Hello from Michigan

Otherwise

Otherwise

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I am 23 from Michigan. Around three or four years old I started suffering from menier's, although it wasn't diagnosed untill much later. My attacks went away by six years old but I had pretty bad hearing loss causing me to develop an accent (which did not serve me well through school.) About 4 years ago, my menier's symptoms returned and became steadily worse over time. My local doctor eventually found out about menier's and sent me to an ENT who reffered me to UofM (University of Michigan) hospital where they have done basically nothing to improve my condition. December of last year is the last time I heard a sound with hearing aids, so I stopped wearing them. I won't get into specifics (I don't want to be a downer) but I've had some bad times this last year with losing my job and having bad medical experiences and a less than understanding family. I was looking online for related stuff and found alldeaf.com. So, long story short, hello everybody.
 
This is kind of a depressing introduction and not how I would like my first impression to be, so my apologies. :Oops:
 
:welcome:

Your introduction is fine.
 
Otherwise said:
This is kind of a depressing introduction and not how I would like my first impression to be, so my apologies. :Oops:
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:lol: We are all kind of a grumpy depressed lot, so you should fit in!

:welcome:
 
Glad to know I didn't come off as a bummer. (even though I kind of am these days.) Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.:ty: I'm actually trying to decide if I want to learn asl or not at the moment. It would be a good idea if I lived in a city or whatever but in the small town I live in it really would be pointless. My dilemma is that I am in my early twenties, and by the time I have any fluency at all who knows where I will be living or what my situation will be. It is a decision that deals with a future that is uncertain. I'm really at a point where no matter where I go or who I communicate with, I have a huge communication barrier. Anyone have any thoughts or experience they would be willing to share?
 
Learning ASL will not be a waste of your time regardless of whatever befalls you in the future.
 
Reba said:
Learning ASL will not be a waste of your time regardless of whatever befalls you in the future.
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OK, cool. I'm glad to get some feedback. Of course everyone in my family has their opinions, but it is kind of hard for them to understand my situation.
 
Otherwise said:
Glad to know I didn't come off as a bummer. (even though I kind of am these days.) Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.:ty: I'm actually trying to decide if I want to learn asl or not at the moment. It would be a good idea if I lived in a city or whatever but in the small town I live in it really would be pointless. My dilemma is that I am in my early twenties, and by the time I have any fluency at all who knows where I will be living or what my situation will be. It is a decision that deals with a future that is uncertain. I'm really at a point where no matter where I go or who I communicate with, I have a huge communication barrier. Anyone have any thoughts or experience they would be willing to share?
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I too am pondering whether to learn ASL or not, and I too live in a very small town, and guess what? My very - small - town isn't even in America! :lol:
Communicating is a struggle.
 
napolicapitale said:
I too am pondering whether to learn ASL or not, and I too live in a very small town, and guess what? My very - small - town isn't even in America! :lol:
Communicating is a struggle.
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I'm glad to see that someone can relate to me. Kind of just brightens my day a little. Yah, there are a lot of intolerant (well, maybe impatient is a better word) people where I live. Pen and paper has been my go to form of communication for the last three months but people pretty much refuse to go with it. I actually have decent lip reading skills. But, with lip reading, good isn't that good if you know what I mean.
 
Otherwise said:
I'm glad to see that someone can relate to me. Kind of just brightens my day a little. Yah, there are a lot of intolerant (well, maybe impatient is a better word) people where I live. Pen and paper has been my go to form of communication for the last three months but people pretty much refuse to go with it. I actually have decent lip reading skills. But, with lip reading, good isn't that good if you know what I mean.
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I guess we live in the same place then, people here behave the same way. This brings me to despair because I believe deafness can kind of "disappear" when you are with people who can empathise with you. Just, I haven't found any of those people yet.
 
Welcome from another Michigander. I went to university of Michigan for help with my hearing loss as well. Although sorry to see they weren't very helpful for you. There is really nothing that can be done for my loss anyways, but I get it checked periodically to see how much worse it gets each time.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they are a bad institution or anything (U of M, that is). As I understand it Menier's is not really a curable situation. But I have a lot of . . . frustration at the fact that they have only done two procedures with any intention of improving my circumstances after a year and a half of steady visits and tens of thousands of dollars (I've been unemployed for a while.)

My next procedure is actually a surgery later this month. The surgery is under the premise that it isn't Menier's even though it is like 99.9% that it is. It can be awful discouraging, especially without a good advocate to help with communication for my understanding of what the doctor is saying. Although I will say that my particular doctor is very good at making it a little bit easier, it just isn't enough without a family member or friend. But there I go again, just venting away. Anyway, cool to see a fellow Michigander as well, although I am much farther north.
 
Hubby is from Lansing, MI, and still has family there. He usually visits them once a year.
 
Welcome! :wave:

I have a good friend (friends for almost 17 years now) that is originally from Grand Rapids, MI. We met in Germany. After his military retirement he and his family moved near Lansing, MI.
 
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