sylbea
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- May 22, 2013
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For those of you who can speak despite your deafness, how do people generally treat you?
Do you often feel you are not being taken seriously because of how you communicate with them? Assuming you can lipread, do you find it difficult to listen to them speak as well?
Say, even if your speaking and lipreading skills are top notch, do you still feel you aren't getting enough respect simply because of the fact you are deaf? How do you deal with this? Do you feel compelled to do something about this ignorance in general?
Do they not take you seriously because of your personality as well?
Being raised oral and never having learnt sign language myself, the hearing world has no doubt been full of trials and tribulations. Most of it is to blame on my personality - I am rather introverted and hence I'm not one for small talk, and it doesn't help that I lose interest easily when I have to lipread all the time - I'm successful only half of the time. While I can speak fairly well enough, it still leaves a lot to be desired if I really want to express myself properly without coming off as awkward because of my deafness, which people probably take that as socially inept on my part, hence they do not treat me as seriously.
Of course, I still have much room to improve in terms of skills and confidence. But it is also disheartening to think how there is still not enough awareness about deafness, and how it impacts communication especially with hearing peers. Most people have yet to realise that communication is something they seem to take for granted - not everyone has the privileged sense of hearing for such an vital aspect, just as not everyone can not see the beauty. Nevertheless, we try to make with our limited sense and can come a long way if only with a little more understanding and appreciation for what we are all given.
Do you often feel you are not being taken seriously because of how you communicate with them? Assuming you can lipread, do you find it difficult to listen to them speak as well?
Say, even if your speaking and lipreading skills are top notch, do you still feel you aren't getting enough respect simply because of the fact you are deaf? How do you deal with this? Do you feel compelled to do something about this ignorance in general?
Do they not take you seriously because of your personality as well?
Being raised oral and never having learnt sign language myself, the hearing world has no doubt been full of trials and tribulations. Most of it is to blame on my personality - I am rather introverted and hence I'm not one for small talk, and it doesn't help that I lose interest easily when I have to lipread all the time - I'm successful only half of the time. While I can speak fairly well enough, it still leaves a lot to be desired if I really want to express myself properly without coming off as awkward because of my deafness, which people probably take that as socially inept on my part, hence they do not treat me as seriously.
Of course, I still have much room to improve in terms of skills and confidence. But it is also disheartening to think how there is still not enough awareness about deafness, and how it impacts communication especially with hearing peers. Most people have yet to realise that communication is something they seem to take for granted - not everyone has the privileged sense of hearing for such an vital aspect, just as not everyone can not see the beauty. Nevertheless, we try to make with our limited sense and can come a long way if only with a little more understanding and appreciation for what we are all given.
....Gone thru the sexual harassment too...and I've cussed out and taken some into the bosses office.....