EPT
Recently there was a blog about possible SC2 signs that deaf players use. This intrigued me, because honestly, I really don't know what it's like to be deaf, as no one around me is deaf. I wished to understand the perspective of a deaf player, whether in life or in video games.
As such, I decided to contact a few players who responded to that blog to ask them questions. Then I thought... Well, hey, why not make it an interview so that everyone at Teamliquid can share this experience? I was able to learn a lot from them, and it was quite inspiring, and I hope the users of TL can show these players their due respect and take away something special from this occasion.
I didn't prepare interview questions beforehand, and just let the conversations kind of flow, so each interview has its own unique flavor. They're long, but well worth the read!
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you TL's very own audist, Vernom, and RaiZ!
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Zane "audist" Fleming
![[image loading]](http://www.linguistland.net/~matt/freud2.jpg)
"I don't think TL's trolls can ever be cured."
"I don't think TL's trolls can ever be cured."
Hi there! First off, would you mind telling us your full name?
My name is Zane Fleming.
Hi, Zane! Care to tell us about yourself?
I'm from Pomona, which is a town about 30 minutes south of Los Angeles in California. I'm currently a fourth-year college student at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. I'm 21 years old!
I was born profoundly deaf, and the only other deaf person in my family is my older brother. He is profoundly deaf, too, and we haven't done genetic tests to find out whether if our deafness was the cause of a genetic mutation.
Can you tell us what does being profoundly deaf mean exactly?
Ah, it's a measure. Basically, I get tested on how severe my deafness is; we're measured on how well we are able to hear.
Being profoundly deaf means that I have 90 decibels or greater of hearing loss (dB HL). (Note: Normal conversation is 60-70 decibels. 90 decibels can be compared to a train whistle 500ft/152.4m away.)
Ah, I see. How has this affected you growing up?
My family already could sign ASL (American Sign Language) because of my brother, so I was very lucky to be able to pick up ASL at an early age. English was fairly easy for me to pick up.
I went through a mainstreaming program at a public school, which is a term used to describe a classroom (or more) of deaf children with a teacher specialized to teach in sign language.
I mainly hung out with deaf kids, but it's weird now that I think back: hearing and deaf kids would pick on each other because of our differences in hearing.
I continued to mainstream until the end of my freshman year in high school, because it was then that I decided I wanted to put myself in a place where everybody was deaf, and so I went to the Riverside School for the Deaf.
It was there where I really grew up as a person, because when I was mainstreaming, deaf kids at my schools didn't really join sports teams or any kind of extracurricular activities, so it was pretty much school and video games for me growing up
What made you want to attend a school consisting mainly of deaf students?
More social opportunities, I suppose. I mean, I could have joined a wrestling team and stuff like that without feeling alienated. In retrospect, I could've gotten an interpreter if I wanted to, but I never really felt the desire to do that. It's sorta like, I wanted to explore myself as a deaf person with other deaf people so I decided to move to a school for the deaf.
I see. And how has that worked out for you so far?
It's really been working out for me so far. I'm at a university for the deaf, and I'm happy with who I am.
That's great! What are your future aspirations, career-wise and personally?
I'm majoring in Psychology, and I aspire some day to go into research or writing. I'm interning with a graduate student on his research under a professor's supervision, so I'm picking up things as I go. One thing is for sure, though; I'm looking into graduate programs. I'm currently interested in Cognition, Neuropsychology, and Social Psychology, so I may go for a Masters in one of those subjects.
Ah, Psychology! Maybe you can help cure some of TL's trolls in the future, haha. ^^ Speaking of TL, how and when did you find out about it?
Hahaha, I don't think TL's trolls can ever be cured.
A close friend of mine was very good at WarCraft 3 and would sometimes talk about TL since it was a website with many good RTS gamers. I never browsed the website very much then, but when SC2 was released, I just remembered the name off of the top of my head and have been lurking ever since!I love the website: clean, simple, and full of content. Streams and reading up on BW history is always great ways to kill time.
I totally agree, and your friend sounds like a smart guy for introducing you to TL! What do you think of the community as a whole? Do you have any favorite staff members? What about members in general?
