Deaf Attitude Toward HoH?

[shel90]

first of all, where did you read that stuff comes from? i haven't seen it on sites or i must have oversighted it. If you do have links, then please post it here because i need to make sure if they say that in public. I am an asl user, and involved with deaf culture and in the community. If HOH has superior attitudes of telling me that they can speak while i can't then i dont like who they were, not because of they were hoh. thats different between that egoist and who they were. Sure i have friends who are HOH. what i can tell you is to ignore others and believe in yourself and find in your own comfort self esteem with whatever hearing world or deaf world or hoh world you are assoicate with.

In ASL..."that, that, THAT!"

 

[shel90]

"Deaf Culture" is something that's not really a culture of its own. What I would really call it is "GLBT Deaf Culture", "Asian Deaf Culture", "Hispanic Deaf Culture", "Rochester Deaf Culture", "Texas Deaf Culture", "DEAF Culture", "Deaf Deaf Culture", etc... it goes on and on.

I've seen people from one group who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (in Rochester, NY) have conflicting attitudes with people from another group who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (in Dallas, TX).

I've gone to Starbucks for Deaf Chat Coffee and seen people who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (they're middle-eastern), but their views conflict those who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (they're from Dallas, TX and not middle-eastern).

So, who is really part of Deaf Culture? My best advice is to just stick with those you're comfortable with. If you attend a deaf event and come across a group of deafies who start acting selfish because they don't think you can be part of that group, then don't bother trying. Just move on and look for a different group. It's more fun to be with people that you're comfortable with than to try so hard just to be with someone whose attitude isn't the same as yours.

Deaf culture is most definitely a culture.

 

[TXgolfer]

"Deaf Culture" is something that's not really a culture of its own. What I would really call it is "GLBT Deaf Culture", "Asian Deaf Culture", "Hispanic Deaf Culture", "Rochester Deaf Culture", "Texas Deaf Culture", "DEAF Culture", "Deaf Deaf Culture", etc... it goes on and on.

I've seen people from one group who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (in Rochester, NY) have conflicting attitudes with people from another group who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (in Dallas, TX).

I've gone to Starbucks for Deaf Chat Coffee and seen people who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (they're middle-eastern), but their views conflict those who claim to be part of "Deaf Culture" (they're from Dallas, TX and not middle-eastern).

So, who is really part of Deaf Culture? My best advice is to just stick with those you're comfortable with. If you attend a deaf event and come across a group of deafies who start acting selfish because they don't think you can be part of that group, then don't bother trying. Just move on and look for a different group. It's more fun to be with people that you're comfortable with than to try so hard just to be with someone whose attitude isn't the same as yours.

Great post. I have seen the same type of thing.

 

[deafdyke]

so DD , you ar Pro HOH who happens to think HOH are Deaf?
and yet you say is ok to speak?

Yes, HOH ARE Deaf. Why shouldn't they be? For FAR too long HOH has been thought that we're more hearing then deaf. But we're just as Deaf as we are hearing. The world is not a soundbooth, and we STILL get many many HOH folks saying that they wish they'd learned ASL along with having speech therapy.

 

[BoricuaChevere]

Please, I don't see myself as any more or less than a d/Deaf person. Now involved in Deaf culture, I am proud Deaf Hispanic. I love being deaf/hard-of-hearing and that who I am. It's a great culture

 

[SophiaG]

So,

I can hear pretty well with hearing aids, but I can't speak at all due to a speech impediment caused ny physical issues with my face and I use sign language.

What does that make me?

 

[Anij]

So,

I can hear pretty well with hearing aids, but I can't speak at all due to a speech impediment caused ny physical issues with my face and I use sign language.

What does that make me?

If you are involved in your Deaf/ASL community - use ASL as your primary language etc... you're audiologically Hoh, and (possibly)culturally Deaf.

 

[green427]

So,

I can hear pretty well with hearing aids, but I can't speak at all due to a speech impediment caused ny physical issues with my face and I use sign language.

What does that make me?

Can you understand people without reading their lips? If yes, you are hard of hearing.

 

[SophiaG]

I can understand people without reading lips and my audiologist says with my hearing aides i have near close to perfect hearing (though I disagree, because i use closed captioning and won't watch videos on youtube without it.)

 

[deafdyke]

I can understand people without reading lips and my audiologist says with my hearing aides i have near close to perfect hearing (though I disagree, because i use closed captioning and won't watch videos on youtube without it.)

You're HOH, you still don't hear like a hearing person. You hear with a device and you also hear like a HOH person rather then a hearing person.

 

[SophiaG]

Okay, I was a bit confused. because half of being deaf seems to be not being able to speak, right?

But hearing wise i am definately HOH.

So, i guess most people here view me as HOH, so, that means i'm HOH.

 

[Anij]

I read somewhere that Deaf attitude toward HoH is negative. Deaf don't like HoH because although they can barely hear, Deaf don't like it. I'm HoH myself and haven't really experienced Deaf culture, but I'm learning ASL and am ready to be involved with the culture. I know another HoH girl who go to Deaf school and we talk a lot. But if this is true about Deaf, why is it like this?

