whats causing deaf clubs to dwindle away?

ASLGAL said:
I agree with many of the ideas already expressed.
Technology advancing
More mobile society
and so on.

But, I do believe there is still the yearning for that human, face to face, contact and that is why Deaf Coffee Chats, Meet-ups, and Silent Dinners remain very popular. The locations just keep changing so that more people can have a chance to meet and have fun.
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Agreed. Deaf clubs have simply changed faces, and instead of being in a central physical location, the group moves from location to location to suit their purpose. Doesn't mean the group doesn't still exist...it has simply become more mobile.
 
ASLGAL said:
I agree with many of the ideas already expressed.
Technology advancing
More mobile society
and so on.

But, I do believe there is still the yearning for that human, face to face, contact and that is why Deaf Coffee Chats, Meet-ups, and Silent Dinners remain very popular. The locations just keep changing so that more people can have a chance to meet and have fun.
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Yep, right, locations, times, etc have been changed from time to time to meet our ever-changing needs.

Oh, and we also have DPHH here in San Antonio and in Austin as well. (Deaf Professional Happy Hour). I forgot that one in my earlier post.
 
jillio said:
Technology just a tool for arranging times and meeting places? Gonna have to disagree there. It is used as a daily communication tool, not just to stay in touch with other deaf, but to facilitate communication with the hearing.
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Yep. Look at me. I'm a hard-core Sidekick 3 AIM user and I text frequently. I think I would go into severe withdrawal if my SK3 dies on me. I've had it for 2 years. :fingerx: The SK3 allows me to stay in touch with all my friends and family, both Deaf and hearing. Especially my sister and my aunt and my fiance - I texted my aunt yesterday to ask her a question regarding baseball as my aunt works for Miller Brewery as a spokesperson and my uncle is a baseball fanatic and knew all the trivia. (no I don't care about baseball but I saw something on a show and went WTF so I texted my aunt to ask her if it was fictional or if it was actually true - and it was actually TRUE! :shock: True facts in a Simpsons show! LOL. Best part about texting is that you can get an answer real quick - perfect! I got an answer from my aunt within 2 minutes! I can text my sister and find out where she is if I needed to as she is in the military. I can text or IM or email everybody and their mother. I can email them in an instant. I don't have to wait to get home to email someone. And I like having my SK3 in case of emergencies or when Medicaid Transportation fucks up as was the case on Thursday - I had very kindly asked the driver to PLEASE wait 5 minutes while I ran in and picked a RX from the doctor - I promised him I would be VERY QUICK - they had it on the desk and I was given the RX immediately so I was in and out in 1 minute but the guy left! :mad2: I was stranded in Live Oak, with NO public transit bus service at all!!! How was I supposed to get home? Thankfully I IM'd my fiance and he was there within 15 minutes. Thank goodness for my SK3, I do not know what I would do if the SK3 dies. Those phones are so expensive!
 
Lucia, u have a good point there.


Guess we could say that there are still Deaf clubs but they are called Deaf socials.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
Yep. Look at me. I'm a hard-core Sidekick 3 AIM user and I text frequently. I think I would go into severe withdrawal if my SK3 dies on me. I've had it for 2 years. :fingerx: The SK3 allows me to stay in touch with all my friends and family, both Deaf and hearing. Especially my sister and my aunt and my fiance - I texted my aunt yesterday to ask her a question regarding baseball as my aunt works for Miller Brewery as a spokesperson and my uncle is a baseball fanatic and knew all the trivia. (no I don't care about baseball but I saw something on a show and went WTF so I texted my aunt to ask her if it was fictional or if it was actually true - and it was actually TRUE! :shock: True facts in a Simpsons show! LOL. Best part about texting is that you can get an answer real quick - perfect! I got an answer from my aunt within 2 minutes! I can text my sister and find out where she is if I needed to as she is in the military. I can text or IM or email everybody and their mother. I can email them in an instant. I don't have to wait to get home to email someone. And I like having my SK3 in case of emergencies or when Medicaid Transportation fucks up as was the case on Thursday - I had very kindly asked the driver to PLEASE wait 5 minutes while I ran in and picked a RX from the doctor - I promised him I would be VERY QUICK - they had it on the desk and I was given the RX immediately so I was in and out in 1 minute but the guy left! :mad2: I was stranded in Live Oak, with NO public transit bus service at all!!! How was I supposed to get home? Thankfully I IM'd my fiance and he was there within 15 minutes. Thank goodness for my SK3, I do not know what I would do if the SK3 dies. Those phones are so expensive!
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**Nodding.** At least 50% of my communication is through text and email, and I am hearing.

