question

[rjr2006]

I have a deaf friend who is serve to profound deafness but she can talk well. Most of deaf people think that she is HOH, but she is actually deaf. I am profoundly deaf, and I was raised orally, yet I have limited speech, but some of deaf people see me talking and they thought I was HoH but I told them that I am deaf.


How do you feel when you are approaching to either deaf or hearing person? I heard that some of HOH people get very frustrated in both worlds.

 

[deafdyke]

Some of the more radical Deafer then thou folks, who think that any oral skills/oral abilty translates into the person being oral/hoh really irritate me.
I never chose to be oral. If I had a choice I would have been raised with both ASL and speech! It is frustrating when you encounter those radical types, but you know what? If you have ANY degree of hearing loss, and you use sign in your every day life, then you are Deaf! Hey even if you have NO loss but use ASL for a primary language, then you are Deaf! I think that the radical extremist types are slowly but surely fading away...I think there will always be deafer then thou folks, but I think eventually people will realize that oral skills do not make a dhh person oral!

 

[signer16]

I don't know how deaf people feel about other deaf speaking, but at least with the peopl I've been around, hoh/deaf has been determined by hearing ability, not oral. As for hearing people, they think of everyone as hearing or stone deaf. When they find someone in between, they will always think that someone is "hard of hearing" because they have no idea about speech therapy and decibels and all that.
Also, I've been told I sign "hard-of-hearing" which had nothing to do with hearing loss. I signed better than hearing students, but not as fluently as a culturally deaf person, so I was told I signed hoh.