When you were in the Childhood, Did you knew you family well ?

[Grummer]

I have always wondered how much and how many of you really had a good childhood with full relationship with your silblings ?
I dont think i did, i hardly knew them, different school, in a different town, and after schools, they were busy with their own freinds...

life was a bit strange (i didnt think so back then but in hindsight it was quite bizzare, even more bizzare how did i learn all these things when none of them actually taught me? that was a weird one too,(but it's off topic)
anyhow...

did you really learn More about who you are, when what? say 10 years old, 14?
20?
im talking about consciousness, self awareness, maybe feelings that you're Really different and maybe felt unfairness around? or things going too fast?

well id leave rest to you posters, hoping we'd see differences and similarities of how we, deaf, Deaf, hoh, Hi, grew up in the hearing world, particularly, how we related with those 'closest' or supposedly closest to us, our blood families..

 

[drphil]

Though my 2 brothers both inherited "hearing difficulties/DEAFness" much later in our lives. As such our "childhood" was not dealing with any "hearing difficulties/impairments"
The DEAF world as such wasn't much of any discussion.
Thus all of us were adults when these "conditions" happened- many years later.

 

[ambrosia]

I'm the oldest of 6, I have 3 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters. We were always good friends. My dad was in the air force and we moved around a lot, I think that helped us be better buds. The next sibling after me is one of my sisters, we're 16 months apart, and she's a gemini so most of the time we got on like white on rice or fought like cats and dogs, pretty much depending on her mood My youngest sister is 14 years younger than me, so I pretty much missed most of her growing up I believe she was 6 when I moved out of my parents house. We're really close now though, chat all the time on facebook. Right now she's in Alabama, almost done working for Habitat for HUmanity then in the fall she's starting Grad School in Mass., I was hoping for a visit before she had to start school but she only has a few days between when she's done with HH and school. last summer she stayed with me from May to August it was much fun.

So no, but I was hearing, so I wasn't "different" but I'd like to think that even if I was we'd have been just as close and they wouldn't make me feel like an outsider, or something to that effect. I really don't think they would.

 

[LoveBlue]

I think Gummer is directing his question to those who were deaf, etc as young children, not to those of us who are late-deafened.

 

[ambrosia]

I think Gummer is directing his question to those who were deaf, etc as young children, not to those of us who are late-deafened.

yeah I reread his post after, but I left my post in up because I'm really curious if this has more do with the family unit, rather than the individual.

My soon to be exhusband's family is all hearing, and pretty much all of the hate each other, but they're all kissy face when they see each other. He always had a hard time and seemed to have deep jealousy of my family.

So now I wait, to see what the posters who were deaf/hoh from birth have to say.

 

[Lau2046]

I have always wondered how much and how many of you really had a good childhood with full relationship with your silblings?

I did. I was the youngest of four and we lived with my Nonna so we had a full house. My siblings were annoyed with me at times though because I wouldn't wear my hearing aid and I turned up the TV loud enough for our neighbors to hear. I know my second oldest sister was irritated by the attention I received but between my deafness and grand mal seizures, it's kind of a given that I would be the center of attention. We were all close growing up and I had a very normal and happy childhood all things considered.

Laura

 

[rockin'robin]

I remember very well when one of my hearing sisters would say...."Uncle Billy and Norma are doing just fine"...and I would think..."who the hell are they"?....My family was so spread/split apart...I wouldn't know Jack if I saw him on the street....Haven't seen my baby brother for over 50 years...don't know my cousins either.....But believe the blotched surgery I had when I became deaf had a lot to do with it....Ever so often I would have to ask..."who was it that...."...and my sister would say..."Don't you remember?"...

 

[Bebonang]

That is interesting because I never knew them very well while I was growing up from babyhood to becoming an adult. I have always been in the dark because being deaf living with hearing parents and a hearing sister has never dawn on me to know what they are doing and what they are talking about whether they are talking about themselves or about me or some other people. Conversation was never my thing with hearing people, especially family members. My mother did wrote down some things for me to know about herself, not a lot. My sister told me she got a lot of information from them just because she is hearing. I never knew what they are thinking out loud.

I am pretty much by myself a lot while I was growing up in the bush and at camp where there are deaf kids. Communication is important but I wish they would signed ASL so that I could have communication with them better and to get to know them. Other relatives outside of my family still make me not knowing them very well, too.

My grandmother did tried to talk to me about our native (Cherokee) tradition but she was saying no, no as it is forbidden to talk about our tradition because of the government. She was crying so much a lot about that. The government hurt her so much and there was so much pain.

Anyway, I was a lot better with the Deaf communities where I can communicate better and getting to know them. This is very different than my own family. Deafness had a stigma what I never get to know hearing family.