A lot of ADers grew up oral?

shel90

shel90

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As I am reading thru the threads and I am starting to see posts made by several ADers claiming that they dont know sign language or a little.

Who grew up orally without knowing any sign language? Are u happy that you grew up not knowing sign or the Deaf community or do you wish u had both?

I am one. I wish I had both.
 
I also grew up this way, and the more I learn about it, the more I wish I had both as well.
 
i grew up in a strict oralist schooling and isoted fropm other deafs, after when I was 8 years old, right up till i was 20 whuch when i did mechanical engineering in another city, boardingat a Deaf school. I re diascovered Deaf way sort off i was shocked that deaf kids were still getting really crap education yet they all signed fast i had to learn somehow, i didn't do well 1 yea was not long enough.....took me years i can sign nowe bit not great and as i get older the more 'gentle' the shock eased out the more i wished i didnt go mainstreaming. hard to explain in words of this 'unique' experiences but its not likelty to be unique in this forum then again i guess the way we discribe slow or fast awakening depends on personailty, background, settings and the way if we go about to re-affirm for ourselves inside our hearts, put other way itsa very very personal journey while it seem awfully isolated but we're do have a common bound (yes i said bond not bond) that which we all has to confront our internalised demons that the mainstream has had us smiling thru our confused pain of pretending to be hearing!! It wasn't our fault to smilee were forced to ignore our real fear of not being able to be ourselves.

yes i wished i had both, maybe just sign but given the fucked up world on how it overemphasised on written English then it might be safe to say i wished i had both.
 
Grew up oral until I am turn 7 or 9 then mom allow my deaf brother and I signs :)
 
Yes, my hubby and I have been raised in the oral tradition and we wished we had the best of both worlds of oral and sign, as we are still "fence-sitters". Our parents had negative feelings about sign-language hence our oral education. We experienced low self-esteem and social isolation during our educational years.
 
Yes, I grow up oral until I was 12 years old in 7th grade start to learn sign language. Wish to learn signs at early age!
 
Oral here! Can fingerspell and know a few signs left over from other kids when I was young.

My husband just got diagnosed with moderate hearing loss yesterday!

He gets to join the club.

This is also the second set of hearing aids we are buying in a months time.

We will not be eating out for a while!:lol:

Also I am not that unhappy with my oral roots although I would like to know more sign.
 
shel90 said:
As I am reading thru the threads and I am starting to see posts made by several ADers claiming that they dont know sign language or a little.

Who grew up orally without knowing any sign language? Are u happy that you grew up not knowing sign or the Deaf community or do you wish u had both?

I am one. I wish I had both.
Click to expand...

Not me but i do a lot of oral more than signs.
 
I learned ASL at a deaf preschool/kindergarten in a deaf school first..then in first grade, my parents were convinced by an 'expert' to go all-oral. I was "oral" until high school - when I finally rebelled against everyone and everything. I went back to a deaf school, relearned ASL, and signed every since.
 
I was oral from kindergarten through 8th grade as the only deaf student in the entire school. Then I went to a public high school that had other deaf students, and mainstreamed there. I learned sign language from them and from paying attention to the interpreters.
 
I grew up oral. I think I would have benifited from sign. Especially when my hearing deteriated further and I wanted to learn sign language but I was in an oral only programme. I only started learning signs at college but then my sight started to deteriate and I had problems learning after that.

I can sign a little but I usually have to resort to fingerspelling eventually.

I wish I had been given both right from the start.
 
I did not start to use speech until I was nine years old and I had to be in the oral only mainstream elementary (started first grade to 6th grade). Then I went from 7th grade to 12th grade in an oral only mainstream high school until graduation. Then I found English sign language at the Lutheran Church and loving it very much. The only thing is I am stuck with speech talking and knowing that I have funny voice. Darn!!! So that mean I have to use both of them (oral and sign). I would rather be mute but I can not because I am so use to using my voice to speak. :ugh: Blame it on the AGBell.
 
I had both although I first started out in an all oral program until I was 4. Better than nothing, I suppose.
 
