Self-Reflections of Deaf Writers Regarding Communication Dynamics
The 2011-2012 Edmund Lyon Memorial Lectureship Series will delve into the published works of two deaf scholars and authors who have written about communication dynamics and technology. Their writing explores the condition and experience of being deaf in a hearing world, but from different vantage points.
The presenters will discuss how they used their writing to address the lifelong challenge that many deaf people face in trying to comprehend English through approximation and through adjustment to access technologies. Both authors—one late-deafened and the other born deaf—have written at length about their personal experiences as well as their perspectives on others’ experiences. One author presents a fictional account based on her own life experience; the other offers an autobiography. Our invited speakers will present new ideas and paradigms, share diverse experiences, and bring scholarly perspectives for us to consider and discuss.
This series is a joint venture of the Department of Research and the Department of Liberal Studies at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and the Rochester School for the Deaf.
Current Speakers:
Lecture:
Pencil, Laptop, Cochlear Implant: Making Meaning of Late Deafness
December 8, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Student Development Center (Bldg. 55), Rm. 1300/1310
Lecture Abstract:
How does a 29-year-old scholar on the cusp of a professional career make meaning of Late-onset Deafness? How does a semi-professional violinist make meaning of the inability to hear music? The lecture describes Stevenson’s personal pilgrimage into the cultural limbo of the Late Deafened Adult, with reflections on the ways technological change has affected her professional life and the perspective that difficulty of communication has brought to her teaching and writing. In particular, Stevenson will talk of her attempt to make meaning of Late Deafness in her recent novel, Return in Kind.
Recommended Readings:
Return in Kind. Novel. Separate Star Press, 2010
“A Wall of Glass,” Potash Hill: Alumni Magazine of Marlboro College, Winter 1991 http://www.lauracstevenson.org/files/AWallofGlass.pdf
“Memory, Music, and Cochlear Implant,” Seneca Review Fall 2009/Spring 2010, Volume 39, No. 2. http://www.lauracstevenson.org/files/music_memory_cochlearimplant.pdf
Follow-Up Workshop:
The Perils of Writing Memoir and Fictional Autobiography, and How to Avoid Them
December 9, 2011, 10:00 a.m. - Noon
Student Development Center (Bldg. 55), Rm. 1300/1310
Workshop Abstract:
What are the perils of writing memoir and fictional biography? They're embedded in the advice familiar to every student writer:
Write what you know. Express Yourself. Just be who you are. Disaster! Professional writers know that convincing personal writing depends on:
- Controlled subordination of ideas
- Development of narrative voice
- Rejection of literary stereotypes
- Understanding the evolving self
This workshop offers an introdution to these techniques.
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Lecture:
Cyborg Ear, Cyborg I: Writing a Book, Rewriting a Life
April 26, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Student Development Center (Bldg. 55), Rm. 1300/1310
Lecture Abstract:
The day Dr. Chorost went deaf, he sat down at his keyboard and started writing. Rebuilt, his memoir of getting a cochlear implant, was written as he went through surgery, mapping, and the long process of learning how to hear all over again. He’ll talk about how he shepherded the book through getting an agent and signing with a major New York publisher. Through writing the book, he also overcame personal issues that had troubled him for decades. In a very real sense, while he wrote the book, the book also rewrote him. Dr. Chorost is a funny and personable speaker, and in this intimate evening he’ll share with you what he learned about the processes of writing and personal change.
Recommended Readings:
Chorost, M. (2005). Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human. Autobiography. Free Press.
Chorost, M. (2011). World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humans and Machines. Mariner Books.
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