Can someone who is severely deaf talk normally?

I became severely deaf at around 0-3 months of age, I attended a deaf school from the age of 3-11 years, my school was a mixture of oralism, SSE and BSL. I was put in the oral class, i received an implant at 10 years old. I am now 18 years old and I dont know if i have a 'deaf voice' i probably do but that doesnt matter to me. Most of the time people can understand me. I can hear very rarely different accent. the other day i had trouble understanding this woman, i know she werent english because of her accent, she turned out to be polish and has been over here over 8 years.
 
Hi, :wave:

I can speak well and I've had a severe hearing loss since I was nine. Although, my voice is a bit flat compared with hearing people and my family tell me that I am sometimes too loud.
 
momentary said:
Hi ,I am in school and talking with my friends and they say that a deaf person cant talk normally,but I say they can if they became deaf when adult. Am I right or are my friends right ? Thankyou!!!!
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I can say some words right but to my family only. I won't say the words in voice out of public. You probably never knew any deaf people can talk normally, cuz some of them won't talk in public..only to family or close friends or whoever they feel comfortable with.
 
momentary said:
Hi ,I am in school and talking with my friends and they say that a deaf person cant talk normally,but I say they can if they became deaf when adult. Am I right or are my friends right ? Thankyou!!!!
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I cant say right or wrong. Everyone have a different view and opinion.

My view is Mostly deaf people may not have speech normal when they dont grew up oralism and have no motivate. If they grew up with oralism that is normal like everyone is having. I am hearing imparied & grew up in oralism. Alot people do see me same like everyone expect my hearing girlfriend too.
 
~*Kaelei*~ said:
For your information,

I have met deaf people that CAN talk normal...why on earth would they want to tell me a lie when I preferably want the truth.

I know I'm not lying to myself because it's the truth, I can speak like a normal person and I'm telling you the truth, I do not have deaf accent...believe me, they were shocked when I told them that I'm Deaf.

I never had interpreter most of my life up til after high school...unless you count Captioner an interpreter...I had that since 3rd grade up to 12th grade, but really, it's not that much a difference, I'm just reading and I can hear what the teachers are saying. I pretty much had Speech Therpy from 16 months old to 18 years old, and my parents/friends/Family always help me to say the word correctly...

It take practice to learn speech and you know what...I got better at it and I speak like a normal hearing person.

Now, don't piss me off and be mad at me because you think I'm lying. Well, I'm telling you that I'm not lying and I'm telling you the truth. Most won't even know that I'm deaf just by my talking...They only know once I tell them and show my CI (Which is mostly covered by my hair) and once they get to know me better and longer...they will notice that I sometimes ask to repeat what they have said...that's about it.

So Please refrain from yourself speaking about that...because in case you haven't noticed, you probably have offended some deaf people here. But You haven't offended me...I'm just pointing out the fact. :)
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Hi I agree with you completely. Both of my children are deaf and they speak normally. They do have some trouble hearing in a room where there is a lot of background noise but other then that if you are listening very closely to them you might think they have the slight accent. People just do not want to accept that deaf people can speak normally. I work with deaf children that have cochlear implant and the younger the child gets their implant the better their speech and language levels are especially if parents are doing everything in their power ro help their child.
 
jackiesolorzano said:
Hi I agree with you completely. Both of my children are deaf and they speak normally. They do have some trouble hearing in a room where there is a lot of background noise but other then that if you are listening very closely to them you might think they have the slight accent. People just do not want to accept that deaf people can speak normally. I work with deaf children that have cochlear implant and the younger the child gets their implant the better their speech and language levels are especially if parents are doing everything in their power ro help their child.
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Please qualify this statement with "some" and "sometimes". It is not a given.
 
What I really hate about having good speech skills is that people dont believe me that I am deaf. Heck, some of them say that I am trying to pretend to be deaf...like I suffered thru oralism for the fun of it?

