Superfroggy

Hi Danielle85,

No I guess you aren't alone in this experience. I am totally deaf but have a friend who grew up "hoh" and her experiences were almost EXACTLY like what you are describing. Didn't learn about ASL, deaf culture, etc... until she got to college.

My guess is that for many "HOH" people, hearing people probably don't tend to see them as any part of "deafness" in the way which it applies to deaf culture, ASL, etc... I'm guessing this might have something to do with the fact that a lot of HOH people appear to blend in with the hearing community (skilled lipreaders, speak well, etc) and appear to "get by" well enough with hearing aids. So, perhaps in all likeliness the people in your life never truly realized that you needed or would even benefit from things like ASL and assistive resources like CART and all that. You may be learning about these things a little late, but it's NEVER too late. Now is the time for you to learn all you can and apply what you learn to become your own best advocate.

I asked my friend how she managed to get through college if she didn't learn about all the "deaf" resources that she needed until after her first year (in which she was failing miserably). She told me that she realized she really needed to buckle down and learn ASL so that she could know enough to get a sign language interpreter (they didn't have CART back then). Basically, she had terrible deaf/HOH counselors too who were ignorant and unhelpful and so she had to become her own best advocate after all, really fighting and pushing the school to provide the resources that she needed.

CART is a wonderful invention and I hope you can get this service for yourself. Or even hopefully you'll eventually learn enough ASL to be able to get a sign language interpreter for your classes.