It's not just "you have to be deaf to understand" but for me to tell other people it's "you have to be hard of hearing" to understand. The difference is quite pronounced between the two. Which is why I support Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) which was once known as SHHH (Self Help for Hard of Hearing People).
Yes, even I tell deaf people or those who cannot hear at all or benefit from hearing aids that you have to be "hard of hearing" to understand just as I would tell a hearing person the same thing. Although with my experiences I do understand from a hearing person's point of view as well as a completely deaf person's point of view as well as their experiences since I share many similar experiences between the two.
As a hard of hearing person I stress the importance of using one's own voice especially when it comes to elocution, training of the ear to understand words and sound, the enjoyment of sound, and just being able to take advantage of technology that supports or enhances one's own hearing level.
Some people have it easier as a "hard of hearing" person than others because of the amount of hearing loss, the early exposure to oral and aural approaches, and so on. These things vary from one HH person to the next. For us hard of hearing people we prefer to talk just because it comes naturally and easier for us to do so. For us hard of hearing people we enjoy music and even take up musical instruments for our enjoyment. For us hard of hearing people we enjoy having verbal conversations with people whether it's in in person or even over the phone. Our lifestyle and preferences vastly differ from the lifestyle and preferences of culturally Deaf people. Just because people who are hard of hearing and have preferences does not mean they reject "Deaf culture" but that they have a preference. It does not mean that hard of hearing people do not know sign language when many of them do. It does not mean that some of them are not a part of the Deaf community when they are but whether they are active in that particular community or not is not of anybody's concern.
You see, sometimes you do have to be "hard of hearing" to understand. Not as a deaf person but a person who is able to take advantage of what's hearing is left in the world of sound. It's a labor of love.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
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15 comments:
As a former hard of hearing person who is now deaf, and have been for 20 years, I understand completely where you are coming from. That's one of the reasons I try to preach tolerance of all communities within the deaf or hearing loss spectrum. Good post.
Eddie Thumpaflash
The world of the hard of hearing is often recognized as a difficult place to be--neither deaf nor hearing, always on edge trying to keep up, and straining to the limits of one's ability in situations where hearing is taken for granted. It's pretty tiring.
I'm completely sympathetic to that. Probably many will agree with me when I say it's a position I don't want to be in, preferring my accustomed state of Deaf with all the backing and community that goes with it. Where I am, though, there are many HOH too--who have the same appreciation for the community and its richness.
When one is able to use the phone or speak with strangers in optimal situations, I regard it as fortunate for him. Most of my HOH friends don't feel guilty about it nor do they feel it makes them better than Deaf, and that is key.
There have been HOH acquaintances though, that had problems. In school one was so insecure that he used his ability to hear a little better to bully others. Another displayed such a superior attitude that he was asked to withdraw from a Master's program in counseling the HOH/Deaf. These have been the exception, fortunately.
The best HOH people I have had the good fortune to know were those who were sincere, interested and appreciative of both sides and admitted their strengths and shortcomings to both.
Mike/Candy,
Ella made a new vlog...here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJHbvh3_pQI&feature=player_embedded
I was like...huh? What about those of hard of hearing people who can speak? What about those of progressive hearing loss people who can speak? They would have signed but they don't have to.....What about these people who wear Cochlear Implants can speak without sign?
Since you both are hard of hearing, could you elaborate to explain what Ella's recent vlog meant to be?
IMO, I find Ella's view to have a poor taste.
I find life very easy being hoh. I can't imagine being deaf. It's not a hard place to be. The only problem is, deaf people don't know what it is like, they assume things about hoh all the time.
Anony....
I have not seen her vlog, yet.
hmm based on what Ella is saying, it seems like hoh people are axdist in her eyes.
It's ok for hearing people to speak, that's hearing way, it's ok..says Ella. She's not expressing her opinion on speaking vs signs, she is actually telling people, NO! you must not support oralism! You must HATE it!
She forget that many people with certain amount of hearing loss do not need to learn sign language. Those that are hoh have the option to learn or not, and can do well in the world. They are axdist too, according to Ella.
If you are deaf or hoh and do not see the need to learn sign language, it is very wrong for you to be part of the deaf community, says Ella.
She forget that hearing loss does not mean every deaf person has the same kind of hearing loss nor do they all do without any technology.
