Can deaf ever become Deaf?

[moggy]

Big D

i would just like to say something else.

We should just make another big D group that welcomes anyone and let the elitist and snobish one have there own D group.

I have been hurt by to many people all round.

 

[deafdyke]

You know, I really, truly do not like this categorization of us deafies.....that path just leads to nowhere good....I say we are Deaf, irregardless of who we are.

Herein lies the whole problem segregation between us deaf /hard of hearing.

I felt put off by associating with big D as i am not totally deaf. Well have use of some hearing which is not much good in the hearing world. So i consider my deaf. I was born like this too.

This is so confusing. I suppose that it all depends on the persons big D's people that you associate with as to wether they let you join in with them. If you think you are a big D go for it.

But moggy, how old are you? Assuming that only severe/profound deaf can be "really Deaf" is dumb. There are severe and profounders who don't consider themselves Deaf you know! So if that's true, then people who are more HOH can be Deaf too!

 

[moggy]

Deaf or HOH?

But moggy, how old are you? Assuming that only severe/profound deaf can be "really Deaf" is dumb. There are severe and profounders who don't consider themselves Deaf you know! So if that's true, then people who are more HOH can be Deaf too!

I am nearly 50. I never knew that there are severe and profounders that did not consider themselves deaf. Thats a new one to me. More info. for me.

 

[DeafRaptor]

But moggy, how old are you? Assuming that only severe/profound deaf can be "really Deaf" is dumb. There are severe and profounders who don't consider themselves Deaf you know! So if that's true, then people who are more HOH can be Deaf too!

I am nearly 50. I never knew that there are severe and profounders that did not consider themselves deaf. Thats a new one to me. More info. for me.

Watching a lot of threads, I have noticed that a few people will get confused when certain terminology is used , so I want to try and maybe clarify something (please note that definitions for these words can and do change from person to person and context to context).

Moggy,

While the definition of "hard of hearing" and "deaf" can and does differ from person to person (especially when considering the connotations that they have added based on their experiences with those words/labels) and from context to context, I generally use "hard of hearing" for a range of hearing loss between mild to moderate and "deaf" for a range of hearing loss between severe to profound. But everyone I know uses the lowercase deaf when referring to the audiological condition of not hearing, and the uppercase Deaf when referring to a particular group of deaf/hh people who share a language -- American Sign Language (ASL) -- and a culture based on deafness.

I believe deafdyke was saying that there are (deaf) people with a severe/profound audiological condition of not hearing who don't consider themselves (Deaf ) part of a group of people who share ASL and a culture based on deafness, so there can be (HOH) people with a mild/moderate audiological condition of not hearing, but who do consider themselves (Deaf ) part of a group who share ASL and a culture based on deafness.

You may have already known about those definitions and understood deafdyke's post. I think my confusion was with your reply, which with those definitions in mind reads: I never knew that there are severe and profounders that did not consider themselves (deaf) having an audiological condition of not hearing. While there probably is a group of people out there that fit that meaning, I don't think that was what deafdyke was meaning, and it may not have been what you meant either (I don't know). Hope I helped.

 

[deafdyke]

I am nearly 50. I never knew that there are severe and profounders that did not consider themselves deaf. Thats a new one to me. More info. for me.

Well it's an artifact of the Milan Congress......Hoh kids were encouraged to be completely and totally oralized....Plus, you're in Austrialia, and Austrialia is very very oral

 

[BecLak]

Well it's an artifact of the Milan Congress......Hoh kids were encouraged to be completely and totally oralized....Plus, you're in Austrialia, and Austrialia is very very oral

That is sadly very true. For the most part in Australia, you are only considered Big D deaf if you were born deaf into a Deaf family. Even the Big D deaf were oralised and mainstreamed. I ignore that stigmatism. I patiently keep coming back to the Deaf chats, will participate where I can, and gradually wait until they know I that I am genuine and not just 'trying it on for size and then changing my mind'.

 

[BeatriceB]

To be Deaf to me means you grew up learning ASL along side with learning English. You may or may not have been sent to a school for the deaf, but at least you have/had support services. You were raised to embrace your deafness, not be ashamed of it like I was. Or at least that is what my understanding has been thus far. Maybe being Deaf means you are accepted by other Deafs, not just deaf.

As HoH, sent to oral school at a young age, then mainstreamed for middle school and high school, I had nearly all hearing friends plus a hearing musician boyfriend. The kicker? My parents and sister are deaf. My sister went to MSSD, then Gallaudet and have tons of friends and great life experiences while my parents who are old-fashioned and holds on to the "shame" of being deaf taught me that I needed to be hearing. When I encountered deaf people growing up, they described me as "hearing in my brain" using the sign for hearing placed over the forehead.

