Annoying ignorant hearing people stories

^^^ That's like sticking a band-aid on every ailment. Got a headache? Here's a band-aid. Allergies or a cold? Have a band-aid.

These people need to stop thinking that every special need requires a wheel chair.
 
Cheetah said:
I got one just happened today... I fact it happened twice today. I flew Delta for a business trip and when I got off the first aircraft there was a wheelchair waiting for me. I thought it was funny and just ignored it. I transferred to another plane and arrived at my destination. When I got off the second plane, again there was someone waiting for me with a wheel chair. Ok, still funny but also very stupid. One time ok, y'all are making a mistake, twice then you got a problem with your own system. I put in a note that I am deaf just in case there is a delay or emergency hopefully someone will tell me what's up. I don't really enjoy seeing the wheel chair. I'm deaf. Not disabled. My appologies to everyone reading this that has mobility issues and use a wheelchair. Honestly if I needed a wheelchair, I would put down wheelchair not deaf. Let's all use some common sense... Oops, yeah right, it's Delta we're talking about here.
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I'm thinking they just have a checkmark for "disabled" on the manifest and therefore send out a wheelchair for anyone with the checkmark next to their name. I noticed a "where is s/he?" wheelchair when I was waiting for my plane in SLC (Delta) and wondered if it was for me. I did not notice if there was one when I got off the plane at BWI.

Just curious, did the flight attendants acknowledge your deafness? My flight attendant did acknowlege that he was aware I was deaf. That made me feel good...in case there was something that I'd need to know during the flight, I felt he would make sure I "heard" it.
 
Cheetah said:
I got one just happened today... I fact it happened twice today. I flew Delta for a business trip and when I got off the first aircraft there was a wheelchair waiting for me. I thought it was funny and just ignored it. I transferred to another plane and arrived at my destination. When I got off the second plane, again there was someone waiting for me with a wheel chair. Ok, still funny but also very stupid. One time ok, y'all are making a mistake, twice then you got a problem with your own system. I put in a note that I am deaf just in case there is a delay or emergency hopefully someone will tell me what's up. I don't really enjoy seeing the wheel chair. I'm deaf. Not disabled. My appologies to everyone reading this that has mobility issues and use a wheelchair. Honestly if I needed a wheelchair, I would put down wheelchair not deaf. Let's all use some common sense... Oops, yeah right, it's Delta we're talking about here.
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LOL....almost as bad as when I approached the boarding desk and asked them to visually let me know when it was time to start boarding, and they ordered me to sit in a special place where I looked like I was in trouble for something. They still forgot about me....
 
Wow...I am trying to book a flight for a convention (waiting for a good deal that may never come) and one airline site gave 3 different wheelchair choices--wheelchair at gate, transport to plane, special in-the-aisle transport chair. I don't remember which airline/service I saw that. I just can't believe that if you type in a note about being deaf that they give you a wheelchair?!?

Just supports my guiding philosophy in life: Never ascribe to malice what can be written off as stupidity.
 
kellycat said:
Wow...I am trying to book a flight for a convention (waiting for a good deal that may never come) and one airline site gave 3 different wheelchair choices--wheelchair at gate, transport to plane, special in-the-aisle transport chair. I don't remember which airline/service I saw that. I just can't believe that if you type in a note about being deaf that they give you a wheelchair?!?

Just supports my guiding philosophy in life: Never ascribe to malice what can be written off as stupidity.
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Delta gives you two options, I believe, you can check if you have a special need. One of the two options is Deaf/HoH. Again, I suspect when you choose one of these, it just generates a "disabled" checkbox on the manifest...oh, wait, if that were true then the flight attendant would not have known I was deaf. :hmm:

Maybe I'll contact Delta and ask them why they send a wheelchair for deaf people.

Edit: I sent a compliment to Delta (for the flight attendant and for the safety instructions being on the headrest TV) and then asked about the wheelchairs for deaf/HoH.
 
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Wirelessly posted (Backberry)

LoveBlue said:
kellycat said:
Wow...I am trying to book a flight for a convention (waiting for a good deal that may never come) and one airline site gave 3 different wheelchair choices--wheelchair at gate, transport to plane, special in-the-aisle transport chair. I don't remember which airline/service I saw that. I just can't believe that if you type in a note about being deaf that they give you a wheelchair?!?

Just supports my guiding philosophy in life: Never ascribe to malice what can be written off as stupidity.
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Delta gives you two options, I believe, you can check if you have a special need. One of the two options is Deaf/HoH. Again, I suspect when you choose one of these, it just generates a "disabled" checkbox on the manifest...oh, wait, if that were true then the flight attendant would not have known I was deaf. :hmm:

Maybe I'll contact Delta and ask them why they send a wheelchair for deaf people.

