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- Joined
- Feb 25, 2013
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Where to begin?
I have had moderate/severe hearing loss pretty much since I was 3 years old. I started wearing hearing aids when I was in elementary school. Growing up, my parents were very careful to raise me in a hearing-only world. Let me tell you- it worked alright. I was constantly adapting-wearing my long hair down so no one could see I was different. I would come up with excuses not to attended movie theaters, beaches or watch TV shows with my friends. At home, I would sneak on the captions and I would take my hearing aids out and enjoy the break of silence. I have never met anyone else like me. Sure, I have met "old folks" with hearing loss, but I have never met an individual like me.
Don't ask me how I did it- but I survived college and became a nurse- it took a lot of adapting- but with it being mandatory, for the first time in my life I had to wear my hair up for clinicals and display to the world who I was. People had their snide comments, but I didn't think about them, I thought about my son and providing for him. So, now here I am at 28. I have finally become proud of who I am. But how do I find other people in this life who understand my world? I am not hearing enough for the hearing world and I am not deaf enough for the deaf world. I am stuck in LIMBO. I don't even know ASL- but I have been studying for it! I am so grateful that Switched at Birth has shed some light on the deaf culture- because of that show- the hearing world is gaining insight and it is becoming the social norm. Suddenly being deaf is the "cool" thing to be. Yet, I still find myself hiding- I am back in college to get my Bachelors of Science in Biology. I always wore my hair down, because ignorant people take my deafness for having a decreased level of intelligence. Or when they find out I am deaf all they start repeating over and over "did ya hear me? did ya catch that?" and they focus on my disability more than me. I want to focus on learning, not having to deal with people's ignorance on a daily basis. The fix? Hide it. What a twisted world we live in. I got to break free- I need to learn in this life to embrace who I am. But it's difficult when I am all alone in this world. So I start here. I just want to finally meet people in my world.....
I have had moderate/severe hearing loss pretty much since I was 3 years old. I started wearing hearing aids when I was in elementary school. Growing up, my parents were very careful to raise me in a hearing-only world. Let me tell you- it worked alright. I was constantly adapting-wearing my long hair down so no one could see I was different. I would come up with excuses not to attended movie theaters, beaches or watch TV shows with my friends. At home, I would sneak on the captions and I would take my hearing aids out and enjoy the break of silence. I have never met anyone else like me. Sure, I have met "old folks" with hearing loss, but I have never met an individual like me.
Don't ask me how I did it- but I survived college and became a nurse- it took a lot of adapting- but with it being mandatory, for the first time in my life I had to wear my hair up for clinicals and display to the world who I was. People had their snide comments, but I didn't think about them, I thought about my son and providing for him. So, now here I am at 28. I have finally become proud of who I am. But how do I find other people in this life who understand my world? I am not hearing enough for the hearing world and I am not deaf enough for the deaf world. I am stuck in LIMBO. I don't even know ASL- but I have been studying for it! I am so grateful that Switched at Birth has shed some light on the deaf culture- because of that show- the hearing world is gaining insight and it is becoming the social norm. Suddenly being deaf is the "cool" thing to be. Yet, I still find myself hiding- I am back in college to get my Bachelors of Science in Biology. I always wore my hair down, because ignorant people take my deafness for having a decreased level of intelligence. Or when they find out I am deaf all they start repeating over and over "did ya hear me? did ya catch that?" and they focus on my disability more than me. I want to focus on learning, not having to deal with people's ignorance on a daily basis. The fix? Hide it. What a twisted world we live in. I got to break free- I need to learn in this life to embrace who I am. But it's difficult when I am all alone in this world. So I start here. I just want to finally meet people in my world.....