What has AllDeaf done for you?

shel90

shel90

Love Makes the World Go Round
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This is a thread to list all the things AD has done for you whether it is making friends, learning more about the Deaf community, CIs, or more..


For me, I joined along with my friend to promote something not understanding the concept of discussion forums. In the 4 years I have been here, I have become more educated about politics and religion, made new friends, understand my rights as a Deaf person, and gained a better understanding of what goes on in the world.

The last factor was a big thing because as a deaf person, I was not able to learn from my environment by catching on conversations from hearing people due to their inability to take the time to make sure I understand what is happening around me and whenever I get together with the Deaf community, it is with certain people with certain interests. With AD, I get a broad spectrum of interests and that helped me open up my mind a lot more than I ever imagined.

Before I joined AD, my education on politics was very very limited and since then, I have acquired new political words into my vocabulary like "right wing" and so forth...

I also feel that my writing and vocabulary (which was always something I was lacking in) base has improved.

How about you?
 
Wirelessly posted

For me, Alldeaf was a place for me to meet people. And I did. Especially this wonderful man.
 
I got meet YOU!!! And JIRO and JCLARK and a few AWESOME other people! I don't spend a lot of time on AD, but it has given me encouragment to keep signing (which is still fairly limited) and meet people outside my normal group of friends.

All my life, I've been entirely surrounded with hearing people so it has been great to read other people's stories on AD. But honestly, the best part of this is interacting with you guys online and in person. You guys are just too funny! It is an invitation to grow up and chill and play on a swing set anyway.
 
Thinking a bit..

It has made me:
- ASL courses / minor vlogging and webcaming
- Gone to some deaf events
- Met several members in real life
- Got to know a few cool people from the east coast, perhaps sometime in reality later (the active crew :P)

- Achieve tactics to subdue people verbally
- Excel at patience games and not giving in to naivety
- Get my share of headaches while learning a bit more about virtual reality communities
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I think that's about it for the most part, in a nutshell.
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I forgot this one:
I think one of the coolest things that came from this forum was when I got to be a guest speaker at an ADer's ASL course for one day, and also a couple of times in my ASL courses.

I was able to echo my thoughts and emotions out to a hearing audience for them to how it's like to be treated as a deaf while growing up.

Even if it was just a few lectures, they seemed to have some understanding of deaf discrimination in schools a little bit better. I had a lot of questions to answer from the crowd.

Perhaps they might pass those thoughts down to their kids or friends, acquaintances. If so, then mission accomplished.
 
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At the same time I realized where my career path was taking me I found AllDeaf. And through talking & meeting you all I have confirmed for myself that I will become the best ASL Terp I can be.

I have just recently begun to blog about being a hearing person in a deaf world. Cause I realize I will be the one that is different. And I accept that. LOL
 
This is a good question.

It took me a bit to think this over and out. In essence, it has shown me how to open my eyes to a lot of things that were unthinkable. I've got the depth of how this forum is unified. Through trial and tribulations, there were a lot of diversity of opinions but in the end, it's what brings the best out of us. That's what this forum has done for me, in a sense. :)
 
paperclip said:
I got meet YOU!!! And JIRO and JCLARK and a few AWESOME other people! I don't spend a lot of time on AD, but it has given me encouragment to keep signing (which is still fairly limited) and meet people outside my normal group of friends.

All my life, I've been entirely surrounded with hearing people so it has been great to read other people's stories on AD. But honestly, the best part of this is interacting with you guys online and in person. You guys are just too funny! It is an invitation to grow up and chill and play on a swing set anyway.
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my userID is JClarke with an 'E' - Paperclip, when would people learn? I have been here 4 years too! :lol:

I have learnt a lot over the years and I have met plenty of wonderful people, including you Shel90 and I plan to meet more. My English writing has improved over the few years since my grammar wasn't that good back then. There are too many to list here but it was alldeaf that made me realize something meaningful in life and so far it has been a great journey and it continues...
 
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This forum has allowed me to develop a sort of respect for my hearing loss, and to realize that being hard of hearing isn't a negative thing... I've gained some self-esteem from being here.
I also like it here because I can vent, and find people that can relate to the same situations that I go through (IE- meeting my new horrible boss).
This forum has also made me want to, someday, learn ASL... just because! LOL
 
With AllDeaf, I have learned quite a bit about deaf culture and more and more about being prepared for losing my hearing. It made me realize that I wasn't just "some poor shmuck that went deaf". It has really made me want to learn ASL and I have made a bunch of online friends. I am also learning more about other things, like Fibromyalgia, CI's, and things like that. I have more self-esteem than I used to, because I now realize, that most of my feeling were based on being hoh and not my fault. It's me and I like me now. I didn't use to.
 
met many AD friends in real life. learned signing. a better understanding of deaf culture.
 
Well, I actually joined because after my son left home to be on his own, I was not getting as much socialization with the deaf community as I once did. I missed it. I came in to make some friends and continue to socialize with a group of people I have always enjoyed. And, I want to make sure that I keep hearing that deaf perspective so I am always aware of it when I deal with my deaf clients. You guys keep me honest in that respect. :ty: And I have also made some friends here that I not only like a great deal, I have much respect for them, as well. I hang onto that hope that I will one day get to meet all of my AD friends face to face. I've had a couple of meetings planned that did not work out for one reason or another...just things that couldn't be helped. But there is always another time!
 
jillio said:
Well, I actually joined because after my son left home to be on his own, I was not getting as much socialization with the deaf community as I once did. I missed it.
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Does your son ever plan to post or join on the forums?
It would be pretty neat to see mom and son on the boards.. :cool:
 
I got to meet good friends from AD and I got to learn more about Deaf Culture, and so on... AD was really good for me, it has improved my sights about Deaf Culture and it has improved my vocab as well. :)
 
JClarke said:
Is that the wonderful man you met in D.C?? :lol:
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Jiro said:
yes. me. :cool2:
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Hah. You clowns. :lol:

Anyway, AD has done much for me. I joined up right when I started taking intensive ASL classes last summer, and having the constant presence of ASL users and discussion of ASL has kept me motivated to really learn and become fluent in the language.

It's also been a good place for me to develop and articulate my ideas regarding deafness and my own identity, as well as many other subjects not related to deafness. Having a discourse community to listen and converse with is such a valuable thing, and I am so grateful for all the knowledge I have have acquired here.

I've made some good friends here, both online and in person and I look forward to meeting even more of you!

Most of all, though, AD has brought an amazing, beautiful woman into my life, and it's hard to remember what things were like before meeting her. For that, I give the biggest :ty: to this forum and to Alex for creating it.

(wonderful thread, Shel. Thanks for starting it!)
 
naisho said:
Does your son ever plan to post or join on the forums?
It would be pretty neat to see mom and son on the boards.. :cool:
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I've encouraged him to do so. But I'm not sure that you guys could stand both of us on here. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, so to speak.:giggle: He has come on and lurked, I know, but he also stays pretty busy with grad school right now.
 
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