Hearing Looks vs Deaf Looks

sheila022 said:
Aw shucks, it would be cool if I had a Spanish accent or some identifiabl accent besides Chinese accent...instead of people just assuming I came from China or another Asian country >.< Fuck that I look Asian and people assume automatically I can speak Chinese, especially when I was in china last summer >.<
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Do you speak Chinese?
:D


Go for a British accent, there's a quite a few Asian residing over the pond
 
BecLak said:
Children are more receptive that adults. While on the most part adults don't pick up that I am deaf, many times children on the other hand, will come up to me and say 'you speak funny'.
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That is so true about children. Even cross dressers say fool an adult yes...a child never because they can always tell.
 
I have been told that I act hearing when I have been stone deaf since birth and my hearing hubby has been mistaken for being deaf when he has been stone hearing since birth...go figure.

It must be our past lives.
 
shel90 said:
I have been told that I act hearing when I have been stone deaf since birth and my hearing hubby has been mistaken for being deaf when he has been stone hearing since birth...go figure.

It must be our past lives.
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:laugh2::laugh2::laugh2:
 
BecLak said:
Children are more receptive that adults. While on the most part adults don't pick up that I am deaf, many times children on the other hand, will come up to me and say 'you speak funny'.
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Children can be brutal honest... even my son's classmates told me I speak funny. bless their little heart.
 
shel90 said:
I have been told that I act hearing when I have been stone deaf since birth and my hearing hubby has been mistaken for being deaf when he has been stone hearing since birth...go figure.

It must be our past lives.
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Shel, What do you do when you don't want to act anymore? I'm tired of acting. Advice please? PM me if you prefer. Thanks.
 
BecLak said:
Shel, What do you do when you don't want to act anymore? I'm tired of acting. Advice please?
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I turn to the Deaf community and I am really in it almost full time now so acting "hearing" every now and then isnt as bad as when i was doing it 24/7.

I honestly dont mind doing that on a part time basis. 24/7? No F****** cking way! It is not a good life to live.
 
My guess is that the person who said that probably has a warped perception of what constitutes a deaf person. For instance, people often associate other attributes with certain things. E.g., if you met someone who was completely illiterate, you may automatically assume that they're uneducated. Even though it is often true, it may not always be the case. This is just one example showing how people can and do make false connections between two separate attributes. I guess it boils down to ignorance.

Beowulf said:
Interesting. Don't get mad, but if you show me a small group of people with one deaf person in it, I bet I can pick out the deaf person. It is that almost-indefinable quality that gives them away, the way they look around them. Once I was working in a restaurant and simply standing behind a counter when a hearing couple beckoned to me from a table. They asked, "Are you deaf?" in sign language and I said "Yes, how did you know?" They replied "You were aware (of my surroundings)." So I dunno...
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Using your quote as the context here, it has nothing to do with physical appearance. It's more to do with behaviour and mannerisms. It is impressive to read that someone could detect that though, I know I wouldn't be able to.
 
shel90 said:
I turn to the Deaf community and I am really in it almost full time now so acting "hearing" every now and then isnt as bad as when i was doing it 24/7.

I honestly dont mind doing that on a part time basis. 24/7? No F****** cking way! It is not a good life to live.
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Yeah, I wish I had more opportunity to integrate with the Deaf community. AD is all I have at the moment. I'm stuck in a hearing 'hole', everyone around me is hearing, don't know any Deaf people where I am. AD is the only way I'm surviving in this situation. Thanks Shel and all my friends at AD.
 
BecLak said:
Yeah, I wish I had more opportunity to integrate with the Deaf community. AD is all I have at the moment. I'm stuck in a hearing 'hole', everyone around me is hearing, don't know any Deaf people where I am. AD is the only way I'm surviving in this situation. Thanks Shel and all my friends at AD.
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I'm the same, hopefully things will improve here, a new group is trying to attract members for days out. :aw:
 
Wirelessly posted

craigm26 said:
sheila022 said:
Aw shucks, it would be cool if I had a Spanish accent or some identifiabl accent besides Chinese accent...instead of people just assuming I came from China or another Asian country >.< Fuck that I look Asian and people assume automatically I can speak Chinese, especially when I was in china last summer >.<
Click to expand...

