Transcripts of Trena Shank

  Thank you, first of all, for taking the time to come in and do this, Trena, because it's really important and valuable for us to get you. We're going to start out, we just need some basic background information from you, Trena. We need, could you tell us your name, say your name, also the place and date of your birth, a little bit about your family, other family members growing up, where you lived growing up. And maybe basically where you went to Elementary School and High School, just kind of the basic facts about you. 

Sure, hi, my name is Trena Shank. And I was born in Marysville, Ohio. So basically I grew up here in Columbus, born in Marysville, but grew up here, small hospital in Marysville. I was born with the ability to hear, 1972. I was the only deaf person in my family, I have a brother who is hard of hearing and I have two half sisters, the younger one is hard of hearing. And the other hard of hearing person in the family is my brother. So you want to know more about how I grew up? Ok, as I said, I was born able to hear, and then at the age of 1, just as, right before that, about March, I started to get sick, and I was sick for a couple days. My mom wasn't sure what was wrong with me. She would try to take care of it herself and then finally she took me to the hospital. And the doctor said that it was just a flu bug and it would last a couple days, no big deal, we should go on home. And so my mom did that, took me back home. And he didn't give me any medication at that time. So a couple days later I was still not doing well, and this is what my mom tells me. That she remembers that Sunday very well, because my grandmother was also quite ill. And so my mom was worried. And I wasn't doing anything, I was just laying around, I wasn't interested in eating. And my mom thought that this was a little bit odd. So she called the doctors wife and she said that she was concerned. 

Now the doctor's wife told my mother not to worry about it, that this is the first time she was a mother, and these kind of concerns were typical, but she didn't need to worry quite so much. So my mom listened to that, thinking she was worrying too much, and then an hour or so later realized this wasn't right. And so she called... Now understand that my family had one car. And my dad was off in the military, he took the car, and so we had no car at that time. So my grandmother called my grandfather, and my family went to Church religiously on Sundays. My grandma was sick at that same day, and she couldn't go to Church. So my mom called and asked my grandfather to come back, and pick us up and take us to the hospital. So we went to the emergency in Columbus from Marysville, and I stayed in the hospital for three weeks, because what I was really experiencing was spinal meningitis. And so I nearly died, and lost my hearing. I do also have an interesting story to share about that. After I got healthy and left the hospital, I went home, and you know, that was when I became deaf. But my mother didn't realize I had lost my hearing, it took three years for her to realize that. Imagine how we communicated so, I had to learn everything all over again. I had to learn how to walk, how to crawl, how to eat. Because the illness had really done a number on me. So I learned how to say "mama" and "dada", those were the things I could say before I had lost my hearing and before I got ill. So of course I was still saying those things, and my mom wasn't concerned. Then, later, we went back to see the doctor, and the doctor said that we had to force me how to speak. 

So my mother worked and worked and worked, and she got very frustrated and angry and cried a lot trying to teach me how to speak. And she didn't realize, like I said, that I was deaf until I was about the age of 3. So at that point I really had essentially no language. So, we went to the doctor again, same doctor that we had been to for the last three years. And I say to my mom now "Why did you keep going to that doctor?" But anyway, we went back to that doctor, and the doctor said that she should not give me food or liquids, and she should force me to use my speech before she would give me any of those things. So my mom thought that was alright. Now, my mom was pretty young, she was 18 at the time. So we went home. And I would point, for three years, I communicated by gestures with her. So I would point to the things I wanted and cry, and my mom would say "Say the word, say the word." And I would keep pointing, and my mom would keep saying "Say the word, don't point, say the word." And because I wanted water, and she knew that I wanted water, but she would not give me it, and so I cried and cried, and it would take like half an hour. And finally I would give up and she would give up and she would give me the water. And finally she decided at that point that she should go try another doctor. And we found out that I was deaf. Fortunately that second doctor told her to go to Gallaudet and take a class for 6 weeks, which she did, she left town and went to class and learned how to sign. And so I've been signing ever since. 

Wow, so, that would have been when you were around 3 or 4? That your mother went to Gallaudet? 

