Bebonang

You and Jillio's son are not the only ones, I remembered when I was little (don't remember how old I was, probably about 5 or 6 years old ). My mother and I were on the bus, there was a young woman putting her hand on my shoulder and seem to pray over me. I looked at her and then at my mother. I just sat still until she removed her hand. I was kind of puzzled and relieved that she did not do anything to me. Later when I got older like 12years old I had asked my mom about the incident on the bus. She told me that the woman who put her hand on my shoulder to pray that she want to cure for me to open my ears so that I can hear and understand people's languages. I thought she was weird back then. She was very religious.

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I HAVE BEEN DEAF SINCE BIRTH, AND IT IS STILL AWESOME TO BE . <Deaf> <very happy>

Deafness

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Loghead

What do you mean by multihandicapped Bott? And what do you mean by riding behind family members?

Bottesini

I have Asperger's syndrome. It is just a problem mostly with social interaction.

I meant "Hiding". I meant literally I am usually standing behind someone. I am extremely shy.

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Alldeaf Rah!

dogmom

I am shy too, Bott

dogmom

since we're discussing first impressions - when I tell folks I have LD, I've often been told - oh but you seemed smart-

Loghead

I know someone else with Asperger's syndrome. He is an old best friend of mine... not anymore though. He was a really nice guy, just had a couple added issues other than the Asperger's. I am a very shy person too. I have social anxieties that I am constantly trying to overcome.

Bottesini

Well at least we are all in good company here most of the time.

You too dogmom.

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Alldeaf Rah!

Phi4Sius

I've always been outgoing and confident and have always been able to make people comfortable around me. However, with the recent deterioration of my hearing, I've become significantly more withdrawn and isolated.

I'm considering not telling people anymore about my severe-profound hoh. Everytime I've told someone about it they stop talking to me. The only time that hasn't happened is at work. Either I work with really great people, or it's such an environment that they can't really do anything about that there either. Buwahahahaha.

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MoonDrifter

I'm shy at first, easygoing later. In an ongoing friendship, I'm the group clown.

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~You only have one shot at life. Either live it or waste it~

gaparker

Easy...Just a nice face expression like smile a little with eye brow raised. Sometime when I do that and customers would sudden said that I look like Bill Murray. Oh funny. After smiling then I will gesture little more as more different face expression as go on. Two days ago, I have eye examine as I keep teasing other staff and doctor as have fun. As I am ready to go home, everyone in office look direct at me with big smile to me as they don't do that to many other people while I sit waiting for doctor.

sallylou

I told a guy that I was HOH and he said that he was sorry. I explained that the hearing loss was hereditary. He said that cancer and strokes run in his family. I didn't know what to say. Was this some kind of competition? Or was he just an idiot? Weird!

rockin'robin

That's funny!...(In a way)....

Bottesini

Surely he was trying to give you comfort as he viewed your hearing as a disaster?

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Alldeaf Rah!

sallylou

Yes, he probably does view it as a disaster. I don't think that it was intended as comfort, though. He's the kind of guy who, if you had a head ache, he'd have a brain tumor. And he's an idiot!

xspinningisfun

^bahahahahah. oh wow. i didn't know people looked deaf....duh. people are ignorant.

i'm not deaf. but i get mad how people act. just because someone's different doesn't make them stupid. you know? this world is messed up. my friends brother and sister are both deaf. and i've had to see people treat them with so much disrespect. and i'm like, "dude, get OVER YOURSELF. just because someone's different than you doesn't make you better."

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Volcanbaru

I don't really know how deaf people are supposed to look like. I was told by another deaf girl that it's obvious how they "look around their surrounding all the time" when hearing people barely look around. I do kinda notice that with myself because I tend to look around my surrounding too much.

Signing or speaking isn't a good example of deafness, in my opinion. Any hearing can sign, and anybody can have problems with their speech (like lisp or being foreign in another country or stuttering). However, deaf accent can be fairly obvious to hearing person who have a lot of experiences with deaf people.


So, I don't really know what kind impression that I give out when I meet people. I don't live in city such as Rochester or DC where the deaf population is high. There are too many factors that someone can come up with. Sometime it might take couple of weeks for someone to figure out that I'm deaf. Most of the time, they always thought I just sound "a little off and careless with my speech"

Everyone is different when it come to giving out a impression. You might get asshole, nice person, open-mind person, closed-mind person, deaf person blah blah it's endless.

xspinningisfun

People say I look rude. But I'm really not. I'm pretty nice. :]

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shel90

Hearing people have accused me of being a snob...only because I dont respond to them when they try to get my attention using their voices. Oh well.

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Shel~

"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child." -George Santayana

souggy

I am quite shy when it come to social interaction, but only because as a deaf person with low vision, I am not entirely sure of a person's body language. Usually I am the one that speak first, but only after I can pick up the vibes and see if I am comfortable with the people. I have been told I can appear to be aspie (slang for Asperger's) from time to time. However I am told by the CNIB that is quite common for blind people to appear that way if they didn't get training on how to "appear normal" ie. smiling and making eye contacts (even if they can't see.)

I get a lot of questions if I am from Germany due to my flatten vowels or if I am Dutch or French because I use a lot of the "guttural r" yet I can't roll my r at the front of my mouth to save my life.

I even get people that ask if I am Irish because of the loanwords I use from the Newfoundlanders and Scottish from my hometown.

But most people are surprised to find out that I am deaf, and that I don't even follow what they are saying 50% of the time... or that I can't even lipread them that well. My excuse was that people's gestures are predictable and usually everyone have a similar way of speaking. So when they do find out that I am deaf they usually go "Oh! I didn't know you were deaf!" "Do you understand sign language?" "You tricked me" and so on. Of course, then people will start over-empathizing their mouth movements if I ask them to repeat, which makes it even harder to lipread.

Babyblue

I get that too. I get comments like "oh she is too good to talk to us". Until a friend comes into my defense due to I did not hear what the others said. Once they tell them I am deaf and not ignoring them. They are actually surprised and embarrassed by what they said.

inspirabull

Whoa, I have spent very little time with others that are even as hoh as myself.
In the Alaskan construction world I am the electrician that can't hear. When I am in a new situation with people I have not worked before which does happen fairly often it is awkward at first. While I am very shy I have to force myself to take these situations head on because they will treat me like I am mentally challenged while I sort out all the clues and sounds that I do hear and lip reading that I do to know what they are saying. Especially with all the noise of the construction site going on. It takes a good day or two to get over the hump and roll with the new speakers. During this time I have had people talk REALLY
loud and roll their eyes like talking to stupid here and others that turn completely away when they talk. Others do things like walk up behind me and test to see what I don''t hear - often I don't catch them often I do and pretend not to notice. I am a big bull male but these guys mistake the smile of the hoh for weakness or stupidity. I do get the nevermind thing and make them tell. I had one new job where the obnoxious boss told me how he was sorry for me. I would like to dribble some of these yahoos like a basketball and give them the old elbow in the gut and short chop to the adam's apple but I don't and I do wade right in there and carve out my hunk of turf. Women are not as bad but often simply discount me as a viable man because I don't hear their talk. They can get into signing but I dont sigh because my life is with hearing people. I look at it as all just part of the life experience and am grateful for the hearing I have. I generally spend huge amounts of time when I am off work entirely alone.