To be honest, I'm not very active on the forums. I do usually read up on threads, though. During my winter break, I tried to be active in the TL IRC channel as much as I could be. People there are awesome, and I think that the translators are my favorite staff members; after all, they make the interviews possible for us to read!
And I think the BW community is really more unified as a whole. I think their threads are better quality wise, but the SC2 threads hold more relevance for me. They do turn out to be great reads from time to time, like the in-depth analyses on mining and macro.
Oh, you make a good point. The BW community has been around for much longer, after all. I'm sure the SC2 community will catch up in time, though. ^^ How and when did you get into StarCraft/StarCraft2?
In middle school, I used to go over to my friend's home in Diamond Bar. There was a LAN like a block away named Gamers-X. Anyone who's been playing Counter-Strike for a long time in SoCal will know that name; big names like method and elemeNt used to LAN there for their old team. We started off playing Brood War, but we never were very good.
We got smashed by other people there, so we drifted away from that to CS.
Later on, my best friend would get into WC3 and I'd get into DOTA, and we'd play that for a while until I got into uni.
When SC2 was released, I had to jump onto that because I loved the Brood War campaign!
I still play both games from time to time whenever I'm in the mood. I main Zerg in BW and SC2. I just love their look.
We have a lot in common! I used to be an avid DotA player myself and mained Zerg in SC2, though I have not played either game in a very long time, unfortunately. Can you tell us what it's like to be a deaf player? What are some disadvantages you have to overcome, and how have you overcome them?
The most obvious disadvantage would have to be not being able to hear in-game sounds. I remember when I started playing DOTA, I had a bad habit of not watching my minimap at all. I'd just tune out and move around with my character, and of course, I'd get sniped all the time!
I don't do that as much in SC2.The less obvious disadvantage is attention span. I like to think that hearing people are able to hear "reminders," like when you're being attacked and when units are made so that way, they can focus. I try to keep myself active all the time but it can lead to mistakes sometimes. My APM still isn't very fast, so I'm trying to work on that whenever I can.
Also, it's hard being a deaf competitive player in team games. Ventrilo is essential; lack of communication can just easily lead to losses. However, there were ways that I could overcome that.
In CS, you had chat scripts. In RTS games, you have the ping command.
Heroes of Newerth had an add-on in particular that added spam buttons to the UI, so you could easily call "missing bot" and things like that.
For SC2, I just try to pay attention and keep myself focused on the game.
I see. It seems tough, but at least technology is helping you along! Makes me wonder if the inventors had deaf people in mind when implementing such tools. If so, kudos to them!
Hopefully so!
So, do you have any favorite progamers?
I don't really have any favorite progamer, although I do admire
iloveoov and 
sAviOr for their histories, even if the latter may be perceived as a villain. Right now, I like CatZ and NesTea the most. The former because he really has a unique playstyle, whereas NesTea amazed me with his clutch play in the past GSLs. Not this current GSL, though, unfortunately! 
Ah, I see. Great choices! Any last words for those out in TL land?
Shoutouts to the entire Team Liquid staff for doing such an awesome job in all areas! Seriously, translators, moderators, you all are unsung heroes! Also, shoutouts go to gwarsome and Pfaffization!
Thank you so much for your time! ^^ I wish you luck in your endeavors, and I pray you come up with a cure for Trolls some day!
Thanks for taking the time to interview me~ :D
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Carlos "Vernom" Muñoz
![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__KySpTQI8Fg/SqP9b0ShSGI/AAAAAAAABRw/RCkZtLrl69o/s400/gintoki+sensei.jpg)
"I love children and I want to help them with their education so they can have a happy life."
"I love children and I want to help them with their education so they can have a happy life."
Hi, Carlos! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure, I'm from a southern city in Spain called Málaga, and I'm 24 years old. I'm studying right now to become a teacher at a public school since I'm done with my degree now. (Note: Carlos still has to study even after obtaining his degree because competition to be a teacher at a public school is tough.)
I've had severe deafness since I was 8-months old. (Note: Severe deafness is anywhere between 71-90 dB HL)
Wow, I see. And your goal is to become a teacher?
Yes, I love children and I want to help them with their education so they can have a happy life.
