D.E.A.FMAGAZINE

NADIRANORRIS

TELLS MORE

ZAHARA BROWN REVEALS HER STOR Y ABOUT HER LIFE

AMAZINGPOEM OF

THE MONTHEMBRACE THE RECOGNITION

YOU AREDefinitely. Extraordinary. And. Fantastic

LIVE LIFETO THE

FULLEST

Photograph by Nadira Norris-

5 Peom of the Month I'm Deaf by Nadira Norris 6 Union Hearing Society Hearing Aid Centre

7 What is D.E.A.F MAGAZINE Spread the Words 9 Your Fit Body Now Personal Traniner Travis Edwards

10 Publisher and Owner Story Continues

12 3 Tips to Achieve a Well Balanced Diet Nutrisitionist T'keyah Dumoy

15 Perfect Practice Vincent and Tina Roberts 16 Stush Extentions Brooks Copper Expertise

17 Wedding Planner Lolade El'Mai Fakunle

18 Zahra Brown Story Article By Nadira Norris

23 Message From Zahra By Nadira Norris

25 Canadian National Deaf Snow boarding Team Martin Zagozdzon, Dustin Wills & Darren Chow 26 I Have a Dream Article by Nadira Norris

27 Resources By Nadira Norris

MAGAZINE D.E.A.F &

Food Lover Owned Since 2012

EMBRACE THE RECOGNITION

You Are Definitely. Extraordinary. And. Fantastic

Personal Growth Comes within

Persevere and seek to find your Individuality

Embrace Yourself

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

5

I AM DEAF

I am Deaf

I am unique

I am the one who’s been underneath

All the complicated situations

Trying to fit in with this new generation

Because I am deaf

And because I am mute

But in spite of this

I am unique

It took a lot of courage

And a lot of strength

To gain the confidence that I received within

All I needed was a little motivation

And some consideration

With the encouragement that I received from others

It helped me to be who I am forever

By finding myself

It helped me to capture my inner identity

I am deaf, I mute and I am unique

Poem by Nadira Norris-Charles

Poem by Nadira Norris-Charles

6

Established in 1922, Union Hearing Aid Centre Limited

has been providing excellent service to the hearing

impaired community for over 90 years. Specializing in

paediatrics, it is one of the only centers in Ontario which

fits hearing aids to ALL ages. We are proud to be one of

the only centers to fit ALL lines and types of devices

including cochlear implants, bone anchored hearing

aids, bone conduction hearing aids, FM and signalling

devices, and deep fitting implantable devices.

7

What is D.E.A.F MAGAZINE

D.E.A.F MAGAZINE (Definitely, Extraordinary, and Fantastic) is a sole proprietorship owned by Nadira Norris-Charles who is also hard of hearing. This business is located in Mississauga, Ontario. D.E.A.F MAGAZINE is a Lifestyle trends publication that re-flects cultural within the Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing community.Furthermore, it will enhance the experiences of diverse minorities, and attract vari-ous women and men globally, appealing to a broad array of individuals despite eth-nicity, socioeconomic class, and other social concerns. Therefore, this business will motivate, inspire, and encourage clients to achieve their goals. Ms. Norris believes that everyone can succeed and accomplish anything that they want, need and de-sire. We aim to provide an opportunity for individuals to explore their potential and to find guidance on their personal journey. Primarily, we will focus on the five most important aspects fundamental to one’s well being such as; hope, faith, belief, be-longing and self esteem. A drastic increase in individuals who have been born with or who have developed a progressive hearing loss is now apparent and these indi-viduals experience marginalization and lack of opportunity in life. The development of this magazine provides a resource for members of the deaf community to obtain employment, and will be the one and the only magazine providing compelling in-formation to the specific demographic. Nonetheless, D.E.A.F MAGAZINE will draw attention to those who want to know about the deaf world such as teachers, manag-ers, corporations and community centers that specialize in deaf and hard of hearing clientele.

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

8

Start Now! visit www.yourfitbodynow.com

9

10

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

DELT WITH, INDULGED ITTHE STORY CONTINUES

During my childhood years, I had a choice to have my needs met through classrooms that were de-signed for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. These classroom helped individuals like me as the purpose was to accommodate our needs by pre-senting a smaller group of children. This allowed the teachers and educators to provide a one on one support for children. This program also sup-plied us with FM devices at no cost which enabled me and others to hear the teacher as if they were right next to us. I attended Bridlewood Public School for grades one to four then General Brock Public School for grades five through eight. The teachers that I had at these schools were amazing. They believed in me so much. They helped me see and believe that I have a wonderful personality and that I am an extraordinary and talented indi-vidual with a wonderful, giving personality.

