Joanna Witulski, Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador Program coordinator welcomes Jenna Misko-Smith as our fifteenth Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador. Jenna Misko-Smith is a senior at Indiana School for the Deaf and will be competing for the national crown at the Miss Deaf America Ambassador Competition during the National Association of the Deaf Biennial Conference, held during the first week of July in 2012. The conference and competition will be held at Louisville, Kentucky. Jenna will receive an IPad2 from Purple Communications, the competition’s sponsor. After graduating from Indiana School for the Deaf, Jenna will attend Gallaudet University with a goal of becoming an elementary teacher and an actress.

Jenna Misko-Smith presented about empowerment in the Deaf community and shared her artistic expression about ‘Friends Forever’, which is an American Sign Language poem. She was a past Mr. and Miss Deaf Teen America, which is a program under Junior National Association of the Deaf. Jenna performed with Vibrations, a musical variety show based out of Indiana School for the Deaf. She works with kindergarten students at Indiana School for the Deaf as a part of her community services and takes an advanced class at a local college.

Jenna competed along with Brittany Nelson from Kouts, IN. Both ladies did a wonderful job presenting their platforms, which is presenting about a topic, which is their passion and their artistic expression, which showcases their talents in the arts.

In the last decade, people who have been a major part of their state and national Miss Deaf America had recognized a change in how our women participated at the state and national level and only recently removed ‘pageant’ which is beauty-based to ‘ambassador’ which reflects the leadership role, in which the women perform through networking, education and arts; which is their beauty, from within.

Indiana Association of the Deaf is excited to welcome Jenna and Brittany into their fold and congratulates Jenna on her being crowned Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador and looks forward to her representing Indiana in our sister state of Kentucky. Jenna will be available to present and/or perform at various locations after the start of the new year (January 2012). For more information, questions and/or to book her for any events, please contact Joanna Witulski at mdia@iadhoosier.org. Check us out on Facebook: Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador Program.

From left to right: Patrick Flores (Treasurer), Jennifer Dans-Willey (Board), Aileen Vasquez (President), Janis Tester (Secretary), Charleen Sculley (Vice President), Jaye Johnston (Board), Andy Leffler (Board), Dave Tester (Board), and Daniel Pfaff (Board).

Written by Aileen Vasquez,
Editor of Indy Deaf News and President

Indiana Association of the Deaf held its 47th Biennial conference on November 4 and 5, 2011. This also was an extra special celebration to recognize our 125th anniversary.

On Friday we had a regular board meeting in the morning with two workshops in the afternoons. Kim Bianco Majeri presented on the Deaf community and awareness of our rights as advocates for having qualified certified interpreters. Jodee Crace and Meg Warnock presented on the importance of having the Deaf community being involved with the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program and being mentors to new families with deaf babies.

In the evening, we had a public forum at Greater Indianapolis Deaf Club with Ella Mae Lentz and Marvin Miller leading a discussion on the future of Indiana and the Deaf community. InTRAC provided munchies for the community.

On Saturday morning, Ella Mae Lentz gave a presentation, “At A Crossroads”. It covered the qualities of a successful organizer as well as the need of preserving Deaf culture and language. For those who would love to have the powerpoint presentation file, IADConfKeynote Nov2011.

We had a business meeting with the conclusion of voting for IAD board members in the afternoon. Then we had a banquet with a program to recognize the past living presidents of IAD which included Beatrice Pfaff, Donald Tinsley, James Games, Sharon Wesley-Dunn and Gale Walker, presentations of awards, and the oath of elected officers.

The Richard Kennedy Award was presented to Donald Tinsley for his hard work, out of box thinking and leadership at IAD, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (DHHS) and his contributions to the Black Deaf community over 10 years.

The IAD Hall of Fame Award was presented to Sharon Wesley-Dunn for her long time contributions and service to the Deaf community including IAD, Archibald Memorial Home, Greater Indianapolis Deaf Club and many other work.

IAD Meritorious Award: Kim Bianco Majeri for her work on ISD School Board rally and behind the scenes political work.

IAD’s President Awards: Aileen Vasquez and Ronda Bilz for their dedicated work on Indy Deaf News.

In the evening, there was a Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador competition with two ladies: Brittany Nelson from Kouts, IN and Jenna Misko-Smith from Indianapolis, IN. Miss Jenna Misko-Smith was awarded the tiara and title of Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador for 2011 to 2013. She received a iPAD2 from Purple Communications and will be attending National Association of the Deaf conference in Louisville, KY next July. There was a reception with people attending the new Indiana Deaf History Museum afterwards.

The elected officers of Indiana Association of the Deaf for 2011 to 2013 are Aileen R. Vasquez, president; Charleen Sculley, vice-president; Janis Tester, secretary; Patrick Flores, treasurer; five board members at large: Jaye Johnston, Andy Leffler, Daniel Pfaff, Dave Tester, and Jennifer Dans-Willey.

