As you can tell by our facial expressions at the start of this adventure, there are two sides to every story… We each wrote our sides of the story – my take is below and Brad’s take on this entire mess is linked below! Be sure to check out both of our stories about this …
Author Archives: jlanebceagles96
Hearing Things: The Origin Story
Julie’s Side of the Story I have been blessed with the personality and energy level of a Boston Terrier puppy – overly enthusiastic, goofy, charming, the just right amount of mischief and ability to “cute my way” out of pretty much anything with a disarming smile. This has won me many friends and has afforded …
I Can’t Read That Book.
The graphic novel, “El Deafo”, by Cece Bell is a loosely based biographical account of her own experiences as a Deaf person – published in 2014, this tome took the book world by storm. This book was everywhere – on shelves, on display in libraries, in the arms of children and adults alike. And I …
You Can Be Anything You Want to Be! (Nope)
How many times have we uttered this phrase to children – “You can be anything you want to be when you grow up!” – and then fill their imaginations with lavish wonders and “shoot for the moon” dreams. Time for a reality check. It’s a harsh reality to face as you move through childhood and …
Continue reading “You Can Be Anything You Want to Be! (Nope)”
Not So Simple Gifts.
I have been beyond blessed with a loving and supportive family that always took my disability in stride and made every effort imaginable to be sure that I was included in everything that my siblings or cousins were involved in with accommodations as needed. I come from an incredibly generous family and we were among …
Am I Making You Uncomfortable?
There are a great many of you trotting around expounding the following catchy slogans: “Teach Tolerance”…”Celebrate Differences”…”Acceptance, Not Awareness”…and “Be Kind”. Some of you are humbly bragging about your superior worldliness on enamel pins snazzily tucked on your “old but new again” denim jackets. Some of you are covering the bumper stickers of your environmentally …
Things People Say…
Things People Say… If ever you see me looking up at you under heavily lidded eyes with my hand cradled against the left side of my temple, please know that you have earned The Look – which those of you that know me well can almost certainly picture from my above description. You are likely …
Another Day.
Another Day. The sweet anticipation of That Moment begins to rise within me about 30 minutes before I approach my official bedtime. All day long, I await with patience and grace for That Moment of pure, unadulterated bliss – when I get to take my hearing aids out, and turn off the world. The sensation …
You Don’t Know Sign Language.
It happened again…my witnessing of isolated American Sign Language (ASL) signs emblazoned on “teacher shirts” – spelling out catchy phrases such as “Third Grade Rocks!” using the visual images of hands forming the letters of the alphabet. The prevalence of seeing the sign for “I love you” on tote bags, key rings, coffee mugs, dishtowels, …
Mr. Connelly
Mr. Connelly was a kindly, older gentleman with watery blue eyes and an impressively smooth bald head with wisps of white hair. He had the air of a storybook Grandpa – in his presence you felt compelled to walk to a park bench and throw crumbs to the pigeons. Mr. Connelly, to me, was the …
Deaf, But Not Really: My Story 