Hello - I'm new and in a strange situation! :)

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MellyBell

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Hello to AD!!!

I've been reading a few posts but not starting any threads for two reasons. 1) I'm shy. LOL!!! Not really...I'm very outgoing usually. 2) I'm not deaf or HOH. This makes me feel really weird being in this forum - like an interloper or something like that. My intentions are honorable, I assure you! Let me explain...

I have recently been diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. I have very good hearing, actually, but have a very difficult time processing what is being said to me. I am in my mid-thirties and just NOW figuring out what all of the difficulties have been about!

I have wanted for many, many years to learn ASL. It felt like a "necessity", but I kept putting it off. Now that I am living on a farm with my hoh aunt, I have found my ASL learning to be an OBSESSION!!! (No, I'm not exaggerating). My aunt, uncle and fiance are learning with me, and together we are progressing nicely. I find learning ASL to be extremely enjoyable - much more so than the German and French I took in college! It's a beautiful language with so many uses other than just simply communicating to a deaf or hoh person. Since we live on a farm, we can communicate across large distances now, rather than jump off the tractor and race across half of a field...etc.

I do hope that I will feel welcome here, even though my hearing is perfectly "normal" (according to the tests I've taken). It's frustrating to actually be able to hear but not UNDERSTAND without visual cues. Thus, I talk with my hands a lot, and ASL has been aiding in my understanding. Thank Goodness my fiance is learning with me...he can help me in those social situations where I get confused...

Well...that's my story! One small page of a chapter, anyway.

MellyBell
 
Welcome!

And why would you feel weird?! We have a few members that have auditory processing disorders here as well. Some Deaf people don't care if you are deaf or hearing, as long you can communicate to them in their own language.

Welcome to AllDeaf!
 
:wave: MellyBell! I am new hoh and have auditory processing issues as well as diagnosed LD. I have always been a very visual-tatcile person and use my hands and focus on body language a lot. Sign some. Am also in my 30's.
 
I am HOH and I can sometime hear what a person is saying but not understand them! I was talking to a friend on the phone and I thought she said "she was going to the stable "so I ask how is her horses? My friend said" she was going "Staples" ! My friend what wonder what I was talking about! I know it is very up setting not understanding what people are saying , can you read lips at all?
 
:welcome: There are plenty of hearing people on here so don't feel weird. :)
 
Welcome to AD, MellyBell! I wish more hearing people would see how extremely useful ASL can be.
 
Whatdidyousay! - I do read lips and learned to do so as a very young child. It helped a lot, especially when my dad and step-mom were arguing about me too softly for me to hear. That is, of course, until they switched to Lithuanian so I couldn't understand any more!

I "mishear" people all of the time. Especially my fiance, who used to get VERY irritated by it, but now usually finds it amusing and we manage to laugh about it. It's hard for people who don't know about my problem, and trying to explain it seems to be just too embarassing for words. I just laugh it off and we continue on until my next "misunderstanding". I'm sure some people think I just don't "pay attention" enough...when I'm actually concentrating quite hard! Movies are whole different source of frustration. Even if it is "loud" enough I sometimes don't catch what's being said, especially when I can't see the actor talking. My aunt has captioning on her TV and watches movies that way, but my fiance finds it distracting. So, I usually just re-watch movies that are interesting to me!

Thank you to everyone for being accepting. I wish I had more people closer to me to sign with. It would make my learning that much easier. At the moment I'm taking an online signing course (as well as using books and an ASL dictionary to supplement the online courses), but my ability to learn is far greater than my poor auntie's. My fiance tries but has so many other things going on that he falls behind or gets too irritated to learn at my pace, and my uncle is what I call a "Lazy Signer". He almost gets the signs right...but NEVER puts any effort into getting the fingers into the right positions. Just seems "lazy".

Well, thanks again everyone! I'm sure in time I'll feel much more comfortable!

MellyBell
 
Welcome!!! Nice to see new people!! I do hope you stay around though!!
 
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