terramadre42
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2007
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 0
Hey all
I went through 12+ years of schooling with some small exposure to the Deaf world. I got to go to a Deaf camp when I was 14, and I visited Kansas School for the Deaf many times, and had a sign/Deaf Culture class till I was 15. Then I moved away to a pretty rural/suburban kind of community where the only other HOH person there was raised completely oral and knew no sign at all.
I learned SEE first, and then ASL, and since I haven't had a regular signing partner to keep me brushed up for about 10 years, I slip into pidgeon a lot. It really bothers me that I'm losing what little I had. What residual hearing I have (I have a severe "loss" -which implies I ever had it to begin with, and I didn't) isn't going to last forever, and I've already lost a lot in my early adulthood. Hearing aids are expensive and we don't have any insurance for them, and honestly, I prefer not to wear them the majority of the time. The problem is that I live in a Hearing world, and have no Deaf community around me.
I am teaching my partner and kids sign, and it's going great - every few days, I take out my aid (only have one, the other is broken) for the duration of the day and we sign. This makes learning fun and effective for us. But my ASL is limited and I'm always looking signs up and I know I'm getting the syntax wrong about 1/2 the time.... all my signing buddies that I have ever had live far away. Seems like they're in New York or DC, and here I am in Kansas!
KSD could be a potential resource for me, but it's located 35 miles away from me, and I don't have a car.
So... it breaks down to ... I'm HOH girl living in a Hearing world and looking for the Deaf world! Any ideas???
Thx
I went through 12+ years of schooling with some small exposure to the Deaf world. I got to go to a Deaf camp when I was 14, and I visited Kansas School for the Deaf many times, and had a sign/Deaf Culture class till I was 15. Then I moved away to a pretty rural/suburban kind of community where the only other HOH person there was raised completely oral and knew no sign at all.
I learned SEE first, and then ASL, and since I haven't had a regular signing partner to keep me brushed up for about 10 years, I slip into pidgeon a lot. It really bothers me that I'm losing what little I had. What residual hearing I have (I have a severe "loss" -which implies I ever had it to begin with, and I didn't) isn't going to last forever, and I've already lost a lot in my early adulthood. Hearing aids are expensive and we don't have any insurance for them, and honestly, I prefer not to wear them the majority of the time. The problem is that I live in a Hearing world, and have no Deaf community around me.
I am teaching my partner and kids sign, and it's going great - every few days, I take out my aid (only have one, the other is broken) for the duration of the day and we sign. This makes learning fun and effective for us. But my ASL is limited and I'm always looking signs up and I know I'm getting the syntax wrong about 1/2 the time.... all my signing buddies that I have ever had live far away. Seems like they're in New York or DC, and here I am in Kansas!
KSD could be a potential resource for me, but it's located 35 miles away from me, and I don't have a car.
So... it breaks down to ... I'm HOH girl living in a Hearing world and looking for the Deaf world! Any ideas???
Thx