Not good enough for the deaf people I've met, and my hearing doesn't cut it in the hearing world. So I agree with the last sentence of the above comment. It's being accepted into a group you want to be before saying you are a "member" of it.

 

[posts from hell]

As HoH, sent to oral school at a young age, then mainstreamed for middle school and high school, I had nearly all hearing friends plus a hearing musician boyfriend. The kicker? My parents and sister are deaf. My sister went to MSSD, then Gallaudet and have tons of friends and great life experiences while my parents who are old-fashioned and holds on to the "shame" of being deaf taught me that I needed to be hearing. When I encountered deaf people growing up, they described me as "hearing in my brain" using the sign for hearing placed over the forehead.

Not good enough for the deaf people I've met, and my hearing doesn't cut it in the hearing world. So I agree with the last sentence of the above comment. It's being accepted into a group you want to be before saying you are a "member" of it.

Tottally sad.

 

[deafdyke]

As HoH, sent to oral school at a young age, then mainstreamed for middle school and high school, I had nearly all hearing friends plus a hearing musician boyfriend. The kicker? My parents and sister are deaf. My sister went to MSSD, then Gallaudet and have tons of friends and great life experiences while my parents who are old-fashioned and holds on to the "shame" of being deaf taught me that I needed to be hearing. When I encountered deaf people growing up, they described me as "hearing in my brain" using the sign for hearing placed over the forehead.

Not good enough for the deaf people I've met, and my hearing doesn't cut it in the hearing world. So I agree with the last sentence of the above comment. It's being accepted into a group you want to be before saying you are a "member" of it.

And isn't it sad that hoh kids from Deaf families were ALSO automaticly assumed to be more hearing then Deaf? I mean GOD, that's incredibly dumbassed. Did you go to Clarke or CID or St. Joseph's?

 

[BeatriceB]

And isn't it sad that hoh kids from Deaf families were ALSO automaticly assumed to be more hearing then Deaf? I mean GOD, that's incredibly dumbassed. Did you go to Clarke or CID or St. Joseph's?

I'm not sure I know what Clarke, CID, or St. Joseph's is. I just went to an oral school called Millridge, then transferred to another school that had TC (Total Communication) classes but I was too advanced for those classes. In fact, I was the only one there who had a hearing impairment who did NOT also have a learning disability so they just mainstreamed me and after two grades, I just moved on to the regular school in my district because I thought I'd make more friends. Nope.

It was hard because my parents just suddenly decided I was their interpreter all the time and got upset with me when I refused to make phone calls for them. Have you ever tried calling for customer/technical assistance? Someone with a thick Indian accent would answer and they would be IMPOSSIBLE to understand.

 

[posts from hell]

I'm not sure I know what Clarke, CID, or St. Joseph's is. I just went to an oral school called Millridge, then transferred to another school that had TC (Total Communication) classes but I was too advanced for those classes. In fact, I was the only one there who had a hearing impairment who did NOT also have a learning disability so they just mainstreamed me and after two grades, I just moved on to the regular school in my district because I thought I'd make more friends. Nope.

It was hard because my parents just suddenly decided I was their interpreter all the time and got upset with me when I refused to make phone calls for them. Have you ever tried calling for customer/technical assistance? Someone with a thick Indian accent would answer and they would be IMPOSSIBLE to understand.

oh shit...

 

[deafdyke]

I'm not sure I know what Clarke, CID, or St. Joseph's is. I just went to an oral school called Millridge, then transferred to another school that had TC (Total Communication) classes but I was too advanced for those classes. In fact, I was the only one there who had a hearing impairment who did NOT also have a learning disability so they just mainstreamed me and after two grades, I just moved on to the regular school in my district because I thought I'd make more friends. Nope.

It was hard because my parents just suddenly decided I was their interpreter all the time and got upset with me when I refused to make phone calls for them. Have you ever tried calling for customer/technical assistance? Someone with a thick Indian accent would answer and they would be IMPOSSIBLE to understand.

Clarke/CID/St. Josephs were the big three oral schools. At least you got some deaf ed.....ugh Nowadays, most hoh kids don't even get the advantage of Deaf ed....there are some thou. I know that a lot of the state deaf schools are open to HOH kids now......

 

[Buffalo]

It never seems to surprise me at how many of us mainstreamed deafies have had the same experience.

I'm *SO* glad I came out of the closet!

I was going to say good analogy of Moses until I came to this post. Another good analogy of coming out of the closet!!!