Am I deaf?

DeafRaptor said:
I went through the same thing. At first (in elementary school), I thought that since I was given hearing aids and mainstreamed that the adults were telling me that I was the same as everyone else (including hearing - like hearing aids were a cure). I thought it was cool to identify myself as hearing impaired with hearing aids thinking "hey these people get to meet/know an actual hearing impaired person, but they can still communicate with me since I am mainstreamed." But I was still asking people to repeat and repeat and repeat. After a short while, the other kids were not actively trying to communicate with me. Later in high school and college, people would occasionally try to include me in conversation, but I had already become withdrawn. At work, I thought that interpreters were not for me since I had hearing aids and could speak. It wasn't until five years after college (about a month ago) that I started accepting myself as deaf/Deaf. I now use interpreters for work training and meetings and I can finally get everything and being fully involved in those activities. Basically, as a hearing impaired/hard of hearing person I was not a whole person, but as a deaf/Deaf person I am whole.
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Wow, so eerily like my childhood!!!

How many of these stories are out there? Dont hearing parents of deaf children realize that?
 
DeafBadger said:
I am a little confused on what exactly being deaf means.

I was mainstreamed as a solitaire HOH person. I have severe-to-profound hearing loss in both ears since birth.

I was always told by the HI teachers that I was not actually "deaf," that I was "hearing impaired."

I had a discussion earlier this month with a lady in my college's Student Accessibility Office. I was talking to her about my experiences as HOH and said that growing up I had not thought of myself as deaf, but rather as a "struggling hearing person". That's what I was told by the HI teachers.

The woman in the Student Accessibility office said that I am actually deaf.

So it's kind of a question that remains for me... at what point does "deafness" begin? Is it a range, or a specific point? Is it an identity, a way of thinking of yourself?

Since I first met some local deaf folks last month, I've been kind of trying to figure out what it all means to me. How to think of myself and so on. Like I mentioned in my introduction, being at that deaf meet made me feel that my HOH is normal, because I struggle with trying to hear hearing people. So it was good to be among people who also have hearing loss and that it is no big deal for anyone. And I really appreciated that.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

Thanks. :ty:
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Here's the question: would you rather see your self as a disabled hearing person or as a person whole and complete who happens to be deaf?
 
shel90 said:
Wow, so eerily like my childhood!!!

How many of these stories are out there? Dont hearing parents of deaf children realize that?
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Evidently, they don't get around to reading these threads.:roll:
 
We should put best info/threads from here into book. Make required reading parents deaf babies.
 
sunny_signs said:
We should put best info/threads from here into book. Make required reading parents deaf babies.
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That would be something that we can do with Alex's permission. It is a great idea!
 
jillio said:
That is probably why they don't read these threads. They don't want to let go of their fantasy. Sad.
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I am not so sure it's so much fantasy as it is their wishes and hopes. They want to believe that all will turn out well if one just stays positive enough and not dwell on the negatives.

It doesn't make much sense considering had they listened, they could have made things better but whoever said people always make sense? :)
 
drphil said:
Whether I am legally bilateral DEAF- haven't went to court yet. Not exactly a pressing matter to have determined since December 20, 2006.

Implanted A B Harmony activated Aug/07
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Why do you continually yell "DEAF"?
 
DeafCaroline said:
I am not so sure it's so much fantasy as it is their wishes and hopes. They want to believe that all will turn out well if one just stays positive enough and not dwell on the negatives.

It doesn't make much sense considering had they listened, they could have made things better but whoever said people always make sense? :)
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The code of denial. If I don't recognize it, it will go away.
 
DeafCaroline said:
I am not so sure it's so much fantasy as it is their wishes and hopes. They want to believe that all will turn out well if one just stays positive enough and not dwell on the negatives.

It doesn't make much sense considering had they listened, they could have made things better but whoever said people always make sense? :)
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Now, that's where the root of the problems lie...they view deafness as a negative thing.
 
DeafCaroline said:
My parents told me the same thing: to suck it up and deal with it and always be independent. If I expressed I needed help or that I needed more, my mother would tell me not to be a princess or that I'm not better than everyone else. so i would be shamed into keeping quiet.
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I was taught that asking for help was the worst thing a person could do.
 
I think if your hoh is severe enough to affect interaction with the hearing world, youre deaf
 
jillio said:
Here's the question: would you rather see your self as a disabled hearing person or as a person whole and complete who happens to be deaf?
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As a whole and complete person who happens to be deaf. Definitely, of those two.
 
deafskeptic said:
I was taught that asking for help was the worst thing a person could do.
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I don't know if I was explictedly told that, but that was the message I got, whether intended or not. There were situations I really needed help with but did not, because I did not think I was supposed to ask.
 
jillio said:
That is probably why they don't read these threads. They don't want to let go of their fantasy. Sad.
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Yup, the white picket fence fanasty. So much of it, is not accepting a deaf kid as a deaf kid, and buying into auditory verbal philsopopsies of how dhh kids should be raised. Look auditory verbalists.....AVT was and is well intentioned. But it's exactly like inclusion. Meaning a good idea in theory, but something that rarely works out well in practice. AVT and inclusion and all that assumes that a kid will be an achiever in the hearing world. It never assumes that a kid will have major social emotional issues in the hearing world....B/c much as you might promote it....a deaf kid who can hear, is NOT hearing. They are hoh.....not hearing. There is a huge difference between hoh and hearing.
 
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