And I agree with what you mentioned about deaf socials. That is the point I was making when I said that deaf groups still existed...they were just more mobile.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
Yep. Look at me. I'm a hard-core Sidekick 3 AIM user and I text frequently. I think I would go into severe withdrawal if my SK3 dies on me. I've had it for 2 years. :fingerx: The SK3 allows me to stay in touch with all my friends and family, both Deaf and hearing. Especially my sister and my aunt and my fiance - I texted my aunt yesterday to ask her a question regarding baseball as my aunt works for Miller Brewery as a spokesperson and my uncle is a baseball fanatic and knew all the trivia. (no I don't care about baseball but I saw something on a show and went WTF so I texted my aunt to ask her if it was fictional or if it was actually true - and it was actually TRUE! :shock: True facts in a Simpsons show! LOL. Best part about texting is that you can get an answer real quick - perfect! I got an answer from my aunt within 2 minutes! I can text my sister and find out where she is if I needed to as she is in the military. I can text or IM or email everybody and their mother. I can email them in an instant. I don't have to wait to get home to email someone. And I like having my SK3 in case of emergencies or when Medicaid Transportation fucks up as was the case on Thursday - I had very kindly asked the driver to PLEASE wait 5 minutes while I ran in and picked a RX from the doctor - I promised him I would be VERY QUICK - they had it on the desk and I was given the RX immediately so I was in and out in 1 minute but the guy left! :mad2: I was stranded in Live Oak, with NO public transit bus service at all!!! How was I supposed to get home? Thankfully I IM'd my fiance and he was there within 15 minutes. Thank goodness for my SK3, I do not know what I would do if the SK3 dies. Those phones are so expensive!
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that taxi is not nice, happens to think we should take notice of the driver's names, (ID number with taxi company?) scribble it down as you have the ride (do it everytime) in case they take off like that again, then you have a case to complain with the information of the right identification , so the driver would get fired or reprimanded, as you may even get an apology, heck maybe even a free ride next time. just a thought, and im sorry that happens it must make you feel little nervous with that stranded feeling. Yeah mobile text phones are fantastic but you're right its so 'over important/precious that if we lost it, or battery runs out, we're shit out of luck, come to think of it it would be embarrassing to ask a stranger, "i'd deaf i need to text someone, can i borrow your text phone?" i wonder fi anyone has done that before ( I havent but i have thought...)

cheers
 
Grummer said:
that taxi is not nice, happens to think we should take notice of the driver's names, (ID number with taxi company?) scribble it down as you have the ride (do it everytime) in case they take off like that again, then you have a case to complain with the information of the right identification , so the driver would get fired or reprimanded, as you may even get an apology, heck maybe even a free ride next time. just a thought, and im sorry that happens it must make you feel little nervous with that stranded feeling. Yeah mobile text phones are fantastic but you're right its so 'over important/precious that if we lost it, or battery runs out, we're shit out of luck, come to think of it it would be embarrassing to ask a stranger, "i'd deaf i need to text someone, can i borrow your text phone?" i wonder fi anyone has done that before ( I havent but i have thought...)

cheers
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It's not taxi service, it's Medicaid's Medical Transportation Program (provided to Medicaid patients at no charge), and it totally sucks ass. Always late to pick me up to bring me to my appointments, and then afterwards I have to wait 2 hours just to be picked up and taken home. I have even gotten to the point where I have to lie about my appointment times to make them actually get me to the appointment on time - like for example if my appointment is at 3 pm I tell them it is at 2 pm to give it a 1 hour cushion time so if the driver shows up late I still get to my appointments on time. But I still have to wait up to 2 hours after my appointments. We do have paratransit here that is owned by the VIA bus service, but they are still the same old crap, only difference is I would be paying $2.50 per way for the same crappy service, so there was no point in applying for paratransit. I don't want to pay money for the same crappy service that I get for free with Medical Transportation Program. I can't afford taxi cabs. I also do not know San Antonio well to take the bus outside of the northeast area and the downtown area. It also takes 2 hours on the bus just to get to the south side anyway. I would be so much better off if I had a car, but I need a driver's license and I don't have the $ for driving lessons and no one will teach me for free. :( I can't even afford a car anyway, so there is totally no point in getting a driver's license. The fact that San Antonio is 3-4 times the size of Milwaukee (big city where I grew up, but not too big) is what makes getting anywhere so difficult and also the fact that San Antonio's infrastructure is not on a north-south, east-west grid like Milwaukee's is makes it even more confusing to follow directions even by car.(Compare maps of Milwaukee and San Antonio and you will see what I mean). I really do love San Antonio, I just wish the infrastructure here was on a north-south, west-east grid and I also wish it wasn't so huge. It's extremely easy to get lost here. People tell me I ought to go back to Milwaukee, but no way. It's just too frigid there, and I left for many personal reasons.