That is amazing! I assume you will be working with deaf kids?
Not really, I will be working with kids of all kinds, deaf or not; at least, I intend to do that.
That's great. ^^ Please, tell us, how and when did you first get into StarCraft?
I started playing Mega Drive and later Play Station. One day a friend told a bunch of us to go to his home so he could show us a great game. Guess what game that was? It was Starcraft, I started to play the game the very same day I saw it. That happened in 2001.
What a good friend, lol. And are you playing StarCraft 2 now?
Well, I have the game but I'm not playing it right now. I tested it two months ago, but I can't afford to play now because I'm studying like crazy so I can get that position as a teacher for a public school. But I will play more when I'm done with the exams, during summer, for sure.
Ohh, I see. You're like me in that regard, lol. ^^ Do you watch SC:BW or SC2 streams at all?
I don't watch SC:BW streams anymore but I do watch SC2 streams. Right now I'm watching GSL=D (Note: GSL was going on while this interview took place.)
I guess that is one way to not die of boredom while studying.
Haha, that is definitely a way. Who is your favorite BW player? What about your favorite SC2 player?
I'm a Protoss player and my favorite BW player was
Pusan. His production was awesome; he was some kind of beast to me. I don't have a favorite SC2 player right now because the game is young, but I cheer for the TL players always. VAMOS TL =)Always a good thing to cheer for our fellow TL heroes. ^^ So, I was wondering... How is it playing StarCraft as a deaf player? Do you feel disadvantaged? Or have you developed ways to get over the handicap?
As a deaf player, I always felt at a disadvantage playing Starcraft.During the first years, you could sneak a drop at my probe line and I wouldn't notice until all of my probes were dead. Anyways, I had to deal with it, so I started to check the minimap more times than necessary; that was the only way for me to dodge those lethal drops.
I used to play 2v2 games, too. I was part of the national team, Spain B, for 2v2. My partner was executor[0rk0] (yes, the caught hacker. Sometimes I laugh while calling him hacker) and we played without any conversation during the game. You can imagine how hard it was to pay attention to him during the whole game so that I could help him since he couldn't afford to type while microing.
Oh, wow, that sounds tough. Do you have any tricks to help you play?
Not at all. The only trick is experience. You have to be faster than the rest so that you can check everything, not leaving any holes behind, so more games than usual are needed.
I see. You must have worked very hard to get on the national team then. I'm inspired. ^^ How and when did you find out about Teamliquid.net?
I think I found out about Teamliquid.net in 2006. I saw someone talking about Teamliquid, so I was curious and checked the website, finding out that it was an international website with a popular forum.
I was lurking on their forums until 2 years ago, when I registered, and now you can find me here x) I followed all events hosted by TL.
You've been here longer than a lot of us then! What do you think about the community?
I think that it's a big and interesting community where you can find people from each nation that have one thing in common: Starcraft. Everyone should be part of this community, without being disrespectful of course.
Have any favorite staff members or members in general?
Not really, but I do respect those members who work hard for the website. I was a WGT admin and I know that it isn't an easy job. We have to be thankful for them.
Okay, now do you mind if I ask you some personal questions? If you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to answer.
Sure, you can start.
Thanks. What was it like growing up deaf?
There are different grades of deafness so each deafness is a different world. Anyways, I will talk about myself.
At the beginning, growing up deaf was like living in an empty world, seeing things and people but unable to communicate with them at all. They can try to talk to you, but you don't understand anything; you can assume things, but you can't be sure that you interpreted them right. So I was often unsure of myself. I would think, "Did he say that? Maybe I got that wrong and he will be sad or punish me. I don't understand anything."
I had to work harder to learn things, then when I grew older I could understand people by reading their lips. But that doesn't work if they don't move their lips at all or if they don't speak Spanish.
I forgot to mention that I didn't use signs at all. I was taught how to communicate by voice, not by signs. Not an easy task.
Oh, wow. So you were taught how to communicate by voice even though you couldn't hear? How did they do that?
By teaching me how to move my lips, tongue, and teeth, and correcting me if I said something wrong until I got it right.
Wow, that seems like A LOT of work. How long did it take you until you got everything down?
