What Got Me Started Voice Writing

I have been interpreting for years and never even noticed a need for captioning. So why now? Because of my personal connection to Neurofibromatosis type II (NF-2). Here's how House Ear Institute defines this disease on their website.

Neurofibromatosis Type II (NF2) is a genetic disease (autosomal dominant) of the nervous system characterized by tumors (schwannomas) growing on both vestibular nerves that adversely affect the auditory and facial nerves. This disease affects approximately one in 40,000 people in the U.S. Profound hearing loss and some facial paralysis result from the growth of bilateral tumors on these nerves. Because of the location of the tumors, their removal typically necessitates severing the auditory nerve.

My Dad and a gentleman at our church (Tim) both have NF-2. Both of them are now deaf yet have lived most of their lives with the ability to hear. They are experiencing a strange new world (I'll see if I can get them to tell their stories here too). I'm sure many people have gone through this, but it took my Dad going through it to make me sensitive to the radical change that it brings to not only the individual but the entire family. It made me realize how isolating deafness can be without a knowledge of sign. It's not the time to be forced into isolation, but the time one most needs the support and love of a church community.

Our church hired a stenographer from a local organization that provides CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation). As you might expect, this was expensive and quickly depleted our Deaf Ministry budget. Fortunately, the stenographer decided to make our church her own and offered to volunteer her time.

So why voice writing? I was the lone interpreter at our church for many years before God brought a wonderful team of interpreters to work with me. I know that our stenographer will likely, over time, feel the same pressures I experienced of being the only one trained to provide such a unique service . I know that she will need a back-up for times of sickness, vacation or for the occasional break that we all need. My goal is to have two or more voice writers trained and ready to work together with our stenographer as a team.