Three Students Succeed

by Lori T. Wanbaugh, RPR, CCR

I have been a provider of CART stenocaptioning for the hard-of-hearing, as well as broadcast captioning, for the last three years.

Along with several other reporters in the Kansas City area, I have had the privilege to assist three Kansas City area students in their schooling.

Paula McLanahan is one such student. She has a progressive hearing loss, and while in her 30s realized that she could no longer function in her full-time job because of the loss. She does not speak in sign language, but with CART stenocaptioning services, she was able to keep up with the lectures and discussions in classes for an associate's degree in health information technology. She graduated with a 3.8 grade average.

In a two-year period, I watched Paula change from being unemployed, timid and uncertain, to glowing with self-confidence and composure. She is now a full-time outpatient coder at a local hospital making close to $40,000 a year. I get goose bumps thinking about it.

Tatum Wilson was born without hearing in one ear, and profound loss in the other. Doctors told her parents she would never speak.

With the help of her parents and through lip reading, Tatum progressed through the public school system without learning sign language. Early in college, because of Meniere's disease, Tatum lost what little hearing she had in one ear and became completely deaf. She could not hear the sound, nor feel the vibration of herself speak.

She told me that at that point she thought she was going to have to work at McDonald's because she saw she was not able to keep up with her studies.

Once Tatum learned of CART stenocaptioning technology, she demanded access to the service, and lo and behold, was able to graduate from Kansas State University with a 4.0 grade average. Far from never being able to speak, Tatum actually won a national speech contest in college, one of seven out of 3,000 finalists to honored.

Tatum proceeded to Kansas University School of Medicine to complete a master's in physical therapy. She has just completed that program with the help of CART stenocaptioning, maintaining a 3.8 grade average, and instead of working at McDonald's is trilled to become a physical therapist making close to $50,000 a year starting salary.

I am currently assisting Christy Wineland, a law student at the University of Missouri School of Law. Christy has a profound hearing loss in both ears and uses lip reading with hearing aids to comprehend about 30% of what she sees spoken. She used CART stenocaptioning throughout college.

When making the decision whether or not to apply to law school, someone told her, "You can't go to law school. Face it, you're deaf."

She said that at that moment she promised herself she would not only go to law school and become a lawyer, but she would fax a copy of her degree, along with a photocopy of her bare butt, to that person.

During her first semester of law school, Christy was not provided with CART stenocaptioning services. She received very low grades and appealed to the school to allow her to restart her courses with the help of CART stenocaptioning.

They granted her appeal, and she has been making As and high Bs ever since. Last semester, she was the only one in her class of 60+ to get an A in a property law class.

I am elated that, with the assistance of CART stenocaptioning, Christy will soon be able to fax the aforementioned documents to the person who dared cast doubt on her dreams and her abilities.

I cannot tell you what a privilege it is to work with the hard-of-hearing community. These women are among the bravest, hardest working, most productive citizens in our country.

I hope with all my heart that many more like them will be aided to achieve their potential and their dreams with the help of quality CART stenocaptionig services.