What part of the South did you grow up in? I've always felt at odds with much of mainstream South especially regarding politics.
I was born in Germany, my dad was army but I was raised in Cullman Alabama from the time I was 6yrs. old. I hated all the discriminations... I went to the ONLY school in the county that had students that were not white. I was allowed to have black friends but wasn't allowed to go to their house and they weren't allowed to come to mine... Until recently there weren't any employees in the school system that were anything other than white. There is now 1 black teacher at Cullman High school but there are many different races of students in most of the schools in the county now... (wow, hard to believe I graduated almost 17yrs. ago!) A lot has changed since I went to school there but a lot of the racial tensions are still there, it's like the Mayberry T.V. show way back in the 50's and 60's still in a lot of ways, just a bigger population. The religious aspects... so many people I grew up with got so mad because a catholic monastery built a place out in Hanceville, I mean they were catholic nuns, not Pagan or Jewish or Buddhist or anything else, I mean catholic falls under the Christian category of religion and they STILL were fussing about it because they weren't traditional southern baptist or some of the other, smaller, denominations already in Cullman. I am still in Alabama, for now, but at least in Birmingham it isn't as bad... I would love to move some where warmer like Florida, or Nevada, or something, but for now... we are still here! I did wind up being a nurse for a few years but only because my brother & I went together... to grow up hard of hearing, with my dad having all the stigmas he had and wouldn't let me have hearing aids- said I had to learn by reading lips or else on top of the small town southern belle crap I had to put up with... well you guys get the drift...
I hate when I ask someone to repeat & they look at me with and say one of those really stupid comments like; "I didn't stutter", or, "are you deaf or what" while laughing at least until I say yes, or say really loud and hateful "YOU HEARD ME!", well no I didn't!
My husbands former boss from Hanceville (before he got promoted and went to the corporate office) used to tell people he had a deaf and dumb worker on second shift and no one could tell him anything because he was too stupid and that the only reason he hired him was to meet the workers discrimination laws about hiring people with disabilities...
I cornered him with several office staff present at last springs company picnic and asked him why he thought the guy was dumb? He said cause he didn't talk (and several other idiotic and asinine reasons)... I asked him if he thought I was dumb like that guy and he started laughing and said no, he said he had talked to me when I came in to see Tony and he knew I wasn't as stupid like him, I saw red... I got a clip out of my bag and pulled my hair up off my ears so everyone around us that was laughing and agreeing with him AND the deaf guy standing close by could see the over the ear hearing aids I was wearing and had worn the whole time my husband had worked there and said very loudly... "Just because we are deaf it makes us dumb? maybe your the dumb one because you don't know how to write a note or use sign language to communicate with us you piece of worthless shit!"... he hasn't used that term since at least around me or the other staff members at that branch that I talk to still, and I got tons of pats on the back and smiles from people there that work under him still. The guy only knew me from the time my husband started working there which up to that time had been 7 years, I had never worn my hair up or back off my ears when I was around him at the office, so he didn't know I had hearing aids. He lived and worked in Texas until the corporate boss hired him and he moved here so he didn't know me from the community or anything, just what little he saw me when I came to the office to bring Tony lunch or some small company gathering like that
I've never known what's it like to be born hearing and to lose your hearing later in life. 
I also heard that BTE's are useful for TMJ hearing loss.
If I for some reason had to live in Texas, Austin would be the only place for me-
