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'Forgive Them Lord: They Know Not What They Do'

'Forgive Them Lord: They Know Not What They Do'
As Liza said, they need to be educated and it's our job to do that.
As an adult, I'm better prepared to handle these awkward situations.
As a teenager, I wasn't. I felt stupid because I was being spoken to like I was.
I shortly stopped wearing my aid!

Now, i will make a joke of it and say, quit muttering and speak up..put the onous on them..lol
Sometimes I cant be bothered to ask the 'deaf-impaired' and just pretend that I've heard them (maybe thats why I've been getting some strange looks...lol. They've asked me a question and I'm just nodding like I'm agreeing with them about something)
Good friends of mine will walk on my good side (as my right ear is the worse!) and if anyone forgets, i just skip (not literally!) to the other side myself

I only have about 30% loss, so to some of you posting on here, who are profound etc...your confidence is inspiring

Oh and Hi to all... just joined 'AD' tonight!

Pete (TazzyUK)
 
trish_e87 said:
I am hearing.
I have a question about getting your drivers license.
I think it's cool that deaf are able to get them, I was just wondering how it is during the test.
When I took my driving test ,the instructer would say:
Turn left at the next intersection.
Or turn right at the 2nd intersection...blah blah blah!

He would tell me ahead of time so i was just wondering how they go about doing the driving test.

I hope that doesn't sound bad. It's not meant to.
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My driver ed instructor could do ASL very well, and she didn't take it easy on me. Which was great. I also passed the writing test at MVA in MD. No problem!

This might be of interest... I had to surrender my MD driver license for a Norwegian driver license when I moved to Norway, but they didn't give me a test or anything like that. Just gave me a new card!
 
I have bilateral moderately severe to profound loss ranging from 55dB at 250 Hz to 95-100 dB at 8000 Hz
 
celicaturtle said:
i keep hearing that deaf people are the same as hearing people (and i agree), but then ask why hearing people are soo stupid (granted there are a lot of stupid people out there). the thing is "hearies" feel sory or whatever for deaf people i think because they truly don't know how to handle a situation with a deaf person. most hearing people hardly if ever come across a deaf person. i don't know if i'm right or not, just kinda throwin' it out there.
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My husband is deaf. As a hearing person who is struggling to help people understand, I think that you are exactly right. I know that our friends love him but when I'm around they take the easy way out and depend on me. I'm starting to get more bold not only because I want them to communicate with him, but also because I'm tired of everyone depending on me when he is fully capable of communicating himself. I'm tired enough now that from now on when someone asks me how to communicate with him, I'll just say, "Ask him!"

I don't know. Is this wrong?
 
Kuifje75 said:
When will the hearing people finally come to sense and understand that deaf people are normal? :-P
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Honestly, I think that's an awful lot to ask from the average hearing person. For most hearing people, deafness is defined by the lack of hearing. That's all. There's no awareness of Deaf culture, so in their minds, there's something "wrong" with people who can't hear. Their hearing is missing.

The majority is always going to have that point of view about any minority group, whether it's a racial group, a religious group or deaf people. The only thing that ever changes that attitude is first hand experience. From what I've seen, hearing people who have regular contact with deaf people are much more comfortable with the idea of deafness as just another thing about a person, like eye color. But it's that regular contact that creates that feeling. There's no way to teach it otherwise.

Just my 2¢.
 
PConsidine said:
Honestly, I think that's an awful lot to ask from the average hearing person. For most hearing people, deafness is defined by the lack of hearing. That's all. There's no awareness of Deaf culture, so in their minds, there's something "wrong" with people who can't hear. Their hearing is missing.
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I hope you are wrong. From my observation, most of the hearing people we know and come across, accept my husband as a normal human being. They recognize it instantly as soon as he says hello. They just seem to be intimidated because they don't know how to communicate with him.

There was a deaf couple from another state who needed a place to stay while visiting our community. One hearing family offered to let them stay with them. The wife called me with concerns because they didn't know how to communicate with this couple. I told them that deaf people are use to hearing people who don't know how to communicate with them, so don't worry about it.

Later after the couple went back to their home, the wife told me that their entire family instantly became friends with this couple and loved having them there. She asked her little boy what lesson he learned from this. He said, "Never judge a person before you've met them."

I will be showing the PBS Documentary to some people and I believe it will help to make things more clear for them.
 
Perhaps it's just my misunderstanding of what was meant by "normal." It was definitely my fault for expanding my experience to that of hearing people as a whole. I just know that until I went to RIT and spent four years interacting with the deaf and hard of hearing, the thought never crossed my mind. But given the context of my first interactions (in a highly mainstreamed environment with many opportunities to interact with DHH students), I think I had a much better experience that what is typically available to most hearing people.

Again, though, just my 2¢.
 
Perhaps it's just my misunderstanding of what was meant by "normal."
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Maybe I should have left normal out of it. I think everyone on this planet (including me) is whacked.
 
No, I think your use of it was helpful and I appreciated it. Because I think you're right - just remembering that a deaf person is a person would probably help a great deal, no? That would probably be a good idea in general. :)

Not that I'd make any claim to "normal" either. Quite the opposite, in fact.
 
It seems to me that deaf people in general are on a different level (maybe a higher level?) of processing information because you don't have to use your ears. This might subconscously intimidate hearing people, maybe they are even a little jealous. Frankly it is tiring listening to people. I much prefer emails or instant messaging.

Most of the people I know are still using their ears. Until my husband and I can get them to open their eyes and understand that he is a visual person, we will be having problems with communication.
 
Southern said:
When I went to Deaf Expo and DPHH with my best friend and his sister I felt completely comfortable and enjoyed myself. Everyone was great and treated me as one of them. Some were surprised that I am hearing. When you meet a hearing person at a Deaf event do you ever think they don’t belong, they are not one of us? No one made me feel like that but I did wonder if people thought it.
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I dont think that way as long as they can easily communicate with me and dont try to patronize me. :)
 
celicaturtle said:
i keep hearing that deaf people are the same as hearing people (and i agree), but then ask why hearing people are soo stupid (granted there are a lot of stupid people out there). the thing is "hearies" feel sory or whatever for deaf people i think because they truly don't know how to handle a situation with a deaf person. most hearing people hardly if ever come across a deaf person. i don't know if i'm right or not, just kinda throwin' it out there.
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It is true that a majority of hearing people never encounter a deaf person which is why I need to remind myself of that whenever I get asked weird or even stupid questions. The reason deaf people get impatient (correct me if I am wrong) with getting asked questions is that we encounter hearing people constantly so we forget that it is not the same for hearing people.
 
jshumko said:
My husband is deaf. As a hearing person who is struggling to help people understand, I think that you are exactly right. I know that our friends love him but when I'm around they take the easy way out and depend on me. I'm starting to get more bold not only because I want them to communicate with him, but also because I'm tired of everyone depending on me when he is fully capable of communicating himself. I'm tired enough now that from now on when someone asks me how to communicate with him, I'll just say, "Ask him!"

I don't know. Is this wrong?
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No it is not wrong..I am profoundly deaf married to a hearing man. I try my best not to depend on him to communicate with hearing non signers especially his family. Usually, I become quiet cuz I just cant understand his family due to their Philly accents. He volunteered to interpret and I said no cuz I want us to get used to each other's way of speaking. It is hard.
 
jshumko said:
Maybe I should have left normal out of it. I think everyone on this planet (including me) is whacked.
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I agree that everyone on this planet is Whacked.. people have so many different definations of normal. Normal is what You make of it.
 
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