RisinDragon
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Interesting forums. I found this by chance. Got some interesting information to read up on. Always nice to see there are others in the same situation as myself.
My name is David. I was born hearing, at 18 months old I had Spinal Meningitis with a fever of 106. Doctors back in the old days didn't think I'd survive, but I beat the odds. After I got well, doctors realized I lost my hearing. I've been Hard of hearing since I was 18 months old. Miss those old analog hearing aids. haha But I am glad to have Digitals.
I have Severe to Profound Hearing Lost. Around 97% loss in my left ear, and 84% loss in my right. My hearing has never change since I was a baby. I wear 2x Phonak PowerMAXX 411. Works extremely well for me. Only issue I got is the darn tubes for the ear modes always gets a hole in it. Dries out an then breaks. I'm constantly going to my audiologist every 4 months to get them replaced.
I spent most of my life listening and being vocal. Went to a hearing schools my entire school years. Only knew of 1 other Hard of Hearing girl my age, Jenn. I hated school because I was always teased because of how I spoke or miss a letter that I couldn't hear when I spoke. Saying 'school' ended up coming out as 'cool'. There are many other words that gave me the same struggle. Middle School sucks, when the 'popular' kids used to make me lip-read from across the classroom. Looks like they were saying 'I love you', when I found out from a girl that respected me they were actually saying 'I love juice'. But I spent most of my school years to myself and ignored everyone. I did graduate with my diploma, regardless of my hearing hardship.
I worked for 2 years before I decided to give college a chance. I decided to check out RIT. I had a passion for computers, I've built and network computers in my sleep. Figured I'd go to a technical college. I got accepted and went to RIT from 1999 to 2001.
Little did I know they had a college within RIT called NTID. I was placed in NTID Classes, and my what a shocker that was. It was the first time I ever seen so many deaf people. I was completely lost among the deafs. Everyone in sign language and maybe 1 or 2 people actually spoke.
I grew up listening and speaking. I only knew the alphabet in sign language, the ABCs. Figured the teachers would know both sign and speak. I could learn and hear while studying. Until I got a class where the teacher didn't know how to speak and I didn't know how to read sign language. That was an interesting class. lol
I had to take a sign language class to actually learn ASL. So I can use it for my classes later in the day. Which is fine, but everyone was signing so fast I couldn't even keep up. I didn't want to make fellow deafs/HOHs to have to slow down to prolong the class. So I studied by just reading my books and doing things via trial and error. But I did get an A+ in ASL at the end of the semester.
I never did finish my college degree at RIT. In my second year I got burnt out and had to drop from school.
Didn't stop me tho. After going back home, I took a classes in downtown Buffalo and got my A+ and Net+. Shortly after that I went to ITT Tech. Graduated in 2005 with an A.S in Computer Network Systems.
Was hard trying to get a job when the only position they could offer me was tech support via phone. I can't do phones well. I can hear some people, because I know their voices. But to get some stranger I never heard or someone with a strong accent. I couldn't do it.
Was able to land a job working in the Niagara Falls School District as Tech Support. After 2 years, I realized working in a school is not for me. There is a certain professionalism that is required when working around kids. Me watching kids bang on a keyboard makes me want to 'slap them upside the head'. But I would never actually do that. So I put in my 2 years and left on good terms.
I went back to my old profession, which was cooking. Been in the restaurant business since I was 13. Worked my way up the line to be a line cook. I'm a hell of a cook and I enjoy cooking for people.
After reading some of the thread within these forums. I can really relate to how fellow HoH people feels. Being left out of conversations. Hell, even among my so called friends. I can't follow along. Just sitting there watching and reading their body language. Try to catch what they say and before that person is done talking, another will start talking before I am looking at them. I get lost among people and tend to sit alone in some corner with a drink.
I just accept the fact I can't do what hearing people do. One thing I learned when I went to NTID is a lot of deafs who went to deaf schools thinks those of us who speaks and don't sign but are deaf are ignorant. And many at NTID made that pretty clear to me. Sucks being stuck in the middle between the hearing world and the deaf world. I just accept the fact, I am who I am. Living in my own little world.
