It suddenly occurred to me the other day, that if a new parent who had just found out that their baby had a hearing loss, stumbled across this blog one day, they perhaps might be rather upset that what I have to say about being a Deaf person isn\u2019t hugely positive at times. This really bothered me, so I\u2019ve decided to write a positive post about being Deaf.<\/p>\n
Yes, having a hearing loss of any kind is hard. That goes without saying. The human being was built to get by in life with five senses, so to lose any one of them provides a disadvantage straight away.<\/p>\n
I want a cochlear implant, because I believe that things have just got that bit too hard for me now. But I strongly believe that I will still be a Deaf person if I get it done and I am proud to be. As soon as the processor is switched off, either for swimming, or when I go to bed, I will revert back to the silence that being deaf provides. I really don\u2019t mind being Deaf, it\u2019s a way of life rather than a problem. But some ways of life are harder than others and some roads are roads that you can\u2019t choose to take. But it\u2019s still the road you\u2019re on, and it\u2019s still the road of life that is all you know and you can find positives in any situation.<\/p>\n
Sleep is a good place to start with the positives. There have been times when I\u2019ve woken up in the morning after a good night\u2019s sleep to look at my husband to say \u201cgood morning\u201d only to be faced with a rather weary looking man. <\/p>\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t sleep well dear?\u201d I might ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it was too windy\u201d He might reply.<\/p>\n
This amuses me, how can something like the wind keep you awake? It\u2019s just air moving quite fast! But apparently the wind can make loud whooshing sounds down the side of the house which echoes and is very noisy. Also, it can knock things over which crash and bang in the night and this can be heard up in the bedroom. This, as well as thunderstorms, heavy rain or even something like a silly driver vrooming up and down the street can keep a hearing person awake whereas I sleep soundly through it. How good is that? Unless there\u2019s something on my mind, or I\u2019m unwell \u2013 then I am pretty much guaranteed a good night\u2019s sleep \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the baby wakes in the night. If it\u2019s my turn to get up, my husband will give me a nudge as he\u2019ll wake and then let me know. But if it\u2019s not my turn, he\u2019ll just get up but I\u2019m not disturbed! That\u2019s quite a bonus.<\/p>\n
Hearing Aid users (as not every Deaf person chooses to, or can use a hearing aid) have the option of silence if we wish. Often, if I am travelling on a long car journey and the other half is driving, I can settle back in my seat and switch the hearing aid off for some peace and quiet. The vibrations of the car engine are often quite soothing and I can nod off with ease if I\u2019m comfortable enough. There are also times when the X Box game that is playing on the telly, or the big one is playing with a noisy toy and the silence is welcomed. I have to say, it\u2019s also a huge soother for a headache if you\u2019ve got a hearing loss and sounds of any kind are just annoying you, it\u2019s often a big relief to just switch off.<\/p>\n
Whenever I had exams at school, I would always take my hearing aid out. The quietness of the school hall was always disturbed by the odd door banging, teacher\u2019s footsteps or the swishing of my peers turning over their pages. The hearing aid can often pick up some pretty quiet sounds if the ambience is right \u2013 and concentration during examinations is paramount of course! Pure silence (albeit the odd bout of tinnitus) was a godsend during this time.<\/p>\n
A great skill that most Deaf people acquire by default is Lip Reading. As a hearing person, have you ever tried to work out what the footballers are saying to the referee during a premiership game? Or perhaps someone was trying to tell you something from the other side of a crowded room? Most people can lip read to some extent, but if you can lip read fluently it\u2019s a great skill to have. Sign Language obviously helps in many situations \u2013 you don\u2019t have to trek across to the person you\u2019re trying to talk to if it\u2019s not necessary and a conversation can be held at distance, but if you\u2019re with someone who doesn\u2019t sign, you don\u2019t sign yourself or you\u2019re trying to be discreet \u2013 lip reading can get you far!<\/p>\n
We are also more expressive by nature and also extremely visual. I find that I notice things so much more and spot things easily. For example, I might spot that my Mum\u2019s car is driving down the street in the opposite direction to us far quicker than my husband will \u2013 because my head has spotted the make, colour, registration plate AND then looked at the driver in the space of seconds. My eyes see things and record things in nanoseconds. I like to think, that my photography is aided by this extended visual skill. I also have a very good sense of smell. I think that even though a Deaf person is lacking in one sense, the others are very much heightened and this can come in very useful.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned before, there are often times when silence is a godsend, switching off the hearing aid can help concentration, headaches and provide peace and quiet at times where a hearing person simply cannot avoid it. There are also however, many sounds that we can\u2019t hear that can irritate a hearing person on a daily basis. My husband once got incredibly frustrated by a broken toy in the girl\u2019s room that kept meowing, although very quiet and intermitted, he couldn\u2019t ignore it as it was irritating him! I also remember a time when my sister used to get cross by the noisy tick tock of the clock that hung up in the wall in my bedroom. Said clock got hidden in my underwear drawer when my Mum had guests to stay! When someone is tired, grumpy or stressed, the simplest of repeated sounds can aggravate the situation. Drumming of fingers, tapping of a keyboard and also, so I\u2019m told, the squeaking of a chair. Many of these things are sounds that a Deaf person would simply not hear. It amazes me often, the ability of a hearing ear \u2013 the extent to which a normal ear can hear (change in someone\u2019s pocket half way down the field anyone? Really? Seriously? Wow!) but in actual fact, I totally get that there are times when it\u2019s a blessing not to hear absolutely everything in your surroundings.<\/p>\n
Playing the \u201cDeaf Card\u201d is not something I look at doing fondly, but it\u2019s often something that can work out to your advantage in the right situations. When I was at university in London, I used to travel home by train frequently and the train always left Euston Station. Anyone who has travelled by train at any point in their lives, I imagine has encountered Euston station at some point. If you\u2019re travelling outwards, at peak times you\u2019re lucky to get a seat on the train due to the streams of people that run to the carriages as soon as the platform has been announced. A huge disadvantage to being having a hearing impairment however, is that Euston station announce platform numbers by tannoy and there is a delay before it appears on the overhead screens. Not good for moi, standing waiting patiently for it to come up on the screen while everyone else bolts to the train and grabs the best seats leaving me trailing behind and standing by the smelly toilet for the 2 hour (as it was then) journey home. One day, sick of this unfair disadvantage I decided to do something about it. I spoke to one of the staff at a desk in the station, explained the situation and asked him if he\u2019d tell me when the tannoy was announced what platform it was so I could run along like the rest of them. He went the extra mile \u2013 he took me himself to the platform ahead<\/em> of everyone else, so I could find the very best seat in peace before the hubbub of business men in suits and ties swarmed on. How lovely! I even had time to get my magazine and water bottle out, find somewhere for my bag on the luggage rack and settle into my seat comfortably before the mob had even heard where we were departing from. This only happened twice in my three years of commuting but ever looking for the positive in any situation, this was definitely high on the charts for \u201cDeaf Card\u201d usage \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n There\u2019s also, last but definitely NOT least, is the Deaf community. I\u2019ve spoken about the deaf community before. We have a language that is commonly spoken, and I\u2019m not talking about sign language (which is a fantastic shared expression of communication on it\u2019s own), I\u2019m talking about the acknowledgement and automatic acceptance that we are the same. We all understand, we can share our experiences, frustrations, we are on common ground. The Deaf community is huge, but it\u2019s also incredibly small too \u2013 you will always know somebody in the room when a group of Deaf people get together. I could go on for hours about the brilliance of Deaf people but I\u2019ll just settle for one example for now.<\/p>\n