Continuing to be surprised.

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Joan--

Have not done OS with a deaf group, but early in my career I had an
80-year-old man with hearing loss in a class I was teaching.  He had some
hearing and apparently read lips, but when I led the group in a visualisation
exercise with eyes closed, he was completely lost.

I conferred with a friend who was a speech-hearing specialist, and she
suggested that all instructions be put in writing as well as given out loud.
Chris' recent suggestion to have the principles and law printed and placed on
the seats might be useful.

What might work for the OS opening would be to walk the circle in silence,
then stand at one side of the circle facing the group to speak.  If you had
only a few with hearing problems, you could station yourself across from them
so they had a clear view of your face.  Or, use an interpreter as you would
with any group using another language.

When planning any meeting, we commonly ask whether there are people who do
not read and write (quite common) or who have physical disabilities.  One
woman in our last OS debated with herself a long time about whether to
convene a session, then asked a friend to make her poster "because my writing
is not clear."

The challenge of keeping the space open keeps on opening me!

Joelle Everett

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html