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| 2010-03-16 - Meet Member-at-Large Dixie Meyer: |
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I am first a MODA/SPODA then a Sign Language Interpreter. My first experience with sign language was in Kindergarten. They taught us the alphabet and told us about a Deaf family in town and one of the girls in my grade did sign language. I was so curious and memorized every letter; little did I know 10yrs later I would use it to speak to my future husband.
In my small hometown we collected $.05 pop cans to donate to "the Deaf boy" to go wrestle in the Olympics. That was my first encounter and chance to use my sign skills, "wave - point me -sp. D I X I E". I loved the idea of speaking in code, up until this point (8th grade) the only other language I knew was Pig Latin but I could only speak that with my grandma and her sister. This was a whole family that understood each other's signals. Fascinating!
We dated all through High School; he taught me his language and several other things like how to drive a stick-shift. Between him and my son they have helped me experience every interpreting situation you can ever imagine - car mechanics, medical insurance, buying/selling cars and a house. Life (my life) has prepared me for my NIC; by making sense to me about an IEP and Interpreter expectations, because I can see both perspectives clearly. There is so much more to the that the signals we see on the hands, there's a sub-language going on in the face. I'm still fascinated with the language after Interpreting for 20+ years.
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