Transcripts of Jane Fernandes

So I guess we're going to start again with, again the story is yours we'd just like to ask a background question that starts you with family circumstances and what that might tell about your literacy narrative. Provide a context for your literacy narrative. 

So I was born and raised in Wooster, Massachusetts. And my family is a mixture of deaf and hearing people. My mother, one brother, and myself, were born deaf. Three brothers and my father were hearing. So in my family we had the challenge of communicating among people who couldn't hear and people who could hear. So that was the context for the literacy development. In particular how did that change the attitudes or create special challenges for learning to read and write? Well with deaf people, if you know the history of deaf people, you know that learning language and literacy, especially reading and writing English, is an essential struggle that happens. And how deaf children become literate is key. I don't, unfortunately I don't remember everything and I'm sure... A lot of my literacy development happened when I was born, before I went to school. Which my mind didn't retain. But I know that with a deaf mother who was literate herself. She was able to provide me with strategies and information that I needed to learn. I had to learn English, even though I would say English is my native language, because it's the language my family spoke, I did not learn it naturally. The way a human person would. And then it impacted my brother also. Who's deaf, but I often want to mention my hearing brothers and my hearing father because having deaf people in the family must have impacted them as well. I can't really say how, but I'm sure that they became skilled in many ways of including the deaf people in the family, that I probably will never understand. One of the things that I'm curious about is whether in that environment, where you had hearing and deaf people in a family. Would it change the kinds of, we use the term literacy artifacts, that you would see around the house? In a, my family growing up, I remember children's books and paper to cut out and write on. Were there those plus other kinds of tools, artifacts around the house? That would go along with growing up literate? As far as paper and pencils and crayons and books... I had many, a wealth, wealth of reading and writing things. But I don't know maybe many families do this, I don't know if it was different or not. But my mother had words for verbs and nouns and adjectives. They were taped all over, everywhere, in the house. Both the words and the phonetics. how to pronounce the words, both. In my story books I would, it was not my mother who did it, my, I had a teacher who came in to my home to help teach me. And that teacher also had taught my mother when she was growing up. And she retired, but then when I was born she came back to help my mother. She wrote translations in all the books with phonetic spelling. So when I was reading books I had English and I had pronunciations also, all the time. Also I had hearing aids. I can't say now but I guess I probably did get help from them, in terms of developing a sense of pronunciation. Phonics that I could link to reading, that probably did help me, because it was provided when I was a baby, you know. Right away, at the start of development. I know that my literacy development was much more conscious by my mother in particular. She never just assumed that I would learn how to read, it was not assumed. With my hearing brothers she assumed they'll hear, they'll speak, they'll read, eventually, you know, you did not have to worry about it. But with me it was planned, so she really worked at it. 

But I do remember a lot of fun, I don't want to make it sound like it was torture. (chuckling). It was a lot of fun, enjoyable. I was challenged, I had small successes, I got excited and I kept going. I remember we had our picture in the newspaper. My deaf mother, deaf daughter and deaf brother and my mother was reading us a book. And it caused a stir because a deaf mother was reading books to her deaf children. That was something new, at that time. (Laughter). So I think it was a very planned thing on my mother's part. At the same time, she tried to make it as natural as possible. One of the things that I, if someone were to ask me about a memory that sort of characterizes my sense of growing up, and dealing with this reading and writing, it would be sitting in a particular corner of our house where there was sunlight coming through the window and just having a bookshelf there, and reading on my own. For whatever that means, that's what I remember. 

Is there a moment like that that sort of captures your sense of reading and writing when you were young? Or reading in particular? How old were you when that happened? 

Eight, nine. Mostly I would remember, it was more reading in bed, not really a corner, but waking up or going to sleep and having books in my bed, reading them until I fell asleep and then waking up, and the books were still there. So when I got up I could keep going wherever I had left off. One of the things of course that we're interested in as well, is how computers or digital technologies of any kind begin to affect literacy and education. Across all of these narratives, what can you tell us about your first experience of computers entering into reading and writing, communicating. I'm, it was old, I was very old before the first time I was exposed to computers. So I don't know that they had anything to do with the development. Did they provide any particular challenges, or do you remember them as providing solutions? Would I use computers to identify solutions? Sure, yes. Tremendous solutions. Can I add to that maybe? I was thinking about... I think it's Ok if it's not about even when you're younger, but more of also about the moments that you remember when technology began to influence your development as a literate being. You know, like e-mail for example, I mean obviously, the way the ease of communication that equals out the phone that we can't use. Those kind of moments, even if it's older, if you just remember. And it's not just the computer, but other technologies, like the Blackberry and other things, that have changed the way you used literacy. I think the first time, I saw computers as having ability to help me, I was working on my dissertation in grad school. That's pretty old, but anyway, I'm traditional (chuckling). But anyway... So really I was just using a computer as a word processor, because I didn't know the power they had back then. But that was how that helped, was much better than typing. But what happened was I moved from the University of Iowa to Northeastern University in Boston. And I had all my papers, but I had my actual file on the system at the University of Iowa. And I realized that Northeastern University's system somehow could get my files there and move them to Boston and then I would have everything in a flash. Without any work. So I went down into the computer center at Northeastern University, and I actually worked with a man who had CP, and was not very good with speech. So he was typing everything to me. And so I didn't voice to him, I typed back to him, it was very comfortable for both of us. And he asked me "Where's the file? What's your name?" And then maybe two days later he sent me a message saying :"Your dissertation is here." 

