Hear Again

[QUOTE=dreama;796907]I've been profoundly deaf and I have been HOH. I must say I prefere being profoundly deaf. I think my communication actually improves as a profoundly deaf person as I don't have to rely on people being quiet so I could use my HA to hear speech with.

I agree with you. When I was HoH, I spent a majority of my time explaining what I could and couldn't hear to others as well as making constant adjustments for communication (such as using a Comtek FM system and several different microphones). After my hearing loss dropped to severe-profound and I could no longer understand speech with my FM system, I was able to more comfortably use other alternative communication techniques such as tactile sign, print on palm, TeleBraille, Teletouch and Braille/raised alphabet card. For the first time, I didn't have to strain to hear and could relax knowing that I was receiving the entire message without having to worry about background noise, distance, clarity of speech, male vs. female voice, etc.

You don't get sympathy as a deaf person anyway. I don't like people feeling sorry for me because I'm deafblind as being deafblind isn't the big deal people think it is.

Agreed. Neither do I.

I suppose it would depend on your reaction to noise. Some people, especially those on the autistic spectrum, have problems with noise. I have mild Asperger syndrome. Not that I've always been this bad with noise. It's got worse since I started wearing really powerful hearing aids after I lost most of my sight. (I still have some useful sight though.)

Good point. I never thought about that.


They might like being totally deaf. I do (or rather did). I've just recovered from a really bad ear infection. I had a lot of stuff in my right ear that has been blocking sound out for about 4 years which made me profoundly deaf. Now I do hear some sound but I don't like it very much. It's all so distorted and it keeps setting off my tinitus.

I can't say that I've ever liked being deaf, but ever since I lost all of my residual hearing after both of my CI surgeries, I have become completely comfortable with the silence.

Deafness

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SxyPorkie

yeah... during VietNam war... lots of guys would do anything to avoid being drafted into military... even cut finger off,, stab into ear to be deaf... lots of things to do in order to prevent being drafted into wars...

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Dixie

or find ways to make themselves diabetic or break their feet to flatten them.....

crazy stupid people - do your duty and get on with it. There are deaf, blind, diabetic, flat footed people out there right now that would love to join the military but are barred from that because of their physical (and sometimes mental) limitations. then there are those you mention that do anything to get out of duty - kind of lopsided eh??

If I were not HoH I likely would have joined the air force right out of high school and would still be enlisted today as well, but because I am HoH no can do.

War isnt pretty, never has been, never will be. War is not cool, but dodging service is lame too, JMHO.

The Deaf Wannabes is probably a bunch of leftover draft dodgers that get their kicks with hearing aids and deafness. :giggles:

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dreama

I totally disagree. War is evil. People shouldn't have to fight if they don't want to. If they are that desperate not to fight that they will harm themselves they diserve our understanding not our contempt. In fact I have a great admiration for conciences objectors. If being a conciencious objecter doesn't get them out of it and they have to damage themselves instead of someone else (which is what war is all about) I would still admire them just as much.

As a deafblind person myself it really offends me when people would assume a physical afliction is the worst one can suffer from. Being deafblind is nothing compaired to what some people go through. Like being a homeless person has to go through, or someone sufferering from domestic violence or being forced to murder people against their wish. If I was told that I could magically be non disabled but would then have to get involved in warfare I would much rather stay deafblind with a pure clean concious of not having murdered anyone or caused children to have limbs removed without anesthetic etc etc...

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jillio

**nodding agreement**

dreama

Yes, using non verbal methods can be so much easier but when people know you have some useful hearing they won't let you use them. You are also made to seem controlling if you require quiet to be able to hear and can be really rude about it. I remember asking people to repeat only to be told 'you heard what I said'. If I had heard why do they think I wanted them to repeat.

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Foxrac

It's illegal to do, it can be part of child abuse that where use pencil to poke it or use iPod with high volume to make hearing goes decline, such as increase more dbs of hearing loss.

I would be fine if I have hearing child, there's nothing to be wrong but doubt about it because I'm gay.

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Tousi

Puyo and Pacman, your'e both off topic. Re-read what the topic says and understand what it means.

Hear Again

That's true. I was fortunate enough to receive training at my local deafblind center in which I was encouraged to learn tactile sign and other alternative communication methods even though I still had enough residual hearing to use an FM system. I'm so thankful for the people who encouraged me because when the time came that I finally did lose my hearing, I had the alternative communication skills necessary to cope effectively with my deafness.

