Oh your Deaf?? You must not care about music

I'm Hard of Hearing personally but occasionally I run into this issue. I am freestyle dancer and once in awhile I get people that come up to me all shocked...WOW your an amazing dancer, followed by, I'm so sorry. I'm confused as to why they're sorry so I ask; their response, well you can't hear any of the music. I usually respond with a, who told you that!? I'm Hard of Hearing not Deaf. EVEN so I'm always slightly irritated that people assume that Deaf people don't listen to music or enjoy it, and don't dance either. That is so far from the truth. I know that SOME Deaf people don't care for music, but certainly not ALL. I few days ago I was talking to a Deaf person in my A.S.L.S group and I had mentioned that I'm a dancer, she told me she liked dancing and I responded, "oh yeah, what kind of music do you like to dance to ?" She responded with a slight shrug of the shoulders and said I'm Deaf.

I said I know that and laughed. "But I'm not going to just assume that you don't have a preference in music just because your Deaf, there are some Deaf people who love to make, listen and dance to music.

My slight beef is, don't automatically refer to your being Deaf as the reason you don't care much for music, it gives ignorant people of the hearing world the impression that ALL Deaf people don't know what it is to like music or be involved with music, however I will say its every persons responsibility to have enough common sense to know that not any particular group of people are all individually the same.

Overall music is not necessarily about what you hear, its about what you feel. Even in my ASL/Deaf culture department, sometimes without realizing it they are giving the impression that music is not an appreciated concept in Deaf Culture. I just say lets be a little more mindful of this topic.

Shara said:

Overall music is not necessarily about what you hear, its about what you feel. Even in my ASL/Deaf culture department, sometimes without realizing it they are giving the impression that music is not an appreciated concept in Deaf Culture. I just say lets be a little more mindful of this topic.

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I think you may be confusing hoh and deaf with the music there.

I don't know if deaf ferrets care about music either. They may be scared of music and run off and hide. They would rather hide stuffs and bite people than to try to listen or feel music.

Deaf do dance. Gallaudet have dancing company. I do zumba a lot. The hearing ladies thought I was hearing because i do follow zumba pretty good. Then one person realized that I am Deaf. Then she happens to know ASL and talk to me, and " wow i always thought you were heairng because you dance as zumba very good." I was like, " um thanks? " because i thought it is no big deal like eveyrone does. then she explained that there have steps with musics. I said, " i know i used to be cheerleading and can feel the vibration to follow the steps" she said, " oh me duh".

Deaf can dance too.

there couple of famous people who names i forgot one ballarena and other drummer.the ballerina feels vibration as do the drummer maybe violinist aswel.,i think we mention them before..
i not sure if this sort of thing you alluding to.

Bottesini said:

I think you may be confusing hoh and deaf with the music there.

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Why do you think this, I am very clearly aware of what it means to be HoH and what it means to be Deaf, I just happened to share my personal experience with what one confused hearing person had commented to me about. Then I shared my experience in talking with a Deaf person I happened to encounter. Sorry if I didn't properly convey my level of understanding well enough for you, try reading my post again.

caz12 said:

there couple of famous people who names i forgot one ballarena and other drummer.the ballerina feels vibration as do the drummer maybe violinist aswel.,i think we mention them before..
i not sure if this sort of thing you alluding to.

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Yes im refering to to everything relating to music and Dance, thank you. Its an important topic for me because I am a dancer (freestyle hip-hop) I know there are Deaf people who are passionate about music an Dance and they shouldn't be discredited because of ignorance

Shara said:

Why do you think this, I am very clearly aware of what it means to be HoH and what it means to be Deaf, I just happened to share my personal experience with what one confused hearing person had commented to me about. Then I shared my experience in talking with a Deaf person I happened to encounter. Sorry if I didn't properly convey my level of understanding well enough for you, try reading my post again.

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You just confirmed my opinion. You need to get out into the Deaf community in your area and get educated.

And this kind of attitude is why a lot of Deaf people loathe the hoh.

I try not to be one of those...

Bottesini said:

You just confirmed my opinion. You need to get out into the Deaf community in your area and get educated.

And this kind of attitude is why a lot of Deaf people loathe the hoh.

I try not to be one of those...

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I have the impression that she's soaking up all that Deaf Culture education in her ASL class and spewing it back on here in an attempt to kiss up to us. I could be wrong naturally, but that's my impression, not any real experiences just stuff that she read in a book.

ambrosia said:

I have the impression that she's soaking up all that Deaf Culture education in her ASL class and spewing it back on here in an attempt to kiss up to us. I could be wrong naturally, but that's my impression, not any real experiences just stuff that she read in a book.

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Probably. I am just old and grumpy with kids who get snotty when you try to explain gently to them.

There will always be people out there that don't understand deafness.

I've heard the following...

