10 things you shouldn't say to a deaf person

ChefDylan said:
That is what everyone who is deaf says. But not me. I simply put people on the spot. Hey, do you like me or something, Paul?
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Of course, I would not say "WHAT?" to a child who stares at me so I :wave: "HI" instead and usually the child looks away. I think that's cute.
 
CrazyPaul said:
Of course, I would not say "WHAT?" to a child who stares at me so I :wave: "HI" instead and usually the child looks away. I think that's cute.
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I still ask the child this, "Do you like me? Or am I just that good looking?"

The child usually gets confused but in the end, they hug me, probably because I am a good looking chef. :D
 
After reading that article "10 things you should never say to a deaf person", I have to admit (with a huge amount of embarrasment) that a few years ago (around 2009) I was guilty of #1 :( I was just so fascinated seeing someone signing for the first time in my life. I had seen it on the tv news before, but this was just such a privalage to see. If I could ever meet the lady again, or if by some miracle she somehow read this message, I would really like to sincerely apologise for my rudeness that day! This was at 'Tigervalley Mall' in Bellville - South Africa
 
impaired said:
Absolutely not. I find it quite fascinating that ~50% of what I read on this forum is incomprehensible. Like I have said before, deaf culture it's new to me. Some of what I have gathered so far; ASL is a language all on its own. So my initial reaction is that those who sign and post here don't make any sense at all to me.

I was serious with my question. Maybe you don't understand what I had asked. Let me rephrase it: Do you believe that deaf/hoh people have the ability to become a prominent part of society? More in the sense that we could be viewed as equal to the hearing.
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Late to the picnic, but here's my two cents: absolutely. One of my most respected colleagues was a Health scientist for OSHA. She did extensive work on clarifying best practice recommendations for the hearing impaired when it came to working in noise. She also had considerable hearing loss; probably not profound, but severe enough to cause difficulties on the phone, in crowds, etc, even with hearing aids. When she retired, we knew it was OSHA's loss, because she gave them an insight into hearing loss. She passed suddenly, and the hearing conservation community was stunned; she was such a big part of what we did. No one ever thought of her as different, or by any means diminished, by her hearing loss: it was just a characteristic.
 
7, 8, 9 and 10 I get the most but often times number one. This mostly happens when I am at work, customers often get frustrated when I have to ask them to repeat or speak louder (it amazes me how much hearing people mumble!!!) then when they notice the hearing aids or on the occasion that I say "I am deaf/hard of hearing, please repeat yourself" they suddenly act like i've got 4 heads and tentacles for arms or get all apologetic and act like they just ran over my dog. lol. I had to explain to my boss that while I do have hearing aids it does not magicaly make me hear as he does, in fact sometimes they do absolutely nothing but irritate my ears. to adress the other points I get really mad when people are amazed that my speech is so good or that I am not (and I am actually quoting someone I came across in my life) "retarded." That get's me so much the fact that hearing people particularly think we are stupid and/or even retarded because we do things differently from them or that to speak well is to be intelligent. but i'll stop myself before I write an essay here... haha
 
Got problem with #3. I used to have a 1993 Eclipse GSX. Sadly, I didn't make full use of turbo in it. I wish I would've gotten better use of turbo in it. Doesn't mean I don't know how to drive. Just didn't know or was scared to find full potential of turbo in it.
 
I get: "You speak so well, so that's a good thing and you are not really Deaf because you are not 100% 'stone-deaf' "

Don't they get it - when it come to spoken language for me, it could just as well be a language from Mars!!!
 
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