We got there around 9AM and the walk was supposed to start 10AM. Our team leader, Barb Dunaway, told us that the deaf community says that it will start at that time but it actually starts later. The event started with a award ceremony. Awards for the team who raised the most, individuals who raised the most, creative team t-shirts and etc. Then they announced that this year’s goal was $25,000 and the walkers met the goal in the early morning. The money kept coming after they met their goal.
The head of the event, Ms. Ronnie Alder, speak for the whole beginning of the event. She informed us in the beginning that whoever has their smart phone can go to www.quickcaption.com because they were streaming live CART during the whole event. So if the hard of hearing or deaf person could not see the interpreter and they can use their smart phone to see everything that Ms. Ronnie Alder was saying. All three of us were interested in the technology, that I turned on the smart phones to it check out.
After the awards, they had everyone warm up by dancing, I think it was because they did not want anyone to get injured during the walk. Then it was time for Ms. Ronnie Alder to cut the yellow ribbon and start the walk. We walked for a good hour around the Dayton Area, which we estimated it was three miles of walking. We saw so many signs during the walk with facts on them and it also helped the walkers who did not know the route, so the signs can guide them. “60 percent of the people with hearing loss are either in the work force or in educational settings,” said one of signs that kept me thinking though out the whole walk.
By the end of the walk, we heard a little girl screaming. We noticed she was on the ground that we rushed over there to help her. She had her knee scraped and she was bleeding. We came to the conclusion the she was one of the children one of the teams were supporting. We picked her up and took her to the finish line with us. I was very thankful that we were able to communicate with her and ask her what happened because she was deaf. Sometimes it was hard to communicate with her because she was extremely fast when signing because she grew up signing.
In conclusion, my experience was something I would never forget. It was indeed something new and uplifting to me because I have never done a walk quite like this before where I felt like was doing a good deed. I love helping others out any way I can. If there was another deaf culture event like this one, I would do it. Even though the only one we communicated with was the little girl, I am willing to not be shy and to push myself to communicate in American Sign Language with others at events, school, etc.
by
nodoubt890 (student)
