Transcripts of Deaf Korean Graduate Student

  We're going to start with some questions about your childhood. And the ways in which you learned how to read and write. And some of the values that your parents held, about literacy, maybe some story about what they told you, about the importance of literacy, learning how to read and write. So, before you start a story, can you just tell us, your name We don't want that. Oh, sorry, (chucking). That's fine, that's fine. Well, we don't want her name, I would say, best not to have her name in the tape at all... It's, but it would be nice if you could tell us where you were born, the city where you born and the year, because that will help give us a historical context. And if Emily can repeat part of the answer... in the question, part of the question in the answer. (laughing) That would help as well. Ok. So what is the question again? The question is, can you tell us some stories, from your early childhood, about learning how to read and write. How did you first learn how to read and write? What did your parents say about reading and writing? What kind of reading and writing did you have in your home? 

My mother taught me how to speak, she was the first one to teach me how to speak Korean spoken language. So she taught me, she taught me the letters and the letter system, vocabulary, and she would teach me how to memorize the vocabulary. And then when I was in Elementary School, I was exposed to all different types of books and I would memorize all of those stories. And the reason was because I couldn't hear. And so in order to follow along with the stories, I had to memorize all of them. That's my first memory of reading in my childhood. And where was this? Where did this take place and what year? I'm from a small county in Korea. a very small, I was born... I was born in a small county in Korea, in 1974. And then my family moved to a bigger city, when I was in Third Grade. When I was nine years old we moved for better education. 

And how did you deal with the instruction in schools? Did you sign? Did you read lips? Did you, how did you deal with it? 

My teachers didn't know any sign language, and my parents didn't know sign language, so I would always read and memorize the books, so that I could... I would sit in the front of the classroom, and I would watch the teacher, and I would watch the teacher and I would read her lips and I would memorize the stories. Typically, before my class would read, I would memorize the story, so that I was ready when we would... Be studying that in school, and that helped me. I had really good memorization. 

Was sign language not prominent in Korean society? 

At that time, or was that it only prominent in certain schools, or in big cities? Or, was it not used at all at that time? I'll give you a little bit more explanation of my background, maybe that will help clarify things. After I graduated with my undergraduate degree was the first time that I met a Deaf person. I had never met a Deaf person, I had never signed before, I had no information about deafness or Sign Language. My parents would always say, "Oh she can't hear" My parents would say, she can't hear, but she can do the same things that hearing people could do, I had the same skills and capabilities. But the word Deaf was never really used. And then after I graduated I met a Deaf person, they became my friend. Right before graduation, right before I graduated college was when I was first exposed to another Deaf person, and that concept. Was that a typical way of treating deafness in Korean society? To, was the word Deaf not used generally speaking? Or was it considered a stigma in the culture?  In Korea they would use that label, deafness, but growing up in my family, we never used that word. I think my parents didn't accept my deafness. They knew that I couldn't hear but they knew that I could do just as well as hearing people. 

Do you have sisters and brothers? 

Yes, I have three sisters. And they were all hearing? Yes they're all hearing, my whole family is hearing, every one. 

And when your parents, you say your parents didn't know how to accept the deafness, except to treat you as a normal child who couldn't hear. How did they, how is that changed over the years? Or has it changed? Do they still treat you like a normal child who can't hear? 

No, things have changed. I always, you know, I always had a good feeling, a closeness with my family. I knew that my family loved me but at the same time I felt isolated and I felt alone.    I always knew that my family loved me and I was close with my parents and my sisters. And I would everyone at school was hearing, I was the only deaf person. And I felt isolated every once in a while. And I had two friends. I had many friends and they would try to communicate with me and we would try to communicate each other, but every once in a while would have a feeling of isolation, that I would sense. 

Sounds like when you tell the story about growing up and starting in school, that reading was really, really important as kind of a way to gain access, for the things that you couldn't hear, am I right? Could you talk about, do you remember when you started to read? Do you remember some of the early things that you read? 

Let me think... I think when I was around four or five, my mother and I would sit across from each other all day, and we would tell stories. And we would read the newspaper and books and various books. And she would always show me, she would bring me different books, and different pieces of print and she would work with me so that I would become comfortable with books, and she would really encourage that. We would read stories, she would read the stories and I would read her lips. 

And did your teachers and schoolmates consider you a smarter student because you had to read ahead, you had to memorize?  

Yeah my teachers always told me that I was very smart. But you know there was always too much work, I would really try to keep up In Elementary School it was fairly easy to learn, but in Middle School and High School was a lot harder, there was so much, there was math and English, there's the Korean language. Just a list of subjects. Science, you know many different classes that I constantly had to try to keep up, it was very hard. How about hearing aids? Were hearing aids available in Korea at that time? And if so, Yes, they had them. Did you have them when you were young or not? You didn't have them when you were young? Yes, when I... When I was four years old I had hearing aids. 