The teachers that I had at Bridlewood Public School always motivated me to succeed in my school work and inspired me to merge with the hearing children in math, science, art and gym classes as those were the courses that I advanced in. Not only did they inspire me to merge into both classes, they also made every opportunity possible for me to feel included by preparing and provid-ing opportunities for me to attend trips with both classes rather than just with the deaf and hard of hearing class. They allowed me to experience both worlds. They believed that just because I am hard of hearing, there is no reason for me to in-teract solely with the deaf and hard of hearing in-dividuals. They encouraged me to include myself in both worlds because both worlds exist! In order to succeed professionally and personally, this was the way. From my experience, Bridlewood Public School was an amazing school. I felt that everyone in the school understood and acknowledged the existence and potential of the deaf and hard of

hearing children. It was because of them that I felt included with everyone and didn’t feel like an out-sider in my own world.

From my perspective, General Brock Public School had a different setting than Bridlewood Public School. It is possible that the reason I felt it was different was due to the fact that the children were older and more indulged in the thought and per-ception of attention and popularity. What I seen was more of a separation between the deaf and hard of hearing children and the hearing children. I felt that we seemed to be quieter and more ner-vous around the hearing students than in elemen-tary school. As I got involved in the extracurricular activities, it allowed my peers to acknowledge me more. They began to learn my name and engage in conversations on a regular basis. As for the oth-er deaf and hard of hearing students, they stayed together and seemed to be happy.

At some point in my learning years, my peers and I were encouraged to limit the use of American Sign Language (ASL) as it was effecting our writ-ten English. This caused me to forget how to sign. Now that I am older, I see why they advised us not to communicate with ASL. Effective communicat-ing through written English is an important skill to obtain, academically and professionally. Effec-tive written communication includes understand-ing and comprehending. However, I now feel that I cannot communicate effectively with my deaf friends who require ASL to communicate. I am at a cross-roads in my life where I feel as though I do not belong in either worlds. My hearing is mod-est to profound. This means that it is significantly worse than a hearing person, and I can’t commu-nicate with my deaf friends. Now, I need to learn how to sign again.

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

After talking to others about my journey as a person who is hearing impaired, we discussed our experi-ences. We came to the conclusion that it would be best if in high school, the board made it mandatory for those who do not know how to communicate in ASL to take ASL courses each year. While providing sign language as a mandatory course they should explain the importance of why and how American Sign Language affects the English language and how it is used to communicate. As for those who are unaware of the difference, ASL is shortened to predominantly nouns and verbs, using hand gestures and facial expressions to convey the intended message. ASL, as with any other language, also has its own set of rules. The structure of the English written language combines adverbs and conjunctions. We felt that it is important that they also provide a mandatory course to teach deaf culture as it would re-quire the students to learn about their culture, the difficulties others have faced and those that had the strength to succeed. A lot of us felt like we had to learn about our culture from within our own interests and had to search beyond the classrooms to learn about the history of the deaf and hard of hearing.We also discovered shocking valuable information considering that we all came from different schools in Ontario. Some of us experienced having only one to two deaf teachers whereas others experienced none. We believe that the schoolboard should hire more educators who are deaf and hard of hearing. We felt they would have been able to relate to us as well as prepare us for our future as opposed to those who aren’t. Overall, the accommodations that the schoolboard provides for the deaf and hard of hearing is required as needed. When creating educational rubrics, the experience from past students will assist in truly un-derstanding what needs to be taught. We believe that they can supply more help.

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles 11

FITNESS IS THE KEY!

12

T'KEYAH DUMOY

"RUN UNTIL YOU REACH THE FINISH LINE TO WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE"

Photo of Nutritionist - T'Keyah Dumoy

13

3 Tips to achieve a well-bal-anced diet

1) Be consistent; gen-

erate a routine that

will allow yourself to

be consistent on a dai-

ly or weekly basis.

2) Create your own

meals: home prepped

meals tend to have

more nutritional value

and less harmful sub-

stances then fast food

3) Choose colour and

be diverse; when your

choosing foods to

purchase, keep this in

mind.

Nutritionist - T'Keyah Dumoy

Article by Nutritionist T'Keyah Dumoy

14

SOMETIMES

SILLYNESS

IS NEEDED

IN LIVE

Nadira Norris-Charles

Learning is essential to young children's today. To teach and learn your child more effectively, go on Practising Perfect now!

visit http://practicing-perfect.com/

15

16 Stush Extentions- Brook Cooper

17

EL'MAI wedding company specialises in the design, coordination and planning of your special event; proposals, engagement and wedding events.

We are offering a 10 percent discount for our proposal planning and design clients till end of February.

You can Check us out on www.elmaiweddingcompany.ca

You can Contact me at:lola@elmaiweddingcompany.ca

(647) 210-2979

Wedding Planner- Lolade El'Mai Fakunle

"Accept that you have a hearing loss because there is nothing you can do about it. What you can do is present the skills that you have and show the world."

