Doctors and the relay - Hung up? - Part 2

Those of you who were following my previous post can relax. As it turns out, I went in today (Monday morning June 23) after they opened and talked to the front desk person. She took one look at my papers and computer records and realized that she had neglected to call me to reschedule. Since the doctor was there, they were able to get me in for a checkup of my knees and decide what to do next. He'll talk with his colleagues about what they're going to do next and get back to me. I'll give them a call or visit next week if I don't hear anything by then.

I also got an email response from the office manager stating that they will bring the up subject of using the relay in their next staff meeting.

Those of you wondering about interpreters, this office takes this sort of thing seriously, since it's a collection of offices in various locations. Normally, I don't have interpreters at a doctor appointment since I can communicate with them pretty well. What helps is learning what I've got, what I need to do, and what I'm facing, which helps in coming up with the right questions.

Now that was a rather good resolution, wouldn't you say?

Doctors and the relay - Hung up?

Has anyone had a doctor appointment seemingly be cancelled for no reason, and when you show up at the office, no one is there and you find out that the doctor's on vacation or something? Then when you check your emails, you see a collection of relay calls that you don't know who they're from, who called, and they're all hangups?

I sent this message to the Quality Management contact on the doctor webpage with some details removed;


Currently, my orthopedist is (doctorname) in the (location) office. Before I continue, let me introduce myself. You got my name from the headers of the message. I am a deaf patient in (town name) who uses hearing aids and lipreading to communicate with the doctor and front desk people. On my contact form can be found my home address, my phone number, and I believe my email address. This phone number is a relay number that goes directly to my instant messenger account where I communicate with the caller.

Approximately 3 months ago, I had hyaluronic acid injections in both knees and had an appointment scheduled for June 19 at 11am. Unfortunately, the office was closed when I showed up, When I used the relay to call the office, I got an answering machine that stated that the office was closed. I then called (another office called) and found that the (my doctor office location) office was closed due to the doctor being on vacation.

The problem here is at least twofold. First, this appointment was to determine what course of action would happen next if it would be knee surgery (total knee replacements) or something different. Second, I have at times received relay calls that don't even say who called or what number called. Here's one of those messages;

Subject: Missed call from Unknown Caller

MY IP RO 7259M GA (PERSON HUNG UP) THK U MY IP RO 7259M BYE SKSK

Instead of a message left, I have no idea who just called and for what reason. I currently have a listing of a number of "Unknown Caller" emails in my inbox. While calling a relay number sounds like a marketing call when the operator answers and makes a connection with me, it is actually a valuable communications tool for many deaf people out there who would otherwise be dependent on a hearing person to make those calls for them. This caller could have at least sent me notification via regular mail or email since all this is on my contact info sheet.

You can see how much trouble this has caused me. I do not want to have to wait months later for another appointment when my knees are in more need of help than anything else. I deserve an immediate new appointment given the seriousness of my condition.

=====

Has anyone else had this kind of issue with a doctor or someone in the office who tends to just hang up and not even try to make any more contact with you? What was your course of action?

Forget the DC Tax Scam. We Got An Interpreter Scam.

Never mind it being Friday the 13th today... The Washington Post Metro section had a story about an embezzlement case involving the local community college. What upset me was finding that the former coordinator of interpreters for the deaf was involved as well as one of the interpreters, and I knew Mark Kreidler from when I attended and worked with him on getting interpreters for my classes. A bit more upsetting is that I was going to use him as a reference...

The DC tax scam ran for around several years and cost DC at least $20 million dollars. (use keywords dc tax scam on Google or the Post)

I'm disappointed in you, Mark Kreidler. You may have caused damage to the jobs of other interpreter coordinators and interpreters around the nation. Your position involved more than just the trust of deaf students attending the college.

The 'Wrong Game' Review

A couple weeks ago, I was with Jamie Berke to watch The Wrong Game at Gallaudet's Foster Auditorium. Little did we know we'd be sharing the campus with a festival and what looked to be a basketball game. The movie itself was quite good, the first time we've watched a full-length ASL/signed movie. The first thing I'd noticed was no sound. Next thing I noticed was that it had no captions/subtitles for those who don't sign well or at all. Not a problem there.

All through the movie, I noticed little elements from other movies and books here and there. It's rather difficult to list them, but suffice it to say that some major elements seem to have been taken from the SAW movie series. Namely, people being stuck in a room and having to do something in order to exit a maze or room. Even though the movie was low-budget, you know they had to fake, but otherwise their acting 'told' you what was going on. Very little blood and gore was used, with the most being in the Lion's Den when a character put his arm into one of the lion's mouths on the wall... Hardly a gush by Hollywood standards.

Other elements I'd noticed came from books I'd read over the years, a little Hitchcock here, a little Stephen King there, and a few other things here and there. Some of the props and scenes were made to look even more scary and menacing by the use of spiders and snakes. It was interesting seeing Bernard Bragg, both in one of the pre-show ads and in the movie.

