Effing hate my "deaf accent"!!!

Strong

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Hi everyone, I'm a new user who just registered a few minutes ago! I'm Strong (that's my username) and I am so glad to have found this website because I can finally vent out my frustrations!!!

Sorry...I'm feeling a bit frustrated and pissed off as hell now. Anyway I was born profoundly deaf and at age 8, I received a Cochlear Implant at a hospital in Toronto. Since that time, I went through speech therapy for about 6 years and then I stopped due to some reason. I was supposed to transfer to another area to continue the therapy, but I didn't.

Now it's been 5 years since the abrupt end to my speech therapy back in Toronto, I have suddenly decided to go back to therapy because of the dreams I had! In this past summer, I was beginning to experience dreams in which I was talking to someone and out of nowhere, I started to lose my ability to speak and consequently my speech became incoherent. That's what has driven me to despair to pursue speech therapy!

To make this worse, I got a job at another hospital as a student and I was talking to someone else at the training session. That was one of the wore moments ever because as I was talking to her, she said, "I'm so sorry I feel so bad!!!" when she couldn't grasp what I'm saying. I was really depressed because the day before that, I went to a dermatologist and found out that I have female pattern baldness...I'm only 17 and this has truly impacted my self esteem.

Anyway...at my school, a speech therapist came to assess my speech to determine if I'm in need of speech therapy. Well...a speech therapist trains for those who have hearing problems will come...in spring! That's when I will be graduating high school and I will not receive free service anymore!! I cannot afford private services but I will look into Canadian Hearing Society later.

Ugh...today I was giving a presentation and, of course, I dreaded it very much due to my speech. Three weeks before, I spoke to my teacher about my situation of my speech and she bluntly told me, "I would rather you didn't (put whole text on the PowerPoint for the audience to understand me)." I disnt say anything. So when I proceeded to present, I was watching some members of the audience making an effort to understand me by looking attheir "constipated" facial expressions.

Ugh. God help me. Thank you very much to listen to my tirade.
 
I hate my deaf accent too....but the answer isn't more speech therapy. Younwill never be able to speak like a hearing person. it's too hard. Instead why not apply to Gally or NTID and learn ASL and discover yourself as a REAL deaf person?
 
You could also go to a number of ASL programs in toronto and start learning ASL so you can have terps when you go to college/university.

If she can't afford speech therapy I doubt she will be able to afford going to school in the states DD.
 
Hi everyone, I'm a new user who just registered a few minutes ago! I'm Strong (that's my username) and I am so glad to have found this website because I can finally vent out my frustrations!!!

Sorry...I'm feeling a bit frustrated and pissed off as hell now. Anyway I was born profoundly deaf and at age 8, I received a Cochlear Implant at a hospital in Toronto. Since that time, I went through speech therapy for about 6 years and then I stopped due to some reason. I was supposed to transfer to another area to continue the therapy, but I didn't.

Now it's been 5 years since the abrupt end to my speech therapy back in Toronto, I have suddenly decided to go back to therapy because of the dreams I had! In this past summer, I was beginning to experience dreams in which I was talking to someone and out of nowhere, I started to lose my ability to speak and consequently my speech became incoherent. That's what has driven me to despair to pursue speech therapy!

To make this worse, I got a job at another hospital as a student and I was talking to someone else at the training session. That was one of the wore moments ever because as I was talking to her, she said, "I'm so sorry I feel so bad!!!" when she couldn't grasp what I'm saying. I was really depressed because the day before that, I went to a dermatologist and found out that I have female pattern baldness...I'm only 17 and this has truly impacted my self esteem.

Anyway...at my school, a speech therapist came to assess my speech to determine if I'm in need of speech therapy. Well...a speech therapist trains for those who have hearing problems will come...in spring! That's when I will be graduating high school and I will not receive free service anymore!! I cannot afford private services but I will look into Canadian Hearing Society later.

Ugh...today I was giving a presentation and, of course, I dreaded it very much due to my speech. Three weeks before, I spoke to my teacher about my situation of my speech and she bluntly told me, "I would rather you didn't (put whole text on the PowerPoint for the audience to understand me)." I disnt say anything. So when I proceeded to present, I was watching some members of the audience making an effort to understand me by looking attheir "constipated" facial expressions.

Ugh. God help me. Thank you very much to listen to my tirade.


What province are you in - if you're under 18 you should be able to get speech therapy covered anywhere (not just school) free of charge under the provincial and federal health plans.
 
Hi everyone, I'm a new user who just registered a few minutes ago! I'm Strong (that's my username) and I am so glad to have found this website because I can finally vent out my frustrations!!!

Sorry...I'm feeling a bit frustrated and pissed off as hell now. Anyway I was born profoundly deaf and at age 8, I received a Cochlear Implant at a hospital in Toronto. Since that time, I went through speech therapy for about 6 years and then I stopped due to some reason. I was supposed to transfer to another area to continue the therapy, but I didn't.

