Not a good day

Oops! Sorry that I got your gender wrong, DeafBadger. I had a 50/50 chance and I chose wrong. I'll remember next time. :wave:
 
jillio said:
It is that sameness of experience that I was referring to in another thread. The late deafened and the hearing don't have that, and tend to underplay the importance of it not just within the deaf community, but sociologically and educationally as well.
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Amen jillo! Beachgirl, the experiance that mainstreamed dhh (and many other high functioning low incidence disabilty kids) go through is just....basicly educational social-emotional neglect. If it was a family sitution, CPS would be called in or we would call it very dysfucntional. It is NOT normal high school crap. I mean yeah high school is horrible. I'm pretty much a classic Ophelia (from Reviving Ophelia) ......But the deaf thing....GOD hearing kids (and hearing teachers) are so beyond prejudicated and horrible.
Oh, and DeafBadger....I was thinking. Maybe we need to start a Dhh Mainstream Survivors Club, and rent out Aspen Camp School for the Deaf and Hoh for a week or so!
 
DeafBadger said:
Thank you for your words, but I am a man. :)

One thing that I really don't want to do is blame someone else for what did or did not happen.

At the deaf meet, some people were asking me what school I went to and when I told them that I was in an HI program and mainstreamed, they asked me if that was because of my parents' decision.

Truth be told, if my parents felt that I would have benefited from deaf school, they would have moved to be near the school so as not to break up the family. They would have made sure I was there. As far as I know, HI teachers didn't advise going to a deaf school, so it didn't happen.

.
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Oh and DeafBadger, I feel for you! I think it's b/c of the " gotta mainstream them" mentality I wish that HI teachers weren't so "gotta mainstream them." WHY? Yes, mainstreaming USED to be innovative, and used to REALLY offer a good path. But, god............sigh....I have a feeling that this generation of "sucessfully" mainstreamed kids (who only "need" deaf HI preschool) are going to end up just like us socially and emotionally....and ALL b/c of the myth that mainstreaming is some glorious utopia.
 
DeafBadger said:
I made some new friends at the deaf meet this past weekend and they added me on their Facebook profiles.

So I'm looking at their photos learning more about them, and so many of them have pictures from when they were growing up in a deaf school. Pictures of them doing school events and trips overseas and within the country. Social events, parties, crushes, romances, the works.

So I'm looking at that and comparing it with my own experience as a solitary, mainstreamed deaf person and I'm fookin pissed off. Why didn't I have those experiences?

Yeah... today is not a good day.
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I know exactly how you feel. You feel like you've missed out on the social aspect of life, and because of that you feel like you didn't get to experience as much or as many good things as they have.

Believe me, the feeling is enough to make you hate yourself because there have been times where I've sat down and looked at things like this and told myself "If I weren't deaf I would......" or things like "If my family were more understanding I would......."

Its very frustrating and you just wonder, why couldn't your life be more happy with more friends or maybe in my case, if I had just one good friend that would have stuck with me throughout the years.

I have those days too. The only thing we can do, is look up, and carry on and hope that one day that as adults we will get to have those experiences too.
 
I knew you were a guy. So, do you go out with the deafies lately? keep going to the deaf event, and they all would get to know you better and better. Lots of deafies like to make new friends like me. I know they would ask you out constantly.
 
The thing about loss is that good times in the present bring up the grief. So, I have a do somthing nice with my family now, which I am happy about. This contrasts with my family or origin, which were all bad times. So, the happy times now make me sad because I remember the bad times in my childhood. The feelings get all mixed up sometime. I happens less often to me now than in the past. I had to work through some unresolved issues, though, and that's hard work.
 
I went to deaf classes in hearing school. Aint that weird? I had to get up at 4:30am and travel 50 miles(zanesville,oh) when I was in kindergarten. Yeah, thanks to my bad ears. :lol:

As a child, I got to do a lot of things like what you mentioned. Events,parties,trips,holiday decorations,etc. Every spring back in the 80s, I went to circus with my deaf classmates.(long bus trip to columbus,oh) That was just so much fun. Every May, we got on this huge boat called Mayflower and go for rides. A big river behind the school. I have so many great memories as a child growing. Every christmas, teachers would buy us presents and have huge parties. I loved all of my teachers. I truely miss them,today. I remember we visited coca-cola factory not to far from school and got free pop. After the tour, we got pizza from Dominos. Me and my best friend who is deaf had huge crush with one of our deaf program teachers.( she had to know) She was blonde with curly hair. This was before our balls dropped. :lol: I had a blast. In junior high,that is when things changed. No more deaf classes. How could I learn? Ya know but I dont dwell on lot of things.
 
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