am i alone or wha?

[Danielle85]

SO as you guys know i was born hoh. this semester in college i took asl 1. i love it completly its great. My friend is deaf and all we do is go to deaf events. Im glad im part of the deaf culture. well heres the deal why didnt any1 tell me anything in h/s about vesid,agbell,asl what the hell. i never ever knew any of this stuff up until pass couple of weeks. im hoh i should know what profoud deaf is or Deaf or CART. i just found out about cart tonight. Do u know that i am struggling in college bc my deaf/hoh conselour suks!!! i never new about cart. i had an fm that sucks! i have a notetaker still not good enough. Im just LOST! on my accomdation sheet i have cc DO I get it NOPE! no1 cares wt hell is going on? is it just me... or do ppl just hate me bc im hoh. i just cant take it oo and wanna know another thing out of 200 family members 00000!!! wants to learn sign language for me and NEITHER DOES MY OWN Boyfriend! sad huh! Yeah i have a great life!!! just perfect..

and i also found out that i can get a scholarship from agbell.. WHY DIDNT ANY1 TELL ME ANYTHING OMG!! im 20 yrs old now its kinda too late! why didnt any1 tell my HEARING parents ERRRRgh!!!

 

[CODAchild]

Danielle85, did anyone tell you that you (if you have it in your state) go to Vocational Rehabilitation aka VR, and you could have learned about these resources that are so new to you. Also, if you have a Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, they have many many resources on all these new resources. I am very surprised that before you graduated high school, there wasn't a transition coordinator that could have helped you with all these things. But, contact these agencies and get the help you truly deserve. College is hard enough, but, to be hard of hearing, it's a struggle, so look up this information, and make an appointment with VR and find out what you could be entitled to. Good luck Danielle!!!!!

 

[Superfroggy]

SO as you guys know i was born hoh.


and i also found out that i can get a scholarship from agbell.. WHY DIDNT ANY1 TELL ME ANYTHING OMG!! im 20 yrs old now its kinda too late! why didnt any1 tell my HEARING parents ERRRRgh!!!

Hi Danielle85,

No I guess you aren't alone in this experience. I am totally deaf but have a friend who grew up "hoh" and her experiences were almost EXACTLY like what you are describing. Didn't learn about ASL, deaf culture, etc... until she got to college.

My guess is that for many "HOH" people, hearing people probably don't tend to see them as any part of "deafness" in the way which it applies to deaf culture, ASL, etc... I'm guessing this might have something to do with the fact that a lot of HOH people appear to blend in with the hearing community (skilled lipreaders, speak well, etc) and appear to "get by" well enough with hearing aids. So, perhaps in all likeliness the people in your life never truly realized that you needed or would even benefit from things like ASL and assistive resources like CART and all that. You may be learning about these things a little late, but it's NEVER too late. Now is the time for you to learn all you can and apply what you learn to become your own best advocate.

I asked my friend how she managed to get through college if she didn't learn about all the "deaf" resources that she needed until after her first year (in which she was failing miserably). She told me that she realized she really needed to buckle down and learn ASL so that she could know enough to get a sign language interpreter (they didn't have CART back then). Basically, she had terrible deaf/HOH counselors too who were ignorant and unhelpful and so she had to become her own best advocate after all, really fighting and pushing the school to provide the resources that she needed.

CART is a wonderful invention and I hope you can get this service for yourself. Or even hopefully you'll eventually learn enough ASL to be able to get a sign language interpreter for your classes.