We would like to thank our sponsors: Purple, Sorenson, InTRAC, and Aspire. We also want to thank Indiana School for the Deaf and Vincennes University ASL program for letting us use their facilities. Many thanks goes to Indiana KODA and Jr. NAD for providing childcare for our families that were able to attend the conference.

We had 77 people register for the conference and 105 in attendance for the Miss Deaf Indiana Ambassador program.

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Transcript #4: May 31, 2011
Marvin Miller (MM) & Kim Bianco Majeri (KBM)

MM: Hello! Now, I will provide you with more updates on what we have been doing with our action plans lately. Three things… Firstly, our group is now called “Pro-ASL Deaf on Board Now.” I want to inform you about last Friday: we participated in a fundraising event for Hear Indiana and St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf. The Indianapolis Star (local newspaper) sponsored this event as part of Indianapolis 500 Race activities; several new reporters participated in with large crowd. It took place at the 96th Street Steakburgers, where the owner is oral-deaf, but he knows some signs. We as a group decided to participate in this event by just signing among ourselves while mingling with them. It was an interesting experience. The parents of children with cochlear implants had strong reaction toward us; they kept their children away by blocking them from [seeing] us! But we didn’t let that stop us; we continued to mingle in with everyone.

[Video-clip from last Friday’s event at 96th Street Steakburgers in Indianapolis]

We asked them if there was an interpreter provided for this event and they [the organizers] weren’t able to answer us immediately. Even one person who is the director of St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf was asked about having an interpreter provided for the event. She wasn’t able to understand that person’s question, so [that person] had to use “gestures” [interpreter] back to her. She immediately responded by saying, “WHAT FOR?” [Seeing NO reason for having an interpreter]. [ARGH!] … Anyway, we are very thrilled that we made an effort to attend the event to show ourselves and it has increased our confidence [in our progress] as that is good for us! Now, for the next update, I will let Kim share with you.

KBM: Recently this morning, we had meeting with Scott Jenkins at the [Indiana] Governor’s office; he is the Director of Education Policy. This was our second meeting with him along, this time I attended with one other mother [Kim Yurek]… [Sighing]… H-O-S-T-I-L-E!! [Sighing]… Today, he was quite aggressive, saying things such as, “Is ASL A LANGUAGE??” He was also questioning our reasons for worrying and being fearful. He made points that we [State of Indiana] must serve all deaf and hard of hearing students in all over in the state of Indiana. He also mentioned that technology is WONDERFUL now so we must shift our attention toward them [children that uses assistive devices]. After some debates, I showed him the article from Hear Indiana where they wanted to have the bigger slice of the pie. [Mr. Jenkins] replied by saying Hear Indiana does not make any policy decisions. I replied by saying that he is right about this, but the board [ISD School Board] makes policy decisions. So, that we now have two school board members who are Hear Indiana people on our [ISD School] board. He responded in disdain by telling us not to worry, saying that ISD will remain [as is]. I mentioned to him that I have heard rumors that ISD might close in the near future; he said that it wouldn’t happen; it is not being planned. He brought up the issue by asking us if we have explored into different options for ourselves? If you [we] want to have [ISD] to be a Deaf-only run school, we should consider a charter school to run by ourselves… We continue to have other discussions. I brought up [Hear Indiana’s announcement] on “The New Deaf Culture” and asked him if it means that we are excluded [from our traditional Deaf Culture] and follow their [Hear Indiana] new definition of “The New Deaf Culture” and have them making decisions for us? He responded by saying that technology is getting better and “why not” [not see anything wrong with this]… [Exasperating]… I’m still alive! But, all in all, their mentality and perspectives [being adamant] shows that they are supporting the other side… It all doesn’t look really good… We need to consider different strategies. What we will be doing the next- we don’t know. But, on the positive side, we will be having a rally next week! Next Tuesday! It will be in the morning, from 11:00am to 3:00pm, on the southern end of the Indiana State House. We will have different presenters, some performances, wear t-shirts with slogan on the chest, and mingle with everyone there. We will have information out shortly…

MM: Flyers and more information will be distributed as soon as possible (today or tomorrow). It will include information about where to park your vehicles, and all the other relevant information will be shared too. It will also include who will be presenting: It may include Howard Rosenblum of NAD [National Association for the Deaf], secondly, Matthew Moore of DeafLife magazine may come. He is a proud alumnus of ISD, and I am so excited that he is considering coming. We will also have different people presenting. We also need your stories, your experiences being in an oral oppressive environment, or your success stories with ASL and bilingualism (ASL & English). Call us with your stories to this VP Hotline (317) 520-3223. Thanks!

This ASL to English transcript was typed to the best ability by a volunteer. For any clarifications or comments, please contact Kim Bianco Majeri or Marvin Miller.

Through Your Child’s Eyes Web Site

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