- "You're deaf? Wow... so, you can read braille?"
- "You can drive!? Whoa!"
- "So, how do you have sex?"
- "O... M... G... you... can... talk... !?"

I have a cousin who is always watching my wife and I sign to each other. We don't use our voices when we sign. One day, he asked his grandmother to buy him one of those spy kits for kids (this kid included a spy microphone and earpiece). The next time my wife and I visited her grandparents, he saw us and immediately put on his earpiece... then pointed the microphone to us while we were signing. He got mad because he still wasn't hearing anything. Hehehe!

Just this week a guy I work with was asking me why I can talk if I can't hear. He had a hard time understanding that not all deaf are the same.

I thought deaf-wanna-be hates music the most... eh?

mostly deaf mostly using wearing hearing aid love music it is very nice basic low I remeber feeling high low, loud on crazy music

As a Bilateral DEAF person i have actually tested some of the above.

Disconnect my Implant= don't "feel any music playing" .placed my hand on the speakers-feel only vibrations-which I don't identify as music. One can "learn a dance step" by watching someone else-however -if the only one on the dance floor which dance can a DEAF person do when the actual music is playing excluding-following your partner?
Isn't dancing reacting to the music playing?

I aware that ostensibly some "self defined(cultural?) Deaf" persons can use Hearing aids.
Aside: after I became bilateral DEAF- December 20, 2006 I could not hear anything even if I reconnected my Phonak LL6.

Can DEAFness-sikence- be differentiated between Deaf/DEAF persons?



More discussion in Sociology-culture

Smithtr said:

mostly deaf mostly using wearing hearing aid love music it is very nice basic low I remeber feeling high low, loud on crazy music

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Does this make you feel better? Does it help you in any way possible that I can't hear and understand the music that is playing? What do I miss most...music...wide and deep and personally moving. Music that touches your soul.

ceelynncee said:

Does this make you feel better? Does it help you in any way possible that I can't hear and understand the music that is playing? What do I miss most...music...wide and deep and personally moving. Music that touches your soul.

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You sound like a hearing person. Hearing family members or any of the hearing people was hoping to have the deaf or hard of hearing to be listening to the music like the notes. I only hear the sounds like environment sounds, not notes. Also I can feel the vibration of loud enough from the sounds.

When I was driving my car with my in-laws, they turn up the radio but I could not hear well enough or make out what they are singing or making music. I just ignored the music and that is why I don't like radio because you can not read it (captioned). T.V. does have captioned for music. It help somewhat.

VamPyroX said:

There will always be people out there that don't understand deafness.

I've heard the following...

- "You're deaf? Wow... so, you can read braille?"
- "You can drive!? Whoa!"
- "So, how do you have sex?"
- "O... M... G... you... can... talk... !?"

I have a cousin who is always watching my wife and I sign to each other. We don't use our voices when we sign. One day, he asked his grandmother to buy him one of those spy kits for kids (this kid included a spy microphone and earpiece). The next time my wife and I visited her grandparents, he saw us and immediately put on his earpiece... then pointed the microphone to us while we were signing. He got mad because he still wasn't hearing anything. Hehehe!

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I get the talk thing a lot actually "OMG your deaf??? Gosh I wouldn't of even known! You speak so well! You don't sound like a deaf person!"

........ :roll:

Years ago,the choir director (ordained reader) refused me membership in my
church's choir (Eastern Orthodox) after seeing me wearing one hearing aid. Reader didn't think I'd be able to keep up,myself being HOH.

A few months ago,I was at Bible study. Seeing some sheet music on our host's piano,I broke out with a few impromptu bars. The choir director (the
priest's wife) noticed that I have a pretty good voice (baritone) and said a voice as good as mine should be heard.

So recently,I've started singing Sundays at my parish. The Eastern Orthodox music has a different beat than the Afro gospel and Southern gospel that I grew up with (am a former Baptist). The priest's wife believes a good singer can be trained to sing any style. So far I'm doing ok. She even thinks I could go pro if i wanted to (I don't!) ;I'm that talented.

I didn't know I had potential.

ambrosia said:

I have the impression that she's soaking up all that Deaf Culture education in her ASL class and spewing it back on here in an attempt to kiss up to us. I could be wrong naturally, but that's my impression, not any real experiences just stuff that she read in a book.

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I'm sorry you feel this way, you seem to have some apparent bitterness that no one can help you with accept for yourself, and instead of opening your mind a little and asking questions you assume that every Hearing or HoH person has to be ignorant. Its sad because you just slapped a judgment on someone without knowing their history with Deaf/HoH people (mine being since I was child). Again its not the post I've made that is giving you this reaction, its the fact that you don't want anyone who is not Deaf (by audiogram standards) to have anything say about several different aspects and concepts about Deaf Culture and the constant issues they are facing. I wish you well.