When I still wore hearing aids, I had the same thing happen to me where people would insist that I heard them if I asked for a repeat. Some would also say something along the lines of, "You should be able to hear me. After all, you do wear hearing aids" -- obviously failing to understand that hearing aids do not give a person normal hearing.

Hear Again

morbid-mongoose

I have tinnitus and am HoH and I'm patiently waiting as I go on a natural downward spiral into deafness. That's not to say I've not considered blowing the rest of my hearing out at times, but people who are inflicting it on themselves with no good medical reason to back it up are crazy! It's like when I see other teens with their ipods up so loud you can hear it in China and I want to beat the crap out of them for ruining their perfectly good hearing.

mushbean

Well I know long time ago when I was younger I would wear those little headphones and blast my music thinking it was cool, well as a result I cause damage to my drums in which I did damage to my hearing, and before you ask yes I can still hear but when it comes to certain sounds I cant hear. I found that out after having a hearing test only cause my job required it.

mushbean

Why would anyone want to cause themself deafness is beyond me. I know sometimes hearing people wish they were deaf so they wouldn't have to hear peoples mouths. If you want to know what its like to hear nothing but silence go lock yourself in a room with no music, tv, and no talking to yourself, and see whats its like. You are hearing then want to go deaf I bet you will go nuts. Stop taking what you have for granted.

Aleser

Am I the only one offended by the experience of being deaf being compared to being isolated in a room cut off from objects and humans?

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shel90

Being deaf isnt the end of the world.

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MoonDrifter

This topic sparked my curiosity about why people frown upon self-inflicted deafness compared to restoring hearing from deafness via CI or HH. Both of these alterations to a person's hearing is a change in itself.

I just wonder why self-inflicted deafness is a worser change than the other.

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souggy

I used to fantasise about complete deafness, much moreso last year than any other time in my life. It was a warped form of thinking that didn't really arise until I was in severe depression and was looking to blame anything on everything.

At the time, my logic was that the closer you are to being like an average person who can hear, the more likely people think you are mentally slow instead of having a hearing loss. However it didn't occur to me, at the time, that people treated me as such because of the way I act.

People understand deafness and the barrier it posses, however what people don't understand is the "gap," because they hear a person talking, think they are normal until a deaf person run into trouble with hearing certain sounds. By large, most people, are used to that absence in elderly people, but not with young or middle-aged people. So, they would infer that the person they are talking to is slow. However if you tell them that you are deaf, use sign language or write, then there is a different set of behaviour. Some of the "oh, you're deaf" behaviour is quite rude, but it is far better than getting the "what's wrong with you" stare and then having people act out.

In my case, most people don't understand that I miss out on the upper part of the speech banana (f/ph, s, sh, ch and so on) and that I don't have very good sense of directional hearing. On top of that, I am overly sensitive to sound and vibrations, so people think it's weird that I respond to some more readily than most and and completely be oblivious to other sounds.

However if I use sign language, then people treat me "normally." If I don't, then people do treat me "normally" up until I run into a barrier, then people look at the person beside me for answers. Of course, this is providing that my sight loss is not obvious here, which is an entirely different set of prejudices, and not are misunderstandings, in itself.

So yeah, I used to fantasise about self-inflicted deafness just to erode the misunderstandings I had as someone who have a little bit of hearing left; I am considered having a severe to profound hearing loss before, and after, having that mindset. I probably will have to get another audiogram to see if my hearing is still degenerating.

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cdaigle430

I have heard of people with head trauma or those infected with lyme desease wishing to become deaf because the sound of a pin becaomes very agonizing to them. For them it's either become deaf or take their own life. I would rather become deaf.

mushbean

Oh by no means did I want to make it sound like its the end of the world. What I meant is we who can hear are used to it,to want to look it on purpose is one of the stupidest things I ever heard. I know I have put myself in a empty room and with no sounds of any kind, and not to hear anything all that quiet to me was horrible, to know you can hear, listen and enjoy the noise around is a gift, to want to take it away on purpose is just plain stupid.

mushbean

My comment was not to offend anyone, but if you took offense to that well I don't know what to tell you.

sallylou

Apology fail!

An example of an apology: I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings.

If you aren't sorry that you hurt someone's feelings, it's best to say nothing.

inmate23

I HATE the fact I can still hear. And I can pass a audiogram but cant hear more than 1sound at a time as I audio processing disorder. I am unable to get sign support (because I can pass an audiogram) and because of this I will never get an education or have a job. And in nz cued speech isnt here. I will(my family go deaf but slooooooooooooooooooowly) go deaf but at 60 its too late to have a life. Its heartbreaking. nz has a two handed sign lauage and as i have cerebral and cant use two hands.

dreama

I'm not exactly offended, but the person obviously doesn't get it. I think going profoundly deaf was nothing like that experience. Even when I am completely deafblind, it's nothing like that experience either. It just since hearing and sight are not the only senses.

