Question: Seeking people who are unaware of hearing loss OR ability!

[Ruth]

I'm completing a master's at Columbia University in Narrative Medicine and doing a project about people who realize that they have perceptual condition of which they were previously unaware. I'm curious if you can think of any people in the Deaf community who (a) had significant hearing loss and it wasn't known about until adulthood or (b) grew up in the Deaf community as Deaf, and realized as an adult that they actually have hearing ability. I heard about a woman who fit the second description — born of a Deaf family, with Deaf husband and children, and one hearing child who told her one day that she did have hearing ability. I can only imagine what such an experience is like for that person - how it affects their identity and understanding of self.

If anyone can think of someone who's had either experience, I'd be very interested in talking to them. I had an experience like this myself (with vision) and so it's both a personal and academic project. Confidentiality will of course be respected.

I'm new to this community so please excuse me if this post is inappropriate in some way (wrong forum, insensitive language choice) — I come with humility and respect, and would be very grateful for any guidance.

Many thanks
All best,
Ruth Carver

 

[drphil]

Ruth: I can't conceive of a person being "deaf/Deaf/DEAF' not immediately knowing of the condition. This is from my very direct experience-becoming bilateral DEAF on December 20, 2006.

Right now-my Implant battery is being recharged-absolute silence.This is done every night.

Perhaps not the type of answer you are seeking.

Welcome to AllDeaf.com

 

[Grayma]

The actress who plays Daphne on switched at birth didn't know she was deaf until she took an acting job which required her to act the part of a person getting a hearing test. They did the hearing test for real, just to make it look good, and they sent her word that she qualified for hearing aids. She has Meniere's Disease and had no idea.

 

[Anij]

The actress who plays Daphne on switched at birth didn't know she was deaf until she took an acting job which required her to act the part of a person getting a hearing test. They did the hearing test for real, just to make it look good, and they sent her word that she qualified for hearing aids. She has Meniere's Disease and had no idea.

True - but Katie LeClerc is audiologically hard of hearing, not deaf (she explains the details of her hearing loss in a video interview about S@B). It's not all that uncommon for people who go from hearing to Hoh (mild-moderate HL) to not notice it if the db changes happen very slowly over years, not months.

(For example I had a 20db drop that happened over 2years and I didn't really notice it, however when I got really sick with a high fever and ear infection, I had a 10db drop over a few hours - which was very noticeable.)

Meniere's is progressive, and includes fluctuating hearing loss, so it's also possible even likely she could have been born hearing, had normal hearing for most of her childhood, then started slowly becoming Hoh. (she's young enough that she would have almost certainly had a newborn hearing screening, and must have passed).