Well, I recalled I learned sign when I was almost 2 with simple signs like mommy, daddy, things like that. When I entered preschool, learned more signs there. Grew up having speech therapy throughout school years til senior year I requested to sign off speech therapy because I got tired of repeating words. I grew up both oral and SEE, so I didn't learn ASL when I came in college as interpreters signed ASL which I didn't quite understand at first but takes a while to get adjusted with ASL sign.

Still, I'm pretty much PSE with half SEE, half ASL. I'm still oral as well because of job environment and my hearing family. On a side note, I was mainstreamed all my life.
 
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Oral. Mainstreamed. Unless 2 years of deaf preschool count. I didn't know you could fail preschool. I took a year of ASL in college. I have gone to deaf socials in WA, but I just feel social/culture shock most of the time. I'm often confused in an oral environment but that has become the norm. I feel lost in a deaf world. I feel like ASL communication is done with a different mindset, something I cannot seem to "switch" to very easily. But I'm sure many people would be quick to point out that it gets better over time.

To answer the question, I do wish I had both to some extent. However, I'm thankful to be able to interact with the hearing and thankful for laws that require me to be supported in a mainstreamed environment.

However, I also do aknowledge that living in an oral environment is all I've known. If I did become invovled in the deaf culture, it is possible that this view of mine may change.
 
I was placed in a speaking/signing environment at the age of 18 months but it became apparent I preferred speaking over signing. After second grade, I left that program and from that point on was the only deaf kid in my school. I was fortunate enough to have an interpreter but I didn't ever sign so my receptive skills far surpass my signing abilities, even now. I don't regret the quality of the education I received, but I now realize emotionally I isolated myself from everyone, even my friends back then. It wasn't until college that I discovered who I was and stopped being so damn embarrassed about being hoh/deaf. Were I to have a deaf/hoh kid, I personally would want them mainstreamed with an interpreter but I would also ensure that they be immersed in the deaf community. Self acceptance is paramount, just as much so as education.
 
Well, umm what can I say about oralism? It failed me terribly. From when I became deaf at 2 and half and my parents did not know I was deaf till I am not sure exactly how long before they took me to hearing test at John Tracy Clinic which it was provided free for any hearing test. I think it was in Nov my mother took me for hearing test and I became deaf in july that year. I turned 3 which it was in Feb, that was when I first started preschool, only oralism program in that county back then. When I started first grade, they finally open another new oral program in my area, so I did not learned sign language till 8 and half. My mother fought so hard to get school to change from oralism into TC. It did not work out successful till my dad step in and put powerful simple words into other parents and forced them to agree with my dad. That was when I got my first Deaf teacher who knew sign language and speaks very well. I finally was free from oralism and I got to learn sign language which it was best thing ever happened to me. I had her for two years, best teacher I ever had, a role model for me because she was a deaf alike me unlikely others teachers who were hearings. But problems contiune for my parents, they hated my parents and my parents' powerful words at school board meetings, pta, etc.. They finally forced my parents to send me away to deaf school which I hated it and I was so homesick. Of course that was when I first finally learned ASL, ASL is allright. Well, I only stayed there for 3 more years till I came home and went to schools in my town. Then again I was lucky to have this wonderful teacher who used to teach at deaf school in the south but he only stayed there till I was junior, he moved back to south. It is my mother who did a great job for me by fighting for me. Of course she did not know much about deafness when she first found out about me and all those bs she got from John Tracy Clinic and others parents and school suthorities etc.. Lucky for me she knew how to fight them, and lucky for other deafs whom she fought for them even thou she was so busy with them and no time for me during my teen years. No worry I had my dad and sisters to share with. Of course my grandmother who spend two years live with us.

I do still have problem with my anger toward oralism for took me away from my own life which I was sorely missesd out. Critical years of learning skills and emotionally delayed. I will always have hole in my thinking processes because of no language communicate for 6 years. It damaged me greatly. For that I will never forgave any parents, AGB, John Tracy clinic, many others alike doctors, audiologists, and God for supporting oralism and against us to learn sign language.
 
I grew up oral my mother would not let me learn sign
 
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