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dreama

Exactly, I wonder this too. I was born HOH but when I lost my hearing entirely I was glad.

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Nihil

I just don't think most of you get it and i am sickened by some the ignorance shown in this topic! Especially the ones with the snide so called funny remarks.You expect "hearies" to understand you and not to have assumptions towards you due to your deafness well why not have some kind of respect towards others who may have done this.Such as myself.I suffer from Schizophrenia and due to this one of my things is sensory psychosis in which i damage my senses.Yes there are people out there who have completely damaged their hearing or sight.I myself am profoundly deaf in left and severe to profound in right.I am also blind in my right eye due to self-infliction.No i did NOT do this so that i could feel special or seek sympathy (for whatever reason) or even get out of fighting in a war.Such complete stupidity to assume people who do such drastic things such as this does it for silly reasons as some of you brought up.Most who suffer from mental illness are very reclusive,shy and fearful of others which i am and to say i may have done this because i was looking for some kind of pity from others is so far from the truth.I'm sorry if i sound defensive about this topic but its just **(*^% that because some here do not understand that they find it easy to judge and or mock.Remember not long ago others use to judge deaf people as being retarded or slow because they didn't understand deafness and frankly found it easier to poke fun of then to actually try and understand.I also have this funny feeling that i may have been that person whom the other poster spoke of.Years ago when i was going through a very deep and nightmarish psychosis i searched online for ways in which to become deaf and i went to that sight "Deafwannabies".I wrote a long plea for help.I discovered that most on that sight were just as mentally and emotionally ill.It was like shinning a mirror on myself and was very sad to see there were others like me.People who were simply trying to reach out the best way they could and yes there were some who were simply looking for attention but for them it was all talk.I suppose my main point in all this is that even though I've been a lurker here for a long time too afraid to post or participate,i have always wanted to at least feel like part of this community,i read many posts and laugh,cry and smile.But now I'm fearful that i may not even be welcomed because i'm "not really deaf" that i'm just "crazy" as if my deafness isn't as real or true as yours because i did something drastic and awful to cause my deafness.My deafness/blindness isn't secondary to my other illnesses,its a part of my whole.I hope i didn't offend anyone.I'm not to good at writing and really wanted to try and enlighten and to say we are all - ALL of us are disabled in one way or another and we should never judge or laugh at others.
Stillwaiting if you are still interested i could explain more in detail about myself.Let me know where i can write you or how ever you may want to talk.

Nihil

I wanted to say also that i meant no offence to most in this topic as i did find alot of comments good and interesting.

jillio

The fact that you have schizophrenia, and have injured yourself while in a psychotic state is a very different situation from one who does not have a diagnosed psychotic illness, and simply wants to be deaf for the sake of being deaf.

I certainly empathize with your situation, and do not intend to minimize it at all. I am just pointing out the differences. Schizophrenia is a devasting illness to live with, and I have a great deal of admiration for anyone that deals with its effects on a daily basis.

Bottesini

I just want to know if you are schizophrenic, and you believe this was the cause of your self harm, do you take appropriate medication and have regular psychiatric care?

This is not really a mental illness forum.

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Nihil

Perhaps i to mis-understand jillio as i assumed that anyone who would actually harm themselves would naturally be mentally ill or have some problems?I don't know perhaps not?
UGH! Did i not state that my deafness is NOT secondary to my Schizophrenia!I'm well aware this is not a mental illness forum.The OP asked about self harm to become deaf and as i am deaf I'm responding on a deaf forum but to you i suppose i should wander off and find a mental illness forum.And not that its your biz but yes i do have Schizophrenia and am well managing it now thank you.Ugh posts like the last one is what I'm talking about!Sorry to be defensive yet again but ignorance baffles me.

Nihil

Opps on reading that last post questioning my illness perhaps i read it wrong and took offense.Sorry i do tend to fly off the handle sometimes. To answer your question yes i did harm myself due to the schiz's stuff.Very hard to explain but i had very specific beliefs as to why i needed to do things which i do whether it is wrong or whatever.I'm much better now that I'm taking medication for all this but i do still struggle with life being deaf and half blind which is why i come hear to listen to others stories which i am truely thankful for.