“Right, I do need to update that to include ‘student.’ I forgot, whoops!”
“You can use sign in your videos,” Natasha explains. “I’m glad you’re learning, really. I wish more people would. But I don’t like that you position yourself as someone qualified to teach ASL, because you’re not. Lessons should come from within the Deaf community in order to be accurate and properly reflect Deaf culture, not from hearing people, especially not those who are still learning.”
Mackenzie looks around nervously. “Right, but the people who watch my videos are mostly hearing, and it just inspires them to learn. Then they can go find other teachers.” She shrugs, then quickly adds, “Who are Deaf.”
“How are they supposed to know to search elsewhere if they think they can learn it from someone with a large platform like you?” Natasha asks.
“And maybe not all of your viewers are hearing,” I add. “Deaf and hard of hearing people don’t magically know ASL from birth. There are a lot of barriers to learning. Like, I’ve been trying to use the internet as a resource, but it’s so hard to weed through the incorrect stuff out there. Not saying that your stuff is totally wrong. It’s just that you’re still learning, too.”
“Um, okay,” Mackenzie says. She grabs the rag to wipe her hands again, which only covers them in more glitter. “That’s something to think about. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t gotten any comments like that on my videos before.”
“It’s an opportunity to rebrand,” I say.
She considers this, nodding slowly. For a while, I think this is the end of the conversation, but Mackenzie speaks up again. “Okay, I’ll put some thought into it. But for now, I’ll change my About page and go ahead and boost the camp video.”
“Thank you, Mackenzie,” I say, impressed with how civil her reaction is. We did just approach her out of nowhere and ask for a favor, and we kind of critiqued her entire platform.
Now let’s see if this gets us closer to our fundraising goal.
Chapter Twenty-one
Later, everyone is gathered in the dining hall, thrilled that today’s lunch is pizza. I asked Phoebe to save me a slice since Bobby and I have to go get Max in a minute once Gary gets here.
Isaac waves me down. “Your brother?”
“He’s almost here.”
“I’m —— to meet him,” Isaac signs. I tilt my head, and he spells out, “C-u-r-i-o-u-s.”
“He’s, like, this tall.” I hold my hand below my shoulder. “And people say we look alike.”
“Lilah, where are you?” Bobby calls from the dining hall doors. “We can’t be late. I need to make a good impression on your parents. Show them that, unlike a certain someone, I’m responsible.”
“If you dare mention even a peep about the other night, Bobby,” I say, my eyes wide, “I swear.”
We meet Gary at the golf cart and zip down to the parking lot, arriving right as my parents’ minivan pulls onto the gravel.
The back door slides open, and Max jumps out. His Bears jersey nearly comes down to his knees. For his small stature, he usually packs a lot of personality, but right now, he seems nervous.
“Hey,” I shout. “Welcome to Gray Wolf!”
“Ugh, you’re not one of my counselors, are you?” he says, rolling his eyes and looking at our parents as they get his duffel and sleeping bags out of the back.
“Nope, that’d be me. I’m Bobby.” He steps forward and holds out a hand, which probably makes Max feel grown-up, since he immediately straightens his shoulders, eager to impress.
“Nice to meet you,” Max says, shaking Bobby’s hand.
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “Yeah, Bobby’s all right.”
“Hey,” Bobby says. “I’m more than all right. Just ’cause you’re biased toward a certain other counselor—”
“Hey!” I nudge Bobby with my elbow. “Seriously, don’t.”
Gary gives my dad a clipboard with the arrival paperwork he needs to complete. Meanwhile, my mom walks over and tells me something that I don’t hear.
“What?” I ask loudly.
Immediately, she looks at my ears. “Is it pool time?” she asks, speaking up.
I shake my head.
“Lake time? Bedtime?” She narrows her eyes.
I shake my head again, frustrated, knowing exactly where she’s going with this. “My hearing aids are back in my suitcase. It’s fine. Gosh.”
She purses her lips and shakes her head. “Your audiologist ——。”
Is she still lecturing me about my hearing aids?
“I said, your audiologist says hi.”
“Yeah, I got that. Were you there recently?”
“Max had an appointment with her. And with the otologist. He had a sharp decline in his left ear.”
“Oh.” I watch Max to see what his reaction is, but he and Bobby are chatting away like old friends. My mom’s being very serious about his hearing loss.
“So we’re seeing if he’s a candidate for a cochlear implant.” She stares off toward the trees.
“I guess. Well, tons of kids here have one.” To me, CIs kind of seem interchangeable with hearing aids in some ways, but they’re definitely more involved, especially the setup.
“It’s a major surgery,” my mom says, presumably wondering why my reaction isn’t bigger. “Well, it’s supposed to be ‘minimally invasive,’ but it would still take at least six weeks for his head to recover before they could turn it on.”
“Can he just stick with two hearing aids, then?” My brother and I both had a dip in hearing at our annual exams. I’d hope this would get my family to take learning ASL seriously. But instead, my parents are jumping right to surgery.
“The hearing aid isn’t working well enough for that ear anymore.”
“Then he could go without it?”
She shakes her head. “He needs it to hear us.”
I can tell that this is the end of the discussion, which tracks. While Max and I are free to attend Deaf camp, we do live in the hearing world. Our school accommodations are based on using speech and hearing aids. They do not include services using ASL and interpreters. I’m sure the doctors are pushing for the surgery as the next logical step, proclaiming it’s the best option.
But maybe it is? In some ways, surgery could be seen as the simpler option, since it’s unlikely that everyone around Max would learn an entire new language to communicate with him. Especially since he’d have to also learn the language himself.
I can see both sides of the debate, and it’s not an easy decision. I know what my own preference would be, but it’s him going under the knife, not me.
So what does Max think?
* * *
After hours, I wait for Isaac at the firepit. Mackenzie is there by the picnic table with her laptop, editing her latest video.
She waves me over. “Would you mind taking a look?”
“Sure.” I move to sit beside her. “Oh, you included captions this time! That’s great. Having captions for both the speaking and sign portions makes it accessible all around.”