Author: Jordan

  • Day Two

    I was up all night working on translation and video editing. By video editing, I mean trimming and keying my background to make it accessible for DeafBlind folks. It seems that a great background works well with my brown skin tone. If others have other ideas, I’m open to them to make my ASL translation videos visually accessible for low-vision folks.

    Anyway, I’m feeling quite wired and tired. Still gotta show up to work. The work I do is meaningful because I know we make connections through video calls while ensuring we provide high-quality services. But I didn’t type this post to talk about my work.

    For awhile now, I’ve been on and off the wagon posting videos in YouTube. I find it easier to dump some things here in my blog post as I go and when I can. Some topics I am passionate about and open to learn for fun are personal finances, crypto, NFT, relationships, communication, self-help, mindset, health. And parenthood. A couple to topics as you can see here. Lately, I’ve been in the bandwagon with ChatGPT since it’s trending and I’m finding folks giving away swipe files showing how they are optimizing ChatGPT. I’m intrigued. I tried it a couple of times and it’s quite fun to play around with. It’s like an interactive book for me.

    At this point, I’m rambling but I suppose this what my subconscious mind is at the moment.

    Anyway, comment below and let me know what you found interesting here.

  • Day One

    A couple of weeks ago, I started following some fathers or dads with social media accounts. Since I’m a dad, of course, I was curious to know what others were doing. I was intrigued. What triggered me to look for accounts for ideas and inspiration is that I am Deaf and a dad. Hence, you see me use these together Deaf dad. Just pronouncing this rolls off my tongue well. It’s like music and beats on my tongue. Anyway, yes, as a Deaf dad, I bump into other parents at my toddler’s school. These parents are not Deaf and they don’t know ASL. So, there is usually some barrier imposed between us each time we’re there in person. Kind of like a glass wall between us where we make eye contact, smile and wave. Then give the thumbs-up gesture on how we’re doing then we move on to doing what we have to do with our kids.

    These parents have never met or known Deaf people or the community. Or are aware of what values lie within being Deaf and using ASL as a natural language. There have been times when we say we like to get together to learn ASL. Usually, this doesn’t happen. So, this is where I come in. I’ll be more active and intentional with my presence on social media as a Deaf dad. Of course, the most important thing, I want to do as a Deaf dad is to be there for my kids. As well as be there for my spouse. Be the Deaf dad I want to be for my family. I’m not gonna lie, it’s hard. Hard to do while working a full-time job, doing freelance work, and Deaf dad duties.

    So, this is my Day One post. Or maybe Week One. Originally, I wanted to post weekly blogs and as I started, my fingers just rolled into typing Day One. So, I’ll roll with it.

    Thanks for reading this far! This is the beginning of my blogging about my Deaf dad journey here. Actually, I think I’ll go with Deaf dad diary. Will roll with it as well. Anyway, comment below! So I can get to know you and what you’d like to learn as I go!

  • A Deaf Dad Heartfelt Moment

  • Wrapping Up 2022

    As we are wrapping up 2022, as a Deaf parent myself, it appears things aligned. It’s as if life is working things out on its own with my inner manifestation. “What was your inner manifestation?” you may wonder. I wanted to create and be in an environment where Deaf people can thrive with hearing people. And, sure enough, here I am!

    A little background in a nutshell (will try!): I was born Deaf but my parents didn’t know till I was 2. I didn’t learn ASL till I was about 8 years old. This was about the same time I started to bloom at the school for the Deaf and then graduated from a Deaf school. After graduating, I:

    • Attended community college and got my A.A. (graduated with honours!)

    • Got my B.A. at UBC (and graduated with an average of 69% which included the courses I failed)

    • Completed my M.A. at Gallaudet University by defending my thesis called “What is Privacy in Deaf Space?”.

    • Also, I got accepted into a Ph.D. program at the University of Manitoba (but I dropped out after a semester and a half).

    Meanwhile, I was already working to pay off my 6-figure student loan racked up. I took up several jobs doing:

    • Contract work teaching in universities

    • Working full-time as a manager at a social services agency. This is where we had Deaf people at the leadership level including Deaf people on the front lines.

    While working the full-time jobs I mentioned, I:

    • started freelancing doing ASL translations

    • co-founded 100 Decibels: A Deaf Mime Troupe

    • was a landlord for a rental property (later sold).

    With all this happening, I was able to pay off my student loans.

    Then something amazing happened, got married and had kids. My spouse is hearing and our kids are… Deaf. Both have the same thing I have – bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. I had the opportunity to take parental leave for a year to bond with them while they were little. Then an opportunity came up. I took a job at a Deaf-owned and Deaf-led startup. Even more so, my spouse and I enrolled our oldest toddler at a school for the Deaf (where they hired a Deaf principal!)

    So, this is where I am today – in an environment where it is Deaf-led and Deaf-owned. It’s very fascinating how this is coming to and I’m grateful for this journey I’m in. So, back to the question, What was my inner manifestation? The drive I had in me was to contribute what I have to offer by showing Deaf people have value in the world. Back then I did it for myself only. Now with a growing family (hearing spouse and Deaf toddlers), the things I do in life are myself AND my family. Most parents of Deaf children, I’m still learning and rolling in with the punches. The journey doesn’t stop here. We’re wrapping up 2022 and entering into the new year 2023. The best is yet to come!