Oh, and yeah, I called to complain about the driver but they did not seem to give a damn.

I should add that Live Oak is another town, not in San Antonio but still in the same county. Medical Transportation Program serves San Antonio and all the towns as long as they are in the same county.
 
Grummer said:
Hello All,

Have the diminishing numbers of deaf clubs attributed to the way technology have affected the way social interaction take place?
or is there another reason?
It would be interesting to see what those of you may think or observed. For instance in the past, during the middle of the 20th century there were no such thing as Deaf clubs for the Blacks, or Jews, or women, even Professional 'class' is emerging. Patterns of congregating has been changing from back of churches to public spaces such as Coffee houses, even shopping malls.
How can this fragmentation help the concept of Deaf identity, does anyone think so, or think not ? and why you think so, or not

Grum
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Didn't know they were, Grum! News to me!
 
Lucia makes a good point, I too rely very heavily on text communications. I even have voice-to-text on my mobile (someone leaves a voice mail and its transcribed to text), I also have text-to-landline in which the text message is spoken to the person on the landline. I also do text-to-text communications quite often. I also spend quite a bit of my time here on AD, so this is my deaf social so to speak but I still wish to meet many of you face to face.

I would be lost without my mobile phone, there are times I can't hear at all in a situation so I have to type out my request on the phone and let the other person read it.
 
I've never really enjoyed deaf clubs...I have found the experience boring and waste of my time. I prefer small deaf groups, hanging out at my place or something of that nature.

In my experience, many deaf groups do not respect hearing people and businesses...for example, they will talk in a restaurant for hours...which cost the wait staff a lot of tip potential....many restaurants dislike deaf groups.

The "Block" at Orange County in Southern California is a good example of what I mean. Hundreds of deaf people meet in one area, blocking entrances.

Businesses and security in that area have come to dislike these events. The wait staff at Daves and Busters have told me that many deaf people stiff them on tips as well.

It's embarrassing when a large group meet in public sometimes! It infuriates me!
 
Many restaurants now automatically include a 15% gratuity for large parties (usually 8 or more) on the bill. And some restaurants will ask that you order at least a beverage and an appetizer or they will ask you to leave so that other patrons who wish to eat-in may do so. At least that's what I've seen in the Rsvl area.
 
deafbajagal said:
I've never really enjoyed deaf clubs...I have found the experience boring and waste of my time. I prefer small deaf groups, hanging out at my place or something of that nature.

In my experience, many deaf groups do not respect hearing people and businesses...for example, they will talk in a restaurant for hours...which cost the wait staff a lot of tip potential....many restaurants dislike deaf groups.

The "Block" at Orange County in Southern California is a good example of what I mean. Hundreds of deaf people meet in one area, blocking entrances.

Businesses and security in that area have come to dislike these events. The wait staff at Daves and Busters have told me that many deaf people stiff them on tips as well.

It's embarrassing when a large group meet in public sometimes! It infuriates me!
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When u say deaf clubs, u are referring to deaf socials as well?
 
Yep, Shel...gathering of deaf people in general...official deaf clubs and/or socials.
 
deafbajagal said:
Yep, Shel...gathering of deaf people in general...official deaf clubs and/or socials.
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I havent been out to Deaf socials much lately so I dont know if the same issues still happen here. I have been socializing thru small gatherings. More fun that way now! :)
 
Never went and never will, thank God.

But I do have this Blackberry smartphone, and when I tell my hearing friends that I text msg, they all accepted that fact, and they and I still do the texting. Makes me glad to be away from the deafies.

All of the friends' entries in my address book are all hearing, except one.
 
Years ago, we used to have Deaf Clubs like social, camping trips, and other activities. Now we have change the word "Club" to "Social" when we are meeting Deaf people to socialize. Here we have Deaf Social for Christmas and Open house at the Canadian Hearing Society in Ontario. But if we happen to meet somewhere so all of Deaf people can meeting for social like in the bar, rarely do we have restaurants to be social or bowling alley where we can chat with each other. So far I have been keeping in touch with my Deaf friend (one) on the computer and have met Deaf people in Social cirlce on the mainland. Yeah, things have keep changing because of technologies. It has been going to fast when there is changing technologies. I hope we don't get lost into it. :hmm:
 
maybe i think that their is not enough deaf and hard of hearing that go to the club because most of stay home.
 
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