xc700

Please share your stories about positive attitudes that hearing people have with regards to people that are HOH or Deaf.

Deafness

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Latascha

I'll try to think of one.

xc700

Ok let me be your first. Hi, I bet it would be wonderful to get to know you.

green427

I am sure there are plenty of positive stories, but when there are negative, we all come here to vent.

Beach girl

Where are you from in Michigan? I grew up in the southwestern corner, also have relatives up in the Keewanau.

Happy stories about the hearing: I count my blessings to have my wonderful husband. He makes whatever phone calls need doing; he will repeat comments as necessary if I didn't understand something; he will double-check if he thinks I might have missed something important and didn't realize it.

I depend on him a lot, and love how he has learned, along with me, how to deal with this.

Latascha

Well, you are probably right. But then again...Is being nice and friendly something positive or something one should expect?
Honestly, what counts as a awesome and positive hearing people story?

Well here is one: Once I and some friends wanted to buy tickets for a trip. As soon as the woman noticed we are all Deaf, she handed us a paper and a pen.
(You know, I really can't say that it was awesome. It was nice, but that's about it. )

Okay, I'm sooo not got at this, I think I'll stop at this point. It is not that there are no friendly hearing folks out there. There are just not that many.

xc700

Hey Beach Girl. I live about twenty minutes west of Michigan School for the Deaf.
Where in S.E MI are you from? I'd like to make it to the Kee sometime.

Grayma

I'm hearing, and I agree, being polite and respectful should not be that remarkable. It's something we all should be able to expect from others.

I also get the need for venting. And honestly, it's just human nature that venting stories are more interesting than nice ones.

I realize it's not the same thing at all because this story is about an activity you choose, not one one that just happens to you, but I used to be on a breastfeeding forum, and we had a regular thread where people vented about obnoxious people, especially people who were rude about mothers breastfeeding in public.

It wasn't necessarily that this happened all the time, it was just more memorable. And who wants to write out, "I went to the store today, fed my baby on a bench by the door. Nothing happened, nobody was rude. Came home."

How boring, right? And if everybody treats you decently, you have no build up of steam that you need to vent.

Anij

Can you give an example ?

I don't consider things like being treated with respect, or not being discriminated against etc as anything other than what should be the norm.

I'd be really interested what you'd think any example would be.

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Hoh/Deaf ~ +120db deaf right , mild/mod flux left & APD
English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

xc700

Interpreters. Do they all have bad attitudes?

KarissaMann05

Some jobs are open-minded to Deaf people.

Some people are willed to recognize sign languages as an actual language.

Some colleges in USA accepted ASL as a real language unlike other colleges.

Some people are actually speak up against rude ones when they teased Deaf people.

Some people don't mind Deaf people sign to each other at public unlike another closed-minded ones who do mind.

I can't think of more...

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"Pragmatic language is a vital social skill that enables the school-aged child to navigate their way through demanding social situations." -- R. Owens

KarissaMann05

I am sure everyone know it is not all of them...

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"Pragmatic language is a vital social skill that enables the school-aged child to navigate their way through demanding social situations." -- R. Owens

green427

I've dealt with interpreters for the last 26 years....my estimate is that 25% of them have an attitude. I had the balls to ask some of them why they had an attitude, and their answer was.....of course....deaf people with bad attitudes make them miserable.

Anij

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

No, I haven't really had any issues with the 'terps I've worked with.

Keep in mind though that they work for us, and are required to adhere to fairly specific codes of conduct.

(Was that meant to be an suggested example?)

(BTW did you do an intro post about yourself? Are you hearing, hoh, deaf/Deaf ? Fluent in ASL/BSL etc ?)

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Hoh/Deaf ~ +120db deaf right , mild/mod flux left & APD
English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Anij

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

Right - but those are really examples of "being a good human-being", or "not being ignorant".

I'm honestly trying to figure out what the OP wants as examples that aren't in fact just examples of people "not discriminating" , you know what I mean ?

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Hoh/Deaf ~ +120db deaf right , mild/mod flux left & APD
English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Grayma

You know, that reminds me of something that happened, oh, either 1981 or 82.

