Ok, I'm deaf and quadriplegic. I use a wheelchair, and I sign differently because my hands are partially paralyzed. To top it off, I have a service dog. Hell, yes, people stare. Sometimes I just smile at them, sometimes I stare back, and sometimes I make a joke to break the tension (my voice is very clear). I'll say something like, never saw such a beautiful dog/woman/chair or whatever. If they stare because I'm signing with friends, I just wave hello.
Ok, I'm deaf and quadriplegic. I use a wheelchair, and I sign differently because my hands are partially paralyzed. To top it off, I have a service dog. Hell, yes, people stare. Sometimes I just smile at them, sometimes I stare back, and sometimes I make a joke to break the tension (my voice is very clear). I'll say something like, never saw such a beautiful dog/woman/chair or whatever. If they stare because I'm signing with friends, I just wave hello.
off-topic...
what kind of service dog do you have? (i.e. breed) i have a guide dog who is a 45 pound yellow lab. my previous guide dog was a 65 pound golden retriever.
He's a black lab/golden retriever mix, about 73 lbs. He was trained to pull my manual wheelchair, open doors, retrieve, switch on/off lights, help me dress, etc. He was trained by Canine Companions for Independence.
that's awesome. how old is he? my guide dog is 12, but still as spry as ever and in perfect health with the exception of a little arthritis that flares up in the cold.
He's almost 9, but starting to slow down. Last week I retired him from pulling, as he's starting to get a little arthritis. He's definitely slower to get up these days.
We tried training him for hearing commands when I lost my hearing, but no luck. Hearing dogs need to have inquisitiveness and self-initiative to explore sounds. Travis is so well trained as a service dog, he waits patiently to be given a command for everything. He doesn't leave my side to explore (except for the errant morsel of food), so he's lousy at actively alerting me. On leash, though, I find that if I pay attention to his body language and where he looks, I pick up a lot of cues.
that's cool. my guide dog tigger was trained for hearing/alert duties and can respond to commands in asl since she was specifically trained to work with a deafblind person. she was trained for hearing/alert duties after i came home from leader and a local school that trains dogs for the deaf came here and trained tigger in my home. i've decided to have my next guide dog dually trained as well since i'm totally deaf without my ci's on.
oh, and tigger always responds when my name is called. i don't know if she was trained to do that, but it really helps when i'm in a noisy environment and don't hear someone call my name.
Awesome. And what a fabulous name, "Tigger". Did you name her? Travis was originally named Teness but his puppy raiser changed it...thank goodness.
Hi DeafDoc1. Did you see my question up there?
I know you and Hear Again are having an engaging conversation so I hate to de-rail it.