Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf

The visit to Sir James Whitney today was very interesting and really gave an insight to the deaf culture within the school. Even though I’ve done placements and am now working at Sagonaska, I had never actually been throughout the entire Sir James Whitney school before, so being able to see the different parts was very interesting. I have never really had a “tour” where someone was interpreting so I think that that was interesting as well but sort of confusing at times because I felt like I would watch the interpreter while she was talking most of the time rather than looking at Aaron who was actually the one who was speaking. I think that it’s because we’re kind of used to looking at the person who we can hear is talking so I find that it got a little confusing! I think that the way the deaf communicate and the way that they use certain things in everyday life within the campus is amazing. There are 3 Sagonaska Residences within the Sir James Whitney building and I always see the lights flashing when I cover shifts. I knew that the green one went with the door bell to let people know by sight that the door bell was ringing but I never knew that the blue one was for the phone so I found that another interesting thing to learn.

Since Sagonaska shares a lot of the spaces around campus with Sir James Whitney, I find it hard as staff to communicate with the deaf. I had always thought about taking an ASL course and being within the entire Sir James Whitney campus made me even more interested in taking a course. I decided to look up a little bit of sign language online and I found this video about how to sign colours in ASL.

 

Also,  Aaron was talking about how important it is for the deaf to be immerged into the deaf culture as much as possible from a young age. He also mentioned that he thinks that its beneficial to teach toddlers how to sign before they can talk I came across this video and thought that it was cute! The one little boy even teaches his brother how to sign properly.

 

 

Homeless Youth in Canada

Last class in cultural issues and diversity, we had the opportunity to hear Sandy Sidsworth from CMHA speak within our classroom. Sandy spoke about homeless youth in our community and how the need for housing in the community is a huge concern. She spoke about how being in poverty and being known as “homeless” affects a person’s pride and people do not want to be connected. I think that this means it makes it harder for youth to reach out and say “ I need help” and this could be a growing concern because the resources available to them may not be known. She also spoke about how for young people, poverty “has the face of couch surfing” and continued to talk about how many youth in our community leave home, whether it’s because they’re being a bused at home, or whether it’s because they are just not getting along with their parents.  She talked about how these youth will just jump from house to house because they do not have a steady place to live. I reflected back to when I was in high school and I could remember so many people who “couch surfed” from one friends place to another. I didn’t realize how many teens do not have a safe place to live in this area, until Sandy came in to talk with us. Now I know that so many people that were “couch surfing” when I was in high school, could have potentially had no place to go. I searched the internet for statistics of homeless youth in Canada and came across  a website for “The Covenant House” which gave the following statistics:

• On any given night some 33,000 Canadians are homeless of which as many as 11,000 are youth.

• Today in Toronto, there are 12 shelters for youth, offering up to 522 beds. In 1979, there were only two youth shelters in the city, with a total of 95 beds. In the past 25 years there has been a 450% increase in youth shelter beds.

• In Toronto, a good estimate suggests there are at least 10,000 different youth who are homeless at one point on any given year - and anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 on a given night.

(The Covenant House, 2012)

I didn’t realize just how many homeless youth there are in Canada and even in Toronto alone. At the same time, its good to know that there has been an increase in support and shelters for these youth. In her presentation, Sandy went on to talk about how within this community there is still a huge need for housing for these youth and how networking and connections are a HUGE part in assisting these youth in finding a place to live. So through these networks, homeless youth should be able to receive the right amount of support if everyone works together. I think a huge problem, however, is monitoring youth and making sure that youth that do not have a home are supported, since it can be hard for them to come forward and know that there is support.