Vent: Some Deaf People!

[Talking Hands]

I just had one of the deaf people who visits my church message me to contact one of the members and find out what time she will be home so she can go visit.
Geez I am not a message service. This girl has a TTY and a Sidekick. She needs to contact her herself. I AM NOT THEIR MOMMY! vent off

 

[meandtheguys2]

Maybe she thought that since you were from the church that you would be helpful. Posibly she was nervous and needed your support. Deaf or not, I think that I would have tried to be a blessing to another member or visitor to our church.

 

[Talking Hands]

I hope she was nervous. She's earned that. She has been visiting with the other person previously. They are not strangers. I think she wants me to intervene because she is not welcome at the homes of any of the deaf. I don't think she knows that I know the reason why. Also often times certain deaf people especially when they have been taught this way through their lives expect interpreters to do everything for them. Take them places, set up their appointments, etc. Another interpreter that used to be at the church was this type. He was ready to fix any problems, cart them anywhere, set up their appointments, make phone calls, pretty much anythng. Myself and the other current interpreter are not that way. We don't baby them and let them run their own lives. What we do is interpret between them and hearing members and interpret the worship service.

 

[lewdyan1]

That's for doing your job the right way!!!

 

[meandtheguys2]

Thank you for explaining that (w/out chewing me into bits!). I didn't understand why someone wouldn't just help someone else.

Michelle

 

[Talking Hands]

No reason to chew you out. Why would you know. Glad you understand why now. Deaf have to control their own lives as they are adults not children. That is not my job and shouldn't be. Most of them have no mental problems just a communication problem because they speak another language. We would never try to run the life of someone who speaks Spanish, or French or German and not English and it is the same with deaf who speak ASL.

 

[SueM in MN]

 

[roseprincess]

This is kinda OT, but my neighbor upstairs from me(we live in a condo/coach home) must think I am her mommy,too! My upstairs neighbor is a single female, 20 something age, not deaf, just a normal, typical single person.
Anyways( ok, this is a vent, too), she has been living here about 3 yrs. In the past couple of yrs, her house alarm has gone off twice when she hasn't been home. The first time it went off, for about 15 min., the police came to our door(4 units share a foyer door).Asked me if the person who's alarm is going off is home. I had the policeman come in and check for himself if my neighbor is home. Of course, she wasn't home. Everything checked out ok. I was potty training both of my special needs kids at the time of this going on.The policeman and I think her dog tripped the alarm(dog was home alone). I told the policeman to please call my nieghbor and let her know about the situation. About a few months later, my neighbor's house alarm went off again and she wasn't home. I didn't want to have to deal with the police coming again, so I took a broomstick and hit it on my ceiling in hte living room. And the alarm shut off, thank God. The thing is, my neighbor never once aplogized for my inconvience or apologized for hte alarm going off unintentionally.

Another incidence was someone rang our doorbell. I was the only one home of course. It was one of her friends dropping off a bag of clothes and her friend asking me if I can bring it upstairs for her. I said, HECK NO! I told her friend that she can come in and bring it upstairs herself! My kids were home with me at the time this was happening, too.
Another incidence a couple of yrs. back was I got a call from an older woman that lives in our condo complex. This lady is the head person that takes care of our clubhouse rentals. Anyways, the clubhouse lady called me to ask if my neighbor upstairs has moved or was in the hospital or something because she had left many messages on our neighbor's answering machine and never got a call back from my neigbor. The clubhouse rental lady stated she has been trying to get a hold of my neighbor for 2 months about giving the deposit back from renting the clubhouse( that my neighbor was going to get her $50 deposit back). I told the rental lady I'll tape up a note on my neighbor's door about it since my neighbor wasn't home, again. Geez, you would think if you were getting money back from something, you would jump at the first chance of getting it back. I can't believe my upstairs neighbor didin't collect her money right away? If I was the clubhouse rental lady, I probably would have taken the money and redeposit it in the clubhouse fund if the person doesn't pick it up within 2 weeks.

You don't get to choose your neighbors, unfortunately.
The thing is, this neighbor, as well as the other female single neighbor that also lives at our building don't even say hello to my kids or give a darn about me and my kids! They just think of their lives and what party to go to next, etc.


Rosemarie

 

[momsgoofy]

Here is a for ya TalkingHands!!! You hit a hot topic for me this week...I'm taking an online course "Educational Interpreting" and responsibility is one of the topics for the week with regard to the primary grades...just how much helping v. I'm strictly the interpreter.

But I digress, I fully understand your post...I've actually had a reversal of sorts in the classroom. The deaf student had fallen asleep (not the first time for this person) when the instructor approached and asked me, "Aren't you going to wake him/her up?" I replied, "No, but if you would like to, I'd be happy to interpret for you." The instructor actually glanced at the student, looked back at me and said, "Nah." It is not my responsibility to keep the student awake...if he/she wants to sleep that is their business the same as any of the hearing students and in turn is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure his/her students are paying attention. One time I had an instructor ask me to pick up the phone to the Learning Resource Center and ask them to start the movie. I said, politely, "No. I am here to interpret not teach." Looking back, it may have been more interesting if I'd just interpreted the teacher's comments for the deaf student and allowed the student to either attempt to make the call or reply as he/she saw fit. Nah, I knew the comment was for me, so I answered for me.

agai to ya from another terp!