UbiDuo 1 and UbiDuo 2 User – Sharon Walker

Sharon Walker – Original UbiDuo 1 and UbiDuo 2 User We have built a UbiDuo community of thousands of UbiDuo users worldwide. One of our favorite UbiDuo users, Sharon Walker, has been a part of our community for the past 6 years with her original UbiDuo 1. She is in Kalispell, Montana and has found a creative use of her UbiDuo. She was a nurse when she lost her hearing four years ago. She says losing her hearing was an ordeal. She felt isolated until the UbiDuo came to the rescue. She credits the UbiDuo for no longer feeling left out. “All that changed with the very first sentence my husband typed on my UbiDuo! I felt that NOW I could participate; NOW I wouldn’t be left out anymore; NOW I would know what’s going on around me! AMAZING!” Now after 6 years, she decided it was time to upgrade her original UbiDuo 1 with the new next generation UbiDuo 2 to become much more mobile in the mountains of Montana. She even takes the UbiDuo 2 out to hike on the trails and uses the UbiDuo 2 to talk with customers in her Dutch Oven stall at the local Farmers Market. I have also enclosed a excerpt of the interview we did with her back in 2009. These are the answers in her own words about the original UbiDuo 1 experience. 1) How does the UbiDuo help you communicate with your hearing customers at the Farmer’s Market? I don’t lip read very well, especially people who speak very fast or who are self-conscious and end up looking at the ground when they speak. So this helps me explain my business, my products and allows me to answer their Dutch Oven cooking questions. I have thought about trying to do Dutch Oven demonstrations but I think that would be hard to do even with an UbiDuo. My husband would have to type their questions and I’d have to stop what I was doing to read it and respond. So we haven’t figured that one out yet. 2) What is your all time favorite UbiDuo experience? I think my all-time favorite experience using my UbiDuo is being face-to-face with my husband, Moose, when he throws out one of his famous, hilarious one-liners! That was what I missed most about losing my hearing…the natural-ness of the running conversations we enjoyed for more than 36 years. It was mighty lonely until I got my UbiDuo. 3) What are your thoughts and emotions as you are able to hold your own conversations with the UbiDuo with hearing people at the Farmer’s Market or other situations? I lost my hearing only 4 years ago. Prior to that time, I had always been an active participant in everything going on around me. I was a nurse, and living history re-enactor teaching Dutch oven and campfire cooking the way it was done ‘back when’ and, for the past 10 years, a volunteer campground host for our Nation’s public lands. To suddenly lose all my hearing was frightening to say the least but more than anything, I felt left out because I had no idea what was going on around me. Even friends ignored me or withdrew because we could no longer speak with one another. In public, people treated me as though I was retarded and tended to ask my husband questions that only I could respond to. As a result, my sense of self-worth took quite a tumble as I found myself completely isolated from the world around me, even with family members. But all that changed with the very first sentence my husband typed on my UbiDuo! I felt that NOW I could participate; NOW I wouldn’t be left out anymore; NOW I would know what’s going on around me! AMAZING! 4) What other comments do you want to share with other deaf or hard of hearing people about the UbiDuo? To the deaf or hard of hearing people, I would like to say that the UbiDuo opens the doors to the hearing world that were previously closed to many of us, making us feel isolated and ignored and perhaps even feeling useless. When you use your UbiDuo for the first time, you will instantly realize your quality of life has dramatically improved … in your home, at work, and within the community at large. I highly encourage you to buy one. To the employers: Deafness or hearing loss does not mean that a prospective employee is less intelligent or less capable or would be less of an asset to your business than a hearing employee. It simply means they communicate differently. The method one uses to accomplish various tasks doesn’t really matter so long as it allows the person to be successful and the UbiDuo allows your deaf or hard of hearing employees to communicate fully with you and your hearing employees, thus allowing the deaf to be successful in the workplace. Remembering…. hiring the handicapped, no matter what the handicap may be is GOOD BUSINESS! If you are a deaf or hard of hearing person and want the power of face-to-face communication that Sharon Walker has working in the Farmer’s Market and thousands of other UbiDuo users have, go to www.scomm.com or contact the friendly sales people at sComm.