Just Saying Hello From California!

HearMyHands

HearMyHands

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:wave: Hello! I’m not sure what to write here, so I guess I’ll just summarize my reason for being here.

I was born hearing. My mama was in the interpreting program when I was a toddler so I had learned sign at a young age. Sign was constantly used around the house between my mama and me. She eventually had to leave the program. The busier she got, the less we would sign together so she slowly started to forget a lot of signs. I however found ASL to be a passion of mine. My goal was to become an interpreter. I had learned a lot more ASL on my own, through online classes, dictionaries, and just watching vlogs. I also had began attending Deaf Socials and making many Deaf, HOH, and signing friends.

When I was 16, I ironically lose my hearing due to an autoimmune disease. I was completely deaf until I was able to get hearing aids three or four months later. I was taking college classes so hearing aids helped me tremendously. I was classified as HOH because even though I couldn’t hear ANYTHING without aids, I could still hear language with them.

I’ll now be 19 next week and I’m getting to the point that I can’t hear anything, even with my aids. My tests showed that my right ear was over 100dB loss and my left was at an 88dB loss at it’s best frequencies. So basically, even though my left ear is 2 dB under the profound mark, he said I’m considered profoundly deaf because my right ear is past the charts and my left ear can’t detect ANYTHING without hearing aids, and even with aids I can only hear a select few of frequencies (barely) at really high decibels.

Anyways, I’ve always been oral, but now that I’m not able to hear myself talk anymore, I find that I’m just not comfortable talking anymore. I’ve been told I’m starting to slur my words quite a bit. Lately I’ve just been talking only when necessary or with the people closest to me. I’m not sure if that’s bad, but I’m just not comfortable talking.

Just to put it out there, I’m also legally blind. I guess I’m considered deaf-blind, but I can still see some things. I use Braille for many things around the house like medications, microwave buttons, foods, etc. I can see colors, shadows, lights, outlines, people for the most part, but I can’t see anything clearly. I have absolutely no night vision so if I go out at night, I use a white cane to walk. For the most part though, I am able to see signs, I just have to really pay attention. Finger spelling is pretty difficult for me to see, but I’ve been practicing tactile signing strictly for finger spelling. It’s been working pretty well.

Sorry this was so long, but :ty: for reading!
Krystal
 
welcome to AD! since where U got to the point where U can't benefit from hearing aids anymore, maybe you should look into CIs. ther are CI peeps around her with more info if U need it
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
welcome to AD! since where U got to the point where U can't benefit from hearing aids anymore, maybe you should look into CIs. ther are CI peeps around her with more info if U need it
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I thought about that but as weird as this may sound, I actually enjoy the silence. It's hard to explain, but I'm not too worried about getting hearing back. For me it's more about learning to adapt a bit better to deafness. This is who I am now and I'm okay with that. I have some medical and psychological issues and because of that, I don't care too much for sound. I've always been extra sensitive to sounds before my hearing loss. I could hear whispers from a few rooms down, clocks on different floors of the house, etc. I also get chronic migraines multiple times a week and sound is a big trigger for that. Ever since I lost my hearing I’ve been getting fewer migraines, and a lot less irritated with everyday sounds around me. So for me, I’m just taking one day at a time learning new ways to adapt to my newly silent world.
 
Forgot to mention, oddly enough, you look and pose almost exactly like another new California member, Silent Colors.
 
Wow! You are lucky to have known ASL! I am sure that helped a lot when you lost your hearing.

:welcome: to AD!

Profound deaf ASL user here. :)
 
shel90 said:
Wow! You are lucky to have known ASL! I am sure that helped a lot when you lost your hearing.

:welcome: to AD!

Profound deaf ASL user here. :)
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It helped so much actually. I mean, with my hearing friends, hearing fiance (at the time), hearing family, it was difficult because they weren't sure how to communicate with me (other than my mama), but as far as over all, it helped tremendously. I'm incredibly lucky. I also believe being a part of the Deaf Community (yes, they had accepted me before all of this) helped a lot because it wasn't something completely foreign to me. I still had the struggles of learning how to do things without sound as far as simple things like knowing when someone is at the door or when the smoke detector is going off, but as far as having support, I had a lot of it. I was really lucky. I think me being around the Deaf Community and other deaf people all my life, it made the whole transition a lot less scary or depressing.
 
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