Would anyone be willing to answer these questions?

[oodtheissoo]

Hey, I'm doing a presentation on the hearing impaired for my culture and health class, I have to interview someone who represents that culture; but I don't know anyone who is hearing impaired. Would any of you be willing to answer these questions for me? It would help out a lot

First, state your social background (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.)

Then here are the questions:


Overview/Heritage
1. Do you know Sign Language/ASL/Cued speech? Did you go to school for hearing-impaired?

Communication
1. How do you overcome communication barriers?
2. Do you use anything special to communicate?

Workforce Issues
1. Have you even been discriminated against because you’re hearing impaired?
2. Are there any accommodations made for you in your workplace?

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. What type of precautions do you take where ever you go?
2. How do you communicate in team activities?
3. Do you have any extra challenges while living on your own?

Health Care Practices
1. How do you seek health care?
2. How are you taken care of in hospital (health care) settings, do you have someone who can interpret for you?
3. Have you ever traveled by ambulance, if so how were you able to communicate with the EMT’s?

Money Questions
1. Do you have special equipment that you have to have? If so how much does it
cost?



If anyone could do that, it would mean the world to me. If not, sorry to bother you.

Danielle

 

[deafdyke]

but I don't know anyone who is hearing impaired. Would any of you be willing to answer these questions for me? It would help out a lot

Well first of all, the correct terminlogy is deaf or hard of hearing. Hearing impaired just sounds so inaccuate and clinical. Would you call a woman a "non man?"
First, state your social background (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.)

I'm 25, F, Slovak-Swamp Yankee (direct descendent of someone who came over here on the MayFlower...and no stupid Mayflower-Levonian jokes here!)
Then here are the questions:


Overview/Heritage
1. Do you know Sign Language/ASL/Cued speech? Did you go to school for hearing-impaired?
I'm slowly but surely learning ASL. I have a handful of friends who are dhh but I don't see them too often. I grew up mostly mainstream with the exception of a self contained classroom for kids with all sorts of disabilties. I am hoping to become fluent in it before I turn 30. If I go to grad school, I'd like to go to one that has a strong dhh population.

Communication
1. How do you overcome communication barriers? Ask someone to repeat themselves. Most people I see in my day to day life unconsciously modifiy their voices so I can understand them better.
2. Do you use anything special to communicate? Nope

Workforce Issues
1. Have you even been discriminated against because you’re hearing impaired? Nope
2. Are there any accommodations made for you in your workplace?
N/A as I'm currently on disabilty.

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. What type of precautions do you take where ever you go? None really
2. How do you communicate in team activities?...Speechreading....writing
3. Do you have any extra challenges while living on your own? Nope...just not being able to hear the fire alarm, but my RA has to wake me up if there's a midnight fire alarm

Health Care Practices
1. How do you seek health care? It is difficult finding good quality health care as I have a preexisting condtion
2. How are you taken care of in hospital (health care) settings, do you have someone who can interpret for you? Nope
3. Have you ever traveled by ambulance, if so how were you able to communicate with the EMT’s? Can't remember....probaly not

Money Questions
1. Do you have special equipment that you have to have? If so how much does it
cost? My hearing aids...they are not covered by insurance and are very expensive (currently covered by Medicaid)

 

[gnarlydorkette]

Age: 19
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Finnish-American

and I do agree with deafdyke that "hearing imparied" is not an approiate term for me but there are some hearing that became deaf who would prefer the term "hearing impaired". I prefer "Deaf" because it is who I am, and I wasn't hearing in beginning with so what am I missing out? How could I be impaired if I haven't started to "pair"?

Overview/Heritage
1. Do you know Sign Language/ASL/Cued speech? Did you go to school for hearing-impaired? I use American Sign Language. I didn't go to any school for deaf (residental) but I did go to schools that have programs for the deaf/hoh students (mainstreamed).

Communication
1. How do you overcome communication barriers? I use my voice as a last resort. I can lip-read hearing people whereas I use gestures and paper-and-pen as my method if I have no interpreter available and I haven't tuned my voice.
2. Do you use anything special to communicate? Interpreters! And my creative skill of gestures! Hearing aids could be one of the "special" but I never use it in public (meaning: school, work, etc)

Workforce Issues
1. Have you even been discriminated against because you’re hearing impaired? Not applied here since I work with Deaf people at my work. But I do avoid certain workplaces where communication is a necessary because I knew they will use my deafness against me and as their reason for not hiring me-- "safety hazard"! Well, I never!
2. Are there any accommodations made for you in your workplace? If I am working in a hearing workplace, there will be an interpreter for first several weeks to get accustomed to the areas. Doorknock-flasher may be used if I have my own office. TTY will be provided to me instead of a phone. And an erasable board will be posted on my wall so my coworker and I can write back and forth.

