Stranger in a Strange Land: Reflections on the MIRID/MDA Biannual Conference

“Don’t be nervous. The Deaf people are nice, it’s the Hearies you have to watch out for!”

-Interpreter at MIRD/ MDA conference

Stranger in a Strange Land:

Reflections on the MIRID/MDA Biannual Conference

           I walked into the Radisson clutching tightly to my yellow spiral notebook, until I nearly bent the cover. On my phone I pulled up my ASL Dictionary App. I have never felt so much like a foreigner. I thought about leaving, even though I had been looking forward to this night all summer. Excitedly, my friends and I even nicknamed the event Deaf-Con a play on the name of the alert status used by the US military.

The first Deaf person I tried to sign to, a woman collecting money at the door, ended in her dragging me over to an interpreter. I tried to explain that the tickets for the event had been paid for by KVCC. I tried to sign and write in my notebook. The very kind interpreter told me,

“It’s okay, you can use your voice.”

I felt so frustrated! I took a minute to collect myself at the door. My anxiety level skyrocketed. Deaf-con 1! Deaf-con 1! ASL student meltdown imminent!

Inside I found a woman from my class and her husband. We sat not-entirely-in-a-corner and I watched as around us hands flew in a beautiful sort of ballet. I began to seriously doubt I would ever sign well.

The first performer,Evelina Giana, put on a woman show in ASL. While it was not voice interpreted I understood some of the jokes. Some concepts are universal. I enjoyed a short video she showed about how difficult it is to read lips. At one point the hearing-person holds up a set of novelty teeth in front of her mouth and they just move up and down quickly. It’s impossible to tell what she was trying to say.

During her show Sean Forbes and his band sat down one table away from us. I have had the biggest crush on Sean Forbes since he came to KVCC over a year ago. Any notion I had of fleeing the Radisson, dropping out of ASL and taking up Canadian English as a foreign language melted away. I felt so relieved to see him sign and voice.

I understood keenly the irony at work here. In this strange land where I struggled to communicate I felt so relieved when someone knew my language. This is what accessibility is all about. Sean Forbes uses voice, sign, text projected onto large screens, flashing lights and even a vibrating dance floor to make his shows enjoyable to everyone. While I sang along the woman in front of me signed along with Sean Forbes. People danced. Music can be universal.

After Sean’s entirely too short set, I wanted to talk with EVERYONE. I had something to talk about now! Did you think Sean was just great or really great? I met with other fans and we signed, voiced, whatever about his other shows and how exciting it was that he had a DVD out now. I went right up to Sean to talk with him. He teased me about my awkward fingerspelling. I even asked him for a picture. It proudly stands as my profile picture on Facebook.

I loved my experience at the MIRID/MDA conference. I even truly appreciated the awkwardness. I’m very grateful to KVCC for allowing me this study abroad into the Deaf-World.