I've actaully never seen this where I live. Here we have a large about of culturally Deaf people who are audiologically Hoh (and can speak). For our community (locally at least) the most important thing is that the Hoh people Sign, value and help grow Deaf Culture and the ASL community.

One's audiogram certainly is a factor, but only in that it determines if someone is "Hoh Deaf" or "deaf Deaf".
(not that either is better than the other ... our Deaf school takes anyone with ANY amount of hearing loss- thus those attending are raised culturally Deaf, even if they're audiologically Hoh.)

 

[joycem137]

I have CAPD, and waffle about whether to refer to myself as HoH or as something altogether different from any of Deaf, HoH, and Hearing. But despite my continuing struggles to identify myself and difficulties explaining my situation, everyone I've met in the Deaf community so far have seemed really positive. I go every month to the local Deaf Coffee meet up, and when I can find people patient enough to put up with my fledgling ASL, we seem to get along quite well.

At least in this local circle, I have seen none of the anti-HoH attitudes I've heard about.

 

[kokonut]

I have CAPD, and waffle about whether to refer to myself as HoH or as something altogether different from any of Deaf, HoH, and Hearing. But despite my continuing struggles to identify myself and difficulties explaining my situation, everyone I've met in the Deaf community so far have seemed really positive. I go every month to the local Deaf Coffee meet up, and when I can find people patient enough to put up with my fledgling ASL, we seem to get along quite well.

At least in this local circle, I have seen none of the anti-HoH attitudes I've heard about.

Curious on what you just said. Does that mean you had at times when people weren't patient enough with your fledgling ASL?

 

[kokonut]

Thanks everyone who offered the encouragement. I'm trying to get more involved with Deaf community instead of just talking to one person, as I stated before. I'm trying but I live in Lawrenceville, GA and I don't really see much of a big Deaf community here. Then again I could be wrong

Lawrenceville, GA isn't too far from Mall of Georgia (10 miles to the north) where on a regular basis deaf people come together at the food court for some social yak yak time on the first Saturday of the month from 5 to 9 PM.
social

 

[CrazyPaul]

My HOH friend named Mike from work made me mad because when I talked with my other friend, Chuck who is hearing by using gestures in front of Mike who understood what we talked about and then when Mike talked with Chuck without gestures in front of me, I didn't understand what they talked about. Mike was very inconsiderate so I had to ask what they talked about. Next time I talked with Chuck behind Mike, he couldn't see what we talked about so now he realized how I felt about before. Some HOH people leave deaf people out which is not nice.

 

[joycem137]

Curious on what you just said. Does that mean you had at times when people weren't patient enough with your fledgling ASL?

It just seems like some people aren't interested in getting involved in a long or involved conversation with me, since I need people to slow down when fingerspelling, or need them to repeat or explain unfamiliar signs. From my perspective, the first people at Deaf Coffee that started to talk to me were the ones that seemingly had a lot of patience and/or experience with new signers.

*shrugs* It could also be a misinterpretation on my part.

 

[GrayEagle]

You know, as a HOH person, I find more rudeness or lack of consideration or willingness to accommodate, from hearing people than I have ever experienced from a Deaf person. I find that in the Deaf community, it's a "whatever works" attitude toward communication, patient with newbie signers, heck even whipping out their smartphone and using the little program Inkpad to type out what they want to say to me, or I, in turn, to them, when my signing abilities are totally inadequate.

But I agree that there are a**hats everywhere and sometimes we have the misfortune to run into them and have to deal with them. I deal with and educate if it's a business situation (like my medical care). If it's social, and a person shows themselves to be rude and unwilling to work with me, well, why waste my time, right? Social connections are optional, after all.

 

[MissLady]

You know, as a HOH person, I find more rudeness or lack of consideration or willingness to accommodate, from hearing people than I have ever experienced from a Deaf person. I find that in the Deaf community, it's a "whatever works" attitude toward communication, patient with newbie signers, heck even whipping out their smartphone and using the little program Inkpad to type out what they want to say to me, or I, in turn, to them, when my signing abilities are totally inadequate.

I agree. Around here, the Deaf that go to events that will attract various crowds (strong ASL, PSE, English, Sim-Com) tend to be more understanding and kind to different signers at different levels using different modes.

That being said, I have noticed a few HOH people being a little condescending to strong Deaf users; for example, mocking their spelling or word choices. It's a really touchy subject.

 

[Satine]

I have been curious about if I am Deaf or HOH. I cannot hear without reading lips, but I speak. If I do hear it's usually just one word out of each sentence. So, I hope to hear the main word in that sentence that lets me clearly know what is being talked about. Ok sometimes it does not work, but most times it does. Although at my last hearing test it was noted my hearing loss is affecting my speech. Also hearing Aids will not help my hearing to make the cost worthwhile. This was said by the ENT who did my testing for disability.