Deaf Burners 2010

[Sanddog42]

Eh?

[bluesbob]

WELCOME TO EPLAYA! HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

[Special K]

Isotopia:

There is a Black Rock Ranger who is deaf and has been volunteering for a good number of years.

The fact that she cannot hear has never deterred her from doing a kick-ass job.

She is awesome.

I think part of her awesomeness is that she has never let her deafness be a reason to keep her distant or removed from everyone else who was having a collective yet unique experience.

That might be me you're talking about, as far as I know I'm the only deaf Black Rock Ranger. You made my day, thanks.

Ranger Special K
Not going to BRC this year ... but will be thinking of y'all.

[Special K]

Now that you mention it, I remember a girl from the commissary that I always thought was dpw, but might be the same person.
She communicates better ordering nonverbally than most people manage.

I wonder if it's the same person?

Nope, that would be Eli/10-9 who works for DPW and Gate. She's a kick-ass gal.

[gyre]

Nice to meet you, Special K.

You never eat there?

I always thought this person was a ranger, but I could be wrong.

[Special K]

I have a small group of Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hearing friends (fluent signers) from the Pacific Northwest who are coming out for BM 2010. This will be our first year coming out together.

We would like to connect with any other Deaf Burners, Camps, and Staff. If you know anyone who fits the description above or have feedback, please help us come together and share.

Hi there,

I'm a Black Rock Ranger and deaf, but haven't been to BRC for a few years.

I know that Rangers Beauty and Paragon (both hearing) know ASL very well - Beauty works as an ASL 'terp professionally in San Diego. I believe Ranger Kathasaurus knows some ASL as well. Since I haven't been in a few years, there may be newer Rangers who know ASL or are deaf.

Hmm, I do know there's a group of deaf burners that usually go to BRC and camp together, but I don't know who they are. I googled and didn't find a deaf burner group - how odd. I am sure they are out there! I'll point some deaf friends of mine to this thread, hopefully they'll have more useful info to contribute. Sorry I could not be of more help.

Have a good burn!

Ranger Special K

[Special K]

Nice to meet you, Special K.

You never eat there?

I always this person was a ranger, but I could be wrong.

Nice to meet you too. Yea, I'd eat there when I finished my shifts. I'm verbal - e.g. I speak and read lips, and don't sign very much.

[gyre]

It must have been Eli then, especially if you weren't here last year.


I hope you make it back out to the playa.

[Sanddog42]

There is a Black Rock Ranger who is deaf and has been volunteering for a good number of years.

The fact that she cannot hear has never deterred her from doing a kick-ass job.

She is awesome.

Isotopia wrote something... nice?

[Ranger Beauty]

I can interpret if needed.

Rangers Beauty

RADIO ELECTRA 89.9 F.M.

7:40 & ESPLANADE

Safe trip home & see you on the playa.

Beauty

[10-9]

It must have been Eli then, especially if you weren't here last year.


I hope you make it back out to the playa.

Hey, Gyre.

That likely was me, especially if the person you had in mind occasionally helped organize to-go meals for departments. AFAIK, for the past few years up until last year, I was the only deaf person passing through the Commissary since Special K wasn't around.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments! It always was a bit nerve-wracking to pass through the Commissary food line -- since I can't assume that everybody will understand what I'm trying to communicate -- so I'm glad to hear that my part didn't hold up the line too much. The staff last year was awesome for working with me on this!

Also, last year, there was another deaf volunteer who was new and who will be returning this year as well. Her name is Val (aka Valium or T-9) and she also works with Gate, but she doesn't have reddish dirty blonde hair. I'd say her hair is more ... um ... creatively colored. ::grin::

We're both folks who communicate primarily with ASL, while Special K is more oral.

Eli / 10-9

[10-9]

I have a small group of Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hearing friends (fluent signers) from the Pacific Northwest who are coming out for BM 2010. This will be our first year coming out together.

We would like to connect with any other Deaf Burners, Camps, and Staff. If you know anyone who fits the description above or have feedback, please help us come together and share.

I would love to meet you guys. I'm Eli, or 10-9 as DPW/Gate like to call me. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I'm all over the place. So, it can be a bit hard to track me down.

However, I can assure you that a good deal of volunteers in DPW, Gate, ESD, Rangers and Center Camp are either deaf-friendly or familiar enough with the notion of a hearing impaired person that they'll roll with it more so than some random Joe Schmuck who never met a deaf person.

Locations to scout out for various degrees of deaf-friendliness:

• Syzygryd Base Camp (4:45 & Cairo): home to my art collective, Interpretive Arson, and other folks who built and installed Syzygryd. Most folks here are deaf-friendly and a good percentage know some sign language, from having worked with me for the past five years. At least one person is fluent. I'll be helping staff Syzygryd throughout the week and can be found at this camp often since it's the support base for Syzygryd. There are numerous camps who are also deaf-friendly either through having had deaf campers or having campers fluent in ASL. Trashistan and Lost Penguins, for example. There was one camp home to Gallaudet grads a year or two ago, but I never managed to track them down. About six or seven years ago, there was a deaf camp but nothing as cohesive since then, to my knowledge. And there is a deaf skydiver at Burning Man, but I'm unsure of her name or where to find her other than perhaps asking at the airport on playa.

• Syzygryd: 7:30 & 1200' from manbase, in the inner playa. Friday night is when two signers (myself and another person) will be operating the sculpture. I believe the other person will be operating the sculpture earlier in the week as well, but I can't remember which night. Probably Monday or Tuesday. Those are good nights to come by if you want to ask questions or interact with the sculpture without the hassle of writing back and forth.

• Center Camp, various components: at least two managers of the coffee bar are very deaf-friendly (one of them operates the 11pm-3am shift while the other is the overall coffee cafe manager), two members of Center Camp's lighting team are ASL fluent (one is a former interpreter), and the stage manager also signs.

