http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article360995.ece
Personal Column: I'm good at being deaf
As a teenager, artist Sophie Woolley started losing her hearing. But it doesn't worry her
Published: 30 April 2006
People aren't born deaf in my family: it happens later on. For my mother and my sister it was in their teens. I first noticed I was having problems aged 19. I was working as a waitress and would sometimes get the orders wrong. The chef shouted at me to get a hearing test and I did. The audiologist said I had a very slight loss but didn't believe I had the family deafness.
I didn't think I would go deaf, but very, very gradually it's got worse. I still don't know whether I'm going to become profoundly deaf like my mum and sister, who both use sign language. My father isn't deaf and now finger-spells the first letter of every word for me. I'm profoundly deaf in high frequencies and wear hearing aids. When people are speaking I hear the vowels well and have to try and fill in the gaps with lip reading and guesswork.
When I'm lip-reading it takes a bit longer for my brain to process what people are saying. Sometimes I can see people looking slightly annoyed if I appear blank. I'm a performer of spoken-word monologues using mimicry and accents. A girl once came up to me after a show and said something, but I couldn't understand her. She asked if I was drunk. It turned out she was trying to tell me I was a genius, but she just ended up insulting me instead. But for every one person I meet who can't deal with my deafness I meet 10 who are brilliant about it.
I'm lucky in that I established myself as a writer and performer when my hearing was still pretty good. I now use an interpreter in rehearsals and a stenographer will provide an instantaneous transcription when we're working on scripts. Last year I toured Russia with the British Council giving creative writing workshops as well as performing.
If I don't tell people straight away that I'm deaf they think I'm being weird. I used to try and bluff my way through conversations, but it's tiring and I end up looking weird anyway. Some people think I'm putting it on to wind them up as deafness is believed to be something that happens to older people and also because my speech is normal.
My family has a really great attitude about deafness so I don't worry about the future. It's the day-to-day problems that crop up that do my head in sometimes. For example, if there's an announcement on the train, I won't know what's going on. Sometimes, if I'm reading a book, I've ended up in the sidings.
I also worry that people think I must fancy them because I'm staring at their lips a lot. So long as they don't have a beard or talk with their mouth full, I can lip-read them and I don't care what they think.
I miss out on ambient conversation, so I organise my social life so I don't put myself in situations where I'm at a dinner party with 15 people and everyone's talking at all at once. My boyfriend learned to sign as soon as we started seeing each other. Sometimes I call him and just talk at him and don't know what he's saying back.
The biggest change has been to my identity. I'm not the person I expected to be and have had to incorporate deafness into my personality. In my heart I'm still a hearing person, but as time goes by and as my hearing deteriorates, I am getting better at being deaf.
If I have children, there's a chance that they would inherit the gene, but I don't want any at the moment as I'm so busy with my career. When my mother first married, a doctor told her to get sterilised because she would have deaf children, but she ignored them. I'm more concerned about having a ginger baby than a deaf one. I'm a strawberry blonde but used to be more ginger.
Sophie Woolley was talking to Julia Stuart. Her touring one-woman show, 'When To Run', starts at the Edinburgh Festival in August with a finale at the Royal Festival Hall in December. For more information go to www.sophiewoolley.com. For information on deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus contact RNID's information line on 0808 808 0123 or textphone 0808 808 9000 or visit www.rnid.org.uk
Also in this section
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
This lady is latened deaf and has a very postive out look about being deaf that I have so much respect for her and also CSN who is d/Deaf blind and Latened deaf who told the truth too. They are very honest people about their own being deaf.
However I am very disappointed that many deaf oralist, CIers, hearing, and latened deaf with a very negative audist attitude are not being honest to themselves for a long time after all you dont feel good to use the term of d/Deaf. And also these people with audist attitude, hurts those d/Deaf chidren s needs that destroy their true identity.
AND also, Whats more I was forced to show the fact of being deaf by a hearing person that is no difference between d/Deaf oralism and latened deaf by a former hearing while they were being so cruel with their own audist attitude toward d/Deaf people like me, CSN, and others. Why cant you just listen to d/Deaf people who have a very positive attitude about being deaf. So now the evidence I have told the whole truth for a long long time because I care for d/Deaf children's best interest to have their ASL in their earliest age .
And it s still no difference between CI as internal and Ha as external devices. So be it! except for Latened Deaf who can take the risk to see if they will get their hearing back. It doesnt promise for them 100 percent.
So I am free like a freedom bird because I know what I am talking about being deaf myself and d/Deaf 's true experience that is no difference from you in many situations. Mind you, It s not from the old past days only but it s update today that shows the evidence I have the same thing as she is. I have been going through with all my honest truth writings for years and years.
I am more relieved to show this true evidence now and make my day.
I will reply more later.
Thank you!
