Can someone who is severely deaf talk normally?

but I don't think a "deaf voice" is anything to be self-conscious about. Anybody who's that judgmental is a jerk and not worth your time. I, for one, am not giving grades on people's speech.
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Oh yes it is..... It's not like an accent b/c a LOT of people automaticly think that anyone who speaks the way a dhh person does, MUST be retarded!!!!
I've gotten the accent question, but I've ALSO gotten the MR response too often! I mean, yeah a lot of the folks who think you're MR, are almost MR themselves..... but still....sometimes it seems like the entire world thinks that we hoh folks are MR b/c of our vocal quality!
 
I guess it doesn't register with me because it just flat-out wouldn't have occurred to me to ever think that.

P.S. I think most of the people I've known who really ARE MR are nicer than the ones who would make comments like that...
 
deafdyke said:
..... It's not like an accent b/c a LOT of people automaticly think that anyone who speaks the way a dhh person does, MUST be retarded!!!!
I've gotten the accent question, but I've ALSO gotten the MR response too often! I mean, yeah a lot of the folks who think you're MR, are almost MR themselves..... but still....sometimes it seems like the entire world thinks that we hoh folks are MR b/c of our vocal quality!
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I gotta agree with deafdyke on this. A HUGE amount of judgement is placed on the way people speak. There are many deaf people who choose not to speak just because of the comments they have gotten on their voice, no matter how intelligible or intelligent they are. Many times, a deaf speaker does sound the same as an MR person speaking. It takes some time to get to know the difference. I also remember when I was an ASL student and signing with deaf people, really getting to know them, see their intelligence, etc. and then hearing them speak... and I realized I probably would have assumed them to be MUCH less intelligent if I had heard them speak first, and I didn't know sign.
 
Y,Signer16 and DeafDyke,

Thank you so much for telling the truth and sharing with us about our deaf voices.. I have tried to say a lot of different things that affect us many ways from oral method itself.

Now the truth came out. Whoo hoo!!!!

:cuddle: :kiss: It s damn :gpost: (s)

:ty: ;)
Sweetmind
 
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This is just my perspective, but I think maybe hearing children need to be properly socialized when they are young to understand how incorrect it is to judge people by the way in which they speak as opposed to the content of what they say.

I give a lot of credit to my parents for making that point very clearly with me from a very young age, for exposing me to books that explained sign language, and other things. I didn't have anybody to sign with and thus never really got a decent vocabulary from it, but it DID certainly have a mind-expanding effect. When I got to middle school (was about 11 years old) my best friend turned out to be HoH. She was bilingual, and definitely thought a level above most of her peers, and I think that was another crucial experience for me. That's why in retrospect, some of the judgments people make based on the sound of a person's speech come off as SO blindingly stupid...it's a totally different thought process from what I learned growing up.

The only missing link I can see in my education was that I never got the chance to socialize with children who used ASL, when I was younger. That left me with a lot of things I didn't understand (many that I still don't), the kinds of things you don't get from books. And it also left me too shy to ask except in a place like this forum. I ended up screwing up a chance I had in high school to really get to know this very kind girl, just because I was nervous about the communication barrier. That's very embarrassing and I hope nobody here will think less of me for admitting it. That's something that in retrospect, I did not like and wanted to change. But, to my parents' credit, I have to think that what they did instilled in me the drive to see and correct things like that in myself when I notice them.

This suggests to me the need for much stronger education for hearing children about those who are different from them. In my case, my parents provided that to me (or I provided it to myself at the library)--the school system largely did not. I wonder what could be added to the curriculum?
 
I wonder, if 'deaf speech' leads hearing people into undertaking mistaken assumptions about the intelligence of the Deaf person, where does that leave a Deaf ASL'er? I've heard stories of hearing people, when faced with two Deaf people, one who spoke and one who used ASL, they all nearly perceived the speaking Deaf person as to be more 'intelligent' than the Deaf ASL'er.

Thankfully, I know better and just look at the quality of the Deaf person's responses to judge whether he/she is intelligent, and not on the quality of the Deaf person's communications 'delivery' method.
 
Many of the kids I grew up with don't think twice about the fact that my voice sounds funny.....but a lot more people are prejudicated as heck as to the way my voice sounds. It's not really a prejudicate that you can magically remove sadly.
 
Speaking of the way people perceive you by your voice....there is a custodian at my daughter's school who has a really sexy russian accent. i can never understand a word he is saying, due to his accent, but i know it is merely an accent and that he isnt retarded. some of the more ignorant children at my daughter's school, however, do not seem to understand that fact. recently, i was at her school and a very rude child was talking to this custodian with a group of her friends standing around her. she was acting retarded and saying "i just can't understand you" in a "retarded voice". to me, this example speaks more about the idiot doing the perceiving than the one with the accent. i feel sorry for this child. i would never allow my own child to act like this toward anyone, and it is obvious that this poor little girl's mama has let up on her parenting job by not teaching this child how to interact appropriately with others. the fact is, we are not living in a cookie cutter world and we are not all alike. if someone makes a judgement based on our voice rather than who we are as individuals, that simply means that THEY are the ignorant ones, not us.
 