Edit: I sent a compliment to Delta (for the flight attendant and for the safety instructions being on the headrest TV) and then asked about the wheelchairs for deaf/HoH.
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If I wasn't already butt sore from the flight, I might have taken them up on the free ride offer. He he he. Some days its so good to be wrong! :)
 
Be glad they didn't make you get in it! My dad has this a lot, they send a wheelchair because he's blind and refuse to take him to his plane unless he gets in it. This is worse in the US than anywhere else, I assume either insurance worries or they haven't been trained to help him find the way so it's easier for them to make him sit in the chair. They left him several times because he refuses to get in the chair. At the risk of a one way trip to Guantanamo he told them think what he could get up to wandering the secure side of an airport all alone. He's nearly been arrested and refused flight for refusing to sit in the chair. Guy runs marathons, he doesn't need a wheelchair for his eyes.
 
RoseRodent said:
Be glad they didn't make you get in it! My dad has this a lot, they send a wheelchair because he's blind and refuse to take him to his plane unless he gets in it. This is worse in the US than anywhere else, I assume either insurance worries or they haven't been trained to help him find the way so it's easier for them to make him sit in the chair. They left him several times because he refuses to get in the chair. At the risk of a one way trip to Guantanamo he told them think what he could get up to wandering the secure side of an airport all alone. He's nearly been arrested and refused flight for refusing to sit in the chair. Guy runs marathons, he doesn't need a wheelchair for his eyes.
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He should do a Scottish Jig (is there such a thing :hmm:) and ask them does he look like he can't walk to the plane. :lol:
 
Cheetah said:
Wirelessly posted (Backberry)



If I wasn't already butt sore from the flight, I might have taken them up on the free ride offer. He he he. Some days its so good to be wrong! :)
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Well, if you have the opportunity to do it again, better take advantage of it. I sent them an online email asking them to educate their employees that the deaf/HoH do not need wheelchairs (after complimenting them on having FAs that acknowledge my deafness). The email I got back thanked me (more than once) for the compliment and said it would inform the appropriate people about my concerns. Dang, I was hoping they'd send me a voucher for travel...I could use one for this August when I go see my grandchild.

If anyone notices a difference (aka, no wheelchair for the deaf/HoH) at Delta, please post (of course, it will take awhile, I'm sure, for the "word" to get to everyone at Delta.

This is one of the areas where if we don't "speak up" and let them know, they won't make the changes. And telling the employee who shows up with the wheelchair probably won't work. S/he will probably forget or just not bother telling his/her supervisor, etc. We need to get word to management/customer service.

I'm not holding my breath that my email will make a difference, but at least I made an effort.
 
I am hearing, and my ignorance is based on not having exposure to Deaf culture, but that's why I'm here to learn more about it.

Although I'm a hearing person, I never really felt like I fit in with a big part of the hearing world. People can be mean even if you are hearing. They will isolate you for other reasons besides being deaf.

I was also isolated by my deaf friend who wanted to be my friend, but wouldn't introduce me to her deaf friends, because she told me that they wouldn't accept me because I was hearing. I was hurt that just because I could hear meant that I was not acceptable to her friends. I mean, they didn't even know me.

I would like to think that there are good and bad in every race, and culture, and there are some of us hearing people who really want to understand so that we can be part of the solution and not contribute to more problems and heartache.
 
One lady talking to her friend about me being " deaf" and the other started trying to sign ( she doesn't know how to). I hated that , making fun of my deafness.
 
stream2525 said:
One lady talking to her friend about me being " deaf" and the other started trying to sign ( she doesn't know how to). I hated that , making fun of my deafness.
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Lady? Interesting, as out of all the jerks that did the same thing to me, none were ladies....is it because I am a man?
 
sparrow2 said:
...I was also isolated by my deaf friend who wanted to be my friend, but wouldn't introduce me to her deaf friends, because she told me that they wouldn't accept me because I was hearing. I was hurt that just because I could hear meant that I was not acceptable to her friends. I mean, they didn't even know me...

...I would like to think that there are good and bad in every race, and culture, and there are some of us hearing people who really want to understand so that we can be part of the solution and not contribute to more problems and heartache...
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I always like to introduce my family and hearing friends and deaf friends to each other. They are always interested in meeting new people and don't care if the other is hearing or deaf. That's just short-sighted to assume you won't like someone because they are different even though one of your friends clearly does. Although, I can't say if that view is what your deaf friend is worried about or her deaf friends actually feel that way.

Me personally, I love it (and welcome it) when hearing people want to learn and do some part in making things less difficult for deaf people (being part of the solution).
 