The first sign language class I took was SEE, because that's all that was offered where I lived at the time, and I didn't know any different. Then I moved to Portland to go to school and learned more and wanted to take an ASL class.

I could not take it on my college campus- it was a small Christian school and they had a limited course selection. They worked with the state schools, however, and I could take classes at the state school for credit.

However, at first they told me I could not get credit for ASL because I already had a sign language class which they had accepted and given me credit for.

I did a bit of research, wrote a two page paper explaining that ASL was its own language, so saying I couldn't get credit for an ASL class because I already had a SEE class was kind of like saying I couldn't get credit for Spanisih because I already had French- sure, some words were the same, but they weren't the same language.

My Dean met with me for about five minutes, thanked me for the information and let me take the ASL class for foreign language credit, as well as letting me keep the credits they'd already counted for SEE.

The whole thing took about a week, maybe two. That was very nice of him to resolve the issue so quickly and so personally, but it was a small Christian school, and personal service was one of their selling points.

So, yes, I appreciate him doing that for me, and taking care of it quickly, and being openminded enough as a college Dean to learn something even from a freshman girl who didn't know that much herself.

But it shouldn't be that amazing that an adult educator was open to learning something new and changing his mind.

Grayma

I do have one more, but maybe it's not my place, as a hearing person, to say whether this is remarkable or not.

My preacher at church, I think, is going a bit above and beyond. Because we don't have an interpreter, the preacher makes a special outline ahead of time, a much longer, extended outline with most of the sermon and all the Bible verses written out so we don't lose track of the sermon hunting up verses. He does this just for J, the deaf lady, and emails both of us the outline on Saturday so both of us can look it over ahead of time, and she can follow along during the sermon. He also has started putting more of his stuff on the power point, which is hard for him because he's old school and would rather not use it at all.

He also comes up as soon as J gets to church to ask if she got the outline in time and was able to print it, and if she didn't for some reason, he prints another copy for her.

I don't think the power point is such a big deal, that's just what he ought to do. But going out of his way to write an extended outline each week just for her does seem like more than just the minimum anybody should be able to expect.

Anij

I always had print out available of my sermons/homilies for anyone who wanted them to read along - it may not be exactly word for word what I actually said, but it was about 90% the same. It's actually one of the main reasons that I took the time to write out a complete homily versus expounding on multiple point form notes.


I also used to make sure that we had large print text versions of everything for those who are low-vision, including copies for the lectionary readings (bible readings) for that week. We also all wore mics so that it was easier for people to hear, and for special events would ask if anyone wanted an ASL/English interpreter for the service (even if the usual congregations didn't including anyone who used ASL - it was offered in case there was family/friends they'd be inviting who'd benefit from it)

For those who were home-bound, I'd send out an email each Saturday afternoon which the readings, prayers, and anything else that would be used as a part of the order of service, as well as any announcements etc.
This allowed those who couldn't physically make it to the church participate to some degree by being able to read through the service themselves.


I never thought of this as being unusual - I considered it my job to make sure anything I was involved with as inclusive as possible for everyone including hoh/d/Deaf, low-vision/blind, those with mobility issues etc.

__________________
Hoh/Deaf ~ +120db deaf right , mild/mod flux left & APD
English & ASL ...PAH!!


Ignorance is NOT Bliss

xc700

Sorry for the deferred response I've been a bit busy studying for my ASL final exams.

I'm a individual with hearing and am currently going to school to become an interpreter.

General respect is kind of a parallel to general disrespect. Hearing people are rude to hearing people in gargantuan amounts every day. I'm trying to learn and become part of the Deaf culture and asked the original question with honesty and was looking for some examples of what many thought were counters to the examples of rudeness.

I see what many are saying though. I guess there's really not much to comment on if people are acting as they should.


I am a peace maker but I really dislike bullies. It actually turns me into an instant bully to the person being immature and rude. Pretty much like I would react in any other situation, if I saw someone acting immature and rude to a Deaf person or any person for that matter, I'd probably shut them down and make an example out of them so others heard what was going on. I have a way with this.

