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Lucas “LazyLegz” Patuelli

The Red Fort and Taj Mahal, Agra - India

By Craig Grimes

At the end of July I flew via Atlanta and New York to Delhi in India. I was invited to India by ASTA India Chapter (Association of American Travel Agents) and SATH (Society for Accessible Tourism and Hospitality) to give seminars on inclusive tourism for people with disabilities along with Scott Rains and Jani Nayar (SATH).

On our first day we went from Delhi to Agra and then after an over night stay at the ITC Mugal (review to come) after visiting the Red Fort. the following day we went to the Taj Mahal and we were accompanied by a group of design students from ICC college in Delhi.

The experience was amazing and even though we had to argue a little with the powers that be at the Taj Mahal we got to see everything even if we had to ba carried up and down a few flights of stairs.

More to come soon!

Thanks to Scott Rains for the photos.

Posted in India, Guided Tours, Conferences, Travel | No Comments

Deaf Guide Training Course - Evaluation

By Craig Grimes

Above: Brain Storm Board after the course.

After the course finished, Geo, Jes and I sat down together to discuss what went well and what could be improved for another Deaf Guide Training Course. During the course we made the decision to cut it down from 6 to 5 days as some of the participants were unable to attend on a Saturday. In our discusions after the course we decided that we would again use a 5 day format if we were to undertake another course. This would include 4 days of worshops and then the final day of touring.

We also structured the course slightly better, to teach a little more methodically with an obvious progression in the subject matter, grammar and vocabulary as well as introducing the basic concepts of inclusive tourism for deaf people, being a good tour guide and the use of resources to develop routes. We also had a brainstorm to decide which of the games that we used we liked and also invented some new ones for the next course.

Another thing that we noticed was that the group bonded very well, if we were to run another course we would want to do it as a residential to further create lasting friendships and a good working environment.

All in all we were very pleased with the way that we taught the course although we were able to see where we could improve. The overall outcome was incredible, not only could the Deaf Nicaraguan group give a tour in ASL, but I also learnt so much as a non-sign language user that by the end of the week I could communicate much better with my deaf friends.

I’d very much like to thank both Jes and Geo for their help, patience and frienship throughout the course. Without them none of this would have been possible.

Below: PDF file of the new Deaf Guide Trainig Course Program and a thank you photo for Geo and Jes.

Deaf Guide Training Course - Revised Program

Posted in Guided Tours, Deaf, AccessibleNicaragua, Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

Deaf Guide Training Course - Teaching Summary

By Craig Grimes

Above: Some of the gang from the Deaf Guide Training Course on the after course party.

My initial idea was to write about the course every day, but that turned out just to be too much as it was so intense and tiring! So here’s a summary of the teaching part of the course.

Without going into too much detail and boring everyone, we undertook the course by teaching the alphabet and numbers and then going into ASL grammar and useful vocabulary relating to guided tours such as different buildings, practising dates, the weather, modes of transport, etc. We incorporated lots of games in the course including ASL Bingo and role playing in order to help the participants practise what they were learning and also to allow them to get to know each other better. Frequent breaks were a neccesity as was a change of scenary one morning where we played games in a cafe in Matagalpa and visited the Cathedral.

We also combined all 4 languages; ASL, ISN, English and Spanish as a teaching method, this was something I was a little concerened about, but actually worked very well. Geo wrote a word in English on the white board, then I translated it into Spanish, after which the sudents would show us the sign for the word in ISN and then Geo would teach them the ASL equivalent. This not only taught the students the sign in ASL, but they could also relate their own sign in ISN to the word to help them remember the ASL.

The participants reacted well to the teaching part of the course and we couldn’t get them to stop working even during their breaks (it seems as though it was us that needed the breaks more than the participants!). On the final day of teaching we gave them different tour routes in Matagalpa with all of the information that they required in Spanish. They then had to translate the main meanings of the phrases into English and look up the ASL sign on ASLPro or ask Geo or Jes to help them. Where there wasn’t a particular sign we would help them practise finger spelling the word in English.

Posted in Deaf, Course, Guided Tours, Video, Central America, AccessibleNicaragua, Nicaragua | No Comments

Day 1 - Deaf Guide Training Course

By Craig Grimes

Above: The people taking part in the Deaf Guide Training Course in San Ramón today.

