1. I do like my Hearing Aids very much and wear them most of the time..
2. I know since i wear HA's, I will never be considered Deaf, but deaf.
3. I am not ashamed by them.
I had a few comments on Facebook, and one person put my situation in the best way I could never dream of: "Straddling The Line." I stood up and yelled "YES, THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT"
Straddling the line between Deaf and Hearing cultures. You don't really belong anywhere. And sometimes that can be a little unsettling. It's like being at an airport standing between 2 gates,not knowing what plane will get you home. So, I have to ride 2 planes. Maybe at the same time. But, you know what? I'm OK with that. It has made me who I am today.
On a side note, I went to the Audi last Friday and turns out I went from a 80% to 50% speech reg. I have realized I am relying more on reading lips. Which is making conversation harder. I have to stain to listen to my friends mostly because for my teachers I have a FM unit. Thank God for those!!
I hope y'all are having a good day!!
Sidney, I'd like for you to watch this movie of the travails of "Amy" at a party:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerxEswizss
You are "Amy."
I am "Amy."
There are millions of "Amys" out there… But there are only 800,000 ASL Deafies.
Dan Schwartz,
Editor, The Hearing Blog
I, too, straddle the line. I am late-deaf and I sign (mostly) fluently. Still I wear hearing aids.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most profound things I have ever heard said (pun intended) was at a lecture by Dr. I. King Jordan (very famous Deaf president of Gallaudet). He said, among other things, "there are many, many ways to be deaf".
Please think about this. In a sense, it doesn't matter how much any of us hear, we all face the same problems, the same discrimination, the same ignorance. If one of the most famous of us declares that we are all the same group, then in-fighting should disappear and we should all realize we're the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._King_Jordan