Sweetmind
Personal Column: I'm good at being deaf
As a teenager, artist Sophie Woolley started losing her hearing. But it doesn't worry her
Published: 30 April 2006
People aren't born deaf in my family: it happens later on. For my mother and my sister it was in their teens. I first noticed I was having problems aged 19. I was working as a waitress and would sometimes get the orders wrong. The chef shouted at me to get a hearing test and I did. The audiologist said I had a very slight loss but didn't believe I had the family deafness.
I didn't think I would go deaf, but very, very gradually it's got worse. I still don't know whether I'm going to become profoundly deaf like my mum and sister, who both use sign language. My father isn't deaf and now finger-spells the first letter of every word for me. I'm profoundly deaf in high frequencies and wear hearing aids. When people are speaking I hear the vowels well and have to try and fill in the gaps with lip reading and guesswork.
When I'm lip-reading it takes a bit longer for my brain to process what people are saying. Sometimes I can see people looking slightly annoyed if I appear blank. I'm a performer of spoken-word monologues using mimicry and accents. A girl once came up to me after a show and said something, but I couldn't understand her. She asked if I was drunk. It turned out she was trying to tell me I was a genius, but she just ended up insulting me instead. But for every one person I meet who can't deal with my deafness I meet 10 who are brilliant about it.
I'm lucky in that I established myself as a writer and performer when my hearing was still pretty good. I now use an interpreter in rehearsals and a stenographer will provide an instantaneous transcription when we're working on scripts. Last year I toured Russia with the British Council giving creative writing workshops as well as performing.
If I don't tell people straight away that I'm deaf they think I'm being weird. I used to try and bluff my way through conversations, but it's tiring and I end up looking weird anyway. Some people think I'm putting it on to wind them up as deafness is believed to be something that happens to older people and also because my speech is normal.
My family has a really great attitude about deafness so I don't worry about the future. It's the day-to-day problems that crop up that do my head in sometimes. For example, if there's an announcement on the train, I won't know what's going on. Sometimes, if I'm reading a book, I've ended up in the sidings.
I also worry that people think I must fancy them because I'm staring at their lips a lot. So long as they don't have a beard or talk with their mouth full, I can lip-read them and I don't care what they think.
I miss out on ambient conversation, so I organise my social life so I don't put myself in situations where I'm at a dinner party with 15 people and everyone's talking at all at once. My boyfriend learned to sign as soon as we started seeing each other. Sometimes I call him and just talk at him and don't know what he's saying back.
The biggest change has been to my identity. I'm not the person I expected to be and have had to incorporate deafness into my personality. In my heart I'm still a hearing person, but as time goes by and as my hearing deteriorates, I am getting better at being deaf.
If I have children, there's a chance that they would inherit the gene, but I don't want any at the moment as I'm so busy with my career. When my mother first married, a doctor told her to get sterilised because she would have deaf children, but she ignored them. I'm more concerned about having a ginger baby than a deaf one. I'm a strawberry blonde but used to be more ginger.
Sophie Woolley was talking to Julia Stuart. Her touring one-woman show, 'When To Run', starts at the Edinburgh Festival in August with a finale at the Royal Festival Hall in December. For more information go to www.sophiewoolley.com. For information on deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus contact RNID's information line on 0808 808 0123 or textphone 0808 808 9000 or visit www.rnid.org.uk
Also in this section
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
This lady is latened deaf and has a very postive out look about being deaf that I have so much respect for her and also CSN who is d/Deaf blind and Latened deaf who told the truth too. They are very honest people about their own being deaf.
However I am very disappointed that many deaf oralist, CIers, hearing, and latened deaf with a very negative audist attitude are not being honest to themselves for a long time after all you dont feel good to use the term of d/Deaf. And also these people with audist attitude, hurts those d/Deaf chidren s needs that destroy their true identity.
AND also, Whats more I was forced to show the fact of being deaf by a hearing person that is no difference between d/Deaf oralism and latened deaf by a former hearing while they were being so cruel with their own audist attitude toward d/Deaf people like me, CSN, and others. Why cant you just listen to d/Deaf people who have a very positive attitude about being deaf. So now the evidence I have told the whole truth for a long long time because I care for d/Deaf children's best interest to have their ASL in their earliest age .
And it s still no difference between CI as internal and Ha as external devices. So be it! except for Latened Deaf who can take the risk to see if they will get their hearing back. It doesnt promise for them 100 percent.
So I am free like a freedom bird because I know what I am talking about being deaf myself and d/Deaf 's true experience that is no difference from you in many situations. Mind you, It s not from the old past days only but it s update today that shows the evidence I have the same thing as she is. I have been going through with all my honest truth writings for years and years.
I am more relieved to show this true evidence now and make my day.
I will reply more later. Thank you!
Sweetmind
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Interesting story! Glad you shared it with us.
@ sr171soars It's a good thing that they have an ignored iggy provide here in AD. I gotta start using that.