Yes it's my real name! And yes, I am in need of help!

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Ms. Dick

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Greetings and Blessings Everyone!

I am a graduate student in special education. I am required to gather some first-hand information on the Deaf Community, and to solicit suggestions and comments as to what a hearing person who might encounter a student who cannot ought to bo sensitive to. I have almost no personal experience with total hearing loss, although I do have an older brother with a significant injury induced hearing loss who has always been an awesome influence to me and is very happy and successful. So I am quite excited to learn more about life from a different perspective. Can you help me?
 
Ms. Dick said:
Greetings and Blessings Everyone!

I am a graduate student in special education. I am required to gather some first-hand information on the Deaf Community, and to solicit suggestions and comments as to what a hearing person who might encounter a student who cannot ought to bo sensitive to. I have almost no personal experience with total hearing loss, although I do have an older brother with a significant injury induced hearing loss who has always been an awesome influence to me and is very happy and successful. So I am quite excited to learn more about life from a different perspective. Can you help me?
Click to expand...

Hi Ms. Dick, welcome to AD!

What kind of degree, if I might ask? College?

The ultimate question to your answer is, "it depends". Everybody is different in terms of how they approach their deafness and how it is treated (for lack of a better word?) by themselves and those around them.

I have virtually no "natural" hearing left (%95-%99 loss in both) since starting at %75 loss at one year of age, but with hearing aids and a CI (implanted age 13), I can talk well enough that I have only a slight accent.

The biggest problem I have is understanding what was said and filtering relevant sound out from background noise. It will take me longer than an average person to comprehend what was just said, and I lipread at the same time so I need to "solve" what I just heard and saw by "replay" in my head. Then I need to formulate a response, so it takes a lot of effort/time and interupts the normally smooth flow of conversation that most hearing people have, but most hearing people (under this impression on my good speech) assume that I can keep up with this flow. It really doesn't take much to break this flow, I'm guessing my reaction time is only a second (or fractions of a second) more than the average person, but a LOT can happen in that amount of time, esp. in an intensely social situation.

I can barely even keep up with two other people talking to each other, even in a "perfect" location with lots of light and no background noise, and for this reason I'm seriously considering ASL just so I can hopefully have a meaningful and mutually sastifying conversation with people on a regular basis. I don't think most hearing people understand how difficult it can be for some "cured" deaf people to communicate orally.

Hope this helps!
 
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You are extraordinary!

Wow. Thank you for taking the time to write to me! You have had to overcome a number of things. What can you share with me about going to school? That must have caused great difficulty particularly if background noise is a problem. Can you tell me about this?
 
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Welcome. I applaud your efforts to get to know what it's like for deaf people. I, myself, have only been deaf for a few months, so I'm learning about it too!

A couple weeks ago I wrote a way-too-long reply to a thread under the Deaf Culture heading that might help you. The thread was called "My boyfriend is going deaf", and my reply was near the end of it. Anyway, I won't repeat the whole thing here, but basically the process of going deaf has taught me many of the things that I relied on my hearing for. I've come up with work-arounds for dealing with them, though. It can be something subtle like having to wait for a movie to come out on DVD because captioned movies are indeed rare in a theater. Or watching the tachometer to know when to shift a stick-shift car (learned that one the hard way - 5000 rpms in 2nd gear?).

I think the most important thing for you to understand is that deaf people can do practically anything that hearing people can do, but just differently. And sometimes the different method is more difficult or time consuming. A little patience goes a long way. I am blessed with a family, friends, and co-workers who get that.
(and I seem to have run on long again. sorry)
 
Thank you Gallen for your thoughtful response. What caused you to lose your hearing? (I am going to look for your prior post too. ) Thanks!
 
I lost my hearing to a strong antibiotic called Amikacin. Since my liver transplant I have had a series of unfortunate complications, resulting in serious infections. The Amikacin was the last antibiotic left to try for the worst of these, and it finally worked (had it not, I would not be here). They saved it for last, though, because it had already caused me a 30% loss previously, and they knew it would probably take the rest of my hearing. I didn't plan on losing my balance as well, but at least I survived.
 
