Hi all, my name is Kim. I'm 31 and I have Menieres disease, which is characterized by repeated episodes of fullness/vertigo/hearing loss. I was born hearing, but my first Menieres attack at the age of 28 left me with 75% hearing loss in my right ear. Several subsequent attacks have left me with 15% hearing loss in my left and 80% loss in my right ear.
When I first got my diagnosis, I was kind of in shock. And depressed. I don't even know anyone who is HOH, much less deaf. But Menieres is almost always progressive and it's already done some damage to both ears so I cannot hope to be one of the "lucky" ones that retains hearing in one ear.
I started thinking and I decided, this disease WILL NOT ruin my life. It WILL NOT define me. I know that there is a vibrant HOH/deaf community out there. I need to reach out and start learning NOW. It will be so much harder if I wait until the day the next "big one" hits and takes away the hearing on my left side.
I want to start learning at least basic ASL and also teach my husband. He is wonderful and supportive. I know I can get through this at work too, because I could do nearly all of my job by email/chat if I had to. My question to you all is, how would you recommend I start my journey? Are there websites out there with instructional videos to start learning the alphabet? Would anyone want to practice via Skype? Any other ideas? Thank you all in advance!!
When I first got my diagnosis, I was kind of in shock. And depressed. I don't even know anyone who is HOH, much less deaf. But Menieres is almost always progressive and it's already done some damage to both ears so I cannot hope to be one of the "lucky" ones that retains hearing in one ear.
I started thinking and I decided, this disease WILL NOT ruin my life. It WILL NOT define me. I know that there is a vibrant HOH/deaf community out there. I need to reach out and start learning NOW. It will be so much harder if I wait until the day the next "big one" hits and takes away the hearing on my left side.
I want to start learning at least basic ASL and also teach my husband. He is wonderful and supportive. I know I can get through this at work too, because I could do nearly all of my job by email/chat if I had to. My question to you all is, how would you recommend I start my journey? Are there websites out there with instructional videos to start learning the alphabet? Would anyone want to practice via Skype? Any other ideas? Thank you all in advance!!
