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Safarijane

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Hello!

May I introduce myself? I'm Safarijane and this is my first day on the website. I am in an accellerated program to get licensure for special education, and our instructor suggested we chat with a few people. I chose you first because I immediately noticed your autism ribbon. My 13-year-old son is in the autistic spectrum. He is the one who inspired me to go into special education.

Do you mind if I ask you about yourself? Would you mind telling me about yourself? Do you have any advice to give me? Anything I should NEVER do or anything I should ALWAYS do when relating to someone who has a hearing loss? Really, I don't know many people with a hearing loss, just a guy who had an apartment in my complex years ago, and he was shy. No matter who anyone is, though, I try to treat them with kindness.

I hope to get a reply from you. I will wait to see what happens because I've never been in a chat room before, either. My son is the one who entered the 21st century... I'm lagging a little!

Thank you for whatever you would like to tell me,

Safarijane
 
Safarijane said:
Do you have any advice to give me? Anything I should NEVER do or anything I should ALWAYS do when relating to someone who has a hearing loss? Really, I don't know many people with a hearing loss, just a guy who had an apartment in my complex years ago, and he was shy.
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Welcome to AD SafariJane.

I would approach every deaf person that you meet with an open mind, bear in mind that we are all different individually and have different needs. Some sign, some are oral and some both. Be prepared to be patient and perhaps have a pen and paper handy. If the deaf person you have met lipreads, do not hyperenunciate but make sure that you are facing him/her and not with the sun behind you. Switch on lights if in a dark room.

Use sensitive terms in your conversation - no "deaf and dumb" for example.
Make use of interpreters and devices such as the TTY phone.
If a deaf person seems to be rude to you by not answering a question or looking blank, it is more likely that it was not intentional but rather the question was missed. Try again by making sure you have their visual attention.

You will soon figure things out if you meet more deaf people during your studies. Good luck.
 
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