Can I Get a What-What?

Being hearing impaired but not wearing a hearing aid (or a sign that says “I’m deaf on the left”) makes for some interesting life experiences. I’ve unintentionally offended people when I’ve seemingly ignored them, when really, I had no idea they were talking to me or talking at all. There have been plenty of times that […]

Conference in Review

Last week I attended the 33rd annual NFED Family Conference, which was held in Columbus, Ohio. There was a record number of people registered for conference – over 400 – but it did not feel overcrowded at all. This was my 5th conference (including the one I went to way back in 1996). Every one I’ve […]

Shameless Self Promotion

Opening Night at the 2014 NFED Family Conference. Each family was tasked with making a family crest or banner to display on a wall in one of the shared spaces. I began creating a flag to represent my blog – EEC Chick. As I looked around the table at the other EEC Chicks around me, […]

Eye Feel Fine

On Monday afternoon I went to my eye doctor for my yearly checkup. As I was driving there, I was thinking about how good my eyes have been doing lately, and that maybe seeing the doctor every year wasn’t really necessary. Still, knowing all the eye issues many of my EEC friends face, I figure […]

Exploring Ectrodactyly with EEC Chick

As the name implies, ectrodactyly is a prominent feature of EEC. Ectrodactyly just means missing fingers (or toes). If you ask me about it, I’ll say that I don’t think about ectrodactyly much and that it really hasn’t been that big of a deal in my life. Which in some ways is true. It has not caused me much physical […]

Color Me, Don’t Color Me

The year is 1991. Kids really do wear their hair in aqua-net-encased creations of spiked mullets and towering bangs (the grunge wave has not yet reached our suburban landscape). My personal soundtrack consists of anything REM, the Bryan Adams’ single “Everything I Do”, and Disney’s Little Mermaid soundtrack. I think I am turning out to […]

Speak the Truth, Even if Your Voice Shakes

The following TED talk resonates with me in so many ways; some of which I will explain below. In the video, Ash Beckham talks about the difficulty of coming out of the closet. When you hear ‘coming out’, you may think it only applies to gay people, but there are many kinds of closets and […]

Thoughts on Bullying, Part 1.

Every Friday morning, NPR airs a short segment called Story Corps. I often catch it on my way to work. Last week, it was a story told by a father whose 14-year-old son committed suicide after being bullied relentlessly. In recent years, there have been a lot of stories of kids killing themselves after being bullied. My heart […]

Swimming with Suzanne

Water. How I have always loved water. Whether it be in a bath tub or a swimming pool, I want to be in it. Swimming allowed me to be weightless and graceful, while on land I was clumsy and awkward. Being in the pool was like being in another world – one where I never […]

H-A-double-L-O, W-double-E-N, spells Halloween!

Halloween has never been a favorite day of mine. As a little kid I was unsettled by the fake tombstones and cobwebbed skeletons that adorned my normally pleasant-looking neighborhood. Even now, I don’t understand people’s fascination with death and gore, like the current zombie craze that affects some of my coworkers. I have lived through experiences […]