What a wonderful weekend. Each year families from all over Southern California look forward to Family Camp in the Malibu Mountains. It’s an opportunity for families to connect with other people living very similar and yet all unique lives with children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Families bring hearing siblings, extended families, children with deafness and other disabilities……..it’s beautiful. We have kids from CSDR and other sign-based programs, oral option schools, and kids who are completely mainstreamed in their local schools. There are families from LA, Bakersfield, Ventura, Orange County, and more. This year we even had a family who came to camp from Georgia.

The counselors are all volunteers who take such brilliant care of our children that it is literally the only time every year that when my 3 kids aren’t with me, I’m not worried AT all. I got some “me-time,” some bonding time with other parents, and I once again had the opportunity to share our experiences along this journey of raising a successful oral deaf child. ….she’s not such a child anymore J

For Dean and Will, this weekend each year gives them the chance to meet other boys their ages whose lives are often consumed with the needs of their siblings who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH). None of their friends at home can ever truly understand what their life is like. It also warms the heart that each year this weekend sparks an interest in Dean and Will to know how to sign so that they can communicate with the kids who don’t use spoken language.

Once again Krysta made me proud. She comes to camp and I see the realization of my dreams. When she was 11 months old I remember thinking that maybe she would grow up to be a communication bridge between the Hearing World and the Deaf Culture. Whenever she participates in a panel for parent workshops, she speaks so clearly and the parents seem to receive the message they need for wherever they may be in this journey. Then she goes out on the field or sits in the cafeteria until all hours of the night signing away to her friends who don’t have access to sound. …..and that my friends, is why I did this 14 years ago!! So that she would have a choice, so that she would have the ability and opportunity to talk to anyone.  (P.S. we had CART for the parents to see so that more kids can benefit)

This group of people, along with everyone who came before and didn’t make it this year, and everyone who may be new next year, feels like the extended family I’ve been missing and searching for.

WHAT A BLESSING!!

After a 2-year battle, Krysta finally received real time captioning services at school! OMG!!

She came home and shared that she “never knew teachers told jokes in class.” It’s amazing to me and absolutely wonderful at the same time. Imagine ~ discovering at the age of 17 that your teachers are funny. It sheds light on the issues we’ve had for years of her thinking that anytime any group of people were laughing (and she hadn’t purposely been entertaining) they were laughing AT HER.

I remember back at Golden Valley at the end of that awful school year how we were still trying to get the “captionist” (not) to give Krysta access to everything that the hearing students had access to. I mean, seriously, one example of the multitude of meetings held in one year was when Krysta and I met with the district representatives and the “captionist.” Rather than me speak for her, I sat back and said, “You tell them what you told me.” Krysta proceeded to speak to the “captionist” about how she knew people were talking including the teacher, but her screen where the notes should be was blank. She turned to the woman and asked where her notes were, and Krysta got sent to the office for being a troublemaker. The woman, without batting an eyelash, explained that she was writing down the names of kids who were texting in class. WHAT? At least the district representatives all set her straight that her job was to caption and not classroom management or helping the teacher. Still, why did we have to have an hour-long conversation about what she should be typing and if she could substitute words when other students cussed. NO, you may not. If the hearing kids hear it, my kid sees it. Then it’s the teacher’s job to handle classroom management.

Anyway, the great news today is the she has CART, she is understanding the lessons, has the appropriate notes, knows about class discussions, and is happier because for better or worse, she knows what’s going on. Thank goodness!