18

Zahara Brown Story

Z

Zahra is proud to be hard of hearing and she had worked extremely hard to get to where she is now. She had many obstacles in life and yet she continued to strive to work hard and to be ambitious. Yet, through it all Zahra is able to still show how motivated, passionate and enthusiastic she remains. Zahra had struggled from depression while obtaining her post secondary education. By the age of 20 she was diagnosed with depression, a year after she was entering her life as a college student. During her College and University years, Zahra spent her time focusing on her faith, volunteering at Brookhaven P.S as a teacher’s assistant and worked part-time. She also was a part of a keynote drama team for the Presbyterian Youth Confer-ence in 2007 in North Carolina, United States; where she spoke and performed on stage in front of hundreds of youths and young adults. Furthermore, Zahra was chosen to be a committee member at York Regional Accessibility Advisory Committee, where she helped make changes. Zahra also attended monthly committee meetings and annual meetings, she also represented Deaf and Hard of Hearing constituency living in the York Region area. She believed that she could bring issues from the perspective

of Deaf and Hard of Hearing youth. In 2012, Zahra was a part of a Self-Advocacy workshop presentation at York University, where Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and teachers were present. Zahra shared her story, her jour-ney through college and university; which enabled her to encourage and knowledge the Deaf and Hard of Hearing high school students and teachers about the important of self advocacy. ``Self Advocacy is one of the best ways for people to fight against discrimination and to succeed with their goals``. Zahra had made a big difference in people live with all the work she did. While at York Uni-versity it had been suggested from others to seek coun-selling and attend day programs that helps people deal with depression any sort of signs of mental illnesses. She stated that, ``counselling had allowed me to think differ-ently in terms of mental health, such as how to react and how to not react to a lot of issues that I can change and issues I cannot change. It made me realize that I have a choice to be happy, to be who I want to be. Counselling has allowed me to admit that I do have depression, but I am choosing to deal with it. To live the way I choose to live.

ahra Brown A well respected woman in the deaf and hard of hearing community. She attended Dublin Heights Elementary Public School then attended Northern Secondary High School. During her time at Northern

Secondary High School, Zahra had the opportuni-ty to do her coop placement at York University for the community radio station called CHRY 105.5 FM. This talented women had then continued her jour-ney to Seneca, where she studied General Arts and Science then continued on to York University where she studied Women`s Studies.

19Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

" I came this far, so why would I give up now! "

20

ahra had also taking anti- depression pills which were supposed to help her with her de-pression, however; it had an adverse effect. Now equipped with the knowledge and skills, Zahra acknowledged that we all have choices and are responsible for them. She decided that it was best to come off of the anti-depression pills despite what she was told. Zahra said, ``Those pills were causing me to become suicidal. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t need to be dependant on anti-depression pills to keep me mentally happy. What do I want to do with my life? Do I want to continue hurt myself to what I can`t change” At that moment in time, Zahra told herself that she was “tired of being sad and hospitalized.” She kept wondering why go through the stress and hardships? Why continue to cause any more harm to herself? Zahra said she prayed so much for guidance. Zahra now with more confident in herself, acknowledge that she is worth so much more. She have stopped taking those anti-depression pills since the Fall of 2013. She now can bring forward her knowledge and skills that will help her with her healing process. Zahra realized just after University that fitness was not only her passion, but it is her key to reduce the stress and it is helping her to continue to fight against her mental health issues. There are many ways to fight against depression, fitness is one of them. Even the happiest, strongest and busiest people can suffer from depression, anxiety or any signs of mental health issues. It is everywhere in our society. We are not alone in this and we should not have to be. Mental Health shouldn’t be over-looked, it should be taken seriously.

Article by Nadira Norris-Charles 21

"HAPPINESS IS THE KEY TO LIFE"

22

A MESSAGE FROM ZARAH

For all the women who are suffering from depression

It’s a long journey. It’s a struggle.

But take it One step at a time

If you feel like something is wrong, don’t put it off seek help

If and when diagnosed, YOU have to accept that you suffering from

depression

Find help- talk to your doctors or go to health centers, such as,

CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association)

I went to a day program where they inspired me and taught me

the important of meditation.

speak about how you feel, being mindful, honest and present, this

will help you to release stress-

From my experiences, listening and speaking with others, we tend

to sometimes keep certain things inside.

We ignore these signs of mental illness and we refuse to seek help.

Because when we don’t talk about it, we ignore it. We give up and

we don’t realize how it is affecting our lives behind closed doors.

This is our biggest mistake. Stop letting your fears or whatever it

is that preventing you from being happy and free take over your

23Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

We, Martin Zagozdzon, Dustin Wills, and Darren Chow are members of the Canadian National Deaf Snowboarding Team.

Through hard work, dedication and training we have earned the right to represent our country at the largest International Deaf Sporting Event in the World.

