4:57 p.m. - 2009-01-15
dummy
So it's been a while since I've done something truly dumb or embarrasing. At least it feels like it has been - maybe I am growing up or something.
Well, I have broken my streak. I was speaking to this Intro To Social Work class today - I do this fairly often to speak about service learning and volunter opportunities and often times the students come and volunteer with us - everyone wins. The professor I was working with today, I absolutely love - she is the unofficial presdient of my unofficial fan club - you know those people who just "get" you and decide to believe in you? She's one of those. I walk into her class and she is all excited...she actually introduced me as "The illustrious Jessi M___" So I start my little talk and I notice that there is a sign language interpreter up at the front....actually there were two of them. There were about 30 student in the class. I finished my talk and then took questions. After a few questions, the interpreter suddenly says "I have a question" and I turn, kind of startled and look at her and then the interpreter says "Can you please look at me?" in this stern voice and I'm like...thinking...ummm, I am looking at you. She keeps talking though, and I ..duh...realize that she is speaking for the deaf student. So I am like panicking, looking aound the room, trying to figure out which one is the deaf student. I finally see her signing so I look at her, which is SO unnatural!! I had to FORCE myself to look at her because the lady behind me was the one talk to me...it was really counterintuitive - I've had conversations with deaf people before, bu they've always talked for themselves. And I've had conversations through language interpreters, but usually they are standing close together...but with the interpreter behind you and the deaf person in front of you, it's just really strange. I felt bad but i wanted to yell "Argh! I've never done this before!" and she asks, via the interpreter "Do you have any deaf students in the program?" And I am so flustered from the initial weirdness that I, for some reason, feel that the honest and simple answer of "no" is not enough, and, feeling like I need to some how demonstrate that I am not insensitive to people's disabilities and challenges, I instead decide, for some godforsaken reason that I can't explain, that this is the time to announce that we do have students with mental health challenges. I talk about that for about 10 seconds before I realize that this woman is going to be offended, since she is already kind of a jerk, and think that I think mental instability and deafness are the same, so I kind of shift and say something about students with "varying degrees of visual impairment" - now, the important point here is that we have NO students in the program with any visual impairment besides needing to wear eyeglasses and I think there are only three of them. I basically implied that we have blind students in the program when we absolutely do NOT. Oh my gawd. I am such an idiot.
The funny part is that my boss was recently telling me how proud she is of me and how she can trust me to speak publicly on behalf of the organization. Hahahahahahaha.
