What kind of a world did you grow up in?

Daredevel7

Daredevel7

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I believe that our opinions are strongly formed from our own personal experiences.

Growing up, most of people's (including professionals such as doctors) responses towards me are either a lack of faith in me ("She won't make it in mainstream school") or a shock of what I can do. So I grew up thinking that hearing people have a really low opinion of deaf people or do not expect much of them, so they don't even bother trying to get all the potential out of them. (This experience also applies to my few deaf friends who were raised orally)

If you look at my posts, I tend to favor towards oralism/speech skills more than the average deaf person here on AD. Not because I think they need it, but because I think they weren't given a chance to really try.

Obviously, I could be very wrong but this thread is not for debating but rather see where people's opinions towards the deaf community/culture/whatever are coming from.
 
I'm more a favor towards speech skills and any signing methods (doesn't have to be only ASL) I'm getting a feeling that there are more deaf people who prefer signs over speech all the way, that's the feeling I'm getting from them. :dunno:
 
I spent the first 5 years of my life in an intensive oral program grouped with 5 other deaf kids. 3 of us have good skills while the other 2 have none.

4 years later, my brother attended the same program for the first 5 years. He has no speech skills whatsover.

We were all given a chance..some of us benefited from it and the others didn't.

I grew up believing that having oral/speech skills made me superior over those who didn't and that all deaf people should learn speech not sign language.

When I learned ASL and majored in Deaf Ed and saw a whole another world, my views changed.

Funny..all 5 of us from that oral class in our infant/toddler program all are now ASL users and the 3 of us who grew up without ASL wish we had ASL growing up especially in the educational setting.

I believe all children should have both but won't continue to force a child with speech therapy if they aren't benfiting from them and use the time for something more productive that they can benefit from. That came from experience in the field of deaf education not from my upbringing.
 
I grew up mainstreamed in an oral environment from Pre-K to a bachelor's. Zero programs used.

I never had the accommodation of an interpreter, notetaker, hard of hearing/deaf friends, all the whatnots of deaf culture throughout my life. If anything, I recall having a special auditor evaluate my academic progression during the public school district era every other month; but I felt disdained to request of her services as she constantly asked if I needed help or assistance in my studies. It felt more of a "nag" thing to me, as it bears relation to the word "impaired" in the Offensive?? topic by Adamsmomma. I did not see myself as "physically or mentally disabled" from K-12, and the service being offered in my favor made me feel like I would become disabled to the eyes of the other kids.
(You'll now note that this is where I express having never been "infused" with (D)eaf culture.)

Simply said, I felt I was your average kid competing with the others, and I had more hurdles to jump in the 100m race.

During college I recall in one of my courses I had a deaf student. She had the opportunity of classmates who volunteered to be her notetaker, and an interpreter signing the professor's lectures.
I did not understand a word of ASL at that time, but I was able to pass all courses within acceptable or higher. I never spoke a word to her for two quarters; I think she took two of my courses. Why did I not talk to her? Because I felt like a foreigner not knowing ASL which seemed like it was her main language.

This is where I express the bridge world, as I'm not fully hearing, but I'm not deaf enough to fully rely on ASL (although I have been brushing up on it). This is a different gap of the deaf world, I feel.

Now as I look back and evaluate everything, it is quite obvious that the special assistance program was meant in an expression of goodwill; but as a growing child it is hard to see that. In an oral only environment, I feel that any hard of hearing child will feel that the world is against them, whether of bad or good intentions.

I guess a better way of conveying my expression behind this is that some people disprove of "looking like a cripple" in front of their classmates.
 
I was raised orally, but I had enough residual hearing to benefit from this for the most part. I was diagnosed with a mild hearing loss at age 3, but didn't receive my first pair of hearing aids until age 15 even though they (and ear surgery) were recommended for me at age 3. I think I functioned pretty well in school. I had excellent grades, lots of friends and did not let my deafblindness stand in the way of any of my goals. I was able to attend Homecoming and Prom. I also participated in advanced choir for 2 years, the band for 2 years, I was in Honors courses, I was a member of my school's Academic Decathalon team, I served on the editorial staff of my school newspaper for 2 years, I was on the Forensics (speech) team for 2 years and placed 2nd and 3rd in State competition missing Nationals by only 2 points. I also participated on the Debate team for one year. I don't feel as if I've missed out on my education because of my hearing loss or deafblindness, but at the same time, I think that knowing tactile sign (PSE, SEE, ASL) would have made thing so much easier.
 
