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Bitter: I beg your pardon?
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Colleen: Since I was about five years old.
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Bitter: That's right since she was about five years old. She has been presenting to small groups, large groups,
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to help people understand that they're people, not deaf people.
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And to help people understand that human dignity is more important than stereotype.
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The greatest enemy of truth is frequently not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest,
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but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
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Do you agree?
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Yes, we think so.
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Why don't you begin telling them a little bit about your life?
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and oh, why don't you (mouthing) why don't you ask them their names first.
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Colleen: Oh my. He asked me to ask you your names.
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Her name is Gloria Beacon. What's your name?
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Annette: My name is Annette Tull
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Colleen: Annette Tall
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Annette: Tull
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Colleen: Tull. Ok Tull Right?
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Colleen: Say it again? Bitter: Keep working on it.
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Annette: Annette
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Colleen: Annette. Annette Tull. Okay
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What's your name?
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Tiffany: My name is Tiffany Whitehead.
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Colleen: Tiffany. That's a pretty name.
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Bitter: Now we want as we move along.
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Um, If you don't pick up what they're saying and their lips are moving like that, and you can't understand what's going on
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or if you'd like to have them articulate a little more, to help each other, if they don't understand you, what are they supposed to do?
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Colleen: Do it again. Repeat it again.
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Bitter: Repeat it again. So we kind of have a reciprocal understanding, that what we don't understand we will repeat.
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So if you don't understand, Colleen won't start crying.
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If you don't understand, she won't throw her microphone and leave the room.
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She will work with you on it and help you understand, and you might talk up a little bit, honey
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because we have the ambient noise, the sound, the air-conditioning, whatever is going on upstairs, is on, so you might talk a little louder, turn up the volume.
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Colleen: Ok. I'll do my best.
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Bitter: Do you have your hearing aids on?
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Colleen: No
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Bitter: Everything is speech reading. Colleen: It hurt my ear.
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Bitter: Everything is speech reading tonight. All right, go ahead. Oh, we're going around aren't we?
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Colleen: Yeah. Ok, this is Tiffany. What's your name?
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Doug: My name is Doug Roberts. Doug Roberts.
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Colleen: Doug Roberts.
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Doug: uh huh
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Colleen: Okay
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Shaunette: I'm Shaunette Tamblin
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Colleen: Shaunette?
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Shaunette: Shaunette.
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Colleen: Shaunette. Next person.
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Sheena: I'm Sheena Ruby.
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Colleen: Say that again
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Sheena: Sheena Ruby
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Colleen: Sheena, Sheena, I didn't get the
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Sheena: Sheena Ruby. Colleen: Sheena
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Bitter: She got it.
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Collen: Ok Alright next name is Max Nigh
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Max: Right.
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Colleen: Susan Boise?
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Susan: Close
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Bitter: Tell her.
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Susan: Bjorg
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Colleen: Bjorg
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Bitter: Yes, put it together. BJorg.
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Colleen: Big Yorg.
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Bitter: No, Bjorg
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Colleen: Be Yore
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Bitter: Now let's do some work on that. Put it together. BJorg
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Colleen: Big your
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Bitter: Not two separate. How many syllables?
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Colleen: Like two, three.
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Bitter: No Bjorg, one syllable
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Colleen: Borg
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Bitter: Haha, pretty close, pretty close. Bjorg.
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Colleen: Beyo.....Beyore
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Bitter: Now that's coming, very good. Now we're going to put it on the board.
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Now I would..this is...I'll put it on the board for you and show you what we'll do.
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Colleen: Where did you get that name from?
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Bitter: Bjorg, okay. Now notice the phonetic spelling. How easy it looks? Bjorg
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This is an R...my writing is terrible. Alright
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Colleen: I thought it was two, but it was one.
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Bitter: That's right, well that's pretty close. Okay did we get everyone?
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All right. Doug, ask for her name. Ask her her name.
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Doug: Oh, What is your name?
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Colleen: My name is Colleen Bitter. Colleen Bitter. This is my father.
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Bitter: All right, why don't you tell them a little bit about your background, your life. Let's go that far and see what happens. All right?
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Colleen: Okay, fine. I was born with a profound hearing loss.
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excuse me for interrupting once more. Now if you don't get what she says, this is very important now.
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If you don't get it, tell her. You stop them once in awhile, but if you don't get it, and she moves along, then you ask her.
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This is very important in monitoring, because she's -- she isn't hearing you.
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She's picking everything up by speech reading, by your syllable,
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you know the consonant vowel relationships, and by pitch and by just reading the environment.
