AllDeaf.com - View Single Post - Mainstreamed deaf people do you remember your childhood that well?

deafbajagal · 02-11-2008, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grummer

Yeah its weird, I have bits and peices too, I really wish I could ask some people, but then some of these people have ceased, or drifted off completely like my parents have no longer connection with them, people move on and such, it can be slightly irratating that there'd be questions never answered, even for tiny silly details like "why did you say that, or did you tell me this when I was little?"

I'm not surpised at all when you mentioned remembering things like patterns, I have that similar fascination too especially with remembering the vinyl floor patterns or the bathroom glass windows in the 1970's.
In a way it was comforting and I admit I missed some fo those patterns, the nice orangey, or brown coloured paterns on those 70's wallpapers and in a quirky way it remained me of seasame street' "counting" animations that wowed me alot LOL - wierd ?! yes so having said that now I think I know what you mean by saying 'weird' nods.......

We could say our memories are too weird, its not 'normal' that this sort of confusion arent healthy nor helping the social and personal growth we needed.
I can hardly remember things like if a kid was laughing on the chair, but i do old 'earliest school classmates' and their play-time/ground talks about the "six million dollar man' on tv, or Logan's Run Tv series as we'd take turn to imitate these characters in the playground, - but all the while I would not KNOW anything of what they TALKED about like the 'dialouges' which the kids would 'repeat' or imitate, becuase i was deaf, i just only heard some blip ' or laser gun noises' we all imitiated that ofc but the more -harder to pick out voices,(and cartoons are impossible to lipread ofc!) im completely lost, i recall qutie vividly one day, that about when i was 7 or 8 years old (in a group of classmate some how go together at a long lunchtime (1 hr seemed a long time when you're small) we decided to play The Flintstones (while I knew Fred flintstone but had no idea who was Barney Rumble was,i was asked to Play him, I was dumbstruck as I didnt know how Barney would talk (he was a quite character in the show) and did found out about 6 months later when Flintstone was aired again) However, that playground incident was kind of sour and not much fun and i did recall the bell rang ('being saved by the bell" !!) but still i was left wondering who was Barney and felt stink that i didnt play well, kind of spoiled the fun. When I was much older, like 20 years later or so, yes that long! I just didnt think about it untill, like "oh geezz" it was embarrassing) but at the time i was perplexed as well as ignorant, but felt dumb yet was happy to be playing with that 'dream girl' of the classroom of the day lol, so much that i didnt realise I was looked an idiot. hell i didnt even know how I got through it. But what pains me is that these sort of thing have lasting effects on just ourselves but also the way hearing children perceives us (and their parents). it is needless and quite damaging even in subtle ways, like the complete lack of leadership role , or loooking stupid (even when I was completely unware of that), which these hearing kids really got the idea of, or group interaction while being deaf, we got zip, nothing at all, only parroting and following, i think its cruel.

I know exactly what you mean when you was talking about the cartoon characters. It wasn't until I went to college and was in a discussion with other students about retro (and more contemporary) cartoons that I realized I didn't know the names of many of them...so I immediatly excused myself and went to the computer lab and that's how I learned the names not only of the characters but the shows. It may seem trivial to some people but I was mortified to even admit to my closest friends about this...I'm not dumb (well, for the most part...I've done dumb things like everyone else)...but there are gaps that should not be there. Like for example, in high school, I was taking college classes and advanced courses - but I had NO earthly idea that I could order what I wanted from McDonald's. I thought you just showed up, give them some money, and they would give you whatever was next. I used to pray that I would get what I wanted - like I was in some kind of casino, waiting for my luck to happen. (My mother ordered for me but I wasn't aware that what she was saying). And it was only a few years ago that I learned the function of the intercom. I was a teacher! Now it all makes sense why sometimes kids and teachers in my school would stop and turn their heads a little. I can remember sitting in one of those desks as a kid, thinking, "There's something seriously wrong...the question is...with them? or me?"