Now it's been 5 years since the abrupt end to my speech therapy back in Toronto, I have suddenly decided to go back to therapy because of the dreams I had! In this past summer, I was beginning to experience dreams in which I was talking to someone and out of nowhere, I started to lose my ability to speak and consequently my speech became incoherent. That's what has driven me to despair to pursue speech therapy!

To make this worse, I got a job at another hospital as a student and I was talking to someone else at the training session. That was one of the wore moments ever because as I was talking to her, she said, "I'm so sorry I feel so bad!!!" when she couldn't grasp what I'm saying. I was really depressed because the day before that, I went to a dermatologist and found out that I have female pattern baldness...I'm only 17 and this has truly impacted my self esteem.

Anyway...at my school, a speech therapist came to assess my speech to determine if I'm in need of speech therapy. Well...a speech therapist trains for those who have hearing problems will come...in spring! That's when I will be graduating high school and I will not receive free service anymore!! I cannot afford private services but I will look into Canadian Hearing Society later.

Ugh...today I was giving a presentation and, of course, I dreaded it very much due to my speech. Three weeks before, I spoke to my teacher about my situation of my speech and she bluntly told me, "I would rather you didn't (put whole text on the PowerPoint for the audience to understand me)." I disnt say anything. So when I proceeded to present, I was watching some members of the audience making an effort to understand me by looking attheir "constipated" facial expressions.

Ugh. God help me. Thank you very much to listen to my tirade.

It sounds like you have a few things going on. I'm sorry about the baldness issue because I thought I had that for a while myself but it turned out just to be a bad cow lick. I had to search on Craig's List for a good hair dresser by asking for someone experienced in thinning hair in women. The woman that replied to most post made a big difference. You might want to look for someone similar with experience in hair loss in women that could help you. It'd do wonders for your self esteem. I know make up artists going through training that could assist you. Many do make up and hair for Cancer and burn unit patients so they could lend helpful advice on options you have.

With regard to speech...in profound loss, you're going to be very limited. You simply can't repeat sound you're not hearing clearly and you won't have the clarity. However, that's not to say there's no point to this. Helen Keller persisted with speech therapy right up to end of her life. Communication with the hearing world was that important to her and she wanted to be engaged in conversation with everyone, not just the deaf. Remember, speech therapists go to school themselves so you may want to find a school that has such a program and ask if students would be willing to work with you. They usually do for free. Your speech may improve some, but it might still be helpful to utilize an ASL interpreter when you give presentations. (I'm assuming you Sign - if not, in your shoes, I'd be taking classes because they could be very helpful to you).

One of the important aspects of self improvement is working on your weakness but never forgetting your limitations at the same time. Best wishes.

Laura
 
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Try singing. I sang a lot before I became deaf and my speech is still good. I still sign to myself and for people close to me. But you have to feel your voice and singing will teach you to vary your voice. A simple do re me fa so la te do will do a lot. Play with it.
 
Try combining deaf plus CP ( cerebral Palsy) accent. you ask people to repeat and they ask you to repeat. My parents really fell for a con , when the school director told them that she could turn me into a broadcast journalist by the oral method. If I had been allowed to do ASL, kept my mouth shut, I think I would have growninto a much more confident woman, rather than into a mousy, behind the scene, depressed and anxious personalways seeking approval. my boss is breathing down my throat because I cant express myself well and seem not to have backbone.
 
Try combining deaf plus CP ( cerebral Palsy) accent. you ask people to repeat and they ask you to repeat. My parents really fell for a con , when the school director told them that she could turn me into a broadcast journalist by the oral method. If I had been allowed to do ASL, kept my mouth shut, I think I would have growninto a much more confident woman, rather than into a mousy, behind the scene, depressed and anxious personalways seeking approval. my boss is breathing down my throat because I cant express myself well and seem not to have backbone.

THIS. All hearing parents should read this. Speech therapy cannot and does not turn your dhh kid into a broadcast journalist!
 
Is it correct to surmise that "deaf accent" occurs when the person is born "deaf"? Thus one is "unable to articulate sounds/speech"?

aside I became bilateral DEAF after turning 70 and don't recall anyone mentioning I now have a "deaf accent". To date have never taken "speech therapy" either.
 
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Is it correct to surmise that "deaf accent" occurs when the person is born "deaf"?

aside I became bilateral DEAF after turning 70 and don't recall anyone mentioning I now have a "deaf accent".

That's because you had years of language development behind you. If a child loses significant hearing prior to the full acquisition of language, they never fully develop it, certainly not without considerable speech therapy and encouragement.

Laura
 
I have "deaf accent" all my life. which is - me lishp, often mmummble, speak thru by bose,- and who "nose" else like crazy.

SO WHAT?!

