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statement
Magazine Editor:
Trevor Calero
Editor in Chief:
Jacob Smilovitz
Managing Editor:
Matt Aaronson
Deputy Editor:
Allie White
Designers:
Sara Boboltz
Corey DeFever
Photo Editor:
Jed Moch
Copy Editors:
Erin Flannery
Danqing Tang
Cover Photo:
Jed Moch
The Statement is The Michigan
Daily's news magazine, distributed
every Wednesday during the
academic year. To contact The State-
met e-mail calero@michigandaily.
com
THEJUNKDRAWER
random student interview
Heliot
Hi. Is this Chris [last name
redacted]?
Yes. This is Chris.
Hi, this is Dani and I'm calling
from The Michigan Daily for the
Random Student Interview. I was
wondering if you could talk to me
for a little bit.
Yeah, that'd be fine.
Are you excited that it's so nice
outside?
Oh, hell yeah. I've been wearing
shorts and a T-shirt outside.
That's a little bit overenthusias-
tic. It's not that warm.
No, this is great. I just like warm.
Why are you in Michigan then?
Born here and I just haven't left yet.
[Laughs] Good answer. So, sum-
mer is coming soon. You have any
exciting plans? Job?
I got a cool job in Ann Arbor, work-
ing with [company name redacted].
So that'll be good. It's political. I'm
a PoliSci major. So it's right up my
alley.
That's really exciting. I'm happy
for you Chris.
Thank you. Even though you don't
really know me. I'm glad you're
happy for me.
What's with the dog? In your
Facebook profile picture?
Oh, my dog, Angel.
The one with the devil tail and the
horns?
Oh God.
[Laughs]
It was, like, Pokdmon Profile Picture
month. That's what that is. I'm kinda
a nerd. But everyone likes some
dorky things.
I know, like, Lord of the Rings.
Oh. Badass.
Who doesn't like Lord of the
Rings? And I'm not just talking
about the movies, but people who
read the books, like, they gotta
like it.
I'm gonna tell you something, some
people might think it's kinda dorky,
but I read the books when I was 12.
Oh my God. Same here.
Oh, we have so much in common.
We really do have so much in com-
mon. I have to move on though
cause my editor isn't going to
want to print a five minute con-
versation about Lord of the Rings.
Well, we can move on to Harry Pot-
ter.
Harry Potter is different. People
love comparing the two. But you
can't really compare the two.
They're so different.
They're different fantasy types.
Yeah, and Harry Potter is, like,
about Harry Potter. But Lord of
the Rings is about all of Middle
Earth...
It's a whole epic; it's a whole epic
story. Mmm hmm.
So do you like "The OC"?
Oh, yeah, I still ... I watched every
episode when I was in high school.
Oh my God. But, season one was
just this pinnacle of brilliance
that they never reached again.
Yeah. It just never quite came ... it
was close but it was never coming
back.
I'm really familiar with seasons
one and two 'cause I have them on
DVD, but seasons three and four I
only saw once. So let's just keep it
to seasons one and two...
I don't remember that much about
any of them 'cause I've only seen all
of them once. But my high school
girlfriend made me watch all of them
with her.
What's your favorite scene? Do
you have one that sticks out in
your mind? Like, did you cry when
Ryan had to leave at the end of
season one? Or was it just so awe-
some when Summer and Seth had
that kiss in the rain? The Spider-
man kiss.
I got a little teary-eyed when you
brought up the Ryan leaving. [Pause]
But my favorite scene probably
involves Seth because he was hilari-
ous.
Seth and Summer: one of the
greatest TV couples ever.
Oh my God, so dramatic, so funny, so
good together.
- Chris is an LSA junior. His dog
Angel suffers from an identify crisis.
hearing loss. Because Zazove can communicate Besides not being able to communicate during
in sign language, some deaf patients drive hours surgeries, Zazove said many deaf physicians - of
to see him. which there are now more than 100 in the coun-
However, the average deaf person. earns try - have trouble using stethoscopes to listen to
$25,000 or less annually, and Zazove says many heart rates.
can't afford to see doctors. Zazove can hear through a stethoscope, but
"Some of them get Medicaid," he said. "But other deaf doctors use amplified or visual stetho-
because of the economy, every state is trying to scopes. One veterinarian Zazove knows has
cut back." learned to read heart beats by touching her hand
Zazove admits he's not sure how many of his to an animal's heart.
hearing patients realize he's deaf. Some think he "She can tell if it's a murmur or anything
has an accent, on account of his muffled speech, because she's developed the ability to do that," he
and ask if he's Ital-
ian because of his last " a.f are much more attentive
name. Dveafphysiie
"Sometimes they to their patients ... people tell me that all
say 'What country
are you from?' and I the time,'I love the way you look at me
say 'From Chicago,' " and listen to me.'"
Zazove said.
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Two and a half
years ago, Zazove received a cochlear implant -
a surgically implanted device in the ear that helps
pick up sound. Since the implant, Zazove said
more of his patients are making the connection
that he's deaf.
Though the device is supposed to improve
hearing, Zazove said his doesn't work very well.
A year and half ago, he got a second implant
which has slightly improved his hearing.
"It works better, and it's only getting better,
but it's not what I had hoped," he said.
Instead, Zazove relies heavily on lip reading to
converse with his patients and others in his life.