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. What type of precautions do you take where ever you go? ?? I am not sure what do you mean by this but-- hey I am average like everybody else so I do look left and right before I cross... I brake when the light is red and for the stop sign.
2. How do you communicate in team activities? Lipreading, gestures, and my voice as last resort.
3. Do you have any extra challenges while living on your own? Those damn telemarketers! I cannot tell them off since they are calling on my TTY/VP. It is difficult when certain businesses don't understand that the residence has no hearing thus they shouldn't call on phone or anything without a relay service or at least via TTY. It is annoying when you are typing "hello?" and nobody is answering.

Health Care Practices
1. How do you seek health care? I am a member of a healthcare with assistance from SSI. I usually call them up for appointments and whatnot.
2. How are you taken care of in hospital (health care) settings, do you have someone who can interpret for you? When I was younger, my mother would interpret for me. Now I go by myself or wiht my husband and we try our best at lipread and gesture or voice for ourselves. I haven't put in a request for interpreters because it is a privacy issue for me that I cannot bring my "friends" who happen to be interpreters as well into my health issues. I didn't want my interpreter/friend to look up my vagina in my obgyno's office!
3. Have you ever traveled by ambulance, if so how were you able to communicate with the EMT’s? Not applied.

Money Questions
1. Do you have special equipment that you have to have? If so how much does it cost? Tmobile mobile phone? The Tmobile Sidekick2 costs me 300bucks. TTY for me was free. Video-Phone was free for me. They were given for free because of my so-called disability.

 

[farmerjoe]

I'm stuck between both worlds (hearing and deaf), I diddn't start to loose my hearing untill I was about 13, and my entire family is hearing. A lot of people may not consider me part of the Deaf culture, but i'm definately not part of the hearing world either.

I'm 25, male, white.

Overview/Heritage

1) I use ASL as much as I can. I took it up when I went to college. I went to a mainstream school.

Communication
1.) Good question, most of them I just have to deal with them as they happen. Quick thinking has helped a lot.
2. I lipread, I'm pretty dependant on it. I try to be carefull in social situations.. so as not to make people uncomfortable.

Workforce Issues
1.) Yes, I've also been descriminated against because I was hearing. Or at least percieved as hearing. It goes both ways. Hearing people have treated me like I'm less than human becaue I can't hear, and Deaf people have treated me like I'm stupid or something because I used to hear. (Though I'm not completely deaf yet)

2. Not really. I'm pretty much on my own in a lot of ways. They'd be more than happy to accomodate me but, There's no way to make me hear. Some times I think it would be easier if I were 100% deaf, then they'd not expect me to hear at all. I work for the Information Systems dept., so since all of my coworkers are technically inclined they send me e-mail if they don't talk to me in person.

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. Well, when I first lost all use of one ear I stoped being able to tell where sounds come from, I was about 18, I learned quickly that I had to make better use of what I see to avoid things like getting hit by a truck. What I do is nothing special, it's just training yourself to become more perceptive. (while it's a myth that when one sense is lost, the others become stronger, people do tend to begin using their other senses more effeciently. I also take good care of my eyes, I need them to hear. (I'm not sure if that answered your question the way you expected it to be answered)

2. I speak very well, (though it's not like riding a bike, I catch myself some times and I've been told I don't always speak clearly). When I'm in a small group, I'd try to position myself to best make use of my existing hearing. In the past if would also tend to dominate the discussion, my thought was that by controlling the flow I can more easily understand things from context and it's less likely that others will talk at the same time. However, I've since learned that there are disadvantages to that as well, so, there's no easy answer to working with hearing people.


3. I just moved into a new apartment about a month ago. I can't hear the smoke alarm so I'm going to have to get a better one. When I lived in the Dorms a few years back I had a lot of trouble with the hearing people around me. Complaints that my alarm clock was too loud. (the fact that I'd sleep through it diddn't help) and other sound related complaints. (The RAs diddn't know what to do with me, I'm sure they were afraid to scold me for going deaf )

Health Care Practices
1.) I'm not sure what you mean by this question. I have health insurance through my job..


2. Not appilicable.

3. Also not applicable.

Money Questions
1. I have my computer and my high speed internet. (I would't call it special but, I can't live without it. All the things I do online that 10 years ago you had to do by phone. It's great. I pay about $60 a month for my internet access) As I mentioned I need to get a new smoke detector/alarm That will cost upwards of $200-$300. I'm hoping I can find some program to pay for it or help me pay for it. I have an alarm clock that has a vibration thing for my bed. Vocational Rehabilitation payed for that, because I need to wake up to get to work (it cost about $250, but not my money -- they won't pay for the smoke alarm because it's not directly related to me keeping or getting a job.) I have an Ogo, which is a 2 way text device from ATT Wireless (which is now Cingular), it's similar to a T-mobile Sidekick but the coverage is better (in my area anyway) and it's cheaper. $100 for the deivce itself and I pay about $18 a month for the service.

