I'm not deaf so I'm afraid I can't give personal experience, but I guess what I would do if I couldn't casually join in conversations is:
* Participate in the online versions of the networking groups first... Get people to know your personality, who you are, and the fact that you're deaf
* Wear a namebadge at events so that people can put your face with your name and you won't just be some random
* Ask any "Formal" networking events if they could invite a SL interpreter to come, and try to get some sort of video coverage of any talks so that other hearing impaired people can watch them online
* "Buddy Up" with someone with better hearing so they can network with you, introduce you, and if nescessary, explain you need a bit extra help with participation
* Take a small computing device so, if you can't read lips, you can still read typed answers
I'm sorry if any of these are patronizing, as I said, I've never been in that situation before. FWIW, I think buddying up is probably the most helpful idea.
Best of luck, and if you're in Brisbane, Australia, I'd be more then willing to come hang out with another programmer, regardless of how their IO ports work.
Cheers! I'm actually based in Sydney and quite dry (How are you able to type? Haha). And unfortunately don't know sign language. But the rest are great tips. Aside from DTrejo's IRC networking startups, do you know any local ones?
My suburb was only one away from Fairfield, which got fucked, but I was perfectly fine except for a loss of telecommunications at one point.
There is a fairly active meetup community in Australia... I know there's a Hackerspace, a Functional Programming group, a LUG, Alt.Net Sydney, there's a Brisbane Hackerspace group # #hsbne on Hackerspace...
Comments
I'm not deaf so I'm afraid I can't give personal experience, but I guess what I would do if I couldn't casually join in conversations is:
* Participate in the online versions of the networking groups first... Get people to know your personality, who you are, and the fact that you're deaf
* Wear a namebadge at events so that people can put your face with your name and you won't just be some random
* Ask any "Formal" networking events if they could invite a SL interpreter to come, and try to get some sort of video coverage of any talks so that other hearing impaired people can watch them online
* "Buddy Up" with someone with better hearing so they can network with you, introduce you, and if nescessary, explain you need a bit extra help with participation
* Take a small computing device so, if you can't read lips, you can still read typed answers
I'm sorry if any of these are patronizing, as I said, I've never been in that situation before. FWIW, I think buddying up is probably the most helpful idea.
Best of luck, and if you're in Brisbane, Australia, I'd be more then willing to come hang out with another programmer, regardless of how their IO ports work.
Cheers! I'm actually based in Sydney and quite dry (How are you able to type? Haha). And unfortunately don't know sign language. But the rest are great tips. Aside from DTrejo's IRC networking startups, do you know any local ones?
My suburb was only one away from Fairfield, which got fucked, but I was perfectly fine except for a loss of telecommunications at one point.
There is a fairly active meetup community in Australia... I know there's a Hackerspace, a Functional Programming group, a LUG, Alt.Net Sydney, there's a Brisbane Hackerspace group # #hsbne on Hackerspace...