As one of the young stars of Ten’s new series MasterChef: The Professionals, she has a skill like no other contestant.

Bonny Porter is a master lip-reader having been deaf since childhood, and during filming has listened to the instructions of renowned chef Marco Pierre White and host Matt Preston primarily using her lip-reading abilities.

She is a young girl who has worked really hard – she has the least experience yet she takes on these guys with years of experience behind them. She’s a clever girl

“Matt and Marco were very conscious of the fact that they needed to be looking at her when speaking. Her team members were always aware of this too,” said Ten executive producer Margie Bashfield.

“She’s an exceptional lip-reader, to the point where production had to be careful about talking in her line of sight in case we inadvertently gave anything away.”

The program is still in its final stages of filming in Melbourne.

Porter, now 23, was discovered to be deaf in one ear at the age of three, and by seven years old she was deaf in both ears.

She grew up in Camden and now lives in Bondi and has been a working member of the team at Rockpool Bar and Grill for a year, after completing an apprenticeship at the Park Hyatt in Canberra and working at Manly Wine by Gazebo.

As well as her skills at lip-reading, Porter wears a hearing aid, but she has not let her “hearing disadvantage” (as she describes it) get in the way of high achievement.

“It’s never been much of a hindrance. It’s been a challenge, but that’s made me stronger. I want to be a sponge. Be inquisitive and never be complacent,” she said in a statement released via Ten.

Bashfield said Porter was likely to be an inspiration to MasterChef viewers because of her cooking skills – her signature dish is spatchcock two ways, with corn puree and salad.

“You’ve got to remember that she comes from a commercial kitchen environment at Rockpool, so it’s an environment she’s comfortable with and used to working amongst. She is used to speaking up and knew that if there was anything she didn’t get she could always ask,” Bashfield said.

“No modifications were made [to the show] because she’s used to functioning in the same environment that she was in for the show.”

Bashfield said Porter was one of the younger contestants on the show, but her work ethic made up for it.

“Bonny will inspire the wider community, but not because of her hearing. She is a young girl who has worked really hard – she has the least experience yet she takes on these guys with years of experience behind them. She’s a clever girl,” Bashfield said.

Read the original article.

Check out this video it’s funny as hell!

Vs.

The Challenger

  It was October 29th, 8:30 a.m. Monday morning and high tide had flooded the streets of the Rockaways before Sandy made her entrance.  The City had announced a mandatory evacuation the night before and a full moon was expected to break more havoc for people on the east coast when Sandy made her entrance that evening. My husband and I had initially planned to stay put and ride out the storm, afterall, many previous hurricanes had come and gone without a problem. However, this one seemed different.  The air felt busy, the winds were picking up speed too early before the storm and the ocean was not calm as in the saying, all is calm before the storm.  No, this was definitely different.

My left ear was drowning in sounds of waves smashing against a brick wall along with the typical whooshing sounds I’ve inherited over the years.  I wish I had patented those sounds years ago, they definitely feel as if I own them.  My ear was even warning me this storm was going to be bad and so, my husband and I packed up and left and headed for Manhattan to stay with my daughter and her husband.  Midtown Manhattan felt miles away from Sandy.  It never really felt like a Hurricane where we stayed.  The lights went out at midnight but only because the city decided to shut that part of the city down.  We had no T.V., no elevator and no lights.  The only information we gathered was from our emergency, battery operated radio.

Mandatory evacuations, warnings of storms to come, natural disasters, communication of what’s to be expected, what to stay away from, when to stay inside, when to go outside, can be life threatening and play havoc in our lives whether we are deaf, blind or even hearing.  During the storm, everyone around me was glued to the radio.  Getting repeats and rephrases were short and sweet but nothing like listening to the news yourself.  I paced alot and truly missed my internet connection to the world whether on my phone or computer.  I never realized how much I relied on my connectivity until this storm.  I felt so out of touch with everything and everyone.  No matter how much or how little info I received about the storm, I felt I was not receiving the complete story.