Oh, and did they, did that make a big difference in your life? 

I think they helped me, yes. (Laughing). Not a lot, (more laughing). I think, (chuckling). Brenda said that there were drawbacks and benefits, many, on both sides, because hearing aids were not particularly effective early on, and even now, of course. And then there are things you don't want to hear. (Chuckling). Yes, I think hearing aids really helped me in, when communicating with other people. But if there's a car that's honking behind me, you know, the car will honk... Speaking does not help very much when I'm talking with somebody. If I were talking with somebody I wouldn't... If I'm facing them we would be able to communicate, but if my head were turned and a person was speaking or telling a story, I wouldn't be able to follow what they were saying, purely by using my hearing aids. But in instances where there's a car behind me and they were to honk their horn, I can move over and let them pass. So that's an example of where a hearing aid has helped. 

I have two questions quick. One is did you read or write with your other brothers and sisters? Yes, yes, my sisters and I we would always read and write together. And then the next one actually is about writing. Because we've been talking about reading a lot. So can you tell us a little bit about your writing? And did you write as much as you read, when you were a child? Did you like writing? And if so what kind of things did you write? 

In Korea I was very skilled, equally skilled with reading and writing. But now, with English, it's very difficult to write, it's very difficult for me. I can read English but writing is... I'm not as skilled at writing as I am with reading English. Writing requires a lot more time to think, think about what I want to write. When did you first encounter computers, or technologies that would help you communicate? Like computers, or Blackberries, or text machines? Can you give us the history of your technology use?  I first used a fax, then I used a computer,  because pagers were not in Korea at the time. But there was the internet, and I remember thinking... In 1997 was the first time that I had seen a, was the first time that pagers were available for Deaf people. In 1997 in Korea was the first time when Deaf people began using pagers. When I was in 11th grade was when I first started using computers. And how did you use computers? Did you use them for reading, for writing, for communicating? Did you write to teachers, to other students?  At first I would use the Microsoft Word program, to type. And my sister informed me that you can you can use the internet. You can apply and get online on the internet. My sister said that there are a lot of people that you could meet, by using the internet. So she gave me that information and my parents decided to buy... Oh, my sister told my parents that was a way I could meet a lot of people, and so my parents bought a computer. How did that affect your life? Oh my world was opened. Before I really only communicated with my family and my friends, and it was very limited. And I wasn't very comfortable, I couldn't use the phone, I couldn't call anybody. We didn't have TTYs in Korea, and so I was very dependent on my sister to interpret. I would say, you know, I would ask my sister, "Would you mind calling my friend?" And it didn't really feel good because I was so dependent on my sister. If there was something urgent that I needed, I couldn't just call, I couldn't make that phone call myself, so I'd have to wait until somebody, my sister would come home, or my mom or my dad would come home. You know, so I'd have to wait. 

So do you think, in what ways, obviously with communication between other people, so socially the computer, is what you're saying, changed a lot. And then, did you also, just read and write a lot more? And did it change some of the things that you read and wrote, or the way that you read and wrote?  

Before using computers, my reading and writing skills were pretty good, so the computer didn't really have a huge impact. But the internet did, regarding information. I would, I had a huge selection of information from which to choose from. So before the computers I was really, would, would not talk a lot. And my viewpoint was very narrow. Using the computer and technology, and the internet, allowed my view on different topics to really expand, I could have different viewpoints. 

Well they say that computers are making the world, more connected. Was that your experience? Did the use of computer technologies affect the way you saw yourself as, maybe a global, more global citizen? Or a Korean plus a global citizen? 

That's a hard question. Ok... I'm gonna ask for further explanation, if you could explain that question again? Did computers, for instance, lead to your coming abroad to study? Did they lead to your communication with other people in other countries that didn't happen before you had access to computers? Did they lead to some mentorships with faculty, in other countries? Yes, absolutely. That's how I found, found out about Ohio State. Because before computers I really didn't have any help and so, I was searching for myself and I found out that Ohio State had Deaf Education, and Gallaudet University and some other universities had information. So the computers had a large impact on my life in that regard. Can you talk about maybe some mentors that you met through the computer? Or some correspondences or some key people that you met, that have influenced your life that you met through the computer? Yeah, I was just thinking that, about, a story, tell us a story. Can you remember like a specific story of an example of where the computer really seemed to change something about your life for you? I was free, I had independence. Before I as I said I was very dependent on my sisters and my parents, but the internet... Before I was able to use the internet. I needed to rely on my family, to make phone calls, but then I was able to use the internet to e-mail. So the internet was much easier for me to communicate. So tell us the story of how you came to choose Ohio State, and to come here and to settle on this University.