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Ok, I have already posted some of this in the late onset, but I wanted to echo it here and try to expand on what I tried to post and compress there.
I am 33 and I have always found that Sign was a beautiful language, and I have started to learn it from a few sources since I do not know of any Deaf people in my neighborhood or at work to learn from. I kind of started from watching ASL (or as I have learned is really SEE) music video’s on youtube (might I say, I love btw), then I started with a kids show I checked out at the library called Signing Time. I know it is for kids, but I am thinking of dragging my best friend’s daughter along with me on my path of learning, besides, I am learning many of the starting signs at this stage anyways.
I live in Kansas City, and the local CC has an ASL class listed, but it shows that it is taking no new students at this time, so I think they are ending the classes, still need to get details on this. One of the video’s had a link to these forums and I exploded onto it reading as much as I could before I broke down and joined. I have been reading as many posts as I can all weekend.
Originally, I started looking for info about the Deaf community to help my mother, but after reading some of the stories of Late Onset forum as well as many in the our life, our culture areas I am wondering about myself as well. I have always thought I was hearing fine, since what pulses of sound fading out and the ringing in my ears I thought was just a phase, after all, it would go away and I could hear everything clear again. I know that my family has a history of losing our hearing, but it is hard to get details as most view it as a secret that you just don’t talk about. My mother is the only one that I have any real numbers on, and at 25 she was about 25% loss in one ear. She said it got to about 50% in one ear by about 30-40 and the other one started fading at that time. Right now, she is at about 75% loss in one ear and about 50% or more in the other. Despite this, she refuses to get hearing aids. Since her hearing has been going in chunks for years I asked about her brother and sisters, and it seems they all have some degree of hearing loss as well. Her mother is all but deaf, and her father died young so I have no idea about his. Grandma is the only one that has HA’s, but HA’s give her nothing but basic recognition of sound, personally I think she lip reads since she will only understand you if you look right at her while she is looking right at you. My grandmother, and in most part my mother as well, look at the loss of hearing as the families hushed secret and it is not talked about. As I have grown older, I have found out from some of my cousins that my aunts and my uncle all have hearing loss to some degree as well, but most refuse to bring it up or discuss it, nor will my cousins really talk about if they have had any hearing loss.
Back in high school, I met my first Deaf kid, and we became friends as I learned about the Deaf community. He was HoH, but used sign for 90% of his conversations and I started to learn sign from him, it was the first time I had ever seen sign or that others had hearing loss, but at the time my hearing was fine so learning it was more of a past-time. Sadly, his parents moved him to a private school for the deaf not long after I started learning some of the basics and I lost contact. When I tried to teach my mother at the time some of the signs I had learned from him, after all, at this point, she was about 35ish% loss in one and almost none in the other, she rejected it as silly non-sense and that her hearing was not that bad, with nobody using sign, and typical high school issues of ridicule, I stopped my studies. Now, I am starting to notice that I am asking my friends to repeat what they say, and the random ringing tone in my ears (tell I read about this on this forums, I just thought it was part of my headaches or something)has been getting worse, I am wondering if I am following the same path as my mother.
I have not gone in to get checked out, half of lack of medical coverage since getting laid off from Sprint, and the other half is that if I am shown as having hearing loss, it could cost me my temp job, since I do over-the-phone tech support right now. I am going to start college again come January to get started on a change to a Bachelors degree in Computer/Electrical Engineering , I am hoping to run into a few who use sign or see if they I can get into a ASL class as well as my normal studies. Depending on if I can do both at once while working, I may wait a semester to make sure my head does not pop off..
I have started to learn sign again since I still think it is a beautiful language and I wish I had not stopped learning it when my friend moved away, but my main issue is how to convince my mother to start learning as well. I know that she is going to get worse based on her parents and older siblings, and she seems more open about her issues now that it has gotten to the point I have had to wire the stereo to the TV for her to hear it, and she is getting complaints about the noise.
Well, that about sums me up.. For now, i am still thinking of myself as a hearing person, but once I get the chance to get tested, I am thinking i may fall into HoH area.. meanwhile, I am going to try to learn all i can.
I am 33 and I have always found that Sign was a beautiful language, and I have started to learn it from a few sources since I do not know of any Deaf people in my neighborhood or at work to learn from. I kind of started from watching ASL (or as I have learned is really SEE) music video’s on youtube (might I say, I love btw), then I started with a kids show I checked out at the library called Signing Time. I know it is for kids, but I am thinking of dragging my best friend’s daughter along with me on my path of learning, besides, I am learning many of the starting signs at this stage anyways.
I live in Kansas City, and the local CC has an ASL class listed, but it shows that it is taking no new students at this time, so I think they are ending the classes, still need to get details on this. One of the video’s had a link to these forums and I exploded onto it reading as much as I could before I broke down and joined. I have been reading as many posts as I can all weekend.
Originally, I started looking for info about the Deaf community to help my mother, but after reading some of the stories of Late Onset forum as well as many in the our life, our culture areas I am wondering about myself as well. I have always thought I was hearing fine, since what pulses of sound fading out and the ringing in my ears I thought was just a phase, after all, it would go away and I could hear everything clear again. I know that my family has a history of losing our hearing, but it is hard to get details as most view it as a secret that you just don’t talk about. My mother is the only one that I have any real numbers on, and at 25 she was about 25% loss in one ear. She said it got to about 50% in one ear by about 30-40 and the other one started fading at that time. Right now, she is at about 75% loss in one ear and about 50% or more in the other. Despite this, she refuses to get hearing aids. Since her hearing has been going in chunks for years I asked about her brother and sisters, and it seems they all have some degree of hearing loss as well. Her mother is all but deaf, and her father died young so I have no idea about his. Grandma is the only one that has HA’s, but HA’s give her nothing but basic recognition of sound, personally I think she lip reads since she will only understand you if you look right at her while she is looking right at you. My grandmother, and in most part my mother as well, look at the loss of hearing as the families hushed secret and it is not talked about. As I have grown older, I have found out from some of my cousins that my aunts and my uncle all have hearing loss to some degree as well, but most refuse to bring it up or discuss it, nor will my cousins really talk about if they have had any hearing loss.
Back in high school, I met my first Deaf kid, and we became friends as I learned about the Deaf community. He was HoH, but used sign for 90% of his conversations and I started to learn sign from him, it was the first time I had ever seen sign or that others had hearing loss, but at the time my hearing was fine so learning it was more of a past-time. Sadly, his parents moved him to a private school for the deaf not long after I started learning some of the basics and I lost contact. When I tried to teach my mother at the time some of the signs I had learned from him, after all, at this point, she was about 35ish% loss in one and almost none in the other, she rejected it as silly non-sense and that her hearing was not that bad, with nobody using sign, and typical high school issues of ridicule, I stopped my studies. Now, I am starting to notice that I am asking my friends to repeat what they say, and the random ringing tone in my ears (tell I read about this on this forums, I just thought it was part of my headaches or something)has been getting worse, I am wondering if I am following the same path as my mother.
I have not gone in to get checked out, half of lack of medical coverage since getting laid off from Sprint, and the other half is that if I am shown as having hearing loss, it could cost me my temp job, since I do over-the-phone tech support right now. I am going to start college again come January to get started on a change to a Bachelors degree in Computer/Electrical Engineering , I am hoping to run into a few who use sign or see if they I can get into a ASL class as well as my normal studies. Depending on if I can do both at once while working, I may wait a semester to make sure my head does not pop off..
I have started to learn sign again since I still think it is a beautiful language and I wish I had not stopped learning it when my friend moved away, but my main issue is how to convince my mother to start learning as well. I know that she is going to get worse based on her parents and older siblings, and she seems more open about her issues now that it has gotten to the point I have had to wire the stereo to the TV for her to hear it, and she is getting complaints about the noise.
Well, that about sums me up.. For now, i am still thinking of myself as a hearing person, but once I get the chance to get tested, I am thinking i may fall into HoH area.. meanwhile, I am going to try to learn all i can.
its nice that you're so interested in the Deaf Community 
to Alldeaf, FxAvatar. 
After about 2-3 pages of junk links on google, I found 
But ya, I can't wait tell next month to see how bad I am at sign.. The funny part is I was looking to pick up a webcam to see if I can use that for practice.