So I was like "Ahh, that's fantastic!" You know, then I went there and it was all there, I didn't have to do anything over. I just picked it up and start right away. So after that I really got hooked on computers, in terms of how efficient they are for me in the work that I do. I would say things like Blackberry, I couldn't live without the Blackberry now. It's hard to believe that at one time I didn't have one and I didn't want one. But now that I have it, it's obviated the need for so many other things that I used to worry about. For example, I used to go to hotels and worry if they had an ADA kit. If they had an alarm that will wake me up, if they had a way for me to see a flashing light, how would I know if someone was in the hall? Now with the Blackberry I don't need any of that, because I can connect it to anyone, anywhere, anytime, from anyplace. I don't need all the other accommodations I used to worry about. So I have a lot more confidence with the Blackberry. Obviously it's easy to communicate between deaf and hearing people. There's no, you don't need to have an interpreter. Will I be able to understand? I don't have to worry but it's all there. And the way that the deaf and hearing people communicate is the same, so hearing people don't have an extra benefit over me in the communication. We're both on the same plane in the communication. I like that very much. Could I ask a... I'm sure there's more but... go ahead, go ahead. Just a follow up to that, one of the things we're struggling with I think on campus, is trying to learn how particularly as we move more toward multi-media, to make sure that material we put on the web is accessible. And I'm wondering if you've felt that that's... That the web is making any progress toward making sure, that as it puts audio files and video files online, and they become more integrated with our work life, whether people are succeeding in making them accessible? I feel the web is powerful tool. But I personally I don't feel that it's accessible. I think it's getting worse, not better. Because the more options that people have, with the web and the internet, the easier it is for people to put video on the web now, everybody can do it. Easier to put audio on the web. And all of those people, it's general people, don't think of access. 

So often I'm on the web and I click and I see it a tape with someone talking. And I want to know what they're saying, but I can't tell because it's audio only. If they don't provide a script, or they don't provide captions, then I'm out. So I think that they're more broadly used, the web is a little bit worse for accessibility. It will have to develop policies or programs that remind people of the need. Can I ask a question? Your discussion of the Blackberry was one of the absolute smartest discussions I've ever heard. And one thing I intrigued me about it was that the Blackberry might be a device where hearing people and deaf people can come together within the same interface and not have advantage one way or the other. But I've heard so many teachers say that they hate when students send text messages. And they hate when students do the kinds of things that occurs to me after listening to you, that's an even playing field too. If we could come together in texting, either on the Blackberry or other text devices... Can you, does that, do you hear teachers say that? And what do you think about it? I agree with, I don't like it when students in my class, all I see is the top of their heads because they're (makes noise). So there's a time and a place (chuckling). And the time and place is not in class or when you're supposed to be paying attention to something. I have no problem with that. So maybe that's rules of etiquette that have to be developed for Blackberry. 

But about communication, why deaf people love Blackberry, why? Because we can talk. Everybody, all people want to talk with other people, that's a natural human tendency. So we do that, not because we're trying to ignore you. Because we want information, this gives it to us. And I get it from my husband. I get it from my parents, I get it from my friends. People who don't know Sign Language, people who know Sign Language, it's more like an even ground. Or you said the right word, It's an interface that let's different people come together and communicate using the same tool. Louie, could you go back to the school years? I think, because we started with her very young life. And then we went to the technology here and now, but we kind of have missed the whole school and I think that's important, right? So the learning that you did at home, seems very deep and conscious and planned. And then what happened when you went to school? Well, ok. I went to school, that was before we had any laws. I went to a public school. I was the only deaf student in the school except for my brother. School knew nothing about deaf people. But... There was, my mother was I guess the cross, cross, cross, the liaison between home and school. And as well I still had, her name was Katherine Maddigan, teacher, with me, out of school. So what I learned in school was coordinated at home, by my mother and Ms. Maddigan. And it was a lot of work. So I just became someone who loves to learn. I was always learning. It could have been, it might not have worked for everyone. Because not everyone would have taken it, but I really loved it. I wasn't complaining I loved every minute of it. So it was fine. I have a question. We interviewed, our last interview was with a young man, Warren Francis, who was a student here, and he too, his mother served as a real activist in his education. And your answer just reminded me that your mother seems to have served as an activist too, in your education. Do you feel that was the case, and can you talk a bit about that?