I'm hearing and I find it ignorant when someone doesn't wantTo get to know you just because of the language you speak or the way you were born. I taught myself sign when I was about 17. I used to go to the special Ed room my senior year of high school during lunch to talk to a girl who was deaf/autistic. She was younger by a year. I thought it was so sad the way the teachers treated her. She had been there a year and a half and none of them bothered to learn anything. Anytime she tried to show them something they brushed her off and did a shooing motion for her to go away. Like she was a bug that was bothering them!! even though her mental capabilities were limited, I kept teaching myself more. Soon my mom became her mentor so I could spend time with her outside of school. I have been friends with her family for about 6 years now. It was a great experience to be able to know what she likes, learn the signs she knows, teach her things, and unite our families as friends.
Now is it a little weird if I would like to meet more people who happen to be deaf? I hope not. The way I see it, there are a lot of wonderful people out there that you may never know just because you choose to be ignorant and see language as an impossible boundary rather than a bridge. You choose if you cross it.
 
I just started going to a BSL group and I actually don't have any idea who is hearing and who is deaf! Everyone uses BSL from start to finish, the idea is to learn and improve, and I surprised myself by not being too insecure to sign because I didn't know if other people were "better than me" at it. I feel intimidated in a Deaf environment just because I think my sign will be considered boring, poor quality and facile.
 
VenessaA25 said:
I'm hearing and I find it ignorant when someone doesn't wantTo get to know you just because of the language you speak or the way you were born. I taught myself sign when I was about 17. I used to go to the special Ed room my senior year of high school during lunch to talk to a girl who was deaf/autistic. She was younger by a year. I thought it was so sad the way the teachers treated her. She had been there a year and a half and none of them bothered to learn anything. Anytime she tried to show them something they brushed her off and did a shooing motion for her to go away. Like she was a bug that was bothering them!! even though her mental capabilities were limited, I kept teaching myself more. Soon my mom became her mentor so I could spend time with her outside of school. I have been friends with her family for about 6 years now. It was a great experience to be able to know what she likes, learn the signs she knows, teach her things, and unite our families as friends.
Now is it a little weird if I would like to meet more people who happen to be deaf? I hope not. The way I see it, there are a lot of wonderful people out there that you may never know just because you choose to be ignorant and see language as an impossible boundary rather than a bridge. You choose if you cross it.
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Nice of you to show compassion. Unfortunately autistic people can be very difficult to deal with. The teachers are probably burned out trying to work with the student, which happens often at the Autistic school we have in town.
 
green427 said:
Nice of you to show compassion. Unfortunately autistic people can be very difficult to deal with. The teachers are probably burned out trying to work with the student, which happens often at the Autistic school we have in town.
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Which is why it takes the right staff with the right expertise, the right access to new courses and research. Staff rotation would be ideal, but unsettling for some types of autism. Sometimes they burn themselves out in the pursuit of the unnecessary. Oh poor so and so doesn't seem to have any friends, let's see if we can repeatedly bang our heads on the wall at his "inability" to make friends. Or you could just realise he doesn't particularly see a reason for friends, doesn't want any, isn't likely to derive any benefit from them and finds them as much hard work as you do the process of trying to show him how to make them. Sometimes people are provided with what an expert thinks they should have, not with what they need. Skills not to be taken advantage of are critical for young people with autism, assimilation is not part of the deal, yet so many centres still seek to "normalise" for some reason.
 
Here are the ones I've gotten so far:

Q.Can you like...Still talk?
A.Um yeah, but I'd rather not for fear of yelling something that was meant to be whispered....

Q.Do you want me to carry around a dry erase board so I can tell you what's going on?
A.Ummmm....No. You have hands. Use them.

Q.Can we just text instead?
A.Can you get bent?

And my personal favorite: *waves arms around and yells in my face* DID YOU CATCH THAT OR DO YOU NEED ME TO SAY IT AGAIN?????

When people yell at me I feel the need to sign my reply in big exaggerated motions while jumping up and down.

I used to be hearing but I NEVER did any of these things. Deaf and Hard of Hearing people aren't damaged. They don't need to be fixed, they're not beneath people that can hear. There's no excuse for this. Seriously.
 
I've gotten all of the above, and more. Here's one of my favorites:

Other person: Can deaf people wear earrings?
Me: Umm, yeah. Why not? My earlobes are just fine, thank you very much.
Other person: Oh. I thought that deaf people weren't allowed to wear earrings.
Me: How the heck did you get that idea?!? That's stupid.
Other person: I thought that deaf people weren't allowed to wear earrings. Isn't there a law about that or something?
Me: *rolls eyes and sighs in disbelief* You're right, there IS a law about that. We're not allowed to wear earrings, because if we DID wear them, we would be able to read people's minds and have x-ray vision. That's a threat to national security, so they made a law that says that we aren't allowed to wear earrings. *sarcasm font*
Other person: *blushes red and walks away without a good come-back*

This is a true story!!!

Hearing people can be SO ignorant and funny sometimes :giggle:
 
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