• Black Hole (5:40 & D): the Gate & Perimeter department's camp. The front area is open to visitors. This department is home to two deaf volunteers (myself and another person, a gal named Val), and one of the Gate shift leads is a CODA who signs beautifully (Moshe). Who knows -- you might get to meet one of us when you pass through the gate.

• Kidsville (5:30 & D): home to deaf campers & their kids at least twice since '08, including this summer.

• Rangers: As already mentioned, there are multiple rangers who know how to sign or are deaf-friendly. Fred, another fluent signer, will probably be out this year, along with the others who already chimed in. I'm not sure of Fred's playa name, though. Maybe Beauty will know. Leeway is also super deaf-friendly. Really, the whole crew is one giant mass of deaf-friendliness.

• Medical Station 9 (9:00 & ... C or B?): home to some medics who know various degrees of sign language. Look for Big Spoon, for instance.

• DPW in general: they've had to endure me for a few years. I'd say that most of them know the shtick by now. And some of them have learned sign language, even! Mostly things you don't want to repeat back to your mothers, though.

Other than that, all I can really say is that there is no need to worry. People will find you and vice versa, through word of mouth. Just carry a small note pad and a felt marker or Sharpie with you at all times, and roll with things.

The only times I've found that I absolutely need an interpreter -- as somebody who depends on ASL and is a terrible lipreader -- are when I'm in a speech-intensive meeting or am receiving medical care for something that prevents me from writing back-and-forth.

That may differ depending on each person's needs, though, so my experiences shouldn't be taken as standard for all folks who are hearing impaired. That can't be stressed enough for anybody reading this. Just because Special K can lipread and is comfortable being oral, doesn't mean that I have the same specific type of ability or that others in Echo's camp would. And just because I'm fluent in/prefer ASL doesn't mean the same in return. Likewise for English fluency and comfort level with typing or writing. I prefer to type; others prefer to write; yet others prefer to use creative gestures. Listening to what each person with a hearing impairment is showing or telling you what they need for clear communication and equal access is important, and I've found that people on playa are fairly responsive to this.

Also, I've found that the old Sidekick phones are amazingly durable on playa. I use them for typing with folks when I don't feel like writing or have the patience for waiting through somebody's finger-spelling. The keyboards on the Sidekick 2 phones will peel off in the heat, but the Sidekicks with the hard keyboards are perfect, really. I use them heavily for two months out there each year, through whiteouts and unusual abuse, and they keep working the rest of the year. So, if any of your campers are more comfortable using a keyboard to type, I can't recommend the Sidekicks enough. They're cheap on Craigslist or Ebay, and you don't need to activate phone or data service in order to use them for typing. I haven't found any other device-with-keyboards that are as durable and desert-friendly as these.

Oh, and, um, I don't recommend air mattresses if any of your campers are particularly sensitive to vibrations. The reverberations of the constant thump-thump gets old as soon as you want to sleep.

Anyway, see you guys soon!

[gyre]

Hey, Gyre.

That likely was me, especially if the person you had in mind occasionally helped organize to-go meals for departments. AFAIK, for the past few years up until last year, I was the only deaf person passing through the Commissary since Special K wasn't around.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments! It always was a bit nerve-wracking to pass through the Commissary food line -- since I can't assume that everybody will understand what I'm trying to communicate -- so I'm glad to hear that my part didn't hold up the line too much. The staff last year was awesome for working with me on this!

Eli / 10-9

Hey, Eli,

Good to finally know who you are.

I'm a little dismayed you thought you might be holding things up.
No worries.
I think you may be the fastest person ordering, certainly the most fun.

Gestures actually work better, unless you're trying to order something that isn't there.
Most people never figure that out though.

Someone was actually worried I might have trouble figuring out what you wanted when you came in, but I don't know what they were thinking.

Someone tried to teach me sign once, but they decided I was too dumb and gave up.

Great to meet you, Eli.

[echo]

Yowza!!

Thanks all for the loads of information!! We are a group of 5 Deaf coming down and should arrive on Monday... we will come find the other Deaf or Signers and say hello!!

Thanks again for all your help.

cheers!

[scout2010]

I am hearing, but am fluent in ASL (I work as an interpreter).

I just returned from BM 2010 and it was INCREDIBLE!! As my companion and I walked around, we thought how much Deaf people would LOVE BM and would like to support the creation of a Deaf/Fluent ASL camp for next year.

The visual-ness of BM is Deaf friendly, and the rhythm, beat and vibration of the music throughout the playa is also Deaf friendly. The only thing we would have to create is a lighting set up at night at the camp for everyone to see one another to communicate.

Maybe an Art Car that was lit up supper bright and lit up bikes so they too were Deaf friendly.

My companion and I are going to work on connecting with our Deaf friends that we know would LOVE BM. So if we could work together, that would be great.

We even asked at the info booth if they knew of a Deaf camp or group, and they did not. I hope it was a wonderful event for you and your friends. Please let me know how it was.

Cheers,

Scout

[Olyrob]

I did not go this year but am a five-year vet. I am hard of hearing (Rebulla baby- 1964) and am very conversant (close to fleunt) in ASL. Throw in some PSE and smattering of English sign/order (mostly ASL though) and you have me.

I concur that BM is an ideal place for Deaf burners. The visuals, the rhythms, the beat, the gay-friendly (I am straight) component, the outragouness etc. etc.

I usually go with my wife and we camp in Hushville, but if there is a Deaf camp, I'd be game.

PM me or keep this thread alive.

[gyre]

This girl has been translating music visually.

What do you think?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/youtube-se ... d=12731166

http://www.youtube.com/user/allyballybabe#p/u