On being stuck in a hearing world..

[hypomanic_poet]

It kinda frustrates me sometimes. I was four when I lost a good chunk of my hearing, and I could already speak and read fairly well, thanks to my mother relentlessly teaching me with flashcards. I wish I had been taught ASL from an early age...I feel like I'm straddling two worlds-the d/Deaf & the hearing world. I sound like a hearing person, but I

Comments

[hollzilla]

Hey, I didn't know you went to APSEA. And when did you go to Deaf Camp? I'm actually the activity coordiantor there now. :D

Well, really, IMO, I'd accept you as who you are now. Nothing wouldn't change my opinion of you and I'm perfectly willing to help you with learning more ASL and such. I actually go to Moncton quite often, but I don't know when my next trip there will be. :)

[hypomanic_poet]

I was like fourteen when I first went to APSEA, so that was in the year...*thinks*..2000? I thiiink I went in 2001 and 2002 as well. Do you know Tanya Rogers? I went with her once. I think. It was a LOONG time ago... And Deaf Camp I first went around the same time. I think the first time I went was in '99, so I would've been thirteen. >.< It was so fun haha. I only got dunked with water once, and I never got to dunk anyone :( haha. I'd love to go back to Deaf Camp again, but I'm twenty-five. Waay too old, unless I work there. Which probably would never happen.

And OH MAN. If you and I met, it would be pretty awesome, but I would be SO. NERVOUS. And SHY. And insecure. Haha. I'd need alcohol. Lots of it. :p

I wish we could have like, ASL video chats on Skype, cause I think you're pretty cool and I'd wanna get to know you more, but my ASL is rusty. Like WOAH. I'm rather sick of typing. Haha :P

[hollzilla]

The last time I went was in... 2005, I think, haha. Of course I know Tanya Rogers! :D
The first time I went to Deaf Camp was around... '97 - and I've never missed a year lately, haha, I'm coming up on my 13th year attending camp. Most likely it's possible that I saw you there because, well, I'm there every year, haha. I think it'd be awesome if you were able to attend this year as a counselor since we're getting more and more hard of hearing people and we need more counselors who are able to relate with the hard of hearing campers.

I think it'll be awesome - I'll even buy you a drink. :P Mostly I'm around Mountain Rd, or close around there - usually I'll meet my friends at the Colesium then head around Moncton and such.

Believe it or not, my ASL is rather rusty too - I don't sign often even though I'm Deaf and... yeah, you get it. I stumble over signs a lot.

[hypomanic_poet]

I'd LOVE to attend as a counselor, but I have NO idea how to apply...>.< Yeah, you probably did see me there. I was the little blonde who walked a wee bit funny. haha :P

Haha :D That would be pretty awesome. I'll be CRAZY shy, though. Like WOAH. Haha

Really? That's odd. Do you speak ASL or Signed English? O.o I stumble more in fingerspelling than signing, for some odd reason.

[strummer_boi]

I know exactly what you mean. I'm legally blind. I'm not actually blind..but my vision is very poor so I'm declared legally blind. I've also had people enunciate every word to me, or do things for me that I'm perfectly capable of myself..I'm looking right at them and moving my eyes to indicate I can see..For some reason, people cling to the extreme. Either deaf, or your not..blind..or you can see. Very rarely can people truly understand that lovely middle ground.

I have no idea as to how far you are from me, but your welcome to visit. We have NTID(If you have no idea what that is click here) A lot of students here are more than will to help no matter your skill level in ASL and don't look down upon people. Even if you aren't going to the college, there's plenty of people around campus to hang out and learn.
Forgive the rambling

[hypomanic_poet]

I know! That middle ground is usually a good thing, but in my case (and yours) it really effing sucks! Sometimes if I'm in a group of people, at least one or two people see my hearing aid and kind of hold back in approaching me, probably thinking that I'm totally deaf and can't communicate, but I can. I sound exactly like a hearing person would.

Ho MAN! The link you gave me is a college in Rochester. You're in Maine? I'm right above you, in New Brunswick, Canada! Haha wow.

[strummer_boi]

Hehe no. I'm in NY. The school is here in Rochester, NY. You are quite a bit up north.

I will admit though..I probably would hold back a bit when seeing your hearing aid. Not because I don't think you'd communicate with me. I've had some..not so friendly experiences. Depending upon where I am...some deaf sneer at me when I try and communicate to them. Thanks to my best friend(her mother, father and brother are deaf. She and her older sister are the only hearing ones in the family), she explained that some deaf people look down upon the hearing.

It frustrates me that we all have this misconception of assumptions of each other. (once again..rambling..my bad)

[hypomanic_poet]

Really? What happened with you and the hard of hearing people you've met?

I really hope that I'm not looked down upon, either... Hehe I don't mind rambling at all. I usually ramble, too. ^.^

[medicalfairy]

Everyone makes an ass of themselves. EVERYONE. So what?
It takes a lot of time being bad at ASL before you can be good at ASL. No one is born knowing this stuff, and there might be other people who learned ASL later in life and are sympathetic.

basically, you need to rock the mall. rock it til it hurts so good XD

[hypomanic_poet]

"basically, you need to rock the mall. rock it til it hurts so good XD"

That's like the most epic quote EVER haha. Thanks. <3

I know. It's just that when someone is bad at ASL, they're really slow and others start losing their patience...I don't want that to happen to me. But I GOTTA try it and get over this stupid nervousness, otherwise I'll keep feeling like this forever.

[medicalfairy]

Just being around people using ASL will really help, too. You don't always have to chime in - just watch people signing to each other!

[hypomanic_poet]

I try. Sometimes they go too fast for me. I can only get the gist of what's being said, usually. I'm better at signing in ASL than I am at UNDERSTANDING what's being said to me in ASL. >.

[spookyevilone]

I learned ASL when I was little. Nobody but my family used it, and then my hearing mostly came back, so I lost most of it. I can do the alphabet, and a few very simple words. Relearning would be great, but there aren't video courses for it and Deaf people get all snotty (here, at least) about working with the hearing to teach them. :/ I wish there was a Skype ASL group.

[hypomanic_poet]

Wow, how did your hearing come back? That's pretty unusual.

Yeah, I know some d/Deaf folks look down on the hearing, but what if they look down on the hard of hearing too? That makes me nervous.

I do too! Maybe I should START a Skype ASL group. Or a Stickam ASL group. SOMETHING.

[spookyevilone]

I don't know what Stickam is, but I would join a Skype group.

I was born with two timpanums in my right ear. When I was 18 months old, one of them popped. It scarred up my right ear canal pretty good and my body's reaction to the pain was to go deaf in that ear.. and then sympathetically deaf in the other ear. I remember being able to hear sound, but it was like being underwater - nothing was clear and everything was muted. My family learned ASL and taught me, and I spoke verbally and used ASL and they spoke to me and used ASL. My hearing gradually came back, and by the time I was 4, I could hear as well as I'd ever be able to. I still am a bit hard of hearing in one ear but it's not mid-range, so they won't issue me an aid for it.

[hypomanic_poet]

You can go sympathetically deaf? Man, I hope that never happens to me. I'm already deaf in one ear.

Are you still kinda fluent in ASL? :)

Oh, and Stickam is like a video/audio chat site. www.stickam.com