After several days, we returned to our community, only to find, despair and destruction all around us.  Many homes in Breezy had burned down during the storm and approximately two blocks of homes burned down near mine.  My home was hit in the basement and first floor.  To make a long story short, I had to live elsewhere and am still living at a friends in the neighborhood.  Many of my neighbors were without homes and are slowly returning.  Many town hall meetings were gathered to disseminate information but no CART was provided.  I refused to go to any meetings where I would sit helplessly at a time when I already felt helpless with all that was going on.

However, there is a certain reality that comes with all of this.  Is it fair to ask for  CART at a time like this?  These meetings are usually held at a moments notice with people in the neighborhood being notified word of mouth.  I’m usually not the one to back off from asking for what I need but it did not strike me as the appropriate time to ask. Afterall, many of the meetings were held to give out important information as soon as possible and with the roads being blocked, no electricity, no internet access and no public transportation, how realistic was it to ask for CART?  In my opinion, it wasn’t.  I relied on my family and friends to pass the information along to me.  Hopefully, most people have this option to ask their family or friends for the information they are not getting.  I also offered my help to the people in charge (First Responders and Doctors) if they needed anything translated to ASL.

So lets look at what we can do to be alerted and prepared.  There’s alot of good information on the internet to prepare ourselves for a disaster, the problem is, actually taking the action to be prepared.  Most people are NOT prepared.  It is so important to have a plan  and be prepared.  I only recently started preparing a small suitcase with necessities.    The absolute necessities are :

-Keep important documents with you: passport, drivers license, extra prescriptions for emergencies.

-Knowing before hand where you plan to go if a mandatory evacuation ocurrs? Communicate with your friends and neighbors where you plan to be.  It’s totally unfair to the police and fire department if you plan to stay home and then need to be rescued.  You are not only putting your own life in jeopardy but you are jeopardizing those who have to now come in and save you and your family.  During Hurricane Sandy, due to the floods, cars floating in the streets, sections of boardwalk floating, police and firepeople could not even get to many houses to assist people in evacuating.   Several deaths due to people trying to rescue prized possessions from their basements, only to get trapped in the rising water that filled basements in less than a minute.

-Cellphone and charger.  Computer and charger

-Making sure you always have enough medication to take with you, if needed.

-Water.  Enough water for three days.  Canned foods and a can opener. Snack bars.

-Subscribing to websites that notify you of emergencies in your area through email and text messaging.  I am notified of emergencies through my national weather service as well as through my “NotifyNYC” accounts.  They notify me of weather emergencies in my area as well as real time notification of accidents, police activity, Amber alerts, and anything considered to affect you when you are out and about.  However, another system recently put in place is called the Wireless Emergency Alert System also known as WEA.  You will need to contact your cellphone carrier to see if your cellphone is WEA compatible http://www.ctia.org/consumer_info/safety/index.cfm/AID/12082  There is no charge for this service.

-Paper, notebook and pens

-Flashlights, extra batteries for your flashlights and extra batteries for your hearing aids and/or cochlear implant devices.  I had recently stocked up on lantern type flashlights which could light up a room.  I actually like these better than flashlights.  If you have enough hearing for an emergency radio, they are worth investing in.  They can easily be picked up at a Radio Shack or online at Amazon.com.  However, I strongly recommend all items be purchased when there are no emergencies taking place as the stores tend to run out of these items very quickly.

-2 gallon or 5 gallon gas cans.  Never in a million years did I ever think I would witness a gas shortage but a gas shortage is what we had.  I can only tell you that had I had several containers to hold gas, I could have easily obtain the gas I needed.  I spent days not being able to go to work or leave the peninsula due to conserving gas in my car for emergencies.   During the peak of the gas shortage, 5 gallon cans were selling for over $200.   Amazon.com  has  reasonable prices: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/189-8702441-4636440?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gas+cans  For those who don’t want to go by way of gas cans and don’t want to it in lines, if you search Craigs List as I did, you are bound to find people willing to bring you gas, right to your car.  You read correctly.  I managed to find a young man willing to travel the tristate area and bring you gas for twice the amount you would pay for it at the station.  I guess I can’t help but wonder how he got access to the gas?