He said people who lip read can only understand
about 20 percent of what someone is saying, and
must rely on context to fill in the rest.
"I know we're talking about me, my life," he
said of our conversation at an interview last
month. "If we were talking about Dick Cheney
paying his rent, and you didn't tell me that, I'd
probably have no idea. It would take me a while
to figure that out."
Zazove noted that lip reading comes in handy
when communicating with patients who have
lost their voice from being sick or after coming
out of surgery. "I can read their lips, and other
people can't understand them," he said.
While lip reading may help him communicate
with patients, it becomes a problem during sur-
gery when doctors wear surgical masks.
"It's hard," he said. "People are talking, and
you have no idea what they're saying."
Zazove admitted this was an issue while learn-
ing how to perform surgeries in medical school.
To make up for the lack of auditory learning, he
would have to ask many questions and pay extra
attention.
Today, Zazove is working with the Association
of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses to
develop a clear mask that allojws deaf doctors and
patients to read lips.
The mask is just starting to be adapted by pro-
fessionals in the medical field, and Zazove said it
will make work easier for future generations of
deaf physicians.
said. "It's amazing, it really is, what people can
do."
Despite his hearing loss, Zazove said patients
rarely express concern about his diagnoses.
"Most people figure if you're an M.D. and you
went through med school and residency and are
certified, you know what you're doing," he said.
In some cases, his deafness helps establish bet-
ter relationships with his patients. Zazove said he
thinks his disability may inadvertently lead him
to providing better patient care.
"I would be willing to bet as a general rule that
deaf physicians are much more attentive to their
patients. They have to be to focus," he said. "Peo-
ple tell me that all the time, 'I love the way you
look at me and listen to me."'
Joyce Kaferle, the medical director in the
Department of Family Medicine, has worked
with Zazove since the early 1990s. She said she
has found his hearing loss helps him better con-
nect with patients.
"I think that it's really an invaluable thing for
his deaf patients because he understands what
they're going through a lot more than other peo-
ple do," Kaferle said.
However, Kaferle said Zazove's patient care
time has become limited due to the amount of
administrative work he has taken on.
Zazove is one of 25 professionals in the coun-
try who conduct research on how hearing loss
impacts health. Results from Zazove's studies
may be used in the future to help the deaf have a
better quality of life.
Through his research, Zazove discovered peo-
ple with even a slight hearing loss tend to have
poorer health. He has yet to determine why, but
he attributes the discovery to the fact that hear-
ing doctors treat patients with hearing loss dif-
ferently.
In 1994, Zazove published an autobiography
"When the Phone Rings, My Bed Shakes." His
second book, out this month, is titled "Four Days
in Michigan." While the book is classified as fic-
tion, the story describes the differences between
people in the "deaf" and "Deaf" communities.
Zazove explained that people born with a
profound hearing loss are considered "deaf" -
lower-case "d" - and often keep quiet about their
disability, while people in the "Deaf" community
- upper-case "D" - communicate by sign lan-
guage and embrace their hearing loss. According
to Zazove, the "Deaf" community views him as
"deaf" because he can hear slightly.
"From a Deaf person's perspective, normal is
deaf. Abnormal is hearing," Zazove said.
This is also the group that makes less than
$25,000 per year. For that reason, Zazove said
few people in the Deaf community live in Ann
Arbor because the cost of living in the city is too
high.
"They can't afford to live here. It's too expen-
sive," Zazove said. "Most of them live in Flint, or
Detroit, or Grand Rapids or small towns where
it's cheap. I would say there's probably 30 or SO
people in the Deaf community in Washtenaw
County here for that reason."
As far as students, Zazove said there may be
a total of three to 15 students with a hearing
loss who attend the University every year. The
Office for Students with Disabilities helps them
as much as possible by providing interpreters
to take notes during classes and translate lec-
tures.
Though this may make a difference in deaf
students' educational experiences, they still
face challenges outside the classroom. Zazove
explained how being deaf is a difficult disability
to have because it's not visible.
Using a hypothetical situation, he said if stu-
dents are at party and a blind student walked
in, most people would go over and help him or
her. But if it was the same party and a deaf stu-
dent walked in, no one would know the student
was deaf and no one would offer assistance.
Zazove says scenarios like this have happened
often in his career. He mentioned one instance
last month where, after leading a medical confer-
ence, a man wearing a surgical mask due to ill-
ness approached Zazove.
"He came up to me said 'You did a good job
moving this along' and left," Zazove said. "I had
no idea what he said. Somebody who knew me
said, 'I bet you didn't understand him,' I said no,
and he told me what (the man had) said."
From these experiences, Zazove understands
why some people keep quiet about their deafness.
"I think that's why people with hearing loss
would finally give up and say I don't want any-
body to know, it's too much trouble, it doesn't
change anything anyway," he said.
Yet, despite the myriad bumps and setbacks,
Zazove has learned to live with his disability
and embrace life regardless of his existence in a
silent world. Reed said her husband's deafness is
a characteristic that makes him so special.
"He's a very beloved physician," Reed noted.
"He has a loyal patient clientele who stick with
him year in and year out. So while I do think it
was difficult for him to become a physician, he's
a great example that deaf individuals can do all
kinds of professional jobs very well."
WHAT'S THE ONE THING YOU
WISH YOU'D DONE BEFORE
YOU GRADUATE?
Tell us for The Statement's first-ever Bucket
List Issue.
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