DBYAA Class Trip

I went to a class call Deafblind Young Adult in Action.

June 21, 2009
I arrived to DC by plane & took the metro to the union station then took amtrak to BWI train station in Baltimore, MD. I then took the shuttle to the Westin/BWI hotel. Its so beatiful it have a lot of glass windows. I went to a resturant for dinner by myself and order salman, potato, and vegetable. I went & sat in the hot tub & Spencer came along and sat by the pool looking out the windows.

June 22, 2009
I got up early to get ready for my interview. Good things they have food to have but I was too busy chatting with people so I only have a bagel & apple juice. Joyce Bender the CEO of Bender's was the guest speaker & I was glad that I got the opportunity to meet her to thanks her for referencing me the job. I went thurgh 2 interviews. The 1st man gave me a conditonal job offer. Thankful I have my security forms fill out ready to go. I am scheduled to go back to do some backround investigation to finish the security process.
I took the Marc train back to DC. I made it back right before the trains accident on the red lines.
I was late for class but they said that I pretty know a lot about this stuffs so I didnlt miss much.
There were 3 girls, 3 guy including me, & 3 guide dogs including Spencer. All the dog were Male Yellow Lab. Spencer were the oldest dog there.

June 23, 2009
Tuesday was a slow day, we went to class most of the day for more discussions about the 4 different policies.

June 24, 2009
The class went to see the senators. I get to see my senator Kohls & gave him a poster reminding him of Deafblind awareness week. I also thanks him for signing the paper in support of the deafblind community.
After stopping at differences offices to drop off info about deafblind awareness week, we went to the lawflims office to have a coffee social to thanks them for donating money to our program to make it happens.
After we got back to Gallaudet, I went to the union station to eat dinner with another classmates.

June 25, 2009
We went to the house side to speak with a few other state staff & my representatives Obey's staff named Brenden. He's a nice young man & he is very interesting in supporting HKNC in NY. Obey is the person who deal with the fund for HKNC. They are in need of $5 millions increase to be able to keep all their services productivity. I also gave Obey's staff the same poster I gave Kohls to thanks for their supports.
I went swimming with another class mate at Gallaudet pool.

June 26, 2009
The best day of the whole trip is Friday. We went to the white house to take a tour with a tour guide. Last time I went, I didn't have a guide. The tour guide showed us a couple room that is not available to the regular tour. One of my classmates Crystial got to play the President's panio. They were having a press meeting when we were there.
We went across the street to eat lunch & chat for a couple hours until its time to go back to the White House. We were waiting in line in the hallway to go in the Ovral office to meet the President of the US. He was standing at the door & I was the first students to enter & shake his hand. He ask me 5 question like name, school, major, & where I m from. Then he siad congrats. He is taller than I though he was & got a nice smile. We got a group picture with him. After that he told all of us that he's very proud of us & willing to support us. Then he pet spencer on the head. Spencer stared at him with honor without licking him. This surprised me. After leaving the White house everyone was so excited & jumpy. Crystial & I went to the union station to have some time out to relax.
Check the White House Blog: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Still-Thriving-and-Excelling-Long-After-Helen-Keller/


June 27, 2009
Two other youth & I went sight seeing on the mall. It was cooler than earlier in the week. Then we celebrated Helen Keller's birthday.

June 28, 2009
I flew home.

Traveling from State to States

I was traveling for the last 24hrs. The train ride to Springfield IL is fun & a new experience for me & Spencer. There were 18 deafblind adults and 30 SSP at the IL DBWR. I was there to observe their SSPs training program so I can help them improve & advocate for the deafblind community.
On Tuesday night I arrived & went to dinner with their staffs.
On Wednesday, I slept in then went to training in the afternoon. The deafblind arrive in the afternoon.
On thur we went to the rally to support ISD & ISVI (IL deaf & blind school) to stay open. Its schedule to close on July 1st. That night, we went to walmart to shop. I only got water & soy milk.
On Friday, we went to ISD to swim in their pool. That niight a man came to show us the deafblind communicater (DBC). I m still glad I remember grade 1 braille.
On Saturday, we went to take a tour of VOA, its a group home for deaf & deafblind people. Then I took the train back home. I like the train to Springfield than the one back. Because there is more room & more comfortable. Its a double decker train that I like.
I arrive home around midnight. I got up at 6am to repack for DC class.

Here is a short video of how pouring raining hard it was on the train on the way to Springfield, IL from Chicago.

Beloit Daily News article

‘Deafblind’ man reaching out for his dreams

Each day is a well orchestrated event for Jason Corning. The 23-year-old is “deafblind,” a new term used to describe those with both impaired vision and hearing.

“It’s in the dictionary now,” Corning said. “The culture and the way they do things is completely different.”

Before heading out for the day, Corning not only has to round up his dog, Spencer, and a few bones, but usually has to pack up extra batteries for his cochlear implant, a portable electronic magnifier, notebook and pen, cane, camera and GPS. Although his friends joke his guide dog needs saddlebags, Corning said he just likes to be prepared.

“He’s been interested in technology and devices since he was little,” said mom Peggy Corning.

Jason’s parents, Ralph and Peggy Corning, found out their son was severely hearing impaired when he was only a year old, and legally blind when he was 3 years old. Although the boy could run and jump, he was bumping into a lot of stuff.

Peggy Corning said she wasn’t really surprised with the news. Her instincts told her something was going on as she found herself subconsciously squeezing his hand when he neared a curb.