The most important thing to remember is to be patient, make your needs known and be prepared. The level of stress during a natural disaster is high. Keeping a sense of humor always helps and being aware that you are not alone is very important.  Trying to be rational during a very traumatic time is difficult but it will take you alot further than joining the ranks of being irrational and hysterical. Surviving a natural disaster relies heavily on your mental state, your physical well being and your being prepared. Do it now, don’t put it off, BE PREPARED.  I never thought I needed to be prepared.

-

Hurricane Sandy 2012

Yes, Jacob. You really do.

I giggled. Did you?

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The first day or so, the sign language panicked me but as I relaxed, I started picking more of it. In spite of what you think, hearing loss conventions aren’t quiet, they are the total opposite. We all talk loud. Sometimes it becomes so loud, it’s gets hard to hear so the sign language was a welcome addition. If I couldn’t pick up the words, sometimes I picked up the sign enough to know what the topic was. Suddenly, I was glad I pursued sign language classes in the past. Sitting at lunch with a bunch of girls, one of them explained it was just another useful tool for communication. “Every little bit helps right?”

Yes! That was it exactly. That’s what I wanted more of in my life, every little bit helps. People willing to help me understand conversation in my every day life. All weekend, I watched in awe as she chatted in sign with her husband and son, both hearing and both fluent in sign as well. How I wished a partner or kids like that.

Why couldn’t normal life be like this? Why can’t I have this world all the time? Where did I go wrong?

In the mid 1990′s, I took my first ASL (American Sign Language) class when I realized my hearing loss was progressive. I might as well prepare for the eventuality, right? Why wait until the last minute? The class was geared to interpreters but what the heck, I would still learn. My husband and both my parents signed up for the class as well. I felt like the luckiest person alive. These people cared enough about me to keep up with my communication needs.

Learning ASL wasn’t just learning some signs, it was learning signs in backwards sentences from our native English. Some signs were similar causing confusion and it took practice or work to get it right. My parents dropped out within the first month. They were tired coming in after work and it was hard work. My husband stayed in the class and even took the next semester with me.

Since I homeschooled the kids at the time, I taught them sign as I learned it. Together we used it some but didn’t incorporate it into a daily habit. My husband and I rarely used it either so as the kids re-entered public school, sign language fell by the wayside except for a few signs like, bathroom, soda and fart (kid humor).

I didn’t think about sign language again until 2009. In that time, my hearing had dropped quite a bit and it seemed like a good idea to learn again. Now I lived in a big city with a wonderful deaf and hard of hearing center which offered various classes for free; ASL, CASE (Conceptually Accurate Signed English, signing in English order), lip reading and living with hearing loss. I asked my boyfriend to attend to learn with me. He agreed but dropped out after a month with various excuses. “My hands hurt. I can’t take the kids in the class. I have to work.” After my first experience with ASL in the 90′s, I sort of expected this but felt disappointment anyway. I continued to take the class and signed up for the next one to finish the book.

Some months later, we had a Cued Speech teacher do a presentation at an HLAA chapter meeting. With hope I asked my boyfriend to attend the meeting with me. Cued Speech has seven vowel placements around the head and neck area and then eight consonant handshapes. That had to be easier and more acceptable than sign language. The lady carefully gave us a demonstration on how it worked, then someone asked to see what it looked like at normal speed. Her hands flew all over keeping up perfectly with what she said. Astounded, someone asked if people could read it that fast and she replied yes. The teacher offered to give classes to families and excitement rolled through me.

“What did you think,” I asked.

“It seems difficult,” he replied.

“Yeah but it’s only a few basic signs and placements.”

