Been losing my hearing my whole life

R1drut

R1drut

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Mine has been a long slow slide into eventual deafness. My Mom was close to deaf and as I've been learning ASL I have been remembering earlier and earlier signs of hearing loss that I covered up. For example, I remember joining the Cub Scouts and I couldn't understand the ritual roll-call response we were supposed to recite. I just mumbled the gibberish that I heard and nobody ever challenged me about it. By the time I was eighteen my hearing was pretty bad but oddly I didn't put it together. Classic was the time a girl asked me, " Do you want to sleep with me or what?" You can guess what I answered. Neither of us were amused so to speak.



Over the years I became attracted to loud noises and loud activities. Firearms (target shooting), growing up in the 60's in San Francisco (saw all the great bands), woodworking, Paramedic sitting under a 120dcbl siren, and roadracing motorcycles obviously didn't help my cause. By the time I was 30 I couldn't understand the loud speakers telling me to go to the starting grid. Loud things were just so much fun.



So my present trajectory is headed towards deafness. The Buddhist way is not to whine and snivel but to non-judgementally embrace the inevitable as it presents itself in the present. It took me my whole life to get here and it's a wonder.



ASL has been much fun so far although I stink at fingerspelling compared to others. It may not make sense to some but I'm having a great time
 
Welcome to AD. There are many terrific, knowledgeable people here. Good luck!!
 
So my goal is to develop my skills and contribute to the body of knowledege that you aren't alone. I won't be Deaf perhaps but I know more about the experience than the general public. I notice people signing now that I never saw before. The three guys at the Seahawks / 49ers game who coincidentally sat next to us were very kind and patient with me. Now they were fast.
 
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