I feel I am more interesting this way. Eccentric. Individual. Stand out person. Yep!



There are masses of people who are exactly the same - it's not always a wrong thing to be -or sound- different.

Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Brzezinski - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
was an advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. He has had a strong Polish accent.

It didn't stop him from becoming such a prominent historical figure.

He had Polish accent, you have deaf accent. It won't stop you from becoming
someone great either - only YOU can stop you from becoming whoever you want.


here's a list of other famous pple with speech impediments
What Did You Say?: Famous People With Speech Impediments

Famous People - Speech Differences and Stutter

See? keep that proud deaf nose high up!

Fuzzy
 
I was born profoundly deaf and speak very well. Not a lot of people realise I am deaf. My Mum said I always wanted to speak well so worked really hard. My speech therapist even said that I worked very hard, harder then most.

Had speech therapy from age 2 to 22.
 
I'm hearing, so I don't have a deaf accent.

However, my speech did regress when I was younger because I have a form of Autism. For some odd reason I went from not speaking, to speaking with a stupid stutter. It was very infuriating a lot of the time, but now that I think about it my speech impediment is apart of who I am and I don't hate it anymore.

I agree with Audiofuzzy, embrace your accent even when it gets frustrating during communication times. It's not the person's fault they don't understand you and it's not your fault you have a deaf accent. It's nothing to hate. It is apart of you. When I stuttered too much, I used to hate my voice which is why I chose most of the time, not to speak. Sometimes my stutter comes out every once and while if I get too excited about something. People giving me strange looks makes me uncomfortable, but I stopped hating myself because of that and I stopped getting angry at the other people for giving me strange looks. I just kept working on my speech so that it got to a level I was comfortable with. If a slip and stutter today or mispronounce a word and someone struggles to understand me, I just laugh it off and try again.

Everyone has an accent that is hard to understand somewhere. When my friend went to Seattle, a lady at the grocery store couldn't understand him because he had a Detroit accent. I struggle to understand people with thick Atlanta accents. People who don't spend a lot of time around deaf people or haven't heard many deaf accents before, they will struggle to understand you. This is nothing bad, just how it is.

I love accents. They are cute and unique. I think now you are just angry and frustrated, which is natural. You won't always hate your accent. It's going to be with you for life, (but lessen with speech practice) so you have no choice but to make friends with it at some point. :lol: My stutter still comes back to say "hello" sometimes.

Good luck with finding a speech therapist. It can be really expensive. My Mom didn't have health insurance for me when I was younger, so family members would work with me. If you cannot afford therapy, will some family and friends to help you? And keep practicing on your own if you have to. It will get better. :)
 
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i have my deaf accent and im not embarrassed of it. i m proud who am I...

I don't know why people assume that if a deaf person wants to improve their speech, that they're ashamed of themselves or embarrassed just to be who they are. Strong wants to be understood whether speaking or Signing. What's wrong with that?

People are forever calling out the hearing community for making assumptions about the deaf, but it works both ways. Not everyone who happens to be deaf wants to use a visual language exclusively, and not everyone finds the way they talk cute or sees it as defining their identity. Sometimes when a deaf person says they want to improve their speech - that's really the only thing they're saying by that statment.

Laura
 
I don't know why people assume that if a deaf person wants to improve their speech, that they're ashamed of themselves or embarrassed just to be who they are. Strong wants to be understood whether speaking or Signing. What's wrong with that?

People are forever calling out the hearing community for making assumptions about the deaf, but it works both ways. Not everyone who happens to be deaf wants to use a visual language exclusively, and not everyone finds the way they talk cute or sees it as defining their identity. Sometimes when a deaf person says they want to improve their speech - that's really the only thing they're saying by that statment.

Laura

:gpost: You are very insightful Laura.
 
I was hearing my whole life until May 2011. I have a deaf accent and am told this is due to not being able to hear my own voice. I also seem to talk rather loud most of the time which I am pretty sure is due to the extremely loud tinnitus. I guess I try to speak over it. However at this point in my life I don't let things like this bother me, life is too short in my opinion:):)
 
I have a "deaf accent" too,even after losing bearing after learning speech. im told i mumble and i dont react to noise and speak at the same level all the time. this is even with cis and previous hearing aids. it just happens, we are all different.
 
I don't know why people assume that if a deaf person wants to improve their speech, that they're ashamed of themselves or embarrassed just to be who they are. Strong wants to be understood whether speaking or Signing. What's wrong with that?

People are forever calling out the hearing community for making assumptions about the deaf, but it works both ways. Not everyone who happens to be deaf wants to use a visual language exclusively, and not everyone finds the way they talk cute or sees it as defining their identity. Sometimes when a deaf person says they want to improve their speech - that's really the only thing they're saying by that statment.

Laura

Perhaps because OP said "I hate my deaf accent"???

:dunno:

Fuzzy
 
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