“I was okay until she went at the speed of sound then she lost me. I’m thinking pencil and paper looks pretty good to me right now.” He wasn’t going to do cued speech either.

I felt the great big thumb crush my hopes once again. Using only pencil and paper sounded like a bleak future to me. How depressing.

Not accepting that idea, I decided to take lip reading classes, now called speech reading. It felt like a last resort at working with the hearing world, making a tiny flame of resentment burn inside of me. Once again I was the one doing the adapting, making it easy for everyone else. Why don’t those around me try to make it easier on me?

Every fall I signed up for speech reading class only to have it canceled for lack of enrollment. About a year or so later, one finally got the green light. There were eight of us who wanted to learn to lip read. It didn’t take long to figure out it was no easy task! The harder I tried, the worse I did. It took half through the class to learn to relax, have fun with it to do better.

Practice makes perfect, right? I asked my boyfriend to help me practice a few days after the first class, while we waited to catch a plane. He refused feeling silly doing it in the middle of a crowded airport. To me it was the perfect way to kill time, who cares what others think but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I asked another day at home and he threw out several words at a rapid pace with the letter of the week, over exaggerating and feeling self-conscious again. I didn’t ask anymore. I took myself to class and practiced with my classmates. In the end, lip reading helped but I still can’t lip read with any real precision. Again, it wasn’t the magical cure I hoped for.

This isn’t about my relationships, but more my attempts at getting someone, anyone to communicate with me in a different way because I don’t want to be reduced to paper and pencil. Going to the convention proved to me that it can be done and I want it. I want someone to care enough for me to go that extra mile to keep included in the world. Is that unrealistic? I’m not asking for ten miles or the whole way, just a little extra help with more tools.

I know our partners deal with us day in and day out. They have to repeat often, remember to look at us and not talk from other rooms. But wouldn’t the ‘extra tools’ help get rid of some of that? Maybe I didn’t push enough but ultimatums aren’t the answer either. Or maybe I made it too easy by trying to live in the hearing world.

I would love to hear feedback from you.

Do you think the hearing people in our lives could do a little more adapting to our needs?

Is having our partners learn sign language unfair?

If your partner signs, how did you do it?

What is middle ground?

Right now I’m single again. I’m going to be very picky about my next partner but I don’t want to be unrealistic either.

For this weeks project we had to take a clip from Twilight and change it by lip reading. This was quite hard, we were stumped for a good hour until Gemma came along and who’s imagination took over. This is our final piece.

Now that all the election hub bub is over, let’s take the time to relax and enjoy the lighter side of the candidates.  This video is brought to us by BadLipReading on Youtube.  They take the debates to a whole new level you haven’t seen before.  So let’s come together and put differences aside and enjoy a good laughter.

Enjoy,

Bryce

I am glad the elections are over.  President Barack Obama has won re-election.  But even with the elections over we can now look back at some funny videos!  Here is a video from the YouTube channel Bad Lip Reading highlighting the best moments from the debates!  We can all laugh now!

For example, while in a vehicle they talk at the window instead of towards me. If I’m driving, it takes vast amounts of energy to hear the person in the passenger seat because that’s my bad ear and they know it but they keep talking. I used to like talking while driving too but now it wears me out since my hearing took a drop. These days I need to face people more. I feel horrible for thinking this but sometimes I wish the person in the passenger seat would shut up for an hour on those long drives so I could relax. They keep talking even though I’m about to fall out of the drivers seat from leaning closer to them and watching the road with the corner of my eyes only. I remind them to face me but after a while, I wind up too tired to care and fallback on faking it. Especially at night.

Walking and talking go the same way. I try to stay on people’s right side so they are next to my left ear. Hearing people tend to forget and I end up doing a type of tango to put them on my better side. As traffic zips by, they continue talking. I hear, “She went back home to get-WHOOSH…WHOOSH and that’s how she found out.” Of course my reply is, “What?” It amazes me how hearing people can hear above traffic noise. I can’t.

