Hi all! My name is Angela. I have an auditory processing disorder and moderate hearing loss. My twin sister is DeafRaptor and she is deaf. Growing up, we were mainstreamed; it wasn't until college that we learned about American Sign Language/Deaf Culture. At that point, I was still undiagnosed and considered 'hearing', but decided to learn ASL for my sister. We took several classes and then found a bi-monthly deaf signing group to practice with.
Now, it gets complicated. I have recently learned that I have severe Sensory Processing Disorder. This encompasses the auditory processing disorder that I mentioned earlier; this means that I can't process auditory input quickly, sometimes at all. This also encompasses hyper-sensitivity to all sensory input, in my case; this means that sound, light, smell, taste, and touch are too much for me to process, sometimes painful. So, while I can't always communicate orally with hearing people, I also can't always focus on someone long enough to communicate manually with deaf people. I can only communicate with people who are very patient with me and my situation, and only under certain circumstances.
This has made becoming fluent in ASL very slow and hard. But, I am still practicing ASL for those days when I can't understand speech but can still sign, and so that I can communicate with my sister at all.
Now, it gets complicated. I have recently learned that I have severe Sensory Processing Disorder. This encompasses the auditory processing disorder that I mentioned earlier; this means that I can't process auditory input quickly, sometimes at all. This also encompasses hyper-sensitivity to all sensory input, in my case; this means that sound, light, smell, taste, and touch are too much for me to process, sometimes painful. So, while I can't always communicate orally with hearing people, I also can't always focus on someone long enough to communicate manually with deaf people. I can only communicate with people who are very patient with me and my situation, and only under certain circumstances.
This has made becoming fluent in ASL very slow and hard. But, I am still practicing ASL for those days when I can't understand speech but can still sign, and so that I can communicate with my sister at all.
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