Early mainstream school experience. Our local schools had a program that put deaf/hoh together for the first six grades, and then at junior high which started in seventh grade tossed them into the mainstream.

It was oral based education. But signing between kids at recess or free time was never prohibited as I have seen many people talk about in other programs.

I had deaf grandparents, and my father was not approving of the way that generation from the deaf school were treated and educated and he was certain the public neighborhood schools would be a better option.

Another kid from my neighborhood was in the same program, and after seventh grade, his parents moved to a small town as mainstream with only front row placement and lipreading was pretty tough. I don't know what happened to him.
 
From my personal experience. I grew up orally.

Then I started to attend to a deaf school. I was totally rejected!! With my peers signing the index finger on their forhead.

Time went by. I was finally accepted.

What made me so determined???

Is that I was accused of being a "fence straddler"

It was not by the Deaf community alone.

I do appricate all that I have learned in my life.

Just seem no matter who you are. One way or another, everyone wants to be accepted.

One can deny the fact, that it does not matter. It is only human nature.
 
I grew up mainstreamed all my life, and basically signed SEE. There was few other deaf students in those schools I went to. I almost never had problems with hearing people most of the time in school. I've had few bullies in middle school but I overcame that, so I moved to a high school that is more closer to home and the environment is much better for me.

And I got to mention about the doctor's response to me when I once visited for a on job injury (a bit deep cut on my finger) few years ago. The doctor looked at me, and had the guts to ask me, do you drive? I gave him the look, and said of course I can!. I have my drivers license to show him the proof, and he gulped. I shrugged at him and get the injury taken care of, which is 3 stitches then went home.

I started to learn ASL when I entered college and still learn whenever I get the chance to interact with my friends and socialize. I'm both oral and use sign language.
 
I forgot to mention that throughout my education I attended a mainstream program in the public school system.
 
It's interesting to see some responses in this thread so far.

ASL isn't my first language. SEE (Signing Exact English) was my first language and I had been using it since I was around 12 months old or so. I was in the mainstream setting with other deaf students from K-3rd grade. It was not until the 4th grade (I was 9 years old at the time) when I was enrolled at ISD (Indiana School for the Deaf) that I was fully exposed to ASL.

So, ever since - I was discovering myself down the road while growing up being exposed to ASL and I also did lip reading/speaking as well. With that, being parallel, I was fortunate enough to get the best of both worlds that could have possibly been offered to.

What I am trying to say is - I'm not dismissing either both of the worlds but however, I think that if one doesn't interfere to dismiss each other - a lot more possible opportunities would be up for grabs for others. (Now, I only wish that was even more possible but unfortunately, sometime that isn't the case.)
 
I was not very happy in an oral method in the mainstream schools. They force us to speak with speech therapy in the elementary mainstream schools and the special education teacher taught us how to lipread when someone is speaking to us. It was very difficult to try to understand what the person is saying. There were eight of us as deaf students in a deaf education classroom. We had to wear our headphones to hear what the teacher say in her microphone speaking to us, no sign language allowed. By the time we finish with the elementary school (that would be the end of speech therapy) and continue going into mainstream high school. We still have to learn to lipread and continue to have special deaf education with still oral method, no sign language permitted for the next three years. We were so lost in the hearing classroom part time with no interpreters and no notetakers either. Then we started to go in hearing classroom full time from 10th to 12th grades, no deaf education classroom but as a home room. We still could not understand what the teacher was trying to teach us like English for literature(books), Civil studies(government history), Math (not good with it because I do not understand what the hearing teachers try to teach math to me), Sewing only one apron but that was it, learn to write French but very poor with spoken French. Both of these schools are from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After I graduated from high school, I went to the Deaf church where the Deaf pastor taught me how to sign Exact English sign language in 1966. Oh, I was sooo happy that the sign language open the door for me and it lifted my weight off my shoulder. I was so relieved to be able to communicate with sign language with Deaf people in the Deaf communities. I went to Seattle Central Community College in Seattle, Washington where they have a Deaf program with ASL interpreters and notetakers in 1973 to 1975. I find myself getting better grades than my previous grades which was from C- to D- in high school. In college I get the grade like A- to B+ and I marveled at these grades. That is why I would love to have all mainstream schools and also Deaf schools to have access to ASL to teach us so that we can understand much better than not understanding at all. No wonder we don't get excellent grades because it stuck big time if we don't have sign language interpreters. It is very important that we need ASL in our Deaf education and in our Social events too.