Never thought about it until now, maybe I should look for people who are in the same situation as myself. Making new friends who are HoH.
David
My name is David. I was born hearing, at 18 months old I had Spinal Meningitis with a fever of 106. Doctors back in the old days didn't think I'd survive, but I beat the odds. After I got well, doctors realized I lost my hearing. I've been Hard of hearing since I was 18 months old. Miss those old analog hearing aids. haha But I am glad to have Digitals.
I have Severe to Profound Hearing Lost. Around 97% loss in my left ear, and 84% loss in my right. My hearing has never change since I was a baby. I wear 2x Phonak PowerMAXX 411. Works extremely well for me. Only issue I got is the darn tubes for the ear modes always gets a hole in it. Dries out an then breaks. I'm constantly going to my audiologist every 4 months to get them replaced.
I spent most of my life listening and being vocal. Went to a hearing schools my entire school years. Only knew of 1 other Hard of Hearing girl my age, Jenn. I hated school because I was always teased because of how I spoke or miss a letter that I couldn't hear when I spoke. Saying 'school' ended up coming out as 'cool'. There are many other words that gave me the same struggle. Middle School sucks, when the 'popular' kids used to make me lip-read from across the classroom. Looks like they were saying 'I love you', when I found out from a girl that respected me they were actually saying 'I love juice'. But I spent most of my school years to myself and ignored everyone. I did graduate with my diploma, regardless of my hearing hardship.
I worked for 2 years before I decided to give college a chance. I decided to check out RIT. I had a passion for computers, I've built and network computers in my sleep. Figured I'd go to a technical college. I got accepted and went to RIT from 1999 to 2001.
Little did I know they had a college within RIT called NTID. I was placed in NTID Classes, and my what a shocker that was. It was the first time I ever seen so many deaf people. I was completely lost among the deafs. Everyone in sign language and maybe 1 or 2 people actually spoke.
I grew up listening and speaking. I only knew the alphabet in sign language, the ABCs. Figured the teachers would know both sign and speak. I could learn and hear while studying. Until I got a class where the teacher didn't know how to speak and I didn't know how to read sign language. That was an interesting class. lol
I had to take a sign language class to actually learn ASL. So I can use it for my classes later in the day. Which is fine, but everyone was signing so fast I couldn't even keep up. I didn't want to make fellow deafs/HOHs to have to slow down to prolong the class. So I studied by just reading my books and doing things via trial and error. But I did get an A+ in ASL at the end of the semester.
I never did finish my college degree at RIT. In my second year I got burnt out and had to drop from school.
Didn't stop me tho. After going back home, I took a classes in downtown Buffalo and got my A+ and Net+. Shortly after that I went to ITT Tech. Graduated in 2005 with an A.S in Computer Network Systems.
Was hard trying to get a job when the only position they could offer me was tech support via phone. I can't do phones well. I can hear some people, because I know their voices. But to get some stranger I never heard or someone with a strong accent. I couldn't do it.
Was able to land a job working in the Niagara Falls School District as Tech Support. After 2 years, I realized working in a school is not for me. There is a certain professionalism that is required when working around kids. Me watching kids bang on a keyboard makes me want to 'slap them upside the head'. But I would never actually do that. So I put in my 2 years and left on good terms.
I went back to my old profession, which was cooking. Been in the restaurant business since I was 13. Worked my way up the line to be a line cook. I'm a hell of a cook and I enjoy cooking for people.
After reading some of the thread within these forums. I can really relate to how fellow HoH people feels. Being left out of conversations. Hell, even among my so called friends. I can't follow along. Just sitting there watching and reading their body language. Try to catch what they say and before that person is done talking, another will start talking before I am looking at them. I get lost among people and tend to sit alone in some corner with a drink.
I just accept the fact I can't do what hearing people do. One thing I learned when I went to NTID is a lot of deafs who went to deaf schools thinks those of us who speaks and don't sign but are deaf are ignorant. And many at NTID made that pretty clear to me. Sucks being stuck in the middle between the hearing world and the deaf world. I just accept the fact, I am who I am. Living in my own little world.
Never thought about it until now, maybe I should look for people who are in the same situation as myself. Making new friends who are HoH.
David