Maybe until I was 8-years-old, but I'm not done with it yet. I can't say "ch" or "y" correctly, but even some people who aren't deaf are unable to do that, so I'm good enough with that.
But my accent is very different. Some kids tell me my accent is English or German, even though I don't speak those languages at all lol.
Lol, now that is interesting. So now, in everyday life, is there anything you need to do differently than most people?
I don't talk by phone and I have to see their lips if they are talking to me. Some people feel uncomfortable about that, but what can I do...?
I can communicate in English by writing, but by speaking I don't think that's possible. I have to work hard for that. It is bad because I love to travel and I've thought about working in another country.
Oh, that's a shame. I hope it all works out for you some day. ^^ Any last words for all of our readers out in TL land?
I hope TL works hard to maintain its fame by organizing events and moderating their forums, which is one of the best ones, throughout the years.
And I want to say thanks to everyone who helped me during my life, including those who are deceased, and to those who played with me, like Campe and other players.
Each time you see a deaf person, remember to respect them and talk to them face to face.
One last thing. Everyone agree with: eXecutor[0rk0], you are a stupid hacker =P
Lol. ^^ Thank you very much for your time, Carlos! I wish you good luck and hope you become the best teacher there is! ^^
I hope so. Thank you for the interview =)
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Gilles "RaiZ" Le Moine
![[image loading]](http://www.testriffic.com/artworkfiles/7/5/13371295animeGuyAngel.jpg)
"I'm sure there are those that are having more trouble than I am, so I really wish them the best of luck."
"I'm sure there are those that are having more trouble than I am, so I really wish them the best of luck."
Hi! First off, can you tell us your full name?
Hi, sure. It's Gilles Le Moine
Nice to meet you, Gilles! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I'm from France, and I'm now 27-years-old as of a few days ago. I've been deaf since I was 3-years-old, but I don't remember if I've been deaf since I was born. My parents say that I was able to hear before, so that's why I've been attending normal school until now.
I've been deaf because of a stupid accident, but I don't really regret it because I was still young then.
Oh, an accident? Can you tell us more about this accident?
Mmm, I can remember it like it was a few days ago. Basically, I was on holiday with my parents and my grand uncle. We played ping pong on a low ground with stairs around. I went to pick up the ball, and when I was about to return to the table, I wanted to jump and I lost my balance and hit the corner of the table with the back of my head. I was sent to the hospital for two days and that's when I lost hearing in my second ear.
Basically, I was born deaf in one ear and then both ears due to the accident. The impact of the back of my head against the corner of the table completely shut down my other ear which seemed to still hear things at the time. It could have been worse, so I'm glad I'm still in top form.
Quite an unfortunate accident.
I'm glad to see you're still thinking positively regardless. ^^ How has your deafness affected you the most while growing up?Mm, well, I've been attending normal schools, so I got my usual bullies, but thankfully I got some nice friends, and thanks to my parents and brother, I was able to have strong confidence in myself.
Deafness was kinda hard obviously, but most people understood, and for homework, my parents were here to help me, so I kinda worked twice as hard as the other students. I got recalled during my later years of college though because of Starcraft lol.
Oh, that must have been tough. I'm glad your family was there for you. How touching! ;;
Yeah, I'm really lucky to have such parents for sure. I'm sure there are those that are having more trouble than I am, so I really wish them the best of luck.
Lol, StarCraft. It can have that effect.
After that incident, I didn't pursue a higher degree because it was just too hard to continue my studies due to my handicap. (Note: He acquired his B.A. and decided not to go for his Masters is what he's saying.)
Ah, I see. What are you up to nowadays? What are your future goals, career-wise?
Well, after college, I decided to take a step back and see what opportunities were present for me, and decided to continue playing Starcraft competitively, hoping it'd get more popular in Europe and then eventually become a progamer. But the chances were very slim, so like most Starcraft players, I decided to give poker a shot.
Oh, nice. And how did poker work out for you?
Not so good lol, but I didn't spend a single penny on it, so I've nothing to regret I guess.
