Lisa Rossignol

This was my second attempt to write a paper for the same social science journal.  The reviewers had been disturbed by my anger and felt that I wasn't giving the various healthcare providers the same empathy that I was demanding. This time i attempted to just describe a single day--an afternoon really--of care for my child and ALL of the thoughts, memories, experience that occurred during a three hour period. What I learned, unequivocally from this round of reviews, is that my voice has no place in that journal and that is okay with me. Lily and I arrived at the children's rehabilitation hospital at 1:15 PM on a hot July day. I had been on the phone for most of the day with the pharmacy, Lily's behavioral therapist, the United State’s Social Security Administration, the public school audiologist, and our insurance company. Lily had spent the morning at my mother’s house playing with her little sister and six girl cousins. I was refreshed from a long weekend for the Four...

I was invited, two years ago, to write a paper for an academic journal in the social sciences dedicated to providing new voice and creative treatment  of health related topics. I was asked, specifically, to work creatively with my voice as the mother of a child with special healthcare needs (CSHCN). My paper, after one mixed review and an ernest attempt at revision was rejected because I was viewed as angry, unreasonable, and naive. I have decided to put it here, clean and pure, in its original form. I am not willing to apologize for my anger, anymore. My anger possibly saved my kid's life and continues, no matter how uncomfortable it is for me, to carve out a good life for my kids. Dear Midwife,             Despite me telling you that I felt convinced that something was very wrong with my baby in my second trimester, you assured me that all mothers feel scared and did not refer me for any tests. When I told you that the b...

The following is a study I started in graduate school. It is biased and the methods need a lot of work but I wanted to put it out there for other people to use as a stepping stone for similar research. Thank you for not chewing: Perceptions regarding accommodation for hearing impairment in graduate school Lisa Rossignol, M.A. Graduate Student, University of New Mexico Abstract This autoethnographic study seeks to elucidate the perceptions of graduate students about the validity of a rare hearing impairment--Hyperacusis with Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome (4S)--their role in accommodating the needs of a classmate with a hearing impairment, and their perception of the way the classmate asks for their participation in her accommodation. The researcher employs interview methods with classmates in three departments at the University of New Mexico, with whom she has taken classes, and reflexive narrative of past encou...