Question:
I am 35 years old,born deaf/hoh and now I am
almost totally deaf. Soon my hearing aid will be worthless.
I received my TTY last year for free through Bell Atlantic according my
income. I am still learning how to use it and not too many people I know
have a TTY to call me. I also invested in a WebTv for e-mailing,that
helps me as well.
Anyways,what caught my eye is a TTY caller ID
for the deaf,from Bell Atlantic phone company.
I'm from Massachusetts,USA. I wondered if anyone have one and how does
it work. The phone number for Bell Atlantic is 1-800-974-6006 ( V/TTY)
for anyone if
interested.
I am planning on learning sign language,I never was taught in school and
I was put in regular school classes back in the 70's. Are there any web
sites to learn sign language?
Answer:
You know about relay service, right? That cuts down on the requirement
to have a TTY by quite a bit. (-;
I have no idea what that is, but I know of a caller ID gadget that
displays info on your TV. It's helpful if you're watching TV and
someone calls, you don't have to get up from your chair to see if it's
anything interesting. However, there's not much use for it since most
callers are either "unknown" or anonymous.
You have to learn sign language by interacting with live people; there
are some dictionaries and stuff online but as you may be aware, net
lag means that often stuff is coming over rather slowly.
You may want to invest in a sign language CDROM dictionary instead,
there are several available. Visit my webpage and look at the Deaf
page for some sign language resources.
Look at the classes being offered at local colleges and universities,
there are more of them offering ASL for adult education, interpreter
training, etc.
BTW, I'm hard of hearing too, I learned sign language much later as an
adult and consider it one of the best things I ever did for myself.
Don't be put off by people who say you'll be putting yourself into a
ghetto. The real ghetto is of the mind and not what language(s) you
learn...you'll still know your first language, and being bilingual is
excellent for cleaning out those mental cobwebs we build up as we get
older.
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