I'm Hard of Hearing

T

Tee40

New Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2011
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
I have been HOH all of my life, and as long as I can remember have worn hearing aids. I never felt like I ever fit in, because I have always either misinterpreted half of a conversation while talking to ppl, or just faked liked I understood the whole conversation. I have found myself either being offended because I only caught half of what was said, or have had ppl think I was slow to understanding them. I feel like I don't quite fit in with the Deaf community, and I don't fit in around the hearing. I am in between, so to speak. I have tried to find out where the deaf community is, but haven't found any luck. I have learned alot about the Deaf community by attending Blue Ridge Community College in N.C, but wasn't able to complete my associates because of a problem with the financial aid there. I had an awesome teacher who is a C.O.D.A, and learned alot about the culture, linguistics, and community. I learned ASL a little, but as my hearing is seeming to get worse I feel a need to learn the language more, because I feel that it's a part of me. It's funny because I speak so clearly, but because ppl don't know when they see me and look at me, they can't tell I am HOH, and when I tell them they don't believe me or just shrugg their shoulders as if they don't care. It has become so frustrating for me. I just graduated from a Technical school in the Medical field and the instructor made it so difficult for me to learn. The more I asked her to slow down so I could understand her she went faster, and the more I asked her not to turn her back to me when she was teaching she did it anyway, as if my concerns didn't matter. The school offered no accommodations for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, and that made me a bit angry. Now I am at this Community College starting fall semester and they do have accommodating services, but I decided to try and start a meeting group for the Deaf & HOH in my area, and hopefully in the future in the surrounding areas. I hope this goes well, because I would like to start a Non-Profit organization in the future for services to accommodate the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. If you have ever felt like I do please reply and let me know I am not alone. Thanks
 
Hi Tee40,

I am hard of hearing, too. I totally understand where you are coming from.

I met last month with members of my state's deaf association.

There's one in Connecticut as well.

Connecticut Association of the Deaf

I would suggest contacting them and going to their deaf meets and learning ASL.

It really helped me to feel normal. I think it'll help you too.

Regarding college, they are required to accommodate your needs. I am in college in an IT program. The Student Accessibility Office (could be called a Disability Office) provided a classroom captioning set up for me.

The teacher wears a mic. The signal goes to a receiver that is plugged into my laptop (school provides), there's a program that sends it over the internet to someone who is listening to the audio. They transcribe it, and the words appear on my laptop screen.
 
Last edited:
Tee, how far away from Northwest Community College are you? They have an AWESOME Deaf Studies program, with really good Dhh supports.
 
Hi Tee40 Welcome to AllDeaf! Try surfing around the forum and reading the threads and posts here. You will find you are definitely not alone.

See you around.
 
:wave:

Tee40 said:
I have been HOH all of my life (until recently), and as long as I can remember have worn hearing aids (until recently). I never felt like I ever fit in (with hearing ppl), because I have always either misinterpreted half of a conversation while talking to ppl, or just faked liked I understood the whole conversation. I have found myself either being offended because I only caught half of what was said, or have had ppl think I was slow to understanding them. I feel like I don't quite fit in with the Deaf community (until recently), and I don't fit in around the hearing. I am (was) in between, so to speak. I have tried to find out where the deaf community is, but haven't found any luck. I have learned alot about the Deaf community by attending Blue Ridge Community College in N.C, but wasn't able to complete my associates because of a problem with the financial aid there. I had an awesome teacher who is a C.O.D.A, and learned alot about the culture, linguistics, and community. I learned ASL a little (I am learning more), but as my hearing is seeming to get worse I feel a need to learn the language more, because I feel that it's a part of me. It's funny because I speak so clearly, but because ppl don't know when they see me and look at me, they can't tell I am HOH, and when I tell them they don't believe me or just shrugg their shoulders as if they don't care. It has become so frustrating for me. I just graduated from a Technical school in the Medical field and the instructor made it so difficult for me to learn. The more I asked her to slow down so I could understand her she went faster, and the more I asked her not to turn her back to me when she was teaching she did it anyway, as if my concerns didn't matter. The school offered no accommodations for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, and that made me a bit angry. Now I am at this Community College starting fall semester and they do have accommodating services, but I decided to try and start a meeting group for the Deaf & HOH in my area, and hopefully in the future in the surrounding areas. I hope this goes well, because I would like to start a Non-Profit organization in the future for services to accommodate the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. If you have ever felt like I do please reply and let me know I am not alone. Thanks
Click to expand...

The sentences in bold are ones that I could say as well. I have recently started identifying myself as deaf/Deaf :deaf:, using ASL, and stopped using hearing aids. As far as your other sentences, I learned alot about the Deaf community by attending University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I had an awesome ASL teacher, and learned alot about the culture, linguistics, and community. The University's disabilities offices was very accomodating, although I probably should have accepted more. It was my elementary and high school that didn't offer anything. I try to attend ASL meetup groups in my area, but there doesn't seem to be many hh/deaf people actually attending those, just a lot of newbies (I am so proud of them :D) who cannot help me progress further. I had felt like you do (until recently), so you are not alone. Your welcome,
 
sound pretty hard for your i reading to your comments I understand your struggle hard to tough I know not easy but whom people have problem them! I know not easy because hard to situation!

welcome to alldeaf nice to to meet you
 
Last edited:
:wave:...and welcome aboard!...you're not unique...many of us are in the same boat! And feel or have felt the same way....
 
Back
Top