I am one of the last living proof that deaf people without CIs can talk normally! :lol:
 
shel90 said:
What I really hate about having good speech skills is that people dont believe me that I am deaf. Heck, some of them say that I am trying to pretend to be deaf...like I suffered thru oralism for the fun of it?

I am one of the last living proof that deaf people without CIs can talk normally! :lol:
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It is a double edged sword...learn to talk like the audists think you should, and then they use it against you and say you couldn't possibly need accomodations!:roll:
 
speech is very dependent on hearing for pronounciation and knowing how soft or loud you are and also for correcting yourself. I suspect the degee of deafness effects the talk to some degree as well.
 
IndieVisible said:
speech is very dependent on hearing for pronounciation and knowing how soft or loud you are and also for correcting yourself. I suspect the degee of deafness effects the talk to some degree as well.
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Not always...if it did, then I shouldnt be able to talk at all considering I have had a bilateral profound-deafness since birth.
 
jillio said:
It is a double edged sword...learn to talk like the audists think you should, and then they use it against you and say you couldn't possibly need accomodations!:roll:
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Yea, I tell them to f**ck off instead of apologizing like I used to. Not my problem anymore.
 
shel90 said:
Not always...if it did, then I shouldnt be able to talk at all considering I have had a bilateral profound-deafness since birth.
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So how do you know how well you sound to others? I'm sure you do very good, but certainly there is a difference to hearing people.
 
IndieVisible said:
So how do you know how well you sound to others? I'm sure you do very good, but certainly there is a difference to hearing people.
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I grew up orally and was able to communicate with almost any hearing people even strangers. Many of them didnt know that I was deaf until I told them when I needed to read their lips. Most of them always looked shocked.
 
shel90 said:
What I really hate about having good speech skills is that people dont believe me that I am deaf. Heck, some of them say that I am trying to pretend to be deaf...like I suffered thru oralism for the fun of it?

I am one of the last living proof that deaf people without CIs can talk normally! :lol:
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I've been told that I speak in a monotone, and a couple of people say that sometimes I sound like I have an Irish accent because I roll my R's. I tend to run my words together, too. I've observed over the years that some people are quicker than others to tell I'm deaf, such as store clerks-I see a figurative lightbulb go off in their heads and they start speaking slower and enunciate more. With some people, I have to tell them I'm deaf-I don't normally go up to people and announce I'm deaf, unless what I want is really important, or depending on my mood.

I can identify with suffering through oralism. I had speech therapists all through my school years and I hated it. I remember very early on in my deafness, my tutor had a Whisper Light that would light up as I talked, it was to show me how loud I talked. Does anyone else remember those things?
 
Jeff_Andum said:
Of course they tell all of you that you talk normal, they don't want to hurt your feelings! Hearing people will lie sometimes just to spare your feelings. There are many Deaf people that can speak well enough that the hearing people can understand them....but Deaf people CANNOT talk normal like a hearing person......I dont care how much your hearing friends bullshit you. Also, there are many Deaf that try to voice for themselves insisting they can talk normal....YOU CANT...that is what the interpreter is there for. Continue to practice your speech skills......but dont get on here saying you can talk normal.....you are lying to yourself and everyone else.
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You kind of right, but deaf people can talk normal. But yea some of hearing people could lie to deaf people because don't want to hurt their feeling. Like my mom did to me. I showed my mom my voice speak if it sound right or wrong? She said "It's right, perfect word". I was like oooh. Then I did to my dad but he don't understand what I was saying in one word. I was like huh?! Obviously my mom lied to me, she don't want hurt my feeling. But I don't care. I don't talk normal. But my best friend Amanda can speak very normal. She told them she's deaf then people think she lied, think she trying to get them pity on her. But she's really deaf. They pissed her off because they don't believe her that she's deaf!
 
I always wonder about people who don't believe I'm deaf. I have to wonder if it's supposed to be flattery-like, "you speak too well to be deaf!" , or if it's just plain ignorance, like they think that all deaf people cannot speak at all, and must use sign language.
 
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