She forgot about hard of hearing people too, I guess. No different from how hearing people keep forgetting that deaf people are around, too. *shrug*
She's arrogant.
Right, Candy. You are absolutely right. There are more HH people than there are Deaf people by a factor of 33 to 1. There are people who were HH all of there life and have done fine with the help of hearing aids and do not need sign. There are people who acquired hearing loss later in life make them HH. There are people with mild hearing loss that do well. There are those with moderate hearing loss that do well without the need to sign. And so on. Technolgy has paved the way on allowing people more choices on communication options.
This is what Ella doesn't understand. She has never understood what it's like to be a hard of hearing person. A person who take advantage of technology to help them hear very well. Each of us is different on how we adapt to the world of sound.
This is exactly what I'm getting at. It's not about oralism. This is about people who do well aurally and orally together, hence "hard of hearing" people.
Mike, what you're saying is that many, or most, HOH people don't need the oral method of teaching as they do well in a hearing environment.
Makes sense, tho to play safe I'd want to see some considerations made to ensure that HOH kids can keep up and are not left at a disadvantage in any way.
What that accommodation is, is for the people who are trained in the field to decide. Many programs turning out teachers for the HOH don't even require sign language beyond the basics, if at all.
So, it sounds as if you and Ella are not far from agreement. The HOH with good speaking and hearing skills and the more visually-dependent Deaf are worlds apart and require different support systems. What fits one doesn't always fit the other.
We do need to overcome the problems that are caused by people who unwittingly value the characteristics of one group over another, as early oral programs did. The residue of that era still haunts us and causes a lot of resentment.
I interpreted Ella to meanthat speaking is fine. Hearing people who can speak, no problem. deaf people who speak or have some speech skills and enjoy using them, no problem. the problem is with Oralism which, by implication, means that speech is superior to signs, and that those who can speak are superior to those who cannot speak. Ella just wants to eradicate all oralism completely from the face of the earth, and I have a problem with that. Oralism does work fine for some deaf/hh people. it just shouldn't be the Oral Option Only, or O-O-O as the DHers likem to say. Just like ASL shouldn't be the only option either. Because d/hh people are diverse, there have to be choices, and it doesn't always have to be just one choice for life either.
Anonymous456
I just saw it and it's amazing that the history has been repeated. They rant over and over but trying to change their language to lure more audience. It hasn't worked in the first place and it will never work.
They need to get over it and accept everybody. They need to accept that CI is here to stay. They need to accept that Oral method schools are here to stay. Deafhood or whoever is a closed society and it will never succeed. Look what happened to Soviet Union - a closed society leads to failure.
It's amazing that many HOH have not created HOH-hood like Deafhood mentality. They don't care and why should deafhood care? What's so important to them? What's the urge to make a vlog about it? They don't own babies...they cannot control parents' decisions.
They gave poor taste of marketing that parents have a tenancy to push their child or children elsewhere. The million dollar question...where are the 95% hearing parents? They don't want their child acting like Ridor, Barb, Carl, Jeff, Misha, L'Chaim, Adian, Ella, DonG, David, etc.
Most deaf schools like Riverside, CDSF, Oregon, etc. have not excelled in academic state standards and more likely will shut them down one by one. States have recognized that Nebraska is a model of academic excellence after their school closed almost 10 years ago. And, it saved millions of dollars by reducing welfare rolls, etc.
DEAFOIC is hard of hearing but deaf wannabe and folks of Deafhood don't mind if he's listening his iPod's lyrics.
They're all over place and they do not have solid ground. They rant like a broken record.
They don't know what it's like to hear. They don't know how important to respect all levels of hearing loss. That's their world.
My world is everywhere and I'm a lucky SOB for who I am. Matt Hamill will never join the Deafhood folks. That's one example.
I just saw Ella's vlog and it has me somewhat befuddled about what she is really trying to say. She says basically speaking is fine, but oralism is bad. That being the case, how do deaf people learn to speak without oralism?
Ella's Oralism vs Speaking argument seems outdated. There is no comparison to the oralism of present day with the oralism of old. Technology back then isn't like what it is now. AV cannot be done without the ability to hear and the lower your db is, the better.
Discussions over there is hmm strange and apparently some did not learn something from AB2072, one cannot expect to see any success by writing a bill to put a stop to oralism as one have proposed. I see some contradictions and fumbling of clarifications by Ella as she went on.
