Deaf Panel

I really enjoyed listening to the different viewpoints given. I feel like they each represented a different portion of the Deaf culture but were still similar at the same time. Jenna had the cochlear implant and could use her voice, Josh had no form of assistive listening device and could not use his voice to speak of, and Ryan wore hearing aids but mainly used sign language to communicate. I also thought it was interesting to hear of their different educational backgrounds. Some were mainstreamed, some were put in residential schools, and others had small resource classrooms that were a part of a public school. I find it worthy to point out that despite the different educational placements, each person turned out to be an extremely talented and smart individual. They had the attitude that they could do whatever they wanted and no amount of hearing loss or difference in communication was going to stop them. I think this was the key to their life being so successful. Well, that and good interpreters. :) Overall, this panel and presentation was very inspiring!

Emily Bruner