    What’s next for me here is to connect with parents of Deaf children. And share a bit about my journey and some things I’m learning as a Deaf dad to my Deaf kiddos and husband to my non-Deaf wife. Looking forward to connecting with new folks in the new year! See you all next year!

  • #DeafDadMoments

    Sharing a moment when I took my toddler along to do errands like grocery shopping.

  • Stickers as bandaids

    The other day, I gave my toddler a pair of scissors. I entrusted that she will cut papers only. So, I went on to do my chores tidying up around the house. Then my toddler came back to me with a book where she cut off the string that was attached to the baby bird. For reference, this book was titled, “Are You My Mama?” I told her that these were supposed to be stuck together. But I guess she figured out the purpose of the scissors. A few minutes later, she came back with a sticker attaching the string to the bird. Then I smiled because I thought it was cute. But for her, she signed DADDY HAPPY! Then it dawned on me she realized she knew she knew she had to get it fixed. I thought it was cute that she used the sticker to fix it. In ASL the signs for bandaid, tape, and sticker (depending on the context) are very similar. So, I see how this transcends to using stickers to repair things.

  • Quality of Accessibility for Deaf Customers

    I came across this quote:

    Your net productivity is the balance of the productive and unproductive forces in your life.

    A great deal of time and energy is spent thinking about how to increase effort, but there is a lot to be gained by reducing friction.

    A car will travel faster not only if you press the accelerator, but also if you remove the speed bumps.

    This made me ponder on how, not what, I deliver to clients. Remote work is becoming the norm or has been made more convenient. As well as the corporate landscape has shifted and become more remote. There are technological advances making things more accessible and convenient. For example, there are video conferencing platforms. In the case of providing remote interpreting services, not all platforms are well-suited for the users.

    To date, Zoom has been a favourable platform for users because of its multi-pinning capability. When screens are being shared, Sign Language interpreters are still visible while allowing users the flexibility to adjust the size. Whereas MS Teams, get pushed to the smaller screens. (If this has changed at the time of reading this, please let me know!) I’m aware there are other platforms like WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc. With that being said, there are too many variables since companies have to choose platforms that based on privacy or security reasons. This causes inconsistency, unpredictability, and uncertainty for the users and providers involved. This then compromises the quality and creates varying expectations of the services provided. For example, when I set up meetings with clients with interpreters, they provide the platform their organization or company uses. Often, they don’t realize the journey or the experience of the users would be wildly varied because of the varying platforms.

    As a Deaf user myself, this journey is all too familiar whereas it is new for hearing users who never had to think about this. Even more so, when they are the ones that are using the platform, they are not familiar with setting things up ensuring interpreters are to remain visible. I can imagine they’d feel burdened by this as it’s typically new to them and stressful for them to manage. This is where I come in. Regardless of the car you have, I’ll ensure the road is smoothened for everyone on the road to ensure the accessibility journey is a smooth one.

  • How to book an interpreter

    The other day, I had a meeting about a partnership opportunity to be mentoring and teaching school-aged children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It is indeed a great opportunity because I value giving back to the community. As a Deaf person who communicates using American Sign Language (ASL), I express my thoughts and ideas in profound ways and want to be able to share this, especially with the person I’ll be collaborating with. During this meeting, some things did not go smoothly, and I had to adjust and repeat for the sign language interpreter. The person I was collaborating with had profound questions and I had profound answers but because these were beyond the interpreter’s ability, I had a sense the conversation had to be “dumbed down” (or a lack of a better word). At the end of the meeting, it left me with some things that could have been better stated or could have been signed differently… could have this, could have that…

    Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that an interpreter was booked for this opportunity. Even more so, they booked the interpreter through the agency. However, the one thing that could have been done to prevent this from happening was to ask me who or which agency I prefer rather than making the booking without checking in with me. My rationale for this is that certain agencies and interpreters I have confidence in click with me, understand my thoughts and more so, have the appropriate skill level to work with me. I believe that Deaf folks should have control over who they want as their interpreter rather than the other way around. This will create an authencity where they have interpreters that are well-suited for the client. By not checking with Deaf folks, the conversation may not be as authentic for both parties. So, when working with Deaf folks, please check in with them about the interpreter they want or the agency they trust. As for the interpreters accepting the assignment, that’s another post for next time.

  • Re-posting Previous Posts

    I have old posts I’d like to re-post. This way I can have my website journey documented with others here who are considering having their own websites set up. It may take me a bit to figure this out.

    Update: It didn’t take that long for me to figure this out! 😅

  • Hello world!

    As I’m working on having my website revamped, I inadvertently threw the wrench into the coding somewhere. So, I had support to come in and save the day. Hence, this is why you’re seeing this website with a clean slate. At this time, I’ll be taking a step back and will get back to this when I’m in a clear state of mind. Come back again in 3 days to see this be resurrected!