deaf accent!

I was born and raised in Montana, and I was often told by my classmates and friends that I had an accent... I couldn't figure it out, but continued to get that after moving to Idaho for college. I figured it was a "hick accent" because of being raised on a ranch--thought it was a matter of word choice.

It wasn't until I got to college and my hearing dropped that I learned I had been hoh all my life.... and it still took an audi to connect the "accent" with my hearing loss.

I have been told that the way I say certain words is cute, or different, and I'm often asked where I'm from... but at the same time, it's not quite the deaf accent--people don't know that I'm deaf, and often don't believe me when I tell them.

I had a client spend 20 minutes telling me she didn't believe I was using Clear Captions because she had a deaf friend in college and he had a deaf accent and I didn't... She kept saying, "there's no way you're deaf. Oh well, then there's no way you had any hearing loss growing up." Like I'm making it up. She kept asking me "Isn't it annoying to use the relay service for your phone messages? Isn't it weird having this third person involved?" Um, much less annoying than not having a clue what the message left on my phone is.

My boss told me last week, "I think your disability is your speaking skills." He's right... people expect me to be able to hear because I speak fine, with some of my words a little bit different. (And I can no longer tell what my volume is, so I tend to either be way too loud or way too quiet, because I'm self conscious and can't adjust accordingly for background noise.)

I tend to use my voice with my son, but I've started trying to go voice off when we go out and about--it is much easier for me that way... not because of my deaf accent, but because of my lack of one.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't, eh?
 
I often got asked if I was German or Swedish because of my "accent", blonde hair and fair skin. Plus even before I got fat I was still tall and didn't have delicate bones, lol.

I haven't gotten asked that in a long while, though. I don't know if this is because my speech has gotten better or because I just don't get out as much as I used to.
 
I was asked this a few day ago , a guy asked where I was from. He was surprised when I told him it was from a small town in Massachusetts . I wish I could think of crazy story to tell people.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I was asked this a few day ago , a guy asked where I was from. He was surprised when I told him it was from a small town in Massachusetts . I wish I could think of crazy story to tell people.
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What small town are you from? MA native here! (when driving on the interstate, I can go " oh my friend is from this town, or that town or whatever)
 
I'm hoh and mummy says I talk way too fast, sometimes too low(I say SOMETIMES- most of the time my parents are giving out to me cause I'm too bloody loud!) but most of all that I don't open my mouth so that my words don't come out clearly, but that's it I think!
 
I'm amazed at how sensative hearing people are. I love it when people talk loud with me, makes it easier for me to hear everything they are saying... but some hearing people say that being loud hurts their ears. Maybe they should wear ear plugs?

Most people I know that talk really really fast do so for a reason. mostly they don't want anyone to notice when they don't say a word right or may not know exactly what they are talking about. I tend to talk fast when I am nervous (especially if I'm talking to someone I really like).
 
I have been told that my voice is very easy to get used to....hahahhaha and not just by kids I grew up with.......too funny!!!
 
i does have heavy deaf accents. but i not using voice much bec i uses ASL all time. my family never encourage me for getting speech therapy. but my hearing boyfriend did trying force me for speaking voicing. i say "NO you are lazy and need learn asl"
 
Some deaf have very cute accent. But perhaps I am biased for my gf? :giggle:
 
Daredevel7 said:
From a waitress:
"Oh honey. A tea with a little bit of lemon and honey will clear that up."
"Um... No no Im not sick. Im deaf"
"Hahahahaha!! Youre so funny!!!!"
"...........Im serious."
".............OH my god.. OH MY GOD.. IM.. IM SO SORRY!" *runs away*
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That's horrible -.-
 
I was asked today how long I've been in the US. I said I was born here and never went out of the US. They claimed I sounded like I was from the Caribbean.
 
Do you notice that there are days you struggle a bit to talk and say things? I believe this happens to hearing people.[/QUOTE]

Yes, it absolutely does happen...always at the most inappropriate times too!
 
What bothers me are the times that I struggle to speak and I end up pronouning things incorrectly (which I've noticed has been getting worse and worse) and I either get a correction as if I learned to speak improperly (brain-learning issue) versus struggling to hear myself to speak correctly (ear-hearing issue) or get a response that I am speaking normally and completely dismissing my concerns with speaking. I don't like speaking anymore for that reason as well as I am sensitive to my own voice, it hurts my ears, and I cannot tolerate listening to it for very long.
 
I do have a deaf accent. I work at Walmart, so I am often speaking with people. From time to time, a customer will ask where I am from. I love to play along with this, like this:

customer: "Where are you from?"

me: "New Hampshire."

customer: "No, I mean where were you born?"

me: "New Hampshire."

customer: *confused* "What language did your parents speak?"

Then I have to fess up and tell them I speak this way because I am Deaf :laugh2:

A fellow coworker loved how I pronounced "en-cheel-a-da."
 
I have a moderately-severe to severe hearing loss in my left ear and a profound hearing loss in my right. With my HA, I still have a deaf accent, of course.

I can speak too high or too low.

I can speak too fast or too slow.

Sometimes my speech is slurred.

I pronounce all 's' and 'sh' and 'c' (the ones that sound like 's') as 'th' and 't' and occasionally 'd'.

I pronounce 'th' as 'd' sometimes.

I add extra syllables to the end of words occasionally.

According to my speech therapist, my speech is 60%-70% accurate and clear one-on-one. In groups, 40%-50%.
 
sirena rossa said:
have u ever been asked "Oh u have an accent, where are u from??" - I get this constantly! :giggle:
the most popular guess i get is that I am British, the 2nd most popular is German, lol. which is funny because i am not, not at all. I was born here in the US. my background is European, but not UK, or German.
so what's the oddest guess/comment u have gotten regarding ur deaf accent?
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Too funny....:laugh2: I've been told I sound British, German and Greek...I envy their hearing....but at the same time, I'm glad I sound so grand to them.

Laura
 
When I was younger everyone asked where I was from, they couldnt place it... anywhere from Florida, Texas, California and Wyoming. I have kinda a redneck country boy with inner city twang... I love it and I can really doctor it up if needs be, lol I used to leave funny messages on my answering machine and people would second guess who they called...its a fun accent.
 
HOH you are bring threads back from the dead lol. I had a deaf accent when I was little. I had it drilled in my head that it was bad. I went to 2 years of speech therapy but some times catch myself using my accent. It makes my parents mad

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