 

[Kaimia]

Age: 19
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Scottish/German American

Overview/Heritage
1. Do you know Sign Language/ASL/Cued speech? Did you go to school for hearing-impaired? I've known some sign language since I was in 3rd grade, but I'm taking classes in college now to learn more. I mostly rely on lipreading, body language, and what I hear for everyday situations.
Communication
1. How do you overcome communication barriers? I ask people to repeat themselves, rephrase what they said, spell it out if they know the alphabet, or write it down. Some of my friends know sign so they'll sign what they spoke so I can understand. If there are interpretors at an event, I'll sit so I can see them, or (at college events) I sit near my HoH friend who has a captioner.

2. Do you use anything special to communicate?
I use an FM system in school so I can hear my teachers better, and interpretors if they are available. And email, IMs, and paper/pencil on occasion.

Workforce Issues
1. Have you even been discriminated against because you’re hearing impaired? At work, no, but in class, yes. My stats teacher incorrectly assumed that because I couldn't hear her, I was stupid as well, and kept trying to help me when I didn't need help.
2. Are there any accommodations made for you in your workplace? Phone with volume control so I can hear a bit better, but I don't even have to answer the phone if I don't feel comfortable doing so. My boss knows to get my attention and look at me when he talks to me.

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. What type of precautions do you take where ever you go? Um...I always double check for traffic when crossing streets, but I think most people do that. If I'm biking on the street, I obsessively look over my shoulder to avoid being run down.
2. How do you communicate in team activities? Talking, using the FM, lipreading, writing, sign language...anything that works.
3. Do you have any extra challenges while living on your own? I live in a dorm (does that count as alone?), but I don't think there's anything "extra".

Health Care Practices
1. How do you seek health care? I've had the same doctor since I was little, and my high school recommened an audiologist, so I guess I've never looked for one.
2. How are you taken care of in hospital (health care) settings, do you have someone who can interpret for you? I either lipread/listen, or (in the case of my one hospital visit) my boyfriend helped me understand what they were asking (he signs a little).
3. Have you ever traveled by ambulance, if so how were you able to communicate with the EMT’s? Never done so.

Money Questions
1. Do you have special equipment that you have to have? If so how much does it cost? My college bought the FM, but should I buy one in the future it'll be a couple thousand (my ears are picky and only like one brand). I have text messaging on my phone, and am online a ton - emails, IMs, etc.

 

[AL-KHAWARIZMI]

Hey, I'm doing a presentation on the hearing impaired for my culture and health class, I have to interview someone who represents that culture; but I don't know anyone who is hearing impaired. Would any of you be willing to answer these questions for me? It would help out a lot

First, state your social background (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.)

late 20s, Y chromosomes, half Mulatto & half Happa

Then here are the questions:
Overview/Heritage
1. Do you know Sign Language/ASL/Cued speech? Did you go to school for hearing-impaired?

Yes. No I didn't.

Communication
1. How do you overcome communication barriers?
2. Do you use anything special to communicate?

1a. With respect to hearing people, it would have to be either through 3 different modes.
a. writing back and forth
b. hopefully they know how to read lips or sign
c. via an interpreter.

1b. With respect to deaf people, there's really only 2 ways.
a. Visual English
b. ASL

2. My brain, I presume.

Workforce Issues
1. Have you even been discriminated against because you’re hearing impaired?
2. Are there any accommodations made for you in your workplace?

1. Yes I have. Been turned down from 4 engineering positions due to my deafness.

2. Not really, other than having interpreters at major meetings.

High Risk/Safety Issues
1. What type of precautions do you take where ever you go?
2. How do you communicate in team activities?
3. Do you have any extra challenges while living on your own?

1. Common sense.
2. See Answer to "Communication"
3. No.

Health Care Practices
1. How do you seek health care?
2. How are you taken care of in hospital (health care) settings, do you have someone who can interpret for you?
3. Have you ever traveled by ambulance, if so how were you able to communicate with the EMT’s?

1. Just like everyone else does, via the yellow book.
2. I'm taken care of well. No I do not have an interpreter. Never had a need for one.
3. Yes I have. Look for the answer in 'Communication'

Money Questions
1. Do you have special equipment that you have to have? If so how much does it cost?

1. Tmobile Sidekick: ~250 dollars with 30/month fee [It can be obtained free via some certain deals found online]
2. Sorensen Video Player 100: Free
3. Doorbell / Video Player Flasher: 30 dollars
4. Internet Access: 49.99 a month
5. A computer: ~2.5K for the latest and greatest model (altho not necessary, one can get by with 499.99 one]

If anyone could do that, it would mean the world to me. If not, sorry to bother you.

Danielle

The world? Surely you exaggerate.


AL-KHAWARIZMI