I see instances of stupidity every day that blows me away. It's equal opportunity.

dereksbicycles

I go to Michigan quite often to visit my girlfriend. There is a deaf get together in Grandville, MI every Tuesday at a mall.

That is where I met my girlfriend's ASL teacher with whom I had a good conversation with. She said that I would go to ASL class with my girlfriend if I want to.

xc700

That's cool Derek. I'm big into cycling too and a post you made gave me an idea regarding cycling and a friend to enjoy a common interest so I placed an ad to see if anyone is interested in a cycling buddy. Maybe we can exchange skills (asl/bike maintenance).

The thing with the way my life has gone is that I've gone 44 years and have never really met a Deaf person. Honestly I don't understand how this could happen.

I'm about 2 1/2 hours from Grandville.

dereksbicycles

Feel free to send me a private message .

Kuifje75

my partner of soon-to-be 8 years is hearing. When we first dated, we would write back and forth and I told him about the local deaf centre which offered free ASL classes. He signed up for it straightways and went on to take up two more courses. He also became used to my speaking (which I know is far from perfect at all) and understands me well. He's an awesome guy, and I have to remind him from time to time. :-)

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CareyJay

Last night I was at an alumni reunion for my fraternity. One of the alumni from the very first pledge class 30 years ago when our chapter was first founded came up to me and asked me about how things were going with getting the school/professors to comply with my accommodations as he had noticed that I had not posted about it on facebook for a while. It then came out that he's a civil engineer and very passionate about making sure that his company always complies with ADA despite his underlings' bitching about it. He said that he's been watching my posts carefully because he likes the insight into the world of someone who actually benefits from it because it helps him with that quest of his to make everything disability-friendly and he likes keeping tabs on us undergrad brothers so he can make himself available to help if ever we need it. He asked if even if I wasn't comfortable talking about it publicly could I keep him updated privately so that he could learn more and know that I'm doing alright.
Brotherly love/concern and people who want to learn more rock.

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My freshman year of college, I had the pleasure of hearing my advisor's description of our field of study: "This is the study of what happens if I stick a screwdriver in your head." ...I love that guy. Simultaneously the most accurate, concise, and creeptastic description ever.

GrayEagle

Besides my husband and daughter, I have had the gamut with others, of awesome experiences of respect and going the "extra mile" and I've had the hurtful "dark side" of rudeness sometimes due to ignorance; sometimes due to just self-involved ornery-ness. Whether it should be "expected" in a universe where people are ordinarily polite and compassionate, or not, whenever it does happen for me, whenever someone goes out of their immediate way/comfort zone to help me communicate, meeting me more than halfway, that's something to appreciate. Perhaps the more we outwardly appreciate people's efforts to accommodate, the more energy and examples we send out, that this is the way it *should* be, will teach/educate what is needed? Maybe someday most people won't find it odd or strange or be put off by others who are different in some way from them? Just be respectful and open and accepting?

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"We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them."
~~Carl Jung

MintyOreo

I didn't realize that this was out of the ordinary... The pastors at my church make very detailed outlines of basically the entire sermon and all of the Bible verses every Sunday. (The outlines are printed off and given out with the church bulletins, for everyone.) The outlines are so detailed, that you could read the outline and know everything that was said during the sermon. And they put a lot of visual information on the power point. They also make sure that, if they show a video during church, that it is closed captioned and that the captioning is on and working ahead of time. If a video that they want to show is NOT captioned, they put a brief summary of the video in the outline.

I go to a Hearing church, and I'm the only deaf person who usually attends there - except for some older people who are hoh. And they did all of this BEFORE I started attending there, too. I'm VERY grateful for those outlines - otherwise, I'd be hopelessly lost during church.

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A FEW of my favorite quotes:

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” ~ Dr. Seuss

“The past does not have to be your prison. You have a voice in your destiny. You have a say in your life. You have a choice in the path you take.” ~ Max Lucado

“Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.” ~ Fred Rogers

“Even though you may not understand how God works, you know he does.” ~ Max Lucado

FadedRose

I've heard that before.
it isn't long before I show them the door.

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