What dB loss makes you "deaf" rather than "hard-of-hearing"?

I'm hard of hearing with loss around 70-100 db..and I don't find these labellings to be much meaningful..I have a little residual hearing and much more deafness TOGETHER... In this view , there is hearing,hard of hearing(up to 90 db),deaf(stone deaf and profound deaf that have loss higher than 90 db) groups.. I'm agains more detailed classifications .. just hearing,hoh and deaf !!!
 
Enrichment of Oneself

Deborah said:
She hopes to make some friends who are like her: wear hearing aids and speak--if they ALSO sign together she thinks it would be "cool" and wants to learn. She may go from "oral deaf" to "deaf"--what would she be then, if she becomes fluent in sign, Oral Deaf?
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Deborah, the answer to your query is simple. You daughter has hearing loss, speaks, uses residual hearing (with hearing aids) and is interested in signing ASL and participating in Deaf community. Your daughter is Hard–of–Hearing. Deafhood is not about who signs well and who doesn't. It's about using the avenues available to you to enrich yourself, including culture and using ASL.

As far as yourself, you are a Hearing person. You are very able to enrich yourself, by learning ASL and participating in Deaf culture.
 
Deborah said:
Oh, this is just exhausting! Why must we label and divide so much! I just want my daughter to be happy and to feel a part of a group. I hope we aren't met with preconceived ideas about us simply because she is oral and I am hearing.
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Deborah,

I've been a part of the Deaf and deafblind community for the past 11 years and I was educated orally. Not one Deaf person I've communicated with has ever made me feel inferior because I had residual hearing for many, many years and didn't grow up using sign. All that mattered was that I made the effort to learn sign and participated in the Deaf community. I've made some very close friends in my local Deaf community and it doesn't matter to them that I grew up in an oral environment -- or that I now hear with bilateral CIs.

If you and your daughter want to find a group to be a part of, why not learn a little sign and join your local Deaf community? As has been pointed out in another thread, a person's audiogram does not determine who is Deaf. Even a person with normal hearing can be considered Deaf. As long as you learn sign and show a real committment to be a part of the Deaf community, you will be welcomed and accepted with open arms. :)
 
I would say that it depends on the individual.

For instance, I hear better with my left ear than my right year. However, I am more sensitive to bass with my right ear than my left... and less sensitive to tremble with my right than my left.
 
Not one Deaf person I've communicated with has ever made me feel inferior because I had residual hearing for many, many years and didn't grow up using sign. All that mattered was that I made the effort to learn sign and participated in the Deaf community.
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Exactly.............It wasn't MY choice not to sign......If I'd had a choice, I would have loved to be bilingal. There are a ton of Deaf people who were oral first and learned Sign later.
I think the best idear is to be OPEN to ASL and Deaf culture, and not act like it's a "speshal needs" tool.
I did tell you about that Gally summer camp for oral kids who want to learn Sign.......When more concrete info comes out, I'll PM you with the info. I think it would be perfect for your daughter!
 
DD,

Great post! :) I feel the same way you do about sign. Even though I could function with HAs in high school (I didn't wear HAs until age 15), it still would have been nice if I could have learned some ASL.You'll be *very* surprised by this, but in high school (after receiving my first pair of HAs for a moderately-severe loss) it was recommended that I see the school's speech/language therapist for lipreading classes. I saw her twice a week. I had light perception at the time (which is still considered totally blind since light perception doesn't allow you to see objects or color) and my resource teachers thought that was enough residual vision to permit me to read lips at very close range. Oh, how wrong they were! LOL! That whole experience turned out to be a fluke. I don't think I saw the speech/language therapist for more than 3 sessions before the conclusion was made that I could not lipread. :) It was frustrating at the time, but when I think about it now, I can't help but laugh. :giggle:
 
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