I’m hard of hearing but I’ve never learned sign language. Growing up my younger brother and I made up signs so we could talk anywhere though. I miss that. I miss him. He was the only person that completely understood me it seems. I’ve been considering taking classes to learn ASL mainly because my hearing is getting worse each year or so. I’m nearly completely deaf (to the point hearing aids don’t really work anymore) in my left ear and my right ear doesn’t seem far behind. At this point I’ve never really seen it as a handicap but more of an annoyance. It does at times get very frustrating, difficult and embarrassing dealing with people in public service. No one seems to understand that hard of hearing is not the same as ignoring. At times my teenagers seem to get frustrated with me as well. That has never been easy for me. I don’t like inconveniencing people but I get treated many times as if I am an inconvenience at schools, church, restaurants, stores, pharmacies, often dr offices as well. My kids step in to help and never complain, but the teenagers seem to be getting tired of me not hearing them sometimes. My audiologist is amazing and treats me so differently than most people have. I think I will ask her where to learn ASL. If you do decide to work as an interpreter or teacher or in some other way to help deaf and hard of hearing people, thank you. We need more people willing to do that. It’s quite difficult sometimes to live in a world set up for the hearing when most people won’t stop long enough to help you understand or try to understand you. Often we are the joke in movies or tv shows. Even on kids TV and movies! Often people think we are rudely ignoring them as well. Most insurance companies don’t cover hearing aids or other equipment to help us adapt to living in a hearing world. Most hearing aids don’t help as much as others think, but technology IS improving. Unfortunately prices make them out of budget for many that would benefit. I wasn’t able to get my first pair of GOOD hearing aids until my husband was active duty because Tricare covers them but when he retires they no longer will. They only cover for active duty and family members. Not sure what we will do when he retires yet. I’m thinking ASL is an important next step that may be the solution to that dilemma.
Thank you for posting this. It’s been helpful for me to ponder these things “out loud” I guess. And thank you for considering a life of service to those of us struggling to adapt in a hearing world. Young children often have behavior issues due to frustration because no one understands us and we can’t fully understand them either. Speech delayed children sometimes suffer with the behavior issues as well. I would learn towards helping them, but then again I have met many adults that have lost hearing suddenly and I think that may be harder in some ways. The fear they talk about I don’t remember experiencing. The sadness and confusion of going from hearing to suddenly not, needing to learn how to adapt later in life, maybe that is a group that is underserved. my grand parents met in a deaf school. They were abandoned there by their families in the early 1900’s. One was deaf at birth and the other lost hearing as an older teen due to scarlet fever. I’m so thankful that is no longer customary in the US. We aren’t defective or unworthy. Acceptance has come a long way. I appreciate you considering helping acceptance grow even more.
Thank you to the other posters as well that have worked with deaf/hard of hearing people.