Do you speak Chinese?
:D


Go for a British accent, there's a quite a few Asian residing over the pond
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Then people will think she's from Hong Kong.

I don't know why, but among the Cantonese, if you have a British accent, you're a well-educated Hong Kong expat.
 
shel90 said:
I have been told that I act hearing when I have been stone deaf since birth and my hearing hubby has been mistaken for being deaf when he has been stone hearing since birth...go figure.

It must be our past lives.
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:lol:
 
People can usually tell I am Deaf from the start. Whenever I have brand new terp booked that I never had before and terp always find me easily in crowd of hearing people and know I am Deaf. Lol. I think it cos of little things way Deaf behave is different from hearing people does.
 
shel90 said:
I have been told that I act hearing when I have been stone deaf since birth and my hearing hubby has been mistaken for being deaf when he has been stone hearing since birth...go figure.

It must be our past lives.
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:lol: Yes, I remember some people are like that sometimes.
 
I think it is the visual components of our behavior that give us away. Trying to lipread, (I've had men tell me that they didn't realize I was deaf until they asked why I kept focusing on their lips (they even said it turned them on, but that's an entirely different subject! :lol:) as well as looking around more, etc. It might be what our eyes are doing.
 
sheila022 said:
Aw shucks, it would be cool if I had a Spanish accent or some identifiabl accent besides Chinese accent...instead of people just assuming I came from China or another Asian country >.< Fuck that I look Asian and people assume automatically I can speak Chinese, especially when I was in china last summer >.<
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I am not sure why people think my speech defect sound Spanish , but I do find it to be very funny. That is what happen me in Mexico at the bank , the woman assumed I could speak Spanish , when she heard my 'Spanish accent'
and starting talking me in Spanish . That is really silly for people to think you can speak Chinese , I am Jewish and look Jewish and I can't speak Hebrew.
 
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souggy said:
Wirelessly posted



Then people will think she's from Hong Kong.

I don't know why, but among the Cantonese, if you have a British accent, you're a well-educated Hong Kong expat.
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LOL! I don't have any families in HK. But man, better to have British accent than some Asian accent ;) :P

whatdidyousay! said:
I am not sure why people think my speech defect sound Spanish , but I do find it to be very funny. That is what happen me in Mexico at the bank , the woman assumed I could speak Spanish , when she heard my 'Spanish accent'
and starting talking me in Spanish . That is really silly for people to think you can speak Chinese , I look Jewish and I can't speak Hebrew.
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Lol, well, that happens to me a lot in China. When I was in China, lots of people approached me in street and asked me stuff or to tell me stuff...and I only can stare at them dumbly and say I am an American and can't speak Chinese IN Chinese. My translator friend has to tell them the details and stuff. I mean, I've had questions of why I look like a Chinese, but can't speak Chinese that well. >.< Things like that make me feel like I'm a bad Chinese for not knowing the language that well....but I plan to study and learn conversational and written Chinese in college. God damn the Chinese language. It's so much more difficult than Spanish.
 
Silentwolfdog said:
Let's see, for being passive, less blunt, and being quiet I guess which is opposite by most deaf people.

I even have been criticized by hearing person for being too timid around deaf people while a lot of others aren't. lol

And by deaf folks I used more of English words. Younger deafies laughed at me for using "Oh." or "Oh I see." like I said it quite literally rather than using ASL form. (I'm PSE btw but I seem to be using a lot of phrases used by hearing people even around deaf people. Sometimes I forgot that deaf people are probably not familiar with it or something.)

My vibe is also different I think. One deaf adult thought I was hearing because I look somewhat like "hippy" or something and it isn't something you usually see in deaf community. At least in my area. I have been exposed to hearing culture a lot so when I go back to deaf community after long time being away, I do feel different.

Deaf communities are probably different across United States.

Kinda hard to explain though. I do feel like there's two different cultures which I can feel the different. Not sure how to explain.

But you should know by now that there's norm and rules in deaf community which is different from hearing community, no? If not then I dunno why I get mistaken a lot by deaf people for some reason.
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I am not timid or quiet and I am not shy about saying what on my mind. When I was trying to read a girl lips from Iran , I really made her uptight, I did not know it rude to look her in the face. I guess I will have to let people know why I am looking at their face so much so they'll not be uptight.
 
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