Yeah, 3, 3 years old. Yeah, alright, then the next question, the whole interview is primarily actually a lot about, learning literacy, learning language, learning to read and write. Both in English but also about learning sign language and becoming literate in sign language. So already from what you said it seems that probably learning to read and write in English was happening at the same time that you were learning Sign Language, is that correct? Yes. What early stories then do you remember about how you learned to read and write? And also how you learned sign language, since this was all now happening around the age of three and four, do you have early memories and stories of learning? That's a difficult question. I honestly don't remember early reading or English or writing, but I do remember at about the 7th grade when I was at the Ohio School for the Deaf. One of my favorite teachers there was teaching vocabulary and we had to memorize the words and the definitions, and that's what I remember well, from about Seventh grade forward. I really honestly don't remember if my mother sat with me and read books or if anyone in my family did that. I honestly think I don't remember. So from Seventh grade forward I do remember, and that was my last year at the Ohio School for the Deaf. Because at that point my mother felt that I needed a better education, so she sent me to the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington DC, on the Gallaudet campus. where I learned a lot about reading and writing and had to do a lot more homework. And so I know I learned mostly at MSSD. So, I'm trying to get the time frame right. So starting in 8th grade, you went to MSSD? In Washington DC? 9th, 9th grade? No I never had an 8th grade, I went from 7th grade at OSD to 9th grade at MSSD. So in the 7th grade I was an honors student. I mean, I always was complaining to my mother about how easy the schoolwork was and so she decided to move me to MSSD, and to skip the 8th grade. 

So you say the first time that you really remember a teacher was in 7th grade, and probably because of that teacher in part really, liking to learn vocabulary or learning in English. So if you go past that in High School do you have any other memories that stand out for you? About, particularly about reading and writing in English? I want to fork both ways because I want to know about reading and writing in English, but I also want to know about any outstanding memories you have with your language, with American Sign Language. Well you remember moments of learning something really interesting or being very skilled at it, or taking pride in learning? 

I remember in my freshman year at MSSD, they had an English class that was called AP, I can't remember why it was called AP class, but it was called AP. And it was a tough teacher. So the freshman class, I was part of the class that was in that AP English class, and I struggled for a while. And of course that teacher was rather strict, and I don't think that I learned much from that teacher, because she didn't really do a whole lot of teaching. Like we had to figure out on our own what an adjective, a noun, a verb was. So I really didn't understand at that time. That was a tough class for me. But my communication was really improving at that point. Prior to that I had learned a little bit of sign language and was pretty good at it, but not really what I would call proficient. When I got to MSSD I got very proficient with my sign language, but not so good at reading English. It seems like mostly I learned how to read on my own, I really didn't have family support for that because of course my family was living in Ohio, and I was living in Washington DC, and the staff, the dorm staff, they weren't there to be very supportive. So I learned that on my own. And if I didn't understand I would go to a teacher, yeah there was homework and I think that was about what helped me get there. And there were no tutors, nobody sat down with me and helped me with any of that. Really not at all. And I wonder if I had had a tutor, if I had had support, if my parents had been able to help me learn to read and write when I was younger, would I be even better at it than I am now, would I be even smarter than I am now? 

Alright, I'm going to come at the question, at this question from several different perspectives and ways. Because you know everyone who learns or uses a language or any kind of literacy, usually finds that they have some skills and some areas of weakness. Or to put it another way we find that there are things that we like to read, and then things we don't like to read. Or things we that we're good at reading, and things we're not so good at reading. And then you could say the same thing about writing, I know I can say that, that even though I like to write, there are some things I'm very good at writing, and other things I'm not very good at writing. And things I don't like to write. And I'm sure that you can say the same, even about sign language, that you have some skills in sign language. For example I happen to know you're a very good teacher of sign language, but not everyone who uses sign language can teach it very well. So what I would like you to do, could you talk to us al little bit about your sort of favorite parts and not so favorite parts, of all those language skills, you know, reading and writing and English, but also using sign language, what are you good at in each of these areas? And what do you feel you're not so good at. And what do you like in these areas and what do you not like so much? I hate writing, (chuckling), really. 

You hate writing? 

Yeah, I don't like writing. Mostly let me go back a little bit and explain why. I remember taking a typing class, and technology has changed, and we have computers and so forth. So I realized that that affected my language. So let's talk about my strengths and weaknesses. Of course my strengths are communicating in American Sign Language, being able to understand when others are communicating with me in that way. I do like to read, I do enjoy reading. Different kinds of books and e-mail, but I hate to have to respond because that requires me to do the typing, and then I really think about, "What's the appropriate way to phrase this in English?" And I don't want people to misunderstand what I'm writing. And so I really hate it for those reasons. When I mentioned computers, I know that that has really affected my language use, my written language use, because I remember I used to, when I was young have to practice writing in school. And I would have to write one or two page papers. And then, computers came into being, and I didn't have to worry about spelling anymore, right? So the computer already had that spell-check ability, so I didn't have to worry about spelling, the computer would do that for me. Then when I got to signing, I couldn't remember how to spell words that needed to be spelled in the sign language because the computer was doing that work for me. So I would have to think "Oh, gosh, I don't use that word very often." 

So I know that computers really have affected my communication. That was very interesting because let me repeat it, make sure I got it right. So what you're saying is while the technology of computers, in actually some ways helped your writing or made you feel even more comfortable with writing. Because you didn't have to worry about things that you had to worry about before, like spelling. But ironically or from the opposite direction, it took a little bit away from your use of sign language, because now you weren't used to spelling those words. And so when you had to fingerspell them, you weren't sure how to spell them. Is that right, is that what you're saying? Yes, that's right. Well, and that is something that I've thought about. Should I encourage then, my children to use the computer to learn to read? Or do they really need to memorize these terms and grammar and all of that? What's going to really help them out in the real world? I'm really not sure how to go about it. And so it's something I'm still thinking about, it seems like writing by hand is maybe the better way to go, I don't know. Ok, you've already touched on technology, and we were going to go there in the interview, anyway. So let's go ahead and go there, because you've already brought up now, how, this sense that computers themselves, or a use of technology, began to change your literacy skills, your use of language in both languages. 

Can you talk a little bit more about that, about what you like about technology, what technologies and what technologies do you use to help you communicate, in either language? What technologies do you use? Are you talking specifically about the computer? Well computers, are there other technologies also? And just about reading? 

Let's see, I really like all the technology. The pagers, the computers... I'm not crazy about instant messaging. I would like to focus on one thing at a time, do my e-mail and be done with it, and not be interrupted by the instant messaging. Video technology, video phones, I like that a great deal because I can see people communicating with me in sign language. Previously I liked instant messaging, but now that we have these other technologies I feel like it's a waste of my time to use instant messaging, because that takes a longer time to type that all in, it's much more efficient to see each other on the video phone, we can have the whole conversation in 5 minutes. So technology does seem to be making things quicker. So that's what I was going to ask. Let's see, how to phrase this... Which each of these technologies, let's focus on them maybe one at a time. Like the pager technology, Trena. How have pagers changed your patterns of communication? And your use of language? Is it just that it has made it quicker? Made it more? Made you more comfortable communicating with people? What can you say about the pager particularly? Let's see, it is fast, for example, fast contacts. If my child is ill, I can get contacted right away, I can forward the message on to my husband to go pick him up, whatever. So without that I don't know that my child is sick for the entire day, so that has been one big change, it has allowed me to be more immediately contactable. But they drive me crazy a little bit too, because they get broken and then they need fixed. So I don't know how to live, how did I live without it? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure I could live without it in the future. So technology does seem to be controlling our lives, I would have to say. 

So a kind of love and comfort with it, that you're saying, but then also the awareness that it creates also some dependency. 

Yes, yes that's right. You talked about computers and pagers, what about video technology? How does that work in your life now for communication and literacy, your use of language? Well it's visual, so I think that that's one of the key aspects. I can see the person communicating with me, so we have mutual understanding and share a perspective. I'm not sure that it really affects reading abilities, but it does certainly affect communication abilities. I can learn from the person I'm talking to via video, they can learn from me, so there's a great deal of information sharing there that is very beneficial to deaf individuals. And it helps to improve sign language communication skills. Can I ask a question about, the video you're talking about, the video, it sounds primarily, in real time. As opposed to recorded video. Do you find that you're using recorded video much for communicating? Oh yeah, Ok. When I'm talking about videophone technology, I'm talking about having a video camera that's attached to a TV for example. And Sorenson is one of the providers of videophones. So I can make a phone call to somebody who has the same kind of equipment and technology, and we can see each other. When I dial it rings for them and there we are both on the screen together. Almost like using a webcam, and then we can see each other signing. Then I'll add to that, I think part of what Louie was getting at with that question is also the dimension not just the real time video, but let's say the use of TV and also recorded DVDs, movies, your use of those, has that changed? Do you use movies and TV a lot because of captioning now, and also just because all that visual material is out there? Oh yes, sure, we do use that, a lot of captioning. Yes, a lot of captioning.