accomplished would be enough, but not for me.
My work at the university is with hearing students and staff. So far I have received four awards. Twice the University of Nebraska Parent’s Association has awarded me a Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students, and I have received five years and ten years of service awards from UNL. While working at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, I have given numerous presentations and workshops, and was a sponsor of Friends of the Deaf Community, an undergraduate organization.
I have been involved in the American Sign Language Teacher Association, National Association of the Deaf, Gallaudet University Alumni Association, and Nebraska School for the Deaf Alumni Association of which I have been on the Board of Trustees for three terms. I was the program book chairperson for the NSD Alumni Association in 2009 and Chairperson for the NSDAA 2012 Conference.
Also, I am involved with a local Deaf club and have served on several event committees, such as banquet chairperson. From 2005 to 2010, I was a judge for the Nebraska oratory contest for Deaf and hard of hearing students.
Because of my love of cats, since the spring of 2007, I have been a volunteer at The Cat House, a nonprofit no-kill cat shelter. There I clean, feed, and play with the kitties. The cats don’t care that I am Deaf. I adopted three beautiful white kittens who are deaf. Now I have five cats, two hearing and three deaf.
Amy swimming with the stingrays on our Eastern Caribbean cruise taken for John and Amy’s fortieth birthday, November 2007.
Some people thought that when I moved back to Nebraska and took a higher level job that would be enough for me. That there was nothing else I could do to gain more experience. WRONG! I still go all-out to see something new, and I will never stop doing this until the day I die.
Since returning to Nebraska, I have visited more countries and taken several cruises. I can’t name all countries I have visited but I went to North and South America, Honduras, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Australia, China, Europe, and many other Caribbean islands. During my trip to Australia with a deaf friend in 2005, I went to the Deaf Olympics. It was great seeing an international gathering of Deaf people. In the fall of 2008, I went with three other the deaf friends on a tour with hearing people to China. I climbed the Great Wall, saw the Forbidden City, and other sights. It was an amazing trip! I have been excited to visit all these different places, because I enjoying sight-seeing and learning about different cultures, food, and history.
How could I afford all this travel? I have always worked since I was fifteen and saved my money. Before I went to college Mother paid for our trips, but we always had to earn our own spending money. On vacation she would not buy us any souvenirs or extra treats; she expected us to earn money for that. I learned at a young age to save and plan for vacations. I had a bank that looked like a green mailbox with a red flag when I was a child. It had a small padlock and I always locked it to make sure John or Mother did not take my money. I did not take my green mailbox to NSD, as someone might have taken the money. Every week when I came home, I made sure to the last penny that all my money was there, even though Mother and John told me, “We would never take your money.” But I had to be sure.
Many people, especially hearing, think that Deaf people can’t do this and that, because they can’t hear. That’s not true, but of course there are communication barriers. Everyday our barriers are the same as for hearing people who travel at foreign lands and do not know the language. We are often unable to communicate or understand what is happening. To deal with this when traveling, I depend on information from books or brochures distributed at museums and historical places. If there is no interpreter or any text to read, I find a way to get the information by asking people questions, gesturing, or using writing. I do this because I want to see, experience, understand, and accomplish much in my life.
For me, this is what life is all about, to see and experience the world before you are no longer alive. So, for me, life beyond Deafness does not mean “I can’t do this or that because I am living in hearing society,” I just go for it. And that shows I can, I will, and I did.
Now you know life beyond Deafness in the hearing world does not have to be empty or boring. I have seen and done more in the hearing society than many hearing people have. A Deaf person’s life can be filled with many amusing and exciting adventures. Deaf people must reach for it, just as I did.
Many people, Deaf or hearing, would be pleased with what I have accomplished, and relax, but not me. Shooting for the stars is not enough; I am going for the universe.