HearMyHands
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2010
- Messages
- 10
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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 for reading!
Krystal
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 for reading!
Krystal