The Deaflympics, sanctioned by the International Com-mittee of Sports for the Deaf, and recognized by the In-ternational Olympic Committee are the highest level of competition bringing together thousands of Elite Deaf Athletes from over 100 countries worldwide.

As a part of my commitment to Team Canada, along with our training, we will also be required to fundraise in order to pay for 50% of the expenses, which is $4,500 each for our participation in the 2015 Deaflympics in Russia.

While athletes do receive support from the Canadian Deaf Sports Association for the other 50% of the ex-penses, there is still a significant financial contribution required. In order to make our dreams a reality, and to allow us to become Deaflympians in hopes of bringing home a medal for Canada, we also need support from generous companies/people in this community.

We are requesting that you consider making a financial contribution to support us as athletes, and we assure you that we will do our best to represent you, your company, ourselves, our community, and our country while partici-pating at this important event.

Please accept this letter as a request for your support in our preparations to represent Canada at the 2015 Deafly-mpics in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, March 28th- April 5th, 2015.

We thank you for your consideration, and we will follow up with you in the coming weeks regarding your deci-sion.

For more info about Deaflympics, check this out www.deaflympics.com

And for Canadian Deaf Sports Association, go to www.assc-cdsa.com

Thank you for your support!

Martin Zagozdzon, Dustin Wills and Darren Chow

Team Canada Deaf Snowboarding

Canadian National Deaf Snowboarding Team

25

26Article by Nadira Norris-Charles

S Martin Luther King Junior Said, “I Have A dream”! His dream had taken a leap of the African American people in our nation for a long time. His dream was for all of us to reunite and learn to accept one

another for who we are…”God’s Creation”. He stated that freedom is the key, “We will be able to work together, to play together, to stand up for freedom together”. Every-one should have the privilege to experience Freedom! Freedom of speech and freedom of respect, as we gain neutral gratitude towards one another. There should be Freedom of acceptance, freedom of self-awareness, self-justices, self-respect and self-acknowledgment of oneself and the world around us. Martin Luther King used this phrase “freedom ring“what this means is all of us from different nation, ethnicity, lifestyle and religion, we are suppose to join together; rejoice life together as families. We are all God children’s therefore; we are sup-posed to stand by each other. I Nadira Norris have a dream! I dream that we as deaf and hard of hearing individual’s continue to have faith and courage in our existence. We are individuals who need a little bit more help than others, More so; accommoda-tions. We should not feel ashamed or anxious of our “dis-ability”. We should not envy others for their abilities and success but to strive harder to making it ours. I believe

that God does not bear a huge amount of hardship on us that we cannot handle, our struggles is suppose to make us stronger. We need to stand together and show the world that we are capable of achieving anything and everything just as anyone else. Therefore, you have to believe in yourself in order for this to happen! If you know that you are Definitely Extraordinary And Fantas-tic, you can conquer anything. My only hope is that I can provide everyone the resource of information that will be useful and encouraging. My goal with this magazine is to communicate not with just to the deaf and hard of hearing, but to everyone who is interested in helping to take away the negative stigma that is somehow secretly attached to people like me. Use this magazine’s blog section as a way to provide suggestions, share experi-ences or just to say…HI! I Am Here! We are capable of anything! I have faith therefore you need to have faith in yourself and in others. We all have struggles still; never lose focus on life’s purpose. What is life’s purpose? Well, I don’t know what yours is but mine is to continue to stand tall with my head held high, to acknowledge that things will get better because I have faith, it is to keep strong with courage and to always give my best! As the saying goes, “when life throws you lemons, make lem-onade”. Try using your strength and faith or whatever it might be to help you through life’s experiences and to

A

SOME RESOURCESIN ONTARIO

Canadian Hearing Society

Canadian Association for the Deaf

Canadian Hard of Hearing Association

Silent Voice Canada

Hearing Ear Dogs of Canada

ASL Access

American Sign Language Resource Guide

Bob Rumble Center for the Deaf

For more infomation visit

http://www.communitylegalcentre.ca/services/Deaf/Links_for_the_Deaf.htm

School for the deaf In Ontario E.C. Drury School for the Deaf (Milton)

Robarts School for the Deaf (London)

Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf (Belleville)

28

Thank You For Viewing

Our next issue will be Availiable in April 2015

If you would like to advertise your business or product with us

you can contact us at deafmagazine1@gmail.com

29

Continue to

MOTIVATE AND INSPIRE

You Are Definitely. Extraordinary. And. Fantastic

MAGAZINED.E.A.F

Food Lover Owned Since 2012

EMBRACE THE RECOGNITION

D.E.A.F MAGAZINE,Mississuaga, ON, Canada(647) 385-4742 email@ deafmagazine1@gmail.com www.deafmagazine.ca

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MAGAZINED.E.A.F D e f i n i t e l y E x t r a o r d i n a r y A n d F a n t a s t i c