Deaf Student Teaching Lessons On Accessibility

Deaf cosmetologist student teaching lessons on accessibility at the Colorado community college.

CORTEZ, CO -- Scottsbluff Star Herald: Going back to school as a single parent with two kids is challenging for many.

For Amanda Schuster getting certified as a cosmetologist has had an additional layer of complexity because she is completely Deaf.

To get the most from her classes, she taught her instructor and others at the Southwest Colorado Community College how to accommodate her, helping to pave the way for other students that might follow her.

"I've never allowed my deafness to stop me," she said, through her interpreter Dawn Kern-Anderson.

Styling hair has always been one of Schuster's passions, but when she decided to go back to school to get certified it required some coordination with the college.

The college didn't have an interpreter on staff, so she got in touch with Kern-Anderson, her interpreter from high school to translate her classes. It's a service that the college pays for.

While Schuster can read lips, Kern-Anderson makes it much easier for her to keep up with her peers.

"It makes me feel like a normal person in the classroom," she said.

Schuster is Brenda Knapp's first Deaf student and the experience has taught her to slow down and avoid tangents in her lectures that might be hard to translate.

"You have to be very structured," Knapp said.

While Schuster appreciates help from Kern-Anderson, she has been in the hearing world her whole life and she doesn't need an interpreter all the time.

Her parents always pushed her to communicate in both English and American Sign Language after she lost her hearing at 14 months to spinal meningitis.

She attended Project Talk in California, which specializes in helping Deaf children learn to talk, and speech therapy through the San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Growing up she also excelled in sports including tennis, cheer leading, volleyball and sharp-shooting. After high school, she attended two years college in California and majored in photography.

"I never let anything stop me, although people do try," she said.

Her long-term goal after she finishes classes in cosmetology and aesthetics is to open a salon and photography business.

But before she can take her state test to get certified, she has to complete 1,800 hours in class.

During all her time in school, she has noticed several ways the school can be more accessible and safe for Deaf students.

For example, after the school held an assembly on school safety following a college shooting in Oregon, she suggested the school install TVs and more lights as part of the alarm system. These could help make Deaf students aware of an emergency.

In addition, none of the other students are able to bring their phones into class. But Schuster can't be reached through a regular telephone during personal emergencies, so Knapp made an exception for her.

But rather than being given special treatment, Schuster would be prefer the school have video phones available so she could communicate not only with her family, but with school administrators on different campuses.

"I'm trying to improve the systems, not just for me but for everyone," she said.

SOURCE - STARHERALD

Related Deaf and Hearing Worlds:
Deaf Awareness: Alone In A Deaf World
Deaf Awareness: Alone In A Hearing World
Ted Evans - In Search Of The DEAF WORLD
Living In Between The Deaf And Hearing Worlds
A Hearing Son In Deaf Family 'I'd Rather Be Deaf'
Dropout Rate Among Mainstream Deaf Students
Life and Deaf - BBC4 Documentary
Through Deaf Eyes - Documentary Film

Related Mainstreaming School:
Mainstream School Lacks Communication Access
Dropout Rate Among Mainstream Deaf Students
Mainstream School Is Failing Deaf Students
Living In Between The Deaf And Hearing Worlds
Deaf Awareness: Alone In A Hearing World
Deaf Awareness 'Voiceless' Short Film

Related Bullying at Mainstreaming School:
Bullies Dump Deaf Student's Backpack In Toilet
Bullied Deaf Boy Forced To Leave School
Deaf Girl's Bullying In Mainstream School
Deaf Victim Of Bullying At Three Different Schools
Deaf Student Bullied at the AG Bell School
Deaf People Bullied By The AG Bell Association

Related Documentary:
Deaf Awareness: Alone In A Deaf World
Deaf Awareness: Alone In A Hearing World
Ted Evans - In Search Of The DEAF WORLD
Living In Between The Deaf And Hearing Worlds
A Hearing Son In Deaf Family 'I'd Rather Be Deaf'
Life and Deaf - BBC4 Documentary
Through Deaf Eyes - Documentary Film
Living In Between The Deaf And Hearing Worlds
Deaf Awareness 'Voiceless' Short Film
VICE News: Deaf Culture 'Signs of Change'
Can Deaf People Hear Their Own Thoughts ?
Deaf Documentary Film: 9/11 Fear In Silence
The Deaf Holocaust - Deaf People and Nazi Germany
A&E: Born This Way Presents 'Deaf Out Loud'

Featured Post

The Most Googled Questions About Being Deaf

Do not make the work of Deaf YouVideo content look like your own. Give credit where it is due and requires that articles be based on reliable published sources.

Posts Archive

Most Viewed Last 7 Days

Most Viewed Last 30 Days

Most Viewed Of All Time

That Deaf Guy Comic

About This Site

Deaf YouVideo is public web site and a free assessment for everyone. A public web site is a web site that you can use to have a presence on the internet. It is a public facing site to attract customers and partners, and it usually includes increase traffic. Feel free to exploring the online community - Deaf, Hearing-Impairment, Hearing-Loss, Sign Language, News, Events, Societies, Resources, Links, Videos, Vloggers and much more. Be sure to Bookmarks this website.

Submitted content, to whom it may concern of posting on this site: YouPrivacy


Videos and Channels Powered By YouTube

RSS Feed Content

Deaf YouVideo provided by YouTube, Blogger, Google Feedburner, RSS Feed are a way for websites large and small to distribute their content as well beyond just visitors using browsers. The feed icon feeds permit subscription to regular updates, delivered automatically via a web portal, news reader vlogs or blogs and etc. Submitted content and/or disabled by request consume content and will be immediately removed from Deaf YouVideo. If you see the content appears "error, blank, and feed not support", click home or refresh your browsers.

Powered by FeedBurner

Copyright © 2020 Deaf YouVideo All Rights Reserved.
Deaf YouVideo. Powered by Blogger.
 
page contents