I didn’t want to rip off daisy jean below, but this is the only greeting that didn’t seem stilted to me. Makes sense as I’m right next door to her in Louisiana! Anyway, the name’s John. Middle is obviously Gideon. I’m a 21 year old deaf (want to achieve Deaf status someday, but we’ll talk about that in a bit) LSU student. I was born deaf and started out signing for about the first three years of my life. Got a CI when I was 2 and a half, and began cueing when I was three and have continued using it but progressively became more oral as I became more skilled at using my CI. Today, I’m pretty much entirely oral with the exception of using Cued Speech with my family (they’re the only ones that know how! And an ex).
However recently, I’ve gone through some pretty life-changing stuff. For a large portion of my life, I only really knew a few deaf people my age (most of who I didn’t care for personally) and didn’t really interact with older d/Deaf folks. Thus I grew up in the hearing world and was perfectly happy in my limited reality as far as I knew. However, rather recently, I’ve gotten to know some of those older d/Deaf as well as other deaf LSU students and I’ve found I LIKE them! Don’t get me wrong. I still love my hearing friends, but I never realized how much easier it is to communicate with d/Deaf. And it’s fun!!! I’m taking a Level 1 ASL class at the moment and we watched a documentary “Through Deaf Eyes” last week. In that film, there was an interviewee who described a moment that she calls “Met Deaf Wow” that many d/Deaf go through…that pretty much perfectly described me. Recently, I was invited to come hang out in New Orleans with a Deaf guy that I’ve known all my life (but never really befriended because of our several year age difference until now) and his friends. We all sat around a table and the conversation was just flying back and forth and it was so exuberant and so much fun. Pretty awesome stuff especially as I felt like I was really a part of it. It really made me realize how even though my hearing friends don’t intend it, I do end up on the sidelines of most any group conversation. Its difficult to describe how deep and powerful that revelation was…
So anyway, I’m basically just really excited about the future and just want to keep meeting Deaf people and getting connected to the community (Hey y’all!). Beyond that, I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you. Y’all look like an interesting bunch
Also like I said, I’m taking ASL 1 and am very eager to practice on anyone so let me know if any of y’all are interested in getting together if possible or doing some kind of webcam thing (speaking of which, I kind of need to buy one).
One last thing, here’s my mug for those who like to put a name to a face!
However recently, I’ve gone through some pretty life-changing stuff. For a large portion of my life, I only really knew a few deaf people my age (most of who I didn’t care for personally) and didn’t really interact with older d/Deaf folks. Thus I grew up in the hearing world and was perfectly happy in my limited reality as far as I knew. However, rather recently, I’ve gotten to know some of those older d/Deaf as well as other deaf LSU students and I’ve found I LIKE them! Don’t get me wrong. I still love my hearing friends, but I never realized how much easier it is to communicate with d/Deaf. And it’s fun!!! I’m taking a Level 1 ASL class at the moment and we watched a documentary “Through Deaf Eyes” last week. In that film, there was an interviewee who described a moment that she calls “Met Deaf Wow” that many d/Deaf go through…that pretty much perfectly described me. Recently, I was invited to come hang out in New Orleans with a Deaf guy that I’ve known all my life (but never really befriended because of our several year age difference until now) and his friends. We all sat around a table and the conversation was just flying back and forth and it was so exuberant and so much fun. Pretty awesome stuff especially as I felt like I was really a part of it. It really made me realize how even though my hearing friends don’t intend it, I do end up on the sidelines of most any group conversation. Its difficult to describe how deep and powerful that revelation was…
So anyway, I’m basically just really excited about the future and just want to keep meeting Deaf people and getting connected to the community (Hey y’all!). Beyond that, I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you. Y’all look like an interesting bunch
Also like I said, I’m taking ASL 1 and am very eager to practice on anyone so let me know if any of y’all are interested in getting together if possible or doing some kind of webcam thing (speaking of which, I kind of need to buy one). One last thing, here’s my mug for those who like to put a name to a face!
to AllDeaf forum. Have fun with us here. See you around here. 
