This past Tuesday, I took on my annual visit to the College of Education: Department of Special Education lecture on Deafblind Communication and Technology. But first let me detail the visit at the College of Social Work with the Graduate Advisor.
I arrived a bit early so that I could ensure that I got to the right building. Sure enough, I'm glad I did because I got a bit lost! When I entered the building, I somewhat went around each wall trying to locate the elevator. To no avail, I went to get some water to drink and sat down to "cool off" as I was sweating like a dog. And Archer was panting as well. He did great work helping me navigate!
A few minutes later, there were two students, thta appear to be in their early 20's or so, both female. They wanted to come meet Archer and talk about him (he's a magnet for conversations!). I feel so blessed to have the one Cochlear Implant because without it, I'm sure the outcome would have been totally different. At least they were standing on my right side so I could hear clearly.
One of them fetched a box of kleenex and said "here you are sweating!" I felt ashamed but then realized they were helping me cool off so I helped myself to wiping my sweat off my face and neck. They asked if I wanted water and I told them I found the fountain. Then they asked if Archer wanted some water. I told them I did not have a bowl for him. "No worries, we have one he can use.". I felt blessed that these two caring animal lovers would bring a 2 foot long oval type bowl to let Archer drink it all up! They helped me find the elevator and I was up on my way to visit the Graduate Advisor.
Had a great visit. We talked about th eprogram, my interests and WHY I wanted to go into the program. She reviewed my transcript and I pretty much met everything with the exception of one class so I plan to take that non-matriculated this Fall so that I can proceed with the Graduate School application.
Finding my way to the Milton Bennion Hall was an adventure! There was so much contstruction going on that I had no sidewalk to take from Social Work to MBH. I ended up walking back to South Campus Drive to head East going up the hill and thinking I'm "beyond the construction" and cut back in (North). Oops! Construction! Poor Archer was working hard. Fortunately, there was very cool wind and wasn't as hot as it was when I first arrived on campus late morning that day. So we walked back to South Campus Drive and head East again. I decided it would be best to just keep walking up to the Huntsman Center and then come back around and over to the MBH.
The lecture went well. There were only three students in that class. Much smaller than normal. I was aware of this from the PRofessor contacting me earlier. I decided instead of my traditional powerpoint presentation on communication and technology, we just sat around while I discussed part of my life dealing with Usher Syndrome. How I lost my vision, my hearing, my journey to get a Cochlear Implant. How the CI has improved my life and how the blindness hinders full functionality with just one CI.
We talked about the upcoming pilot program the FCC is doing called the National DeafBlind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP). This is a pilot program that State PUC/PSC Equipment Administrators to distribute much needed equipment for the deaf-blind.
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