Today after a slightly late start we began the First ASL Deaf Guide Training Course, first of all we played games to get to know each other a little better and to try to see some of the differences between ASL and ISN. After we went through some of the basics of what a tour guide actually is. I asked the group questions about what a tour guide does, what is their job and responsibilities. I also asked them what we could potentially show deaf tourists in the Matagalpa area and in Nicaragua. After which we continued with a presentation of “What makes a good tour guide?” interpreted by Jes in ASL.

The next part of the day was to get some basic ASL under our belts and Geo taught us the ASL alphabet and numbers from 0 - 100. He also showed us how to sign years in ASL so that we are able to tell American deaf people the dates that buildings and monuments were constructed.

I took the lead on the following part of the day where, with Frank’s (the Nicaraguan interpreter) help, we taught the group how to use a Spanish - English dictionary so that they can finger spell words in English if they don’t know the sign. This will also help them when planning tourist routes for ASL users so that they know the word in English. Then at an internet café they can use online ASL dictionaries at websites such as ASLpro to look up the sign for the word.

The last part of the day we played ASL Pictionary, where I gave the participants a word in Spanish and they had to draw a picture to represent it. The rest of the class had to guess the word and look it up in their Spanish - English dictionaries to finger spell the word in English and in ASL.

The day has been quite an experience and I think that we are all very happy and have learnt a lot in one day. Geo, Jes and I are all extremely tired and there are still 5 days to go and more planning needs to be done tonight to adapt parts of the course after our first day. We got feedback from the class at the end of the day and it was all very positive, one thing that came up is that they had found ASL numbers quite difficult to get to grasps with (I can understand this as so did I!). So a minor alteration to the program has to be putting more ASL number work in tomorrow, so I’m going to sign off for now and go design an ASL bingo game…..

Geo has also added a few new entries about his experiences in Nicaragua to his VLog:

Dinner from Last Night

A Tour Of A Nicaraguan Home

Fruit Drink - Yum!!

Pictures Of The Class

Posted in Guided Tours, Deaf, Course, Video, AccessibleNicaragua, Nicaragua, Central America, Blogroll | 1 Comment

Seeking Geo?

By Craig Grimes

If you’re seeking Geo, look no further, I know where he is, he’s sat right next to me here in Matagalpa writing and uploading videos onto his award winning VLog. Look here’s a photo just to prove it!

Geo and his boyfriend Jes arrived last night to teach the Deaf Guide Training Course, but rather than me tell their story here are links to Geo’s VLog in ASL along with very useful English subtitles for those of us that are ASL challenged (hopefully my ASL will be much better by the end of this week!).

Portland, OR Airport Departing

Arrived in Nicaragua!

First Lunch In Matagalpa

More from Grimes and Geo on the deaf course to come tomorrow……..

Posted in Deaf, Course, Central America, Nicaragua, Travel, Blogroll | No Comments

Born on the 4th July…..

By Craig Grimes

So just like Tom Cruise in the classic film, born on the 4th of July, so was I, although I didn’t have to go to Vietnam in order to get my disability (did he ever get over that in the film? I never got past the bit of the film where he was doing rehabilitation in hospital, I just kept falling asleep).

Another birthday has been and gone and I had a really good day. Edurne and I got up and she bought me a coffee machine, some clothes and a white board as I’ve been complaining for ages that I was more organised in Barcelona when I had one. Edurne has printed off some photos of me and her and stuck them on the board as well as leaving me a birthday message. I was dead chuffed with my presents and after testing the coffee machine we went out and had lunch. We then went on the massive task of buying supplies for the party that we had later in the evening.

Once we’d got the supplies Edurne took them off home in a taxi and I went looking for a present for a friend as it is his birthday a couple of days later. I didn’t find the present I was looking for him, but I did manage to get caught out in a huge thunderstorm. By the time I got home I was soaked to the bone and wheelchair and had to get completely changed.

Later in the evening we had a party at home and lots of friends came over and wrote things on the white board, had fun and drank a fair bit! All in all not a bad way to celebrate your 32nd birthday.