Whatever questions I had through the movie were answered at the end. The signing was clear, although with the "old man" character in the attic with the blue gloves was a little hard to understand what with the dark gloves color against a dark background. The camera tricks were pretty well-done as well.

No spoilers here for those who haven't seen it. Let's just say the ending was quite interesting.

Move over, Hollywood... There's a new player in town and it's called Deaf Cinema.

Designer Babies or Borgs? Deaf or Not?

I was reading up on the UK controversy regarding IVF and deaf embryos on i711's The Deaf Embryo Debate post and a few more on USA-L News. Here, it's more a question of ethics. Others have asked why are we trying to play God? This question has often been in forum- and list-demolishing abortion debates.

First, a little science fiction. How many of us are familiar with the Star Trek character called the Borg? Borg history is here - http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Borg_history

"We are Borg. Resistance is futile."

Then on Jamie Berke's blog, Deaf IVF Embryos, Natural Deaf Babies, and Choices, I made a comment about the Borg and what keeps us from getting to the point where we're more machine than human.

"You will be assimilated."

When she said she was going to post about the UK controversy, something came to mind related to the Borg. What's to stop us from getting to the point where we're more Borg/machine than human or being born that way? Voyager had a scene where an away team beamed onto a Borg cube open a nursery ‘drawer’ that had a baby inside with Borg implants. This would be the "maturation chamber" shown in Voyager's Mortal Coil episode (season 4, episode 12). It seems Voyager had at least a point in asking indirectly where we will stop when we actually make a Borg. Then the question will be when being human stops and when being Borg starts.

"Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own."

What's to stop our "Borg-ed" offspring from "assimilating" others? Yes, I know it's science fiction, but even then, sci-fi has a way of coming true. Science has created nanomachines.

There was a book I remember reading where this doctor 'modifies' embryo genes so that the kid doesn't grow up to become an alcoholic or something like that. What's to stop that from happening so that deafness and other diseases are 'edited' out of the genes and 'perfect' humans are born? Some other TV show episodes have gone down this path. Historically, cultures have killed, hidden, or limited those with certain disabilities.

Think of what the total cost would be when IVF combines with embryo implantation and/or gene modification. A rich person's procedure. Something only done in sci-fi. Could it happen today or is it already happening?

What's stopping us from creating "the perfect baby and/or human" without illness or disability?

"Your culture will adapt to serve us. Resistance is futile."

Now that's Borg perfection!

You Can Use VP Without a TV!

Have you ever wanted to connect your VP to something other than a TV? Some of you have probably hooked it up to an external standalone recording device with some success. You can hook it up to your computer with the right TV card.

Most TV cards can handle this if they use the same kind of push-in plugs the VPs use. It's best to read your manual before you do this. Even I, a techie person, have to read manuals...

I have an older All In Wonder Radeon analog video card. It has external cables which allow you to use your TV as a display display as accept input from the VP plugs and the regular cable plugs. From there, the VP can be used normally provided the right drivers and utilities are downloaded and installed.

Look around for any good analog or digital video card that allows you to use the VP cables with them. Follow your card's manual to determine how to properly set everything up and record. You may need a few gigs of hard drive space free. I've transferred things from VHS. The files are normally in AVI or MPEG format. I then converted them to DVD format and then burned to DVD. This eats up a lot of processing power and hard drive space as well as time.

Your best bet is to use AVI2DVD for the conversion and Nero to burn. If you want to view the DVD/movie you just made, use Media Player Classic. I've used it often to watch regular subtitled movies. For viewing movies with captioning, there's a few good ones, including Cyberlink.

Here's a few places to go for video help. There's more, but these three should help get you started.

http://www.dvd-guides.com/
http://www.videohelp.com/
http://www.doom9.org/

Of CIs and HAs

I just had to start out this blog with a title like this, since for some reason, John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" came to mind. I've not yet read the book which is a classic often read by literature students.

I've been following the battles of those for and against cochlear implants including Tuscany mom's Re: Ci Controversial, Why? post. Both hearing aids and CIs do the same thing, amplify sound to an extent and pipe/send it to the ear. Even removed, the user still has a hearing loss. I'm wondering just what's on the parent's minds when they have their very young children implanted? Is it that they can't seem to stand the thought or the shame of their child growing up without sound to an extent? Is it that they can't seem to fathom the kid spending more time with other deaf than hearing?

What's really on their minds when they go for a CI at such a young age? Why are the doctors pushing so hard for them to have it? Is it financial reasons for them as well as the companies? The decision to have the implant should come from the future implantee.

I've often told people that with those with hearing losses, that hearing and understanding can be two different things. Just because something is heard if at all doesn't mean it will be understood or known. Too many hearing people seem to not understand this little factoid. It's kinda hard to lipread a telephone.