There is a clear indication of deafhood's goal to put a stop to oralism. There is the expectation, or rather instruction that all deaf people should reject oralism. She is not giving out her opinion, nor is she analyzing things, she say she is. Seemed like an order to me.
And, finally...she pointed out to research in the 60's and 70's that proved that oralism does NOT work. What decade are we in? Does she not know of research and studies that shows that those with CI (with no other additional disbilities) are doing well as their hearing peers? Yes, there are studies that shows Blingual works, but there are studies that shows CI/AV works too. Scores of kids in the reading level in one study showed 71% (approx from top of my head) compared to hearing norm of 89%. How are the deaf kids in residential schools doing? Why are deaf kids in Bilingual program not showing higher reading scores? come on, Ella has got to provide better cites than the ones from 60's and 70's.
Who is she kidding?
And, Ella revealed that those who are late deafened or were in oral program most of their lives are the ones who are CHAMPS in accepting and supporting deafhood compared to those that are deaf of deaf, attended residential schools and leaders of deaf organizations.
And, why is that?
Mike,
Thanks for writing this. Personally I don't like the word Hard of Hearing because for most of us, it usually implies that you can hear better than you really can.
I see us all on a continuum. ALL of us use special technology and body language or facial cues to communicate-- whether we're fluent in ASL, prefer SimCom, or hear passably well with hearing aids. Some of us move around on the hearing continuum constantly. It's impossible to put a label on that.
Dianrez, there is nothing I hate more than sympathy. Yes-- I'm challenged as a late-deafened person. I am proud of so many things, but mostly it's because I have managed to live a normal life despite the challenges-- just like you.
I also realize that though I have faced challenges in life, many of my hearing and deaf friends have faced other challenges too. Hearing loss isn't the worst thing that can happen to a hearing person. But it's no walk in the park either.
People like Ella can never understand what it's like to be me. I experienced a life time of hearing before my hearing began to decline. Those experiences made me who I am. Naturally I still identify with hearing people.
Through HLAA and ALDA, I am part of a growing, thriving, powerful mostly oral deaf community, and we don't care what Ella thinks.
Kim
There are a lot of comments under Ella's video "Oralism vs Speaking". I actually transcribed all of her comments and most of the other commenters comment. Hopefully, I will find the time to blog this. This one need to be documented and published in the deaf blog as part of deaf history of deafhood and how they really are taking Paddy Ladd's colonialism too far. I suggest you all view Ella's comment number 41 in ASLrocks. It is a must viewing to see how delusional this deafhood thinking is. There is this evidence right there that indicates that dh is all about going after this oralism system rather than a personal journey to find one's deaf center. I taped the comment, because I was blown away with what she said. She was answering a question by one commenter on a fact that Ella has research (from 60's and 70's) that shows proof that Oralism does NOT work, Q was why is Oralism still here? Her answer is in summary, due to $$$ and that deaf community need to embarrass the oral system, sue them, use media to expose them and embarrass them which will cause sponsors and donors to back off thus reducing their cash revenue which will result in the oral system waking up but in turn they will use violence against the deaf signing community. She also used DVTV and Tayler as an example of how the oral system is influencing deaf community, causing in fighting. Gosh, it was freaky watching that video. Twilight zone or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Maybe the latter is more like it.
It's me, anonymous at 3:52 PM, White Ghost.
Thanks for the comment you all made in right here.
I don't know what the hoh person to go through if I were you. I know being a hoh person, they can live with the two worlds. Was it hard for you if there is a controversy between the deaf and hoh politics? I know they are all different hoh people whereas they are coming from. I find it intriguing.
Question: With all the thriving technology in the 21st century, do you think that the "oral" program will be dead? Despite on the promotion and competition against the "oral" program, they will use the "Hearing and Spoken" program.
So, do you really think the word, "Oralism" in the 21st century is no longer to use or outdated?
Ella apparently don't understand how the promotion and competition on oral/hearing and spoken program are, including, the hoh/progressive hearing loss' system in general. *Shrug*
Good blog, Mike. I am looking forward to read your blog, Candy.
White Ghost
I've lived with hard of hearing individuals. In my family there are 3. I've had to really concentrate on my elocution and clarity of thought/idea. It's made me a better communicator.
Thanks for the post.
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