How to learn ASL

February 03, 2023 by Kelly Holland in deaf, Deaf 2

Sharing resources for learning American Sign Language.

Cochlear implants

May 11, 2022 by Kelly Holland in deaf

Cochlear implants. A taboo word in the deaf world. For those who aren’t familiar with what cochlear implants are - it’s an electronic device installed under the skin behind the ears.

Deaf and Counseling

September 06, 2021 by Kelly Holland in deaf

September is Deaf Awareness month. It also is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. I’m going to talk about an important topic that combines of those two themes… Deaf and Counseling. Many of Deaf/Hard of Hearing people are still struggling to this day to find appropriate help. The issue is… accessibility.

A visit to the Emergency Room

January 11, 2021 by Kelly Holland

Last month, I finally made the trek to the emergency room after a month long of having heart pains. Long before this pandemic, it’s always been stressful to go to the ER due to my deafness and communication barriers.

Summary: Deaf and Employment

May 03, 2020 by Kelly Holland in deaf

Over the last month and a half, I published a 6 part series focusing on my experience with employment. Many had asked me to share these experiences, such as what it is like to go on interviews or what it is like to work in a hearing dominated environment. I was asked to share this a few years ago. Why did it take so long for me to share? I had a lot of hesitancy to publish any of those posts. I felt like each post was so negative. I’m not typically the kind of person to be excessive and pessimistic.

Part 6: My Journey as a Deaf Paraprofessional

April 16, 2020 by Kelly Holland

Yesterday marked the end of Deaf History month, so to wrap up the series about challenges I faced with employment, I will talk about the recent and last job I had. Over the last 4 years, I worked as a special education paraprofessional at an elementary school. I interviewed for a position at the high school level and had accepted the offer, until the Special Education director convinced me to interview for the elementary school position. He thought that the student was in need of someone like me more than the high school student. I went to the interview at the elementary school and requested an interpreter.

Part 5: The continued search

April 05, 2020 by Kelly Holland

The search for a job after American School for the Deaf took a long time again. I faced many rejections as I mentioned in Part 2. This time, I contacted the vocational rehabilitation counselor to help me with the search. She assigned me a headhunter, which is an individual who helps me find opportunities. I spent a lot of time with the head hunter applying to jobs, fixing up my resume and following up with the businesses. I saw a huge difference in the search process with a headhunter.

Part 4: TSA

March 29, 2020 by Kelly Holland

Upon my resignation from American School for the Deaf, I was still reeling from the loss of the new plans I had made to be a teacher. I decided to go back to searching for a job in the criminal justice field as I originally planned. This is when I signed up for a 4 year long commitment with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It should be listed on my resume because you totally can see the dedication right there. All joking aside, it was my biggest fight in trying to get the job.

Part 3: American School for the Deaf

March 25, 2020 by Kelly Holland

The summer of 2012, I applied to a residential counselor position at American School for the Deaf (ASD) in West Hartford, CT. ASD is an institute for deaf students from K-12. Some students commuted daily to the school on the school buses. Some students stayed at ASD in the residential dorms since they lived in NYC, New Jersey, all over Connecticut, or Massachusetts. The job I applied for was to supervise these kids who stayed in the residence halls. It was definitely the easiest interview I had.

Part 2: The search in CT

March 22, 2020 by Kelly Holland

PART TWO: When I moved to Connecticut, I reminisced about the days of the Probation department. Naturally, that was the first place I went to to seek a job. I interviewed for the probation officer position in my county. It turned out to be one of the worst interviews I’ve been to.

The employment challenges of the Deaf

March 16, 2020 by Kelly Holland

National Deaf History month kicked off on Friday the 13th. It marked the anniversary of ‘Deaf President Now’ movement at Gallaudet University. Located in Washington D.C., Gallaudet University is a liberal arts college for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. The movement succeeded in persuading Gallaudet University to have a deaf president. I. King Jordan became the first Deaf president in 1988. This reflects the determination of those who fought for what was best for our deaf community.

Deaf and Dating

September 29, 2019 by Kelly Holland in deaf

Dating is an adventure for everyone. It was especially hard for me because of communication barriers. I mentioned that I grew up in mainstreamed school. My only options for dating were the hearing guys. How do I approach them? How do I let them know that I have a crush on them? Will they learn American Sign Language (ASL) for me? It was challenging to develop friendships so dating was even harder.

Deaf identity

September 22, 2019 by Kelly Holland in deaf

There are a lot of struggles with being deaf in a hearing world, but also within our own deaf community. Unfortunately it is challenging to find my place in the deaf community even as a deaf individual. I mentioned in the cochlear implants blog that there are many subgroups of the deaf community. I learned about them when I attended college at RIT (which also had a college for the deaf - National Technical Institute for the Deaf - NTID). During my childhood, I was mainstreamed with all hearing peers so I never truly found my identity until college.

The Deaf Mainstreamed Life

September 08, 2019 by Kelly Holland in deaf

Happy Deaf Awareness Month! It’s the time to increase deaf awareness issues and culture. Accessibility is so important for us - sign language for one. The deaf world is constantly trying to teach and expose people to sign language. It will help reduce the problems formed by communication barriers. Many are not aware of the issues we face daily such as lack of open captioned movies, availability of employment, receiving high quality interpreting services, etc. It will always be a life long battle to educate people, but it’s my hope with deaf awareness month (and anytime!) to offer better quality of life for us deaf folks!