Trying to speak and read lips is a trying time to understand and not perfect in any way. I get ignore with that many times to hearing people including my hearing husband too. They all expected me to hear their words like listen to their words. Now my precious hearing husband have a hard time to hear and he misunderstood what the person say on the phone or talking to someone. He need to go to the audiologist for his hearing check up. I don't know if he understand what is like to lose his hearing and miss the words that I had to gone through. What a weird world we are living in. :roll:
 
I grew up in a regular hearing environment. Nothing special was done for me at my schools. I attended regular public schools and was in regular classrooms with hearing students. I became an expert lipreader and my speech is perfect so I blended in easily.

At home my parents and two sisters (all who have perfect hearing) provided me with a happy home life. I still remember when I got my first closed captioning box, I was so excited to be able to read everything that was being said on the television and I didn't have to lipread the characters who were on the screen. My family had no problems with leaving the captions on for me. When I go to visit my Mom or my sisters houses they immediately turn on the captioning on their tvs for me.

My sisters were my protectors, they even would help me talk on the telephone to my school friends and even boyfriends when I got older. My sister would hold the ear part of the telephone to her ear and listen to the speaker, she would then mouth every single word out to me, and since I could lipread I would be able to keep up with the conversation without missing a beat. The speaker would never have a clue that someone was helping me. I fooled many people that way. :giggle:

Since I never interacted with any other deaf or hoh individuals I never learned sign language. I am jealous of all of you that do know it. I wish I had learned it, but even now I have no one to use it with. :(

I have always known that I am different, but I have never let that get in my way.
I don't care if anyone has ever made fun of me or laughed at me behind my back, I know what I have acomplished in my life and that is all that really matters.

My husband fell in love with me while we were both in college, he knew from the start that I was hoh but he didn't even blink a eye about it. Even now he will make all the telephone calls and go to all the doctors appointments with me to make sure that I do not miss out on any important details. We just celebrated 14 years married in December. My three daughters who are all hearing have never expressed embarrasment or shame that their Mom can't hear perfect. It is just part of who we are as a family and I hope that my girls will forever carry with them that all people are worthy of respect and love, and that no matter what setbacks you may experience everyone is special in their own way.
 
Byrdie714 said:
Right here--
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Well, I can agree with Naisho...as a child, I was embarassed by my FM system, my HAs, or any services I had that made my deafness obvious. It was a result of trying to be like my hearing peers and learned behaviors from society that deafness is something to be "fixed".
 
Byrdie714 said:
Question: why do y'all worry about what other people think?
Click to expand...

Because no one but you was home schooled. That is what normal socialization in a classroom does to people.

And it also supposedly prepares you to function in the real world.

Self conscious would be for another reason in a child who was not deaf.
 
I moved to different school three times, I was only used my signing but no ASL until I entered Deaf school (for third time). So, I used SEE that my family would understand me better. Cos, sometimes, they may not understand ASL. Speech was not for me since it never work well for me, anyway.

EDIT: Ah, yes. I also used to hang out with deaf friends more than hearing friends at public schools. As for Deaf school, it was totally different than pervious schools, and it really sucks as hell. Well, at the least, I had my normal childhood better than my teenhood. :)
 
shel90 said:
Well, I can agree with Naisho...as a child, I was embarassed by my FM system, my HAs, or any services I had that made my deafness obvious.
Click to expand...

I felt the same way when I was 15 and started wearing hearing aids. I did everything I could to hide them. When my itinerant teacher asked me one day in front of the entire class, "Hear Again, how do you like your new hearing aids?" I just about died from embarrassment. No offense, but it was bad enough being the only totally blind student let alone a totally blind student who wore hearing aids.
 
I don't think I was THAT embarrassed about my hearing aids or anything. Yes, I was a bit self concious, but it wasn't enough for me to hate being in a mainstream school. Everyone has something to be embarrassed about. I remember in elementary school, I caught someone using an asthma inhaler. He was so embarrassed and tried to hide it. To me, I think it's a good learning experience to be different or to meet someone different. It just only seems cruel back then.
 
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