Music is another thing that can be tough to agree on. I play music from the 70′s and 80′s that I remember or I listen to electronica. Why electronica? Because it has a good bass beat to follow and I can get a lot of it without lyrics. I’m 44 years old and don’t know too many other people my age who like electronica.

Last week, a hard of hearing friend passed through my end of the country. John is a bilateral cochlear implantee so he’s hard of hearing. I met him at the HLAA convention in Rhode Island last June. We connected thanks to my balloon hat and a mutual love of electronica music. While I get to spend some time around other hard of hearing people such as at the convention or for meetings, rarely to do I get spend days at a time with someone else with a hearing loss. It’s a unique experience and it tends to blow my mind. It’s so much easier! They live it so they know it.

We explored some of Northern Arizona together. We went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and hiked the rim trail. We walked side by side when we could and I only had to move him to my left once and he remembered from then on to stay on that side for talking. When the shuttle buses went by, he automatically stopped talking and resumed only after they passed.

That afternoon was breezy and we all know how the wind sounds through hearing aids and cochlear implants, like fingernails on a chalkboard. With bad gusts, he would stop talking and wait until the worst was over to resume talking. And he taught me to cup behind my hearing aids to block the wind. We walked for about five hours and talking like this and I didn’t wear me out mentally (physically is another story). With hearing people I want to stop talking after two or three hours.

The drive home from the Grand Canyon was full on dark. He drove. Silence filled the space but it was a comfortable silence. I know how difficult it is for me to hear in a car with road noise let alone in a dark car. Blissfully I laid my head back to relax knowing he had to understand and of course he did. I even dozed off a little.

The next day we drove to Sedona. This time we hooked up my iPod loaded with electronica. A few times I turned it down to say something but mostly we just listened to music. I paused the music for directions. Finally! Someone I could be comfortable with in the car. Someone who didn’t feel the need to talk the whole time and could enjoy my kind of music. What a bonus!

In between driving we talked lots. Sign language and finger spelling filled gaps. There were repeats with no impatience and never did my head hurt from trying too hard to hear. Both of us were the upfront types about our hearing loss so other people we came into contact with, knew to accommodate us. If I didn’t say something first, he did. How nice to be on the same page with someone.

Later that night we wound up in Jerome, AZ and the whole town was gearing up a big weekend full of Halloween fun. The one bar in town had a live band playing so we went. To our ears, the band played well. He put his implants onto the music program so he couldn’t hear my talk well so we danced instead. The few times we did talk, he didn’t yell in my ear like most hearing people tend to do. He got close but kept us face to face so I could read his lips and vice versa. Mostly we kept dancing and we were the only two people dancing in the bar… two hard of hearing people having a good time even if it wasn’t electronica.

At some point he asked if any of my past significant others had been hard of hearing. No. Most of my hearing loss life has been spent in the midst of hearing people because there were no other hard of hearing around so dating another hard of hearing person wasn’t an option. Since he lives back east and in bigger cities, he never dated a hearing person which amazes me. Then again, I think women tend to seek support where men don’t so much so he had a lot more options than I ever did. I can see why he chooses only hard of hearing. Life is easier when the other person fully understands.

I am used to being with hearing people so a few times he had to remind me he was hard of hearing. Once or twice he moved my hand away from my mouth and another time he turned my head to face him. I need to hang around more hard of hearing people.

There is one other person I get to spend time with who also happens to have bilateral cochlear implants. With Susan, I find the same understanding and principles when I am with her also. The only difference is, I have a harder time hearing her because of my profound high frequency hearing loss but we do well in spite of it thanks all the above types of behavior. I wish I had a whole tribe, a village, of hard of hearing people to live with.

anyways… I got some pictures of my MAPs, and the testing process (the intern who was testing me, his name is Tim… and I don’t think he knows I got the pictures). So this is how my MAP went today…

first they tested my impedance levels, which are being kinda funky… and my audiologist Allison said they sort of look like what they expect with people who have meniere’s, which I don’t have. when they test the impedance levels, they are also testing to be sure all the electrodes are functional.

then they did what was called autoNRT, which is an objective test of where my levels should be for my CI. They take 5 electrodes and test to see when they get a neural response  We couldn’t finish my autoNRT because, with impedance levels as odd as mine are right now… it doesn’t tell them much. electrode 1 refused to get a level, same with 2. (This happened last time too).

so at that point Time brought up my old map, and started playing the torture game. Really,

my old MAP, also known as MAP11

Tim playing his favorite game, torture.