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And so it's very very important that she knows
whether you get it or not,
-
and this helps her monitor her communication skills. All right?
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Colleen: Okay, thank you. I forgot, I forgot to explain that.
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I was born with a profound hearing loss.
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I have about 95 decibel loss, but my parents did not find out until I was about three years old.
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But we think it was
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Bitter: What was wrong with your parents? Were they asleep?
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Colleen: (laughing) No, half of the problem was the doctor.
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Bitter: Oh the doctor.
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Colleen: But whatever.
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Bitter: But we can always blame.
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Colleen: But don't ask me, I don't remember anything because I was a baby.
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Bitter: Why, Why can't you remember?
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Colleen: Kidding me?
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Bitter: Well
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Colleen: I can't remember because I was a baby.
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Bitter: Oh when I was a baby?
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Colleen: You were the father, so you should remember that.
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Bitter: Okay, I guess you're right. alright.
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Colleen: Whatever
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Bitter: You caught me on that one. I put my foot in my mouth.
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Colleen: Thank you. Figurative, figurative.
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Bitter: We do that all the time.
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Colleen: Figurative of speech
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Bitter: Figure of speech Colleen: Right, whatever.
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Bitter: An idiomatic expression
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Colleen: Oh
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Bitter: An Idiomatic
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Colleen: (unintelligible speech)
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Bitter: Idiomatic
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Colleen: Idiomatic
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Bitter: Expression
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Colleen: Expression.
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Bitter: I put my foot in my mouth. It's gone in one ear and out the other.
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Colleen: All right. Okay, we think it was Rubella. But we don't know for sure. But we think it was Rubella.
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Bitter: What's Rubella?
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Colleen: Well, it was, something like German Measles, German Measles.
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You know, I have a prosthesis had it for 4 months so sometimes it is difficult for me to say "S", "S's".
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(unintelligible speech) It is a big challenge for me, but of course, I won't give up. Ok
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Bitter: You try putting elastic between all your teeth and talking.
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Colleen: Right. So, anyway. When I was about five years old I had to go to a private school.
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It was Hearing and Speech Foundation.
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Bitter: Hearing and Speech Foundation. Yeah it's... Uh Ok
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Colleen: I can't feel that, it's weird. Anyway then I went through the Extension Division.
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Bitter: Extension Division
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Colleen: In Salt Lake City. Back then class was in Salt Lake City within classes in regular school
-
But with some "deaf" classes. I don't like to say deaf, but
-
deaf classes and some "hearing" classes to be with children with normal hearing.
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Bitter: Is that what you call integration?
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Colleen: In... Bitter: Is that what you call Integration?
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Colleen: Integration. That's what I call it. I had to think about that word.
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Bitter: Today they, some people call it mainstreaming.
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Colleen: Mainstreaming.
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Bitter: You know, we use Maximum Cultural Involvement.
-
the Church, the school, the family, the home, you know the whole bit together.
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You've heard of that, haven't you? That's our philosophy.
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Colleen: Yeah.
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Bitter: (Mouths: Oh I'm sorry we'll) We'll let you see the video.
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Woman: Thank you. I'll be back next week. I'm sorry I have to go teach my class now.
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Bitter: Thanks for coming Annette, and we'll get in con -- give me a call if there's any questions and we'll see you next week. Alright.
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Colleen: Okay, when I, I remember, I remember when I was little, one of my favorite classes was reading class.
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Bitter: Did you get that?
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Colleen: Reading, reading, reading class.
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Reading a book with the other children. There were four of us in class. I still remember it from third grade.
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Bitter: Yes, and wasn't it one of the governor's daughters that asked you
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Asked your mother one day if you could read?
-
She was already at Brighton High School and one of the former Governor's daughters lived next to us
-
and had known Colleen all these many years; and one day, one day asked her mother if Colleen had learned how to read.
-
and this was when she was a junior in high school. Remember that?
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Colleen: Yeah, I could not believe it. But I guess some people have.....weren't kind about people with a hearing problem
-
or a visual problem or something like that.
-
It's all (unintelligible speech) say that sometimes. I have a fine, fine mind. That goodness. But...
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Bitter: I have a fine mind.
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Colleen: Anyway, but I love to read though. Then we moved to Detroit, Michigan.
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Bitter: Where did we move?
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Audience: Detroit, Michigan
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Colleen: Detroit, Michigan and we lived there for three years. Then we moved back
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and I went back to the program for one year.
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Shortly after, I told my dad and mom that I wanted to go to public school.
