Date Posted:
11/01/2010
Title:
For The Deaf, She Sure Talks The Talk
Summary:
William Feldman, columnist for Northeast Times (Philadelphia, Pa.), interviews ASL interpreter Missy Keast.
Body:
Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column, the second of a two-part series, concludes my interview with Missy Keast, a highly respected American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.
Last week’s column included information about a new kids’ Scholastic DVD, Goodnight Moon … and more great bedtime stories, which includes an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, plus a detailed paragraph on how ASL learning is a complete, complex language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body. Also ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.
Missy founded ASL Inside which created a Fingerspelling curriculum on DVD. Missy’s education began at age 4 at the Colorado School for the Deaf, where she was a boarding student. Her family lived two hours away, and she went home on the weekends. This was very common in order to get children a strong language and communication base. Her sister was already at CSDB, which made it a little bit easier for her. Missy described the school as “superb!”
The family then moved to Tucson so Missy could attend the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, where there were about 400 deaf students. The school was closer and she could live at home, taking a bus to school. Her dad worked at IBM and was able to transfer and maintain his job.
“I did not need an interpreter until I attended Arizona State University at age twenty,” Missy said. “Using an interpreter in a college class was a shocking experience for me. I thanked my parents for sending me to deaf schools, because many teachers were deaf and they had their masters/Ph.D degrees.”
These educated deaf teachers were role models for their students, Missy said.
“I looked up at them and wanted to be successful like them,” she said. “Many parents place deaf children in mainstream public schools because they think their children will grow up better suited to survive in a totally hearing world. That belief is a myth. The strong reading and writing skills I gained through my primary language, ASL, gave me the confidence to survive and thrive in the hearing world.”
Missy, who is 44, graduated from Arizona State University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in history. She met her husband David at a college-town bar in Tempe, Ariz.
“I was with my deaf friends, and he was with his friend,” she said.
David had not known a deaf person before he met Missy, but Missy said he grew up with a deaf dog. After meeting Missy, David wanted to learn ASL, and he attended Mesa Community College. He has “joined my lifestyle. He has immersed himself into the deaf world with me,” Missy said.
Missy and her older sister were born deaf.
“For my [older] sister, my mom noticed that she did not turn her head when mom made a loud bang in the kitchen,” Missy said. “She was about eight months old.”
When Missy was born, her mom had the sense she was deaf, too. Missy is profoundly deaf.
“I hear NOTHING. I am happy. My life is very harmonic,” she said.
Her dedicated parents took the time to learn another language with their daughter.
“They are the best parents,” Missy said.
I remember learning in a biology class that some birth defects are genetics. I asked Missy about that.
“Yes in my family line, we do have deaf blood. Our cousins are also deaf,” she said, adding that she never worried about the possibility that her children will be deaf.
How does a child learn to sign? The answer was quite simple: It’s just like when a child learns any other language.
“American Sign Language is a cultural language which is NOT based on English,” she said.
One must study a language to learn it. Parents should teach sign language to their deaf children from day one, she said. Successfully reading lips to communicate effectively is a rare talent.
“I think that Hollywood promotes this misperception,” Missy said. If your child is not deaf, you can still teach him sign language. He will get an early start on communication that has lasting positive effects on his learning, she explained.
Music is not a challenge either. It is like anything else.
“Once you have a passion in your head, you can do anything. Being deaf will not stop it,” Missy explained.
She said a group of friends of hers started a band, Beethoven’s Nightmare. More than 30 years and many broken barriers later, the trio is billed as the only all-deaf rock band in the world. They even have a debut album.
I wondered about the interpreter’s role and responsibilities as well as Missy’s own role and responsibilities as an instructor when an interpreter is present.
“That is not a simple answer,” she replied. “You could write several books about that! Interpreters are required to go through extensive training and earn certification to be a professional interpreter. There is also a code of ethics that they must adhere to that requires confidentiality. The deaf community is small!”
Missy has two children, Sage, age 6, and Spring Tea, age 4. I asked Missy some personal questions about herself and raising a family.
How challenging is it for deaf parents to raise children?
“Being a parent is a difficult job for everyone,” she said. “Even a hearing mom has a difficult time raising her own child.”
I am sure all moms and dads will agree with her.
I also wondered how Missy went about teaching her kids sign language.
“When my first girl was born, within a second, the first communication she received was me signing, ‘Hi, my honey.’ We simply sign to them all the time, and they are both bilingual,” she said.
How do you know if your infant cries if you walk out of the room for a minute?
“All mommies have that gut instinct that tells them where their baby is in need. We just know,” she said.
In Missy’s house, they also put a small TV camera with a monitor in their children’s room.
“That way we could always see what was happening with our baby,” she explained. “Hearing parents do the same thing. Funny, but my beloved Dalmatian also helped.
“Sometimes he would bark when my baby needed something,” Missy added. “I carried my girls in a sling when they were tiny and took them everywhere. They were so cuddly. They still sometimes crawl into our bed when they need nurturing.”
After all the columns I have written about fire safety, of course my last question concerned safety. What type of adaptations does Missy have in her home — smoke alarms, telephones, etc.?
Missy’s smoke detector has a visible light that blinks, and her telephone service is amazing. The video phone technology reminds her of Star Trek.
“Our video phones allow us to call anywhere in the world using ASL,” she said. “If I call a hearing person, an ASL interpreter completes the call for me. The phone service that I use is provided by ZVRS at www.zvrs.com.”
I had a chance to speak with Missy using this amazing, modern technology. What impressed me the most is that the interpreter puts emotion and voice pitch into the response you hear, so you know exactly how the person responded.
For more information on Missy’s ASL products, visit www.aslinside.com. Also, if you enjoy this DVD with ASL you might want to try A Pocket for Corduroy or Five
Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.
More information about the Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD series is at www.newkideo.com. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com