ERICA: What is EHDI? It stands for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention – a national organization that focuses on deaf babies from birth to three years old. How dId I get involved with EHDI? It all began in 2008 when my mom and I went to the nationwide conference in New Orleans. That was when I was impacted by the fact it was all hearing except for maybe only 10 Deaf people. That is all! Think about it – 500 hearing people. Mind-blowing. This is for deaf babies. Wow. Let me expand more about the EHDI. When a deaf baby is born, how do they gather up statistics through hospitals and so forth? What they will do is send a Early interventionist who help as well as give advice to family members on language methods, educational options, and so on. That is the whole system.
ERICA: In the year of 2008, two organizations were established at the same time. The first one was Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC), an organization that focus on ensuring that Deaf babies have access to ASL. Plus, spread information to doctors, audiologists, teachers, and hearing parents. The other organization was DYUSA – Deaf Youth USA – a group for Deaf people between 18 to 30 years old. I’m involved with DYUSA while my mom is with DBC. My mom is hearing. We see that both organizations goes hand in hand. DYUSA represents Deaf people who wants to go beyond by being a role model to Deaf children. That is their ultimate goal. As for DBC, its main focus is between birth and five years old. Talk about perfect timing. Growing up, my mom was so unsure if I should learn ASL or another method. From there, we started a tour across America to conferences, both state and nationwide. My mom even went to _______ . We explained about our personal experiences such as the grieving process of having a deaf child, not knowing on what to do, and very lucky, the audiologist told my mom to learn to sign. My mom went with that and i went to a deaf school. Seeing the change in me was worth it – that signing was my world. My mom went through this and knows how critical is to sign instead of spending all of the energy on auditory skills. So, my mom shared that story all over the place which made an impact because there were some hearing parents in the audience. They both can relate to what they were going through. Right there, a common bond is formed. Yes, my mom does this as well as enjoys doing this in order to increase awareness.
ERICA: I have been traveling all over the world – not all countries just yet. Now, I am in Cambodia. It all began two years ago being in a RV visiting different deaf schools, deaf-related businesses, and community. Experiencing this has gotten me to meet so many people and seeing a lot, there is a missing gap within the small towns. They have this desire to want more, expand more, and more empowerment. There was a calling that I should get out of USA. But I was not sure on where. After a while, I took off to Finland for WFD, World Federation of the Deaf, due to the headquarter being there. All the associations of each country came together as one part to unify – that is their focus. So, I volunteered there for a whole month. I did a bunch of little things such as planning meetings, writing notes, creating vlogs, and etc. I enjoyed myself there, but as soon I was done I traveled a variety parts of Europe. While I was there, I saw Kiss-Fist Magazine at the same time unsure on where to go next. The answer was in the magazine, “Cambodia.” That was another sign. Yes. What was so unique about that country? It has a Deaf cafe affiliated with Epic Arts. Epic Arts is an organization for the Deaf as well as handicapped people. I got in touch with my friend to tell her that I was interested in that Cafe. Sure, come on over is what my friend said. Immediately, I traveled to Cambodia. Wow, amazing experience! All are Deaf including the workers as well as the handicapped people. I see how they work together with customers coming in and out. I washed the dishes in the back – cool. After seeing everything from each country, Cambodia community cherish working together as a team. Then I realized yes, it does take a VILLAGE to raise a kid. The same should be for the Deaf as a whole – deaf peers, deaf organizations, deaf schools, and deaf businesses. We should be supporting each other.
ERICA: I would pick Rosa Lee. We went to the same school. While I was a little girl in elementary school, she was in high school at the time. I looked up to her plus her mother is heavily involved with bi-bi philosophy. My mother happened to work with her mother. Time passed by, I did not see her for a long time til EHDI conference. Rosa was on a screen doing a music video called, “It feels so good to be living.” I was blown away by her performance. Secondly, Kiss-Fist Magazine is a cool magazine. Modern, revolutionary, and it introduces all types of Deaf people – more of artists.
ERICA: I never thought much of the word “Pearl” or pearls until you gave me a new meaning. From there, I started to see what it means – everyone has a talent, own wisdom, experiences, and that is what I love the most is to be able to exchange that with each other. Thank you for making this happen.
ERICA: I recommend Ronise Barreras. She is originally from California and moved to Cambodia being deaf and a woman. She took the risk in making the big move and works at Epic Arts Cafe. Before this, she worked for Deaf development program then became the manager for the cafe. I am so impressed with her due to the fact she wants to empower the deaf community here. Since from the beginning, a lot of changes have been made. Her energy outshines – she is very optimist, just keeps going, and loves being with people. Also, she embraces Cambodia language and continues to empower them.