flyingdeafie

Beer!! I finally got to SDC and took my first two AFP jumps. The first jump got a little rocky as I started to fight the wind. For my landing, I ended up taking out a row of corn in the field next to the landing area. The second jump was smooth as cream, 'cuz I remembered to breathe and relax. The second landing was rough. I started to flare too high and tried to back out of it and dropped myself right on my ass. I bounced, but I don't think I hurt anything permanent. I hurt a couple of soybean plants in the other field next to the landing area. Now it would be nice to make the landing area on my next jump! I'm moving on to AFP level 3. Woo hoo! The instructors were so cool. They tied a radio to the side of my helmet and turned it on all the way. I was able to here Nanette, my instructor, tell me where to go under the canopy. Now, if I can just stay out of the farmers' fields!

I used an FM unit frequently from high school through college. All of the FM units I had only sent the sound to the T-coil of a hearing aid. No non-aided person could hear through the FM unit. In addition, I could only hear what was transmitted through the FM unit. If another student is talking on the other side of the classroom from the teacher wearing the microphone, I wouldn't be able to hear what he/she said. The FM's purpose is to eliminate the background noises that can overshadow the teacher's voice. It focuses the sound on whomever is wearing the microphone. FYI: Hearing loss is different for each person. Some may have volume loss but are well able to tell the difference between sounds. For example, they can tell the difference between "boat" and "goat." Their speech and aided hearing is often easy to comprehend. Others may have slight hearing loss, but their ability to distinguish between sounds is very poor. Their voices may have a different quality than hearing people. Some people have both hearing loss and an inability to distinguish between sounds. Please be extremely patient and aware of your new student. Many hearing people don't realize how isolating hearing loss can be - especially among children. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. I'll be happy to share whatever I can.

Hi y'all! I am deaf and in love with skydiving! A friend took me for my first tandem on my birthday a year and a half ago. I was so thrilled I had to go again! Since then, I've done 6 more tandems. The whole time my friend and I were talking about going through AFP together with an interpreter, but he's backed out. I'm going for my license anyway! I won't need the interpreter because I can hear pretty well one-on-one with my hearing aids. Anyone know Jen Keys? She helped make my first experience awesome! She was so friendly and knew sign, it helped me feel more comfortable right away! She rocks!

I feel so guilty now! My first Tandem was last July at SDC and my TM was AWESOME!! I've gone a few more times with the same TM, but am still saving money for the classes and my gear. I had such a blast each time, but didn't even think about tipping. I'm going again in August, I'll definitely bring some beers and $$$!