Laura and Kim's Date

Laura Neal
Peters

For my date, I chose my mother, who has been deaf since she was born, out for her birthday. This was actually the first time we did activities outside the house without anyone else joining in. 

My mother and I got up early for day and went to Stars and Strikes bowling alley in Dallas, Georgia.

 We do this because we want to avoid as many people as possible and Saturdays are generally which many people show up. To our surprise, it was not crowded when we went in there at 9 in the morning. Therefore, the crowding concept did not apply for our date during the time frame we were there. By the time we left around 10:30, it was still almost empty.

 The legibility of the bowling alley though was not as clear as it could have been. If we had not gone bowling there prior, I would have probably been confused and wondered where the cashier registers were to pay for shoes and games in order to bowl. Also, we were put in one lane but then had to switch to another. If there were numbers, we could not determine which number the lane was at. We were fortunately lucky enough to realize, since we were the only ones there, that the screen that had a bowling score sheet on it instead of a screensaver was the indicator that it was our lane. 

For sensory stimulation, I recognized that the games in the front were flashy and bright which grabbed our interests right when we walked in but were too intense to stare at for a lengthy amount of time. Also, the bowling lanes had screens which provided random animations throughout our game of bowling. It was something my mom could enjoy since she was unable to hear the music the bowling alley was playing which I could only enjoy. 

 

Around 11, we decided to go out to eat at Applebees for lunch. The amount of activity going on when we went in was very low compared to most times we gone to it. Therefore, I was not stressed out about taking our time ordering the food because I occasionally get frustrated when I cannot figure out what my mother wants from the menu. Yet, the sociality aspect of our environment allowed us to talk freely because we had a large booth and enough room to chat in sign language. The only downside was that it was very awkward talking to my mother by myself because I normally never have a continuous conversation with her and almost have nothing to chat about. 

When we went bowling and out to eat, the workers usually go up to my mother and ask or say something to her assuming she was deaf and I would have to speak up. Fortunately, they were able to adapt and switch to conferring with me to translate for her. 

Afterward paying for the food and leaving, we finally decided to go back home for some privacy. We ended up deciding to play a game of Skip-Bo. It almost inhibited our ability to converse during the card game but we still had a good time. Skip-Bo gives meaning to my mother because it we play this game a lot and it gives her a challenge. She is actually quite good at and I lost to her more than once.

Overall, we both enjoyed ourselves and it was a great time to bond with my mother.