I thought since I'm "late deaf" as I've seen it put here (sounds like I'm dead
), maybe I can offer a slightly different perspective.
People are most mean to me on YouTube because I've chosen to learn SEE first, and they think I should have chosen ASL. Other than that, the most common reaction I get is uncertainty. Nobody seems to know how to treat a deaf person. You can always tell when people are suddenly switching from normal mode to what they've only been trained to do and have never done before mode in work places. They suddenly get really uncomfortable. I feel like telling them to relax. It's not like I'm gonna hit them if they do something wrong.
what is it like to be deaf. is it very scary?
When I first found out I would one day be deaf, the idea was scary to me. However, the process took several years, and I was able to gradually adapt. The most scary point in the process was that one time I turned on one of my favourite songs, and I couldn't hear the little background sounds that I liked so much, and realising I would never hear them again. It wasn't very long after that what remained of my hearing finally slipped away. Being deaf itself isn't scary, but it's just annoying when people are always making noises and asking me if I can hear them. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP ASKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
is it hard to learn sign language?
As I mentioned, I'm in the process of learning SEE, and that's extremely easy. I went from knowing nothing of it to 5th grade level in less than a month, and I don't think I'm gonna be slowing down very much any time soon. I imagine it would be a lot more difficult to learn ASL because I would have to learn a whole new language for that, but since I haven't started that YET, I can't tell you how difficult that would be.