I count the beeps and it helps them figure out where my threshold levels are. This game is highly frustrating, especially when I see him click the button (the screen is turned away from me at this point) and know I’m suppose to be hearing something. They go through each electrode, figuring out where I need to be and where it is that I can hear. The t levels are known as the threshold levels, meaning the softest sound that I can hear. My CI is plugged directly into the computer at this point, and obviously is still positioned on my head.

after we work through all the electrodes, it is time to balance them. This means the C level, or the comfort level (the loudest sounds I will hear), all sound the same. This way one frequency is not louder than the others, and things are suppose to sound more natural. As we started, the first 3 were balanced, but the 4th was much louder than the others, but was a more comfortable volume. But because we were going for balance, instead of raising the first 3, he lowers the rest following, until they are all balanced. He also had to raise a few to be sure they were the same volume for me. I was kinda frustrated at this point, because that, to me, meant that it wasn’t going to be loud enough for me. But in reality, after they were balanced, he raised all the frequencies until I was comfortable with the volume. At

my new MAP, not a lot of noticeable difference, but when you look at Pulse width, a big difference.

this point unfortunately 2 of my electrodes, 11 and 3 I believe were out of voltage compliance. Meaning they were using more energy than they should. This also means that once an electrode goes out of voltage compliance they aren’t sure if raising the T and C levels will actually make it louder. So what do they do? they change the Pulse bandwidth… which is the layman terms, allows them to make it louder, while still being in voltage compliance. the Pulse width was changed from 25 to 37, also something that on some electrodes had to be done last time too. If you look closely at the MAP, you will see little lines above the top ovals, those are where my C levels would be out of voltage compliance. I have 2 electrodes that the C levels are sitting right on the voltage compliance lines, 12 and 1. If the volume on those needs to be turned up any more at that point, we would have to up the Pulse width. 12 is already at a PW of 37, but Tim said if we needed to we could go up to a PW of 50.

from Angelsound12 days ago

the one from today in the office, I plotted out

Next… next we did testing. an audiogram using “white noise” rather than the standard pure tones. I’m not sure why they do this… but it is really interesting. I learned how my angel sound program that is suppose to give me some example as to my audiogram is wrong, or rather might be wrong… the audiogram on the left is the audiogram AngelSound gave me 12 days ago… the one on the right is from today. I think I might have to test it out by doing another AngelSound Audiogram today, so that I can see the differences in how 1. the MAP is helping me, and 2. how off set Angel Sound is from real life.

Tim covering his face so I can’t lipread him

After the audiogram, we did sentence tests. They test to see how well I am understanding. We are using the standard tests, forget what they are called, right now. They are Sentences like “The boy ran away from school” and “The train went down the tracks”. So sentences that actually make sense. I did REALLY well with these, especially with only being 3 months activated. I got about 84% (43/51 correct). Then we did word discrimination. These aren’t the normal “hotdog, baseball, airplane” that have been used at almost every audiology appointment I have had in my life, but things like “duck” “fire” “mouse” “death” that sort of thing. there are 51 words, and I have to listen and say what the words are. He told me that if I got over 80% right, Allison, my actual audiologist, wanted me to do the harder test… the recorded word list. well… I got exactly 80% right. so that meant that I had to do the recorded word list. That thing was HARD… the guy on the recording talks fast, and isn’t clear… but I am proud of myself I got 36% correct. After talking with Allison and being told how wonderfully I am doing (I am giving most of the credit to Harry Potter Therapy, which I will explain later) she asked if we could do the recorded sentences, which would most likely be easier for me than the word list. Back into the booth we went, and I got 86% with the recorded word list! I was shocked! Tim told me next time with this ear we are most likely going to have to do the harder sentence lists, to see how I am actually understanding because I am seabring out (VERY sure I misunderstood that). Because those sentences make very little sense. He told me a few of them, just so I could see what they were like… the one that sticks in my head is “They had to put a padlock on the fridge”… wonder if they live with kids… or if a thief comes into their house at night and steels food.

