Total Late Deafness and Voice...

Born deaf but grew up with no ASL until I learned it in my 20s.

Now, I can go voice off or voice on but I don't use my speech skills while using ASL.
 
How is a "hearing/nonuser of ASL et al" communicating with you, a Voice/off ASL et al User?
Writing?
Respond in the same way-complicated?
 
Totally late deafened here (lost my hearing about 2 yrs ago in a car accident)... Since going deaf, I have basically gone completely voice-off. I'm just not comfortable with using my voice without knowing how i sound, and I've been told that my voice has really changed. So, I rely purely on writing things down basically (never really learned ASL, though I did take a few classes). It may be atypical, but it works for me.

-Lauren
 
It seems like you're in San Francisco. From what I understand, they've a pretty large deaf population. I see a lot of deaf events planned on Facebook for Chicago area where I live. I'm sure it's same with San Francisco, right?

Here, there are a lot of Deaf Senior brunches planned. Can you find one in your area. I went to a Jewish party few weeks ago. I saw one woman who was in her 50s or 60s. She was late deafened and was struggling to learn ASL. She was able to make a lot of friends at that event.
 
re- Derek's comment above "....I went to a Jewish party few weeks ago. I saw one woman who was in her 50s or 60s. She was late deafened and was struggling to learn ASL. She was able to make a lot of friends at that event. "<end quote>

Derek- that's really neat, there aren't lots of places for d/Deaf Jews.:wave:

regarding OP -:wave: there - sometimes in my experience, one just ends up finding their own place.
I've always been either "in-between" or on the "outskirts" of something.
I don't fit into a neat little spot. Just how it is-
 
glickchick said:
Totally late deafened here (lost my hearing about 2 yrs ago in a car accident)... Since going deaf, I have basically gone completely voice-off. I'm just not comfortable with using my voice without knowing how i sound, and I've been told that my voice has really changed. So, I rely purely on writing things down basically (never really learned ASL, though I did take a few classes). It may be atypical, but it works for me.

-Lauren
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I'm sorry that happened to you.

I don't think you should let the fear of how you sound dissuade you from oral communication, changed doesn't necessarily mean bad.

I once went on a date with an ASL interpreter and was told I have a deaf accent. At first, there was an initial fear(especially when dating) because no hearing person had ever said that to me. However, it also revealed it wasn't a huge deal because not every person I interact with was mentioning or having trouble with it.

Bottom line, you can't save yourself or the people around you from the changes you experience. The only thing you can do is try to make it as painless as possible for both them and yourself.
 
Eater of Worlds said:
For me, it's nothing to do with wanting special attention. Talking is damn hard, frustrating, and exhausting. I physically feel better if I don't have to talk a lot. That is why I am voice off as much as possible.

That is how it is with me too, although I was born severely-deaf not late-deafened. I grew up oral made to believe that I had no choice but to speak, but since discovering I actually had a choice to learn sign language and not use my voice, I have now made that decision to change over. It is my preference to go voice-off and use sign for the same reason as you stated above. For my hearing family and friends, they can meet me in the middle. They don't have to learn sign, they can stick with English but just the written or text mode. It is not too hard a request considering almost everything is in text or emailed these days anyway.
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you should use your voice ,i think its better unless you forgot how to pronounce words ...use it before you lose it..for me i have a progressive severe to profound deafness ..i love to use signing and talking but i don't use phones i use vp..anyway to each its own i guess..
if not speaking helps you sign better then okay ..but if your trying to change who you are its going to be hard ..your mind will think in both worlds no matter what you do...the deaf world or hearing..be real and you should be fine..be true to yourself...
 
don't give up on ASL glickchic. Its an awesome language, Ff you jump down the rabbit hole it offers deep
well..........................
youll see
 
Very interesting thread. I'm late deafened due to VHL. I can relate to a lot of things posted. Everyone is different. I talk and I'm learning ASL. I never knew about Deaf people possibly not liking late deafened people. That makes me sad, because I am hoping to meet more Deaf/deaf individuals. Hopefully I will come across the more open minded individuals. I'm learning so much from this website.
 
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