Then I tried to do some part-time work, but most of them were just underestimating my competence and I decided to leave, because there was no way in hell I'd do some kind of repetitive tasks. (Note: By this, I believe he means because his employers looked down on him due to his deafness, they assigned him the most menial of tasks.) Now I'm unemployed. I'm still not sure what I'll do next.
Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you do find something that works out for you. ^^ In the meantime, can you tell us how and when you first got into StarCraft?
Aw, I still remember the first days I played this game... Man those were good times. Basically, it was a friend of my brother's girlfried who showed me the game, and when I first saw the marines I controlled, I absolutely fell in love. I then went to buy the game, finished all the missions then went online. But back in those days, internet was very expensive. But I couldn't stop playing, so it was kinda hard in the first days.
But after that, there was a LAN near my town, and I finished 3rd behind the Good Game team where there were elky chobo and scream. And then I went to play it competitively, from national Team B and C+/B- Iccup to Masters in SC2.
Wow, those are quite the accomplishments. How has being deaf handicapped you when playing StarCraft? Have you developed any tricks to overcome any disadvantages?
To be honest, it wasn't really that hard because I was Zerg, so I had all my overlords around the map to look for those pesky units such as DTs
But still, there were some very good players, especially Bundy, that used them to their full potential knowing that I was deaf, and he managed to attack me in two fronts, which was quite successful... Now it's a little harder for me because the overlord doesn't see invisibles units anymore... I'm a sad panda!
Lol, I know how you feel. It does help having a lot of map vision, doesn't it? But still, you must have developed some really good map awareness to make up for being unable to hear things.
Yeah, sure, but I'm more of a micro player, so I tend to look more at my units rather than the minimap, which is really a bad habit. Not my fault, because I loved Hong Jin Ho's Zerg style and tried to mimic him :D (Note: Hong Jin Ho is
YellOw for those who don't know.)Speaking of
YellOw, is he your all-time favorite StarCraft player? Can you tell us who your favorite BW and SC2 players are?He's really one of my favorites for sure, along with
JulyZerg and H.O.T-Forever! Man they were beasts, really. As for SC2, sadly I haven't spent much time spectating, as I've wanted to get my own style 
After all, the game is still new, and the best players haven't used Zerg to its full potential yet; at least, that's what I believe.Oh, nice. ^^ I hope you do find the best style for yourself. So, how and when did you find out about Teamliquid?
Haha thank you. A friend told me about Teamliquid, and I was getting kinda tired of the French community being in constant flame wars with themselves. In TL.net there were reports of progaming especially from Waxangel and Mensrea, and from then on, I haven't stopped browsing this site on a daily basis. I think I could thank them for helping me with my English !
I really miss them. I still don't know who Mensrea is, if they're a she or he, but s/he sure knew how to get us captivated with this progaming stuff !
Haha, I know what you mean! Speaking of which, do you have a favorite TL staff member? How about a member in general?
Oh I love a lot of them really, especially Mynock, Mensrea, Waxangel, Nazgul, FA, and probably many more I'm missing. There was also Eriador, aka Liquid`Drone. I believe he was always here to joke around. Aww, those were the good times!
Now, due to popular success, we're getting more boring members and trolls, so it's getting hard to see quality posts lol
Lol, an inevitable outcome of being popular and drawing more users. Even so, have you ever been inspired in any way by the Teamliquid community?
Well, obviously without them, I'd never have found about progaming, iccup, or even the fact that Koreans were good at this game. I'd have probably stopped out of boredom. TL.net definitely inspired me in good ways, yeah !
Without them, I'd never have been inspired about new strategies and the challenges it took to execute them!Everyday it gets more and more challenging, and I really love it !
That's great! I'm glad Teamliquid was able to inspire you. I know they inspire me all the time. ^^ Do you have any last words for our readers out in TL land?
Sure. Stop the theorycraft and play a little more, please. That'll save us some time from reading useless threads, thank youuuuuu!!!!! And for the others, please don't give up ! There's always something to do ! Cheers !
Thank you very much for your time! ^^
Thank you very much, too. Hope you had a great time, because I somewhat talk a little too much about useless stuff lol ~
As you can read in the interviews, one was inherited (as is mine as well), one was already present with the other ear being affected by an accident. 