Gallen,

You are a very strong person to recover from such an episode and reach out into a new community looking for strength and suggestions for how to do life on an entirely different basis. I applaud you! Peace.
 
My experience of hearing loss has been a journey from loneliness in a crowd to acceptance. I lost a few friends who lost patience with me, or I wasn't cool enough for them. Then I realised they were not friends in the first place.

People do think that your hearing aids "fix" the problem. They don't understand that hearing in your aids is nothing like the hearing you have lost. Tinnitus is a big problem for me too. It can be disorienting. Sometimes you can hear something but don't know where it's coming from. Like you can be surrounded by a loud noise, but not know what is or where it's coming from. I've been over the bonnet of a big black taxi because of this problem.

Probably hearing loss is unique different for every person. All our brains are different and personalities and we all experience the world differently.
 
SumoPope said:
Hi Ms. Dick, welcome to AD!

What kind of degree, if I might ask? College?

The ultimate question to your answer is, "it depends". Everybody is different in terms of how they approach their deafness and how it is treated (for lack of a better word?) by themselves and those around them.

I have virtually no "natural" hearing left (%95-%99 loss in both) since starting at %75 loss at one year of age, but with hearing aids and a CI (implanted age 13), I can talk well enough that I have only a slight accent.

The biggest problem I have is understanding what was said and filtering relevant sound out from background noise. It will take me longer than an average person to comprehend what was just said, and I lipread at the same time so I need to "solve" what I just heard and saw by "replay" in my head. Then I need to formulate a response, so it takes a lot of effort/time and interupts the normally smooth flow of conversation that most hearing people have, but most hearing people (under this impression on my good speech) assume that I can keep up with this flow. It really doesn't take much to break this flow, I'm guessing my reaction time is only a second (or fractions of a second) more than the average person, but a LOT can happen in that amount of time, esp. in an intensely social situation.

I can barely even keep up with two other people talking to each other, even in a "perfect" location with lots of light and no background noise, and for this reason I'm seriously considering ASL just so I can hopefully have a meaningful and mutually sastifying conversation with people on a regular basis. I don't think most hearing people understand how difficult it can be for some "cured" deaf people to communicate orally.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...


I am with u on that one..grew up orally and after learning ASL, I realized how hard I had to work all my life to communicate with others on a daily basis and why I was always stressed out and depressed. Now , my life with ASL is so much easier and I am a much happier person.
 
Hello, I am sort of looking for the same thing you are. I teach Diesel and Heavy Equipment Mechanics and this year I have my first deaf student. I have no experience with the Deaf community and I am concerned with the Safety isues especially while operating bulldozers, excavators, bachoes, etc. Good luck on your studies and if you learn something I could use please let me know. This is my first shot at a chat room, if this is what you call this.
 
Diesel said:
Hello, I am sort of looking for the same thing you are. I teach Diesel and Heavy Equipment Mechanics and this year I have my first deaf student. I have no experience with the Deaf community and I am concerned with the Safety isues especially while operating bulldozers, excavators, bachoes, etc. Good luck on your studies and if you learn something I could use please let me know. This is my first shot at a chat room, if this is what you call this.
Click to expand...

It is best to express your concerns to the deaf student and ask him those questions on how u can meet his needs. He probably would appreciate that very much. :)

Glad you came in here asking for advice.
 
Church Potlucks

As a hearing person who has Deaf friends I have found that the deaf
community is more than willing to help educate those of us who are
hearing.

When I joined my Deaf friends for a Church potluck and was
placed at the table with all Deaf people I suddenly felt like there was
not enough of me to go around! I asked questions. They asked questions.
They happily taught me signs that I had first fingerspelled. (One I remember was the sign for military as they were very curious when they discovered that I had been a female helicopter mechanic in the Army)

At the end of that day I was EXHAUSTED! But I remembered more new signs from that event than each whole ASL class I took. (I had no interp, you know, like throw the kid into the water! She will either sink or swim!) I have found the Deaf to be very helpful, very curious and kind.
 
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