Eyeth said:
I wonder, if 'deaf speech' leads hearing people into undertaking mistaken assumptions about the intelligence of the Deaf person, where does that leave a Deaf ASL'er? I've heard stories of hearing people, when faced with two Deaf people, one who spoke and one who used ASL, they all nearly perceived the speaking Deaf person as to be more 'intelligent' than the Deaf ASL'er.

Thankfully, I know better and just look at the quality of the Deaf person's responses to judge whether he/she is intelligent, and not on the quality of the Deaf person's communications 'delivery' method.
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Unfortunately, from my interactions with people, I'd say your guess is correct. It's unfortunately, but often times hearing people do assume that if a Deaf person doesn't speak "normally" (though, as I believe we've established, there's almost always a slightly distinguishable vocal quality) it's because s/he was not intelligent enough to learn to speak properly. It's a damn shame, and a horrible lable for a person to have to carry around.

Even in the school where I work I've seen that. The hoh or well-speaking students get mainstreamed before the Deaf students. It was ironic, because of our 3 Deaf students (one who speaks and signs, the other 2 mostly sign), the two non-speaking ones were the more... I don't want to say intelligent, but better at mainstreaming into the hearing classes, if that makes any sense.

What's sad about that is when Deaf people begin to think that their hoh counterparts are more intelligent than they are. One of the Deaf students with whom I work was telling me he wanted another student to correct his English on a paper, falsely assuming that because she could speak she could write English better than he could. He was shocked when I informed him it was the opposite.
 
I have deaf speech associated with cochlear implant users, but it is generally intelligible if I'm not stressed out and don't talk too fast. Most of my hearing classmates respected me as they respected others, only because I demonstrated above average intelligence. I am not comfortable with sign language interpreters voicing for me because most are incompetent and cannot follow my signing accurately. They end up making me look like a stupid fool.

All in all, ayala920 is right about the traditional association between normal speech and intelligence. It has been that way for thousands of years and it will be that way for a long time.
 
me_punctured said:
I have deaf speech associated with cochlear implant users, but it is generally intelligible if I'm not stressed out and don't talk too fast.
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So, I take it you're a CI user... Hence your nickname? :)

And judging from your avatar, I see you've met the resident Agent Provocateur here in AllDeaf forums, donning a dapper Armani outfit. :) At any rate, welcome to AllDeaf. I will look forward to your participation.
 
Eyeth said:
So, I take it you're a CI user... Hence your nickname? :)

And judging from your avatar, I see you've met the resident Agent Provocateur here in AllDeaf forums, donning a dapper Armani outfit. :) At any rate, welcome to AllDeaf. I will look forward to your participation.
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Very good, Eyeth. I am genuinely impressed that you know what an agent provocateur is. It is a pleasure to meet you too.

My cousin runs a boutique that mainly specializes in vintage dresses. I got that dress from her shop. It is my birthday dress. Every year, for my birthday, I buy myself a dress. I look good in it too. *swirls*

I am much less certain that the resident Agent Provocateur himself owns a dapper Armani outfit in real life, though.
 
me_punctured said:
Very good, Eyeth. I am genuinely impressed that you know what an agent provocateur is. It is a pleasure to meet you too.

My cousin runs a boutique that mainly specializes in vintage dresses. I got that dress from her shop. It is my birthday dress. Every year, for my birthday, I buy myself a dress. I look good in it too. *swirls*

I am much less certain that the resident Agent Provocateur himself owns a dapper Armani outfit in real life, though.
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I can say with a fair deal of confidence that he does not. ;)

That dress is gorgeous, by the way.
 
ayala920 said:
I can say with a fair deal of confidence that he does not. ;)

That dress is gorgeous, by the way.
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I'd believe it too. If he did, we all would be hearing about it in the forum in a heartbeat's minute.
 
ayala920 said:
I can say with a fair deal of confidence that he does not. ;)

That dress is gorgeous, by the way.
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So, are you saying you know said provocateur in real life? Your post count kinda rules out discovery here, doesn't it. Same for Punctured....
:D
 
me_punctured said:
I'd believe it too. If he did, we all would be hearing about it in the forum in a heartbeat's minute.
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Well, we've managed to completely throw this discussion off-track, haven't we?
 
You charming ladies may want to mention that while I currently have no Armani in stock, I certainly have a collection of nifty suits in my closet that I am very fond of. ;)

Ah, materialism.
 
Endymion said:
You charming ladies may want to mention that while I currently have no Armani in stock, I certainly have a collection of nifty suits in my closet that I am very fond of. ;)

Ah, materialism.
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I suppose we've been relieved of that duty since you seem to have announced it to everyone yourself. ;) Not that I could have said either way, not having spent time in your closet.

"The things you own end up owning you." Brownie points if you know what movie that is from.
 
ayala920 said:
"The things you own end up owning you." Brownie points if you know what movie that is from.
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Who is more wise than dear Tyler Durden?

I liked the book more. And quite on the Brad Pitt references are we, tonight?
 
ayala920 said:
I suppose we've been relieved of that duty since you seem to have announced it to everyone yourself. ;) Not that I could have said either way, not having spent time in your closet.

"The things you own end up owning you." Brownie points if you know what movie that is from.
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At least half of the forum would appreciate spending some time in his closet. You can tell a lot about a person by browsing through her/his belongings. I can gather much information about one from visiting one's bedroom.

Edward Norton, be still my heart.
 
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