Am I "Deaf" or "HOH"?
- Thread starter skunker
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pek1
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Skunker,
First of all,
to alldeaf.com!
Second, your audiogram can be whatever you want it to be. From the looks of it, you do have hearing loss. So, you can either call yourself hard-of-hearing (hoh) or deaf. That decision is up to you alone. Either way, it's okay.
First of all,
to alldeaf.com!Second, your audiogram can be whatever you want it to be. From the looks of it, you do have hearing loss. So, you can either call yourself hard-of-hearing (hoh) or deaf. That decision is up to you alone. Either way, it's okay.
pek1
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Skunker,
The border is where you want it to be. Sorry for being vague, but as for hearing and talking on the phone, I do it, too. There are militant deaf people here that will tell you that if you don't sign, you're not deaf and they want no part of you (I've been told this). Other deaf people will tell you to ignore them (I've been told this, too).
So, if you want to call yourself hoh that's fine. However, you should get hearing aids because I, for one, refuse to yell at another deaf person in order to be heard.
The border is where you want it to be. Sorry for being vague, but as for hearing and talking on the phone, I do it, too. There are militant deaf people here that will tell you that if you don't sign, you're not deaf and they want no part of you (I've been told this). Other deaf people will tell you to ignore them (I've been told this, too).
So, if you want to call yourself hoh that's fine. However, you should get hearing aids because I, for one, refuse to yell at another deaf person in order to be heard.
Pek, do you have a "deaf accent"? I just learned of that phrase. I do have an accent of some sort due to my hearing (born HOH).
I don't care about being deaf/HOH or whatever, it's just the way I talk is killing me. Kills my self-confidence. Working on it, though.
I don't care about being deaf/HOH or whatever, it's just the way I talk is killing me. Kills my self-confidence. Working on it, though.
pek1
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I once had a phone conversation with jillio here on ad and she said that I do. However, that was before I had some speech therapy, so all that "accent" is gone.
I normally don't do this, but listen to my demo and hear how I talk.
Pete Kleckner
I normally don't do this, but listen to my demo and hear how I talk.
Pete Kleckner
Skunker, it seems that you are concerned with trying to appear more "normal." There's nothing wrong with that, but if that is really your goal, you need to fully explore the options available to you. You should look into some high quality digital aids. You have enough residual hearing across the spectrum that they could help you with recognizing and correcting your own your speech. My hearing is very similar to yours in that it starts off mild in the low frequencies and then slopes acutely starting around 500. Mine is worse than yours (profound, unaidable deafness between 750hz and beyond) however, but I wear aids and it does help with a lot of environmental sounds and with some speech perception (vowels, mainly). I do have an accent as well, but it's hardly something I worry over. I've given up on trying to appear "hearing" and my only regret is that I didn't realize it sooner.
Good luck.
And Pek1 is 100% right: it is completely up to you if you want to refer to yourself as deaf or hoh.
Good luck.
And Pek1 is 100% right: it is completely up to you if you want to refer to yourself as deaf or hoh.
Alex, I sincerely appreciate your post. Thanks.
About to turn 30....and all this time I avoided social situations. I think I wasted my time by never accepting my handicap. However, the game is not over yet. I'm putting myself out there and trying to talk to the opposite sex after a long spell of denial. Oddly, I never had problems dating or attracting girls during my 20s, but for some strange reason, I always wanted to be single. I wonder if my handicap played a role in that. Either way, thank you all for your posts.
About to turn 30....and all this time I avoided social situations. I think I wasted my time by never accepting my handicap. However, the game is not over yet. I'm putting myself out there and trying to talk to the opposite sex after a long spell of denial. Oddly, I never had problems dating or attracting girls during my 20s, but for some strange reason, I always wanted to be single. I wonder if my handicap played a role in that. Either way, thank you all for your posts.
