400 deaf campers converge on North Idaho
Annette Baer, of Post Falls, is the campsite coordinator and assistant Idaho representative for the group. Here, she explains the importance of having a gathering like this for everyone to come together and support one another. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
From left, John Parker, Jerry Spalding, Larry Williamson, James Stuart, and Troy Anderson play a game of poker Tuesday at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. About 400 people hearing impaired campers will be spending the week participating in arts and crafts, playing night games for prizes at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, riding the gondolas at Silver Mountain and other activities. LOREN BENOIT/Press
For people who work the hardest to communicate in a hearing world, a campout with others who can't hear is a little slice of heaven.
Especially when that campout is in North Idaho.
“I remember when the chair announced we were going to be doing it in Idaho,” said John Klaus, an Idaho representative for Western States Deaf Campers and coordinator of this year’s retreat. "I felt so thrilled."
About 400 people who are deaf or hard of hearing are enjoying everything the region has to offer during the 2019 trip, which began Sunday with a welcome and registration at the group’s home base at Blackwell Island RV Park on the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene.
The campers, who hail from as far away as North Carolina and Georgia, are spending the week participating in arts and crafts, playing night games for prizes at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, riding the gondolas at Silver Mountain, partaking in a Lake Coeur d’Alene dinner cruise, biking the Centennial Trail and enjoying other unique North Idaho activities.
"There are so many different camps that are throughout the U.S. for deaf campers, but most of them are along the East Coast,” said Western States Deaf Campers director Sherry Clement, who lives in Colorado. “We decided that we really wanted something to be more available for the people in the West, so we don’t have to travel as far.”
Klaus, Clement and other group members spoke through American Sign Language interpreter Maggie Thompson of Spokane Valley during a visit Thursday evening.
Annette Baer of Post Falls is the campsite coordinator and assistant Idaho representative for the group. Through Thompson, Baer explained why this kind of social outing is so important.
“The deaf community, we’re so small and we have a lot of frustrations when we’re trying to communicate with hearing people, trying to place interpreters and whatnot,” she said. “To have this event where 400 of us from all these small different communities throughout the states can come together where we can experience our language together, it feels like how we as deaf people want to communicate — not having any of these communication barriers.”
“It’s good for (those who can hear) to experience meeting diverse people and to come to different events just to meet people in our community,” Klaus added.
For people who sign to speak, staying somewhere like a hotel adds to the communication barriers the deaf community frequently experiences.
“In a hotel, you have to knock on their door and say ‘meet me in the lobby’ or something. It doesn’t feel as free,” Clement said. “Camping is open, and it’s more deaf-friendly because you can see each other more easily.”
Western States Deaf Campers was founded by James Allen and Russell Kellmar in 2007. The first excursion was to Yellowstone, Mont. The campouts happen every two years and have landed campers in places like Estes Park, Colo., Anacortes, Wash., and Cody, Wyo.
This is the first year the campers have made North Idaho their destination.
“It’s so friendly here,” Clement said.
Hearing loss can happen four ways: conductive, sensorineural, mixed and auditory neuropathy, according to the Deafness Foundation.
Conductive hearing loss occurs when the outer or the middle ear or both suffers damage. Sensorineural hearing loss happens when the hair cells in the cochlea (a snail-shell-shaped piece of the inner ear) are missing or damaged. A mixed hearing loss is when conductive and sensorineural hearing losses are present. The sensorineural component of the hearing loss is permanent; the conductive component may be permanent or temporary. Auditory neuropathy is a problem with the auditory nerve transmitting the signal from the cochlea to the brain. The hearing loss can vary from normal to profound.
No matter what the reason for their hearing loss or deafness, the local deaf camper organizers all agree that something wonderful happens between hearing and non-hearing people when the hearing community takes the time to step into their world and pick up ASL to help break that language barrier.
"I hope that hearing people can see this kind of an event and maybe this will be exposure to them for our community,” Baer said.
Info: www.wsdc2019.com