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sweetstarz

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Hi guys, I'm a 24-yo female from Kentucky. I've been hard of hearing since birth. I know very little ASL (I took one class in high school and got frustrated so I gave up) and so my main mode of communication is (and always has been) lipreading. I have always been able to remain mainstream in school, but that is not to say it hasn't been excruciatingly difficult most of the time. I find it hard to tell others about my hearing loss (afraid of judgment, I guess, even after 24 years) and especially the fact that they need to "look at me" in order for me to understand them! On the phone it's almost impossible, but cell phones have helped some. It's great to meet you all, and I hope that I will be posting often :wave:
 
sweetstarz said:
Hi guys, I'm a 24-yo female from Kentucky. I've been hard of hearing since birth. I know very little ASL (I took one class in high school and got frustrated so I gave up) and so my main mode of communication is (and always has been) lipreading. I have always been able to remain mainstream in school, but that is not to say it hasn't been excruciatingly difficult most of the time. I find it hard to tell others about my hearing loss (afraid of judgment, I guess, even after 24 years) and especially the fact that they need to "look at me" in order for me to understand them! On the phone it's almost impossible, but cell phones have helped some. It's great to meet you all, and I hope that I will be posting often :wave:
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Welcome to the forum! :mrgreen:
 
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To AllDeaf!
 
Hi and :welcome: to AD! Great to have you on board and hope you will continue to enjoy this fun site. :)
 
Hello SweetStarz and welcome.
I, too, am not great with ASL, but that is because I have only lost most of my hearing in the last two years. Besides, there is no one near me that signs. So, although I am learning a bit at a time, I feel that only the use I will get from it is talking to myself. And I do enough of that already with my talking voice.

As far as telling people about my hearing loss, I am the opposite. I bring it up first thing. Perhaps that is because I am only half way decent at lip reading as well. If you were to just mouth the words to me, I probably wouldn't make out the majority, but, with what sound I do have, and the lips, I can get pretty much all that is being said...
 
:welcome: to AllDeaf forum. What more can I say when you are feeling afraid about having your hearing loss because of hearing people who don't know anything about deafness. You have been born with it so get over it. You are not the only one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. Have fun with us. See you around. :wave:
 
Welcome! Yeah...a lot of hoh kids really don't get exposed to the Deaf World...don't even get me started on that! I really wish that when we (I am around your age) were little, therapists had more of a full toolbox agenda rather then a "oh ASL is just for "speshal needs kids who can't function well enough to learn to talk"
There are a lot of us out there....just gotta look for us!
 
deafdyke said:
Welcome! Yeah...a lot of hoh kids really don't get exposed to the Deaf World...don't even get me started on that! I really wish that when we (I am around your age) were little, therapists had more of a full toolbox agenda rather then a "oh ASL is just for "speshal needs kids who can't function well enough to learn to talk"
There are a lot of us out there....just gotta look for us!
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I understand that, definitely! I think my parents had the attitude (mostly because of the therapists and doctors we talked to) that ASL was more for "unintelligent" people who were profoundly deaf. I have a severe loss but my parents knew I was very intelligent, so I guess they felt that talking instead of siging would be the best option for me. :roll::roll:
 
sweetstarz said:
I understand that, definitely! I think my parents had the attitude (mostly because of the therapists and doctors we talked to) that ASL was more for "unintelligent" people who were profoundly deaf. I have a severe loss but my parents knew I was very intelligent, so I guess they felt that talking instead of siging would be the best option for me. :roll::roll:
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You got that right. It is sad that we were forced to do what the hearing parents learned from the therapists and the doctors and mind you, the audiologists, too trying to get us to use voice for talking and lipreading which is not that great either. Of course, we are very intelligent and we know about right and wrong ways. You have to remember that they have never experience deafness and they think they have all the answer to get rid of deafness. They really want us to hear like them very badly. We are being brainwash to think what hearing people want us to think. :ugh: :roll:
 
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