Between two worlds

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hbeb

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I'm in grad school working toward being a teacher who focuses on students with special needs.

Part of our assignment for the week is to immerse ourselves in these message boards, and learn more about your community, in order to help us become more understanding teachers down the road.

I wonder if any of you find it difficult to be part of the hearing community once you have become enmeshed in the Deaf community, which you may find to be much more understanding and even interesting?

Do you find yourselves torn? Or does it all become one community - YOUR community?

Thanks.
 
I live in a THREE worlds... deaf world, hearing world and ummm if you read more about me then u'll know

Cheers
 
I asked that because, as I was skimming the message boards, I noticed posts from people who were discussing being treated differently because they were hard of hearing and not deaf, or because they went to mainstream schools, rather than those that focused on deaf students.

And, again, thanks for your insight.
 
I've had severe-profound hearing loss since 1995. I had a very difficult time coping with the loss initially because I felt that I didn't have enough hearing to fit into the hearing world and a little too much hearing to fit into the Deaf community.

It wasn't until I learned sign and alternative communication techniques for the deafblind that I began to fully accept my loss. Thanks to my knowledge of sign, I could comfortably move between the hearing world (by using a tactile interpreter) and Deaf community.

In addition, the alternative communication techniques I learned (print on palm, Braille/raised print alphabet card, TeleBraille, Teletouch, etc.) allowed me to communicate with anyone despite the severity of my hearing loss.

When I lost my hearing in 1995, there were times I wished I had perfect hearing and times I wished I were completely deaf. It was difficult living in two different worlds (my former ENT described it as being in "no man's land") -- especially when I'd have to constantly ask people to speak louder/slower, they would become impatient with me because I couldn't hear them or refuse to communicate with me altogether.

I now have bilateral CIs, but I still enjoy participating in the Deaf and deafblind community because there is a special bond I share with people in both of these communities. They understand what it's like not to be able to see and/or hear. In addition, we are also able to celebrate our deafness and deafblindness without being ashamed of the fact that we can't see or hear.

I hope I've answered your question. :)
 
hbeb said:
I'm in grad school working toward being a teacher who focuses on students with special needs.

Part of our assignment for the week is to immerse ourselves in these message boards, and learn more about your community, in order to help us become more understanding teachers down the road.

I wonder if any of you find it difficult to be part of the hearing community once you have become enmeshed in the Deaf community, which you may find to be much more understanding and even interesting?

Do you find yourselves torn? Or does it all become one community - YOUR community?

Thanks.
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As a hering person married to a deaf person I can tell you the way to truly know the answer to this question is to get off the message board and go out into the deaf community. Not one of my ASL teachers in college would have told me to learn the deaf community by typing on a message board. If you truly want to be a teacher that can focus on students with special needs then go out and experience this in person. See life in their community wether it is deaf, blind or loss of a limb.(I assume special needs teacher is more than just deaf students) It's one thing to ask questions on a board but it's quite another to learn it through real life. I think you will learn so much that way and may be make some great friends along the way. Good luck in your studies. :D
 
Schermy said:
As a hering person married to a deaf person I can tell you the way to truly know the answer to this question is to get off the message board and go out into the deaf community.
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I'd have to agree with this. This message board is a community of deaf and hearing Internet users and doesn't represent Deaf culture or even the deaf community in my experience. It's really no different from many other community-oriented message boards; however, going to Deaf events and gatherings WILL be a very different experience.

This influx of people who have been sent to learn about the deaf community by coming to this website is kind of worrying to me. (Sorry to the OP, I'm not singling you out, there were a lot of high schoolers here recently.) Do teachers really think that a message board mimics what it's like to socialize in the deaf community? (Or any face-to-face community for that matter, but that's another story.)
 
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