runawayjett13
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2012
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Hello all!
My father, stepmother, half brother and sister, three uncles, both paternal grandparents, and more are deaf, some since birth, some developed hearing loss early in life. I am a "hearie", and so is my one full brother. Because my parents divorced when I was about five, I was not part of my paternal family's life very often. I have many relationship problems with my father, not related to his deafness, so it has been hard for me to learn more about the deaf community and culture. My hearing mother was always supportive of my interest, and is fluent in ASL. I have always loved to sign, and, as a nanny, I teach hearing babies and young children to use ASL to improve their non-verbal communication skills.
My father was not a very good parent. He broke lots of promises, would go years without contact, and still does not keep in touch, despite countless attempts on my part to maintain a relationship. We recently had a bad argument, in which I called him out on his negligent behavior, and he accused me of audism. This hurt me very much, because I never considered our issues to be related to his deafness at all, only his lack of commitment and compassion as a parental figure in my life. I have never seen his being deaf as a barrier to having a relationship with him, and though I am not fluent (mostly because I have no one to practice with), I have always used ASL with him and his family the best I can, and write or fingerspell the rest.
Because it seems that our issues will never be resolved, I turn to you folks to please accept me, despite being a "hearie", and allow me to learn more about a part of my life I still consider to be very important.
My father, stepmother, half brother and sister, three uncles, both paternal grandparents, and more are deaf, some since birth, some developed hearing loss early in life. I am a "hearie", and so is my one full brother. Because my parents divorced when I was about five, I was not part of my paternal family's life very often. I have many relationship problems with my father, not related to his deafness, so it has been hard for me to learn more about the deaf community and culture. My hearing mother was always supportive of my interest, and is fluent in ASL. I have always loved to sign, and, as a nanny, I teach hearing babies and young children to use ASL to improve their non-verbal communication skills.
My father was not a very good parent. He broke lots of promises, would go years without contact, and still does not keep in touch, despite countless attempts on my part to maintain a relationship. We recently had a bad argument, in which I called him out on his negligent behavior, and he accused me of audism. This hurt me very much, because I never considered our issues to be related to his deafness at all, only his lack of commitment and compassion as a parental figure in my life. I have never seen his being deaf as a barrier to having a relationship with him, and though I am not fluent (mostly because I have no one to practice with), I have always used ASL with him and his family the best I can, and write or fingerspell the rest.
Because it seems that our issues will never be resolved, I turn to you folks to please accept me, despite being a "hearie", and allow me to learn more about a part of my life I still consider to be very important.