Once his parents found out about his condition, they started helping him learn how to use devices to be more independent. Over the years Jason’s hearing condition has improved because of a cochlear implant and he has been able to improve his speaking abilities.

Although his vision has stayed about the same, he’s able to read sign language and decipher some blurry images and colors. When he’s giving presentations at area schools or organizations, he describes his vision as looking through glasses with peanut butter smeared on them.

Although he started out in Rockford public schools, his mother thought he could benefit from the Wisconsin School for the Deaf (WSD) in Delavan. Peggy worried her son would be singled out for being deaf at a public school after teachers told her he colored well for a deaf child. Peggy said she preferred her son be in a more supportive environment.

“Deaf people don’t feel like they are broken. They are deaf and speak sign language just like people speak Spanish or German. It’s just a language. It’s a much more confident culture,” Peggy said.

Jason transferred to the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville (WSVH) in high school, and over the years he has taken some classes at Beloit Turner High School as well as Blackhawk Technical College.

In addition to learning basic school subjects, WSVH offered a course on orientation and mobility where students learned how to plan routes on a bus, use a cane and cross the street. In his daily living skills class Jason Corning learned how to cook, clean and shop. To prepare food, he learned how to use different colored and sized measuring bowls and a knife with a special protector.

At the school, he also was able to stay in dorms which prepared him to be more independent. Because he can decipher light and dark colors, his mother said he became an expert laundry doer.

Because of his preparation in the dorms, transition to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater to pursue a degree in information technology was a pretty easy move for Jason. While at Whitewater, he studied abroad in Ireland and was a peer mentor for freshmen.

His only real challenge was learning to work with his guide dog which he obtained in 2005. During his college days, Jason had an interpreter and had his books scanned electronically. A note taker in class would type notes and then e-mail them to him.

Now that Jason has graduated, he’s trying to get a government job in Washington. He interviewed about a month ago at the Transportation Security Administration where he interned. His long-term goal is to live in the nation’s capital , where they have dependable public transportation allowing Jason to be more independent.

Jason said he didn’t have any trouble while living in Washington. If he got lost, he asked for help. He tried to travel in a group and walk fast. If he went jogging, he’d take a friend.

Jason admits most of his friends are also deafblind. Although there are some deaf people and some blind people in Beloit, there aren’t many deafblind around. Jason keeps up with other deafblind pals via the Internet and social networking sites such as www.facebook.com.

During his years at the two schools he’s learned a lot about the cultures of the deaf who are more proud and vocal, as well as the visually impaired culture which tends to be very independent.

Jason said he and his deafblind friends are pretty talkative, asking plenty of questions about their surroundings and touching each other to communicate. he said the communication helps out in planning activities.

“I travel a lot. I like to go, go, go. I don’t like to stay in one place,” he said.

Link to the Beloit Daily News site http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2009/06/12/news/top_news/news1201.txt

This should be posted in every school

This is a message from Bill Gates, he may be the richest man in the world. Read the words slowly and think about how he got to where he is now.

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this!

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your
self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.
If you can read this -Thank a teacher!
If you can read this in English thank a soldier!!!

Spencer Home Alone Video

We went to our neighbor's graduation party and left Spencer home. We knew Spencer will do this so we set up the camera to see how he did it.

We have to crop this out of a 1 hr sitting.

Platt's Sisters weekend

My 2 aunts, and grandma came to my house for girl weekend at my house. On Friday, my mom's friend Sue came to my house to have snacks and wines with us. They all sat in the hot tub and visit all night long. On Saturday, morning I made eggs for everyone with bacon and toast they all loved it. I stay home and have a lazy day. My dad work in the garage on his mustang and then took my mom to Johnson Creek to pick up my aunt and grandma and brought some food home with them. I didn't like all those food full of dairy and none are healthy as I think.
On Sunday, I made pancake for all of us then we went to Sam's Club to take a tour and I found that this store is the best store for me to buy my food since it have more healthy option and cheaper.
I just started my first week of summer class last week and have 2 more weeks to go with 4 class sittings left. I'm still waiting to hear about the job offer.

Jason's Graduation Video

Here's my graduation video

Bird nest on garage light

Here's a video my Dad took of the baby birds on our garage light.

Cooking Day at home with Mom

Today Mom and I stayed home and cook all day.

I made whole wheat pizza crust and then made Thai chicken pizza on it.
I also baked some oatmeal cookies,friendship bread. and cranberry sauce.
There was a lot to learn from this. I learned how thick the pizza crust will get and how long it take it to rise.
Mom and I have a project of making me a cook book for my future apartment so I can cook more healthy and save some money too. Those food will be a great Guest Special meals.

My Graduation

I finally graduated from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, WI on May 16, 2009 at 10am-1pm. It was 3 hours long with 1,300 students graduating.
This is the video my dad had created for me. This is much better than my High school Graduation. There was about 7 thousands people there to watch and celebrated with us.


My Grandma and Aunt Melissa came with my parents to celebrate my 4 years of success in college.


I am still waiting for my grades so far I got 2 As, hoping for a B in Finance. Also i have 2 classes that use a pass/fail system which is worth of 6 credits.

I'm taking a summer class just to finish up the requirement to get my degree in the mail. I only got the cover for it. I'm also waiting to hear about job offer and if I do hear back and got the job in DC. I'll move there and then start my master work at George Washington University.

I have 2 trips line up for June. One to Jacksonville, IL and one to DC for Deafblind in Action Workshop.