You've been very successful in your chosen career. How have your career experiences brought you satisfaction?

Of course, no job is perfect, but I have ironed out a lot of wrinkles to enhance my career satisfaction. I started from scratch and in my first years with the business, there were rough times. But there will always be challenges, and as I've grown the business, I've found it keeps me energized and enthusiastic. I've listed some career positives and challenges.

 

POSITIVES:  

• Following my heart
• Picked the right career - love it!
• Developed a lot of patience
• Flexible schedule
• Accomplished many projects
• Felt honored with so much demand for my work
• Wearing many hats in developing the business
• Support from family, friends, and fans means so much
• Crew members and volunteers have been available to help out
• Enjoyed wide publicity, including billboards and magazine covers
• Created my own modeling profile
• Unafraid to fly
 

CHALLENGES:

• Some luggage has been damaged or lost 
• Flight delays and cancellations
• Waiting for request forms caused flight costs to go up
• Charging too little has sometimes left the business in the red
• Parking fees, mileage costs, and out of pocket meals
• No retirement funds (due to self-employment)
• Health insurance expenses (due to self-employment)
• So much decision making on negotiations and offers
• Learning the hard way how to say, "No."
• Some hotels have no visual alarms; ending up in "Handicapped" rooms
• Late payments force use of personal money to cover business expenses

What do you think of the ABC family show “Switched at Birth”?

Please kindly join with me in waving your hands to applaud for Sean Berdy (plays Emmett) for getting involved in the show, "Switched at Birth". I was so touched by his performance in the show – a true Deaf identity. 

It was amazing to have the captions available showing what he signed. I felt like this was truly welcoming Deaf people to watch! I am dying to see more Deaf actors in action.  This show offered positive views of Deaf culture - a great benefit for hearing audiences, seeing what it's like to be a Deaf person.  I am looking forward to seeing more and more Deaf actors joining the entertainment industry.  Sean: Way to go! Keep going and you will be a Deaf star!  (Hands Waving!) Thank you, ABC family, for making this feature Deaf-friendly and showing part of the Deaf World.

What comments are you dying to share with this whole world? (Maybe you have something to say related to captions or visual text?)

Yes, I have plenty to talk about in these areas! Technology is amazing and with it, access may be provided to all. However, typically, it is not always possible to get captions or subtitles on DVDs when I purchase, rent, use, or download videos. Netflix accessibility is not always reliable, for example. I can't get captions on my iPad2 yet. When I wanted to watch a movie during a flight, and had rented a DVD from Blockbusters, sometimes I would be disappointed at the absence of captioning or subtitles. In-flight movies typically do not feature captions or subtitles. Why do we have all this wonderful technology but it is still not providing important accessibility for Deaf persons and others? YouTube has finally added captions. That is wonderful – but what about other venues?  My kids want me to see movies with them in theatres, but there are very limited opportunities to do so with captions or subtitles. The rear-view device for viewing captions is an awkward and cumbersome method designated "for" Deaf individuals. Why can’t we just have subtitles right up on the big screen? If a Deaf person shows up, the staff could simply push a button to turn the “Visual Text” on.  I would love that technology to be created for everyone!

How Do I Feel Performing in front of the "Hearing Community"?

Performing for the “hearing community” is an honor and at the same a huge responsibility. When I am in the middle of the stage, I feel it’s not just me, Trix Bruce, showing off my talents. I feel it is also me, the deaf person representing the thousands of deaf persons in America, showing the “hearing community” that I can do something, that I have the talent to “woo” them – to “entice” them with the language of the hands.

I strongly believe it is important to “educate” and “inform” the hearing world about the Deaf, about Deafness and about Deaf Culture.

My personal experiences throughout the years living in and interacting with the hearing world were met with a lot of challenges. I was a deaf person trying to “make” the hearing person deaf. At the same time, the hearing person tried to “make” me, a deaf person, hearing. This only showed that we, both the deaf and hearing, need to learn from each other in terms of language, culture, and interaction. My poems are especially geared towards the “hearing” community as a cry – a plea – to accept us, the deaf population, just like ordinary human beings. My poems tell the “hearing” person to treat us like a next door neighbor because we, as deaf people, are just like a next door neighbor; we just can’t hear.

I am just like everyone else who has a dream. I dream to be an actress - a DEAF actress in the hearing world. I want to show the world that I can be as good as anyone else, given the right opportunity.