All of this, the appointment took just over 2 hours… I really hope they don’t always take this long… but right now, I’m happy for getting the attention that I deserve and am paying for.

on another note… I’m scheduled for surgery in 43.5 days. I’ve been fighting with my insurance trying to get them to keep the stuff Rocky Mountain Ear center has sent them, rather than pretend they don’t know what I’m talking about… seems like we made a little headway on the 17th (after fighting with them for a month), but then when I called to check on it the 25th, they acted like I was insane again… and finally said they didn’t have enough “clinical information”. after a good chat with Destiny at RMEC, she sent my information off again, and after a phone call this morning, they said they received the information! the guy I spoke to also told me the reference number, this way I don’t have to fight with them saying they don’t know what I’m talking about again. I will call on thursday Nov 1st and figure out what they said… I’m really aiming for a yes.

but… my Harry Potter Therapy, which i briefly mentioned earlier, that is the only real auditory rehab I am doing, and it is very easy on me. I am a PotterHead, I will admit, and I love the books, know them very well. I figured since I know them so well… why not just try and listen to them, see if  I can figure out where in the story I am at. I know people say that you should be following along in the book at the same time as listening to the story, and I shouldn’t listen to someone with a british accent since I live in the US… but I love Harry Potter, it is the one book set that I can read over and over again, and never tire of. It is also the only book set that I know so very well, a few words here and there I can get a picture as to where I am in the story. Anyways, its been getting easier and easier to know where I am and follow along in the story for the past month. I’ve been doing Harry Potter Therapy for about 3 months, but within the last 2 weeks, I’m really knowing where I am. I listen on average of 3 hours a day, my drive to work and my drive home from work. I am contributing this to my comprehension scores being so much higher this time than last time. Last month my sentences or my words (don’t remember which) was only at about 40%… so this 80% is a HUGE improvement.

Granted, this will not mean I do not need or want interpreters or the Deaf Community, the only way for me to be sure I have 100% of the information is through using an ASL interpreter at doctors offices, as well as school. So I will still happily have my interpreters and my wonderful Deaf world! speaking of school…

I have to get to class now… will update again soon.

Anywho, I left Mr. E in the competent care of my momma and seester, and backed down the driveway to head out. Between the driveway and the first stop sign, it hit me. Another simple pleasure that I absolutely love and appreciate! Wait for it…

CRANKING UP THE RADIO SUPER LOUD WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN!

Oh man! I have always lovvvved driving my car with the music at a decibel that is surely detrimental to my hearing and yet reassuring to the hearing aid industry. I can’t do that with Mr.E in the car. He’s a kiddo. No loud-o allowed-o. Haha! And I miss that sometimes…but mostly I appreciate it now. It’s such a liberating feeling to crank up the tunes, sing super loud and off-pitch, and put the windows DOWN. That’s another little thing I like. A lot. Oh how I love the wind in my hair! Nowadays, I can’t put the windows down with my little lovebug in the car. His curly mop gets windblown all over the place and he yells, MOM! TOO LOUD!

It’s so simple,  and yet, once again I realize how I took these simple things for granted before I had Mr. E and chose to take on the role of responsible parent fostering the growth of another human being of an impressionable age. Windows down, music up. Perhaps it makes me feel very young. Wait, it does make me feel young. And free. Free of adult worries, painful memories, sad truths, and silent battles.

Mostly though, it just makes me smile