ASL with Bobby and Michele

ASL Social Night Out at Papa Boo’s

📅 Saturday, June 6th, 2026
🕔 5:00 PM – Close
📍 Papa Boo’s, 11356 Avondale Rd,Thornville, OH 43076

Come and have fun socializing with us! Enjoy live music, great food, and a beautiful lakeside view while connecting with the Deaf community.

Want to let you know about an upcoming Deaf camp this summer.
I know you might be busy but want to give you the opportunity to experience the camp atmosphere.
This is a family camp for all ages and ASL levels. Deaf, Hearing and Hard of Hearing people are all welcome!
There will be voice interpreters available.
Registration link:

Deaf Streetlight Family Camp - Allendale Christian Camp & Retreat Center **To prevent your session from timing out, please have your medical information ready before starting registration. This includes your Primary Care Physician contact information and Health Insurance information.**Deaf Camp 2026 – UnashamedBased on Romans 1:16Join us for a transformative weekend at...

REMEMBERING THE 18

I was born Hard-of-Hearing and later, sustained two head injuries, a soccer ball and a two by four board. My degree of hearing loss changed to bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, a permanent reduction in hearing sensitivity in both ears, cause by damage to the cochlea.

When I was about 15, I was a part of a group of teens, 19 boys & 3 girls. Sometimes we had more, 25 to 30 of us. We. lived in a community of about 350 houses. We played tackle football, baseball, went swimming, either in the community pool or in the river. Fishing, crabbing (yes, we lived in Maryland), sailing, boating, etc.

As time passes, we began to notice different homes in need of upkeep. Yards were not being mowed, paint peeling, fences in need of repairs, etc.

We, as a group decided to do something about it. We went to those homes, knocking on their doors and asking if we could mow the yard, paint the house or repair the fences. The first answer was always, "I don't have any moeny to pay you". We always say, "we want to do it for you so we are doing this for free". We only asked for money to pay for paint supplies, gas for the mowers, etc

The group often split up doing tasks at different homes at the same time. One home, it was a young mother with three very young kids. The father was nowhere to be seen. She was working two jobs to take care of her kids and the house. We offered to babysit the kids and take care of the house. She was so grateful for the help. We even helped clean inside the house, did the dishes, laundry, etc.

One house had a elderly gentleman who obviously couldn't take care of his home. He was a retired FBI agent who was the special agent in charge of the watergate scandal. We took care of him!
Sometimes people would order pizza for us to eat, which we accepted.

The whole community began to recognized the group and decided to buy us season passes to the community pool which we were thrilled about! Half of us would be helping people while the other half went swimming. We took turns doing this so that everyone was helping and having fun!

Then the Vietnam war came.
All 18 boys were drafted but not me or the girls.
I wanted to go so badly!
I hated my deafness!
I missed my friends!
All 18 are still over there, somewhere.

I'm an Alcoholic and a drug addict, clean for 38 years now.
I drank and used drugs to cope with being without my friends.

Today - I've helped hundreds of people with whatever help they needed.

By helping others, I've kept alive the memories of the 18 and all the things we did, helping others.

If this message helps you in some way, please let me know.

Remembering the 18 by helping others gives me a sense of peace.

Thank you.

Send a message to learn more

We are here at PINS!
Come join us.

Most people think the interpreter is helping the Deaf person. That assumption feels harmless, almost polite. But it quietly reveals who we expect to carry the weight of communication.

It tells us that Deaf people are still seen as the ones who need fixing, adjusting, catching up.
It tells us that access gets framed like a favor instead of a shared responsibility.
It tells us that effort is expected to flow in one direction.

The truth is simpler, and a bit harder to sit with.
The interpreter isn’t there to “help” the Deaf person function.
The interpreter is there to facilitate communication for both parties.
To carry meaning across a gap that exists because not everyone shares the same language.

That shift matters.

Because once you see it, the question changes.
It stops being “How do we help them?”
And starts becoming “Why are we not meeting them halfway?”

That’s where the real work begins.