When I lived in Louisville, KY, I was interviewed on this. If you read the article, A Sound Barrier of Another Sort, you'll see that I've foreseen a few things mentioned. Unfortunately, it's not archived on the newspaper site.

I've pretty much got a "grandstand" view if not an "onstage" view of Jamie Berke going through the process and procedure. It's fascinating watching the healing process and then going from there. I'll let her do the writing about it. Fortunately, I'm still alive since I didn't take a post-surgical picture of her. It was her decision. I didn't make it for her. I told her if she went with nothing, hearing aids, or a CI, I would go along with her decision.

Just because she got a CI doesn't mean she's an audist or she can't do her job on about.com. Far from it. She's still using sign and interpreters. She's still the same person we've all known, with or without CI and/or hearing aids. Too many people just throw around the word without really knowing what it means.

Will I get a CI? Hearing aids still work well for me. Ask me again later.

Deaf College Students Without Support Services

As a college student myself, it's hard enough going back to classes after some time. But when you find you have to rely on other students to help out in getting notes, you risk getting a student who does not take good notes. While it's good to have an interpreter, it's even better when you have one who reads the course text(s) and sometimes actually tries to do the course work at home.

But what about students at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, who have transcribing services? This is a difficult enough thing to do at times, especially when you have fast-talking instructors and those who sometimes turn their classroom into Comedy Central.

Check this article;

Dispute between transcribers and CWU leaves deaf, hard of hearing students without key support

Can a college's disabilities services office do without a transcription service? Can deaf students use the Powerpoint slides and the course book(s) including what the teacher writes on the board? There are times when you don't need to know every single word the instructor says, just the important things and make notes of that. with the exception of classes like math. There are carbonless notebooks that that are great for notes. When one writes on one sheet, the writing appears on the sheet underneath it.

What kind of support services do you look for in a college other than interpreters? One must remember that the Typewell program used at CWU is different than CART.

Repairing a Sidekick II

Anyone have two Sidekick IIs that work to an extent? I had an SK2 with a working unit but bad screen and another with a bad unit and good working screen. In this case, you need a T6 torx screwdriver and a place to keep the screws. Avoid the hex drivers, as they won't do the job. They will damage the screw heads and make it nearly impossible to remove. Finding the T6s may be difficult, though I found mine at a local computer store. Ebay will have them, but you may not find them at your local hardware store. If your SKII is still under warranty, this will most likely void it. So, do this at your own risk.

Most importantly, make sure the units are turned off.

Remove the four buttons on the four corners of the unit. Remove the screws underneath.

Open up the screen halfway to reveal two screws and remove those. These two hold down the screen turning unit.

Carefully remove the upper and lower bumpers, making note of how they went on. Remove the SIM card as well. Make note of which SIM card you normally use in a working SK and keep it separate from other SIM card(s).

You should now be able to carefully pop off the upper part from the lower part. Be careful of the screen assembly, as it can fall off. Put aside the lower part and carefully remove the screen from the upper part.

Now put it back together, screwing in the screen assembly first. You should be able to turn it on test it a bit. If all goes well and you can turn it on and use it, you've done a good job. Now turn it off and put the rest of the screws and buttons back on.

Repairing the bad unit yourself may be more a hassle due to all the tiny electronic parts in there. There's not much in the way of parts you can use except for the little vibrator motor on the upper left corner in the lower unit half under the circuit board. There's a lot of tiny surface mount parts including LEDs under the keyboard and other places.

I've not done this yet with an SK3 or SK ID. Remember to do this at your own risk. I can't take responsibility for mistakes if you do it wrong.

Fire In The Mouth!

Seek Geo's Harry Potter Jelly Beans: Weird Flavors and HP Jelly Beans: Weird Flavors Part Two vlog entries nearly had me on the floor when he tasted the candies. I'll have to try them sometime.

His reactions reminded me of when I was out in San Diego at a costuming convention a few years ago and heard about a place called University Chicken before I went. They have something called the 911 Challenge, but it's not on the menu. You have to ask for it. Before they even make it for you, you have to sign a waiver saying you're not going to sue them for anything, etc. It's a rather hilarious thing to read. Then when they serve it to you, you have 10 minutes to eat 12 wings. You have nothing to drink and no napkins.

We're talking hot stuff. I barely finished with a few seconds left. My face and nose were red, nose and eyes were running, and tongue was on fire. Halfway there, it was getting hot, and then with the last three, whoa... I just kept going, ignoring the heat and then some. I don't even remember anyone taking flash pics of me or the entire store cheering me on since I was so focused on eating them.

My prize? A tshirt mentioning what I did and my picture on the wall. They were talking about it all during the convention, even bringing it up during a puppet show at one point, even after the con in some chatrooms and forums. They were teasing me about it here and there. "You're still alive?" "Can you still talk and taste?" "Can you still eat?"

I could probably do it again, but next time I want to enjoy the food there than try to make my mouth flame out.

You know when something goes in hot, it will come out hot? The next morning...

...ouch...