-
They said okay. So I went to ________ Public School, on my own.
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Bitter: What uh, what district was that?
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Colleen: Jordan.
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Bitter: Jordan District, okay.
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Colleen: And I went to Butler Junior High
-
Bitter: Butler Junior High School.
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Colleen: And I graduated from Brighton High School, in 1973.
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Bitter: Okay.
-
Colleen: Fortunately, after my graduation, I start to working for Utah Power and Light.
-
Did you get that? Okay. Fine.
-
Bitter: You helped turn the lights on.
-
Colleen: Yeah
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Bitter: Okay
-
Bitter: You helped keep the world lighted. Okay.
-
Then what happened?
-
Colleen: I still working for Utah Power and Light.
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Bitter: Are you in a rut?
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Colleen: No, I feel fine.
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Bitter: Okay
-
Colleen: I like working at Utah Power and Light.
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Bitter: Alright, let's invite them now to ask you questions.
-
and this will give the chance for speech reading skills to come about.
-
So go ahead, ask her some questions if you would like.
-
Not if you would like. It's part of your examination.
-
(audience laughing)
-
Bitter: I told them, I said ask her some questions if they would like. and I said that's a lot of nonsense.
-
That's a part of their examination, so they better ask you some questions.
-
Woman: Colleen, What do you expect from an Oral Interpreter? What do you want them to do for you?
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Colleen: Well, I expect them to tell me what's going on because that's when I don't hear anything.
-
I expect them to tell me what the speaker says.
-
and umm not to be on that side or the other side. But just speak what the speaker says.
-
That's it. Everything to myself, and....
-
Bitter: Are you talking about impartiality? To be impartial?
-
Not to take one position or another in terms of Philosophy or Methodology?
-
Colleen: Right
-
Bitter: that's what we call impartiality, isn't it?
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Colleen: Impar--impartiality
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Bitter: Impartiality, to be impartial. To not be partial
-
Yes. Come in, Debbie. (mouthing: Come in and join us.)
-
Debbie: Sorry
-
Bitter: In fact, why don't you sit there.
-
Debbie: Diane Powers is out there.
-
Colleen: She should come in.
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Debbie: She said she will in a minute.
-
Bitter: Let's adjust the seat.
-
Man: Can I mic you?
-
Debbie: Oh. (laughing)
-
Bitter: Now Watch the interaction between Debbie and Colleen along the way too. That'll be very interesting.
-
(Colleen and Debbie Laughing)
-
Colleen: Good to see you again.
-
Debbie: Yeah
-
Bitter: It's so much fun to have you with us again, Debbie. It's been a long time.
-
Debbie: Yeah it has. It's been a long time.
-
Bitter: Yes, been a long time.
-
Alright, Colleen is just giving a little background of her life, you know.
-
and they were asking her questions.
-
Debbie: Okay
-
Bitter: But let's stop with Colleen now, and would you give some background of uh
-
Debbie: Ok, to talk about me?
-
(Colleen and Debbie laughing)
-
Colleen: Go ahead. I talked about me then you tell them
-
Debbie: Oh I see. Where do you want me to start?
-
Talk about when I was born.
-
Alright, I was born deaf.
-
First of all, my name is Deborah H(unintelligible speech).
-
I was born deaf. My parents found out I had a hearing loss when I was 18 months.
-
But they don't know for sure what caused it. We think I was born deaf
-
or either I would say hard of hearing before I was 18 months.
-
But we don't know for sure because I was pretty young at that age.
-
And then I went to private school when I was three and a half years old to learn how to lip read
-
and speech and foundation at the University of Utah for about three years.
-
And then I went to regular school but it was not the school for the Deaf in Ogden.
-
But it was a school in Salt Lake.
-
And there was a class, that was the first class when I was about 5 years old.
-
and it was all classrooms in Salt Lake.
-
So I was the first one to start the class with six people
-
And so my parents would take me to go to school in Ogden because it's too far away from my home in Ogden.
-
So we had half the parents work with the child, this was hard work.
-
So we rotated between the parents and the child.
-
So, I started school when I was about seven.
-
I started going to school with hearing people and deaf people together.
-
Yes?
-
Bitter: Debbie, did you and Colleen go to the same school?
-
Debbie: Yes, maybe for the first five years.
-
Colleen: First five years.
-
Debbie: or something like that. We kind of spread it out.
-
And then uh I started going to South High School and I graduated in 1971.
-
Then I went to the University of Utah for about a year.
-
And then I went to Long Beach for college.
-
And then I started fashion design major.