do you have a hard times being deaf or hard of hearing?

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

I am curious...as long as these Deaf people have jobs, pay for their bills, and mind their own business, why does it matter if they prefer to hang out with each other instead of hearing people? It is like saying heairng people are better than deaf people if deaf people have to hang out with them to be considered to be a full fledged worker and citizen?

I do not understand attitudes and views like these at all.

Agreed. If it was a year ago, I would be behind Grummer. Why should it matter what other Deaf people are doing? As long they are paying their taxes, pay their bills and are be true to themselves, there is nothing wrong if they want to be a part of the Deaf world or the hearing world.

Hoh people are much more likely to be scattered, they dont get the 'group mentality' because there isn't any. and 'just hanging in there' means just that - to continue lliving isolated and accepting all 'owns rights' are effectively nonexistent, except in circumstances where it is 'obvious' by 'today standards' of 'whats right and whats wrong

Why not try to connect with other Hard of Hearing folks? There is a HoH organization in Edmonton, a separate entity from the Deaf community. If they can do it there, you can do in your own city. Deaf and HoH are only scattered because the individuals choose to be scattered by not attempting to reach out to find other people like themselves. Something to think about?

I can sympathize with you, but when I was in your shoes, it was because I made the decision to not try to connect with others on the Internet or in my area, well, that and I cared way too much about what others think. What a dumb decision that was.

 

[Angelus]

Yes! It has been enough of a battle that some days I just sit down and cry. I worked for almost 10 years as a pre school teacher and had an extremly difficult time in the environment. I did wear my hearing aid, but people can still be cruel. I haven't officially begun to learn sign, but it is time I do so and start using it. I think it will bring alot of relief. My husband needs to learn it also. I ended up opening my own preschool from home - but wow the hours are long and I am extremely isolated. That part is hard... Haven't had hearing tested in about 3 years, need to do so and find out where it's at. Also considering visiting an ENT and getting official diagnosis to see if I might qualify for DSI.

 

[hohDougRN]

other than the one or so annoyance on occasion I don't think of it as something terrible to deal with.

 

[sarahkhan]

It is understable, that we deaf are called dumb, blah blah.....becoz the hearing ppl who think like are more dumber, igorant.
being deaf makea us realised more abt life, make us understand how difficult a life can be......we are special in our way......
hence accept this challeanged and move on and show the ppl tht we are infact can do anything!!!

 

[DJYumene]

Nothing like what you mentioned (op) but I have had a few. people getting frustrated when I ask them to repeat things (specially if they are on my right (deaf) side) ... sometimes if I ask a couple times, they will say to forget it, or never mind ... O_o

Only real problem I had was in high school ... my speech teacher who wouldn't leave me alone. I got HA's but I wouldn't wear them much because they were distracting me in classes (static and so much background noise) ... she took the liberty of meeting me at my classes to make sure i was wearing them and turned on (mind I was in high school) if I wasn't she would force (I say force because I think many knows what happens when to ignore someone of authority ... detention XD) me to put them on.

She sometimes liked to pull me out of classes like Spanish or something that was "too hard" for me in her opinion. She even put down my desire to become a vet ... gah ... I hated her ... and I know she knew that ...

my second year she put me into her special ed. class about manners and put me in the front row and called me for every question .... and I would just sit there ignoring and drawing pictures XD

I liked all my other teachers, they were cool and so nice

 

[yizuman]

Sometimes, if I don't understand, I'll get a eye rolling episode from them and two words, "never mind".

Really annoying.

Yiz

 

[sallylou]

Yiz, I used to get this from my teenager. I've gotten really angry with him and he finally got the message. Adjustments, adjustments, we all have to make adjustments!

 

[yizuman]

Yiz, I used to get this from my teenager. I've gotten really angry with him and he finally got the message. Adjustments, adjustments, we all have to make adjustments!

It's tough making adjustments when we're snuggled into this comfort zone (or a rut if you will)

Yiz

 

[sallylou]

That's true. We are all creatures of habit. On the other hand, being HOH (and that hearing declining) has opened a world to me that I wouldn't have otherwise known. I'm meeting people that I might not have otherwise met. It's like going through a little detour in the road and having a little adventure.

 

[rockdrummer]

i will i tell you the truth,i have a hard times being hard of hearing because the hearing people do not respect hard of hearing and deaf peoples because their look at us different and dumb,their think that all deaf and hoh(hard of hearing) all the same and we can't read and write,but that is not truth at all,and think that we can't started a family,husband/wife,girlfriend/boyfriend, and childrens. do anybody what i am talking about here?

I am hearing and I don't dis-respect deaf or hard of hearing people. I try my best to be respectful to all humans.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

I went to a meeting tonight to see our Gov. of Mass. I had trouble hearing what was being said .Some people did not stand up when they spoke so their voice did not carry very good . The gov. spoke with his back to people most of the time and I was not able to read his lips! I gave up and went home! I sure wish my hearing dog could had told me what peope were saying! You just can't get good help these days! And I thought Poodles were smart! I was going to ask the Gov. if he could stand in front of the room and not walk all over the place , but he wanted get up close with people. I can't see
sign lanaguage , so it would not had help to have person signing for me. I like go to city meetings but I need to find a way to know what being said, anyone have any ideas?

 

[Everglade85]

I went to a meeting tonight to see our Gov. of Mass. I had trouble hearing what was being said .Some people did not stand up when they spoke so their voice did not carry very good . The gov. spoke with his back to people most of the time and I was not able to read his lips! I gave up and went home! I sure wish my hearing dog could had told me what peope were saying! You just can't get good help these days! And I thought Poodles were smart! I was going to ask the Gov. if he could stand in front of the room and not walk all over the place , but he wanted get up close with people. I can't see
sign lanaguage , so it would not had help to have person signing for me. I like go to city meetings but I need to find a way to know what being said, anyone have any ideas?

You should email city hall, explain your situation, and see if they could provide any resources.

You could request for a real time captioner that would sit right next to you. That would be a huge benefit.

 

[BecLak]

Grummer, It appears you have hit a raw nerve here and I feel for you. I also have gone through much of what you have described (minus the colourful language) being severely 'HoH' myself. Even now, my family still do not accept that I really am HoH/deaf, since I have spent most of my life fooling people into believing I could hear them when I couldn't by using the old 'tricks of the trade': having intensive speech therapy, lipreading, reading facial expressions and body language. I thought I had it down to pat until just recently (after 40 years since discovering I was HoH/Deaf, btw, I was born that way). I am learning ASL now because 'seeing is believing'. Most people's attitudes I have found is that when you say you are HoH, they assume you hear more than you do because that is all they understand as they don't know what it is like not to be able to hear something. Perhaps it would be better to get rid of the HoH label and just call us all what we are - deaf/Deaf - with our individual varying degrees of hearing loss, no one person is the same. I feel more comfortable now to say that I am deaf.

(btw, I told my kids that if I didn't wear my contacts for a couple of days or more, and I don't wear my HAs anymore either (another story), they would soon know).

 

[Pepsi]

It feels like every day of my life there is something that I always have to deal with when it comes to my hearing/speech/deaf accent problems :roll: