Umm, hey, so... am I deaf?

[shel90]

Horrible experiences here....I'd never do that again!

Yea, that was why I went thru an anger period when I realized how much connected with other people using ASL. I wont ever put myself thru that 24/7 again....I am willing to do it part time for my husband's hearing friends, his family and my family but that's it.

 

[kimpossible]

If u are comfortable with it, go for it. Does your mom have a hard time accepting it?

No, she just doesn't know. On applications for help at school and whatnot she keeps telling me to fill out Hard of Hearing (when "deaf" is also an option), that's all I mean.

 

[SkullChick]

you're deaf, i was hoh all my life till recently i lost most of my residual hearing now im deaf i cant hear anything except scream right at my ear or hit cymbal of drum very hard the metal thing i can hear that but anything else i cant hear but few i can feel vibration in my ear drum but i dont hear the sound at all like fire alarm i cant hear it but i can feel it if im close enough. it been really tough for me because i totally rely on my hearing to understand people talking to me i dont lipread at all but now i have to but it's like totally pointless i dont understand like 95% of convo so i just gave up and sit in corner with notebook and pen or ask hearing person that know sign what they are saying it suck cuz i lost all of my hearing friends and i cant makes new one and im surrounding hearing people 24/7 i cant find other deaf people around where i live so it suck but good thing i will get ci surgery on january 15th that should help a lot, hopefully. you should consider cochlear implant it work very very well and you hear more crisp clear than hearing aid and does alot more so at least consider it

 

[kimpossible]

thanks for the input... gosh I feel for you. but I can't relate entirely because I still get a LOT of help from my hearing aid. It still seems like i'm HOH, that's partially why I was asking this because I don't notice ANY difference when I still wear my BTE.

 

[deafbajagal]

Please read Chapter 3 from the book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture (by Carol Padden...and Tom Humphries, I think). It talks about this very same subject. I think you will enjoy it . It talks about how a hearing person's perspective of what hh means will be different than what a deaf person's perspective of hh means - because their centers (norms) are different.

Also, there's the pathological definition of deafness - and the cultural definition of deafness. Pathologically, deafness means you have "X" DB loss with and/or without amplification. It may go on to discuss how deafness adversely affects speech, etc. They use scientific measurements of some sort to divide out what would be deaf and be hard of hearing. Culturally, deafness means more about how a person perceives herself - deaf because she perceives herself to be a member of a Deaf community, uses ASL (or BSL) as primary language as oppose to exclusively using speech, etc. Hard of Hearing person, from a Deaf culture perspective, is more about a person who may assoicate more with the hearing world (uses more speech, doesn't really identify himself as members of the Deaf community, etc.) Don't misunderstand- I do know of many HH people who are proud to say they are HH and are also members of the Deaf community.

So- the question is - which deafness are you referring to? Pathological deafness or cultural deafness? From then, you might find it easier to identify yourself. And the most important thing, in my humble opinion, is that YOU make the choice of which you think YOU are. When it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter, does it? As long as you are comfortable with your hearing loss, coping with it or handling it by choosing your support system, and using the mode of communication that is comfortable for you. It's your life.

 

[kimpossible]

Please read Chapter 3 from the book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture (by Carol Padden...and Tom Humphries, I think). It talks about this very same subject. I think you will enjoy it . It talks about how a hearing person's perspective of what hh means will be different than what a deaf person's perspective of hh means - because their centers (norms) are different.

Also, there's the pathological definition of deafness - and the cultural definition of deafness. Pathologically, deafness means you have "X" DB loss with and/or without amplification. It may go on to discuss how deafness adversely affects speech, etc. They use scientific measurements of some sort to divide out what would be deaf and be hard of hearing. Culturally, deafness means more about how a person perceives herself - deaf because she perceives herself to be a member of a Deaf community, uses ASL (or BSL) as primary language as oppose to exclusively using speech, etc. Hard of Hearing person, from a Deaf culture perspective, is more about a person who may assoicate more with the hearing world (uses more speech, doesn't really identify himself as members of the Deaf community, etc.) Don't misunderstand- I do know of many HH people who are proud to say they are HH and are also members of the Deaf community.

So- the question is - which deafness are you referring to? Pathological deafness or cultural deafness? From then, you might find it easier to identify yourself. And the most important thing, in my humble opinion, is that YOU make the choice of which you think YOU are. When it comes down to it, it really doesn't matter, does it? As long as you are comfortable with your hearing loss, coping with it or handling it by choosing your support system, and using the mode of communication that is comfortable for you. It's your life.

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I was talking about pathological deafness; I'm very well aware of what cultural Deafness is. =) I'm perfectly comfortable with my hearing loss, my question was about the technical stuff.

 

[Info Officer]

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I was talking about pathological deafness;

Gee, it sounds awful doesn't it "pathological" ... something I associate with "liar" ... or "bioterrorism"

Sorry, I digress...

Officially, you would say you have a "profound hearing loss" ... because these things are measured in loss

Pathologically, there is no such thing as "hard of hearing". You can have a mild hearing loss, a moderate hearing loss, a severe hearing loss, or a profound hearing loss.

Hard of hearing is a term used more for political correctness, than medical diagnosis. Most hearing people would call you hard of hearing if you can speak clearly enough to communicate in speech, and can follow a spoken conversation, because, well, you can speak! And understand me You can't be deaf!

And most social definitions of "deaf" in the deaf world mean "with a profound hearing loss" (no reference to speech at all). But as you have seen, it is very open to interpretation.

On forms it is probably assumed that a hard of hearing person might need an FM system or live captioner, and a deaf person will need an interpreter ... assumptions, assumptions

 

[shel90]

Gee, it sounds awful doesn't it "pathological" ... something I associate with "liar" ... or "bioterrorism"

Sorry, I digress...

Officially, you would say you have a "profound hearing loss" ... because these things are measured in loss

Pathologically, there is no such thing as "hard of hearing". You can have a mild hearing loss, a moderate hearing loss, a severe hearing loss, or a profound hearing loss.

Hard of hearing is a term used more for political correctness, than medical diagnosis. Most hearing people would call you hard of hearing if you can speak clearly enough to communicate in speech, and can follow a spoken conversation, because, well, you can speak! And understand me You can't be deaf!

And most social definitions of "deaf" in the deaf world mean "with a profound hearing loss" (no reference to speech at all). But as you have seen, it is very open to interpretation.

On forms it is probably assumed that a hard of hearing person might need an FM system or live captioner, and a deaf person will need an interpreter ... assumptions, assumptions

I agree with you. I was born severely profoundly deaf but was raised orally and according to people I have encountered, they couldnt believe that I am stone deaf cuz I can speak very well. I also had FM system which did not do anything for me but funny my HAs did so much for me which they werent supposed to. Life is strange..