sometimes i forget you’re deaf--- yeah I know, my voice sometimes sounds like yours, but remember you’re seeing my cameo appearance
sign language gives me the ability to see what you feel, the nuances that makes you, you, and hopefully you see that in me too.
my eyes trace the curl of your lips, the lifts of your cheekbones, the crinkles of your eyes, Not because you’re pretty (tho Im sure you think you are), not because I'm creepy, but because it’s my method of carrying on conversations. In your eyes are where I find your words, the verity on your cheeks, the tone on your lips.
Seeing as I can do that, DO...YOOOUU...STILLL...NEEEED...TOOO...TAALLK....LIIKKEE...THIISS? **** NO. Over-enunciation is a thing and I don’t need that *******. I’m deaf, not dumb.
When people ask me, “Did you hear that?!”......HAHAHAHAHHA
There’s also that moment when you can’t distinguish whether your mom’s yelling at you cuz she mad or cuz you can’t hear
One of the best moments ever is like when I turn on my hearing aids and I’m waiting, like I get this start-up music, like windows pc, right? And like whammo! It’s Claritin-HEAR.
That awkward moment when you’ve asked someone to repeat 4 times and you still don’t understand what they said... :/
Calling on the phone. Let me see if I can get you to visualize this:
Ring Ring. Picks up
Hello, may I know whom I’m speaking to?
-Yes, this ---- Im here to talk about---. Is-----ome?
What, can you repeat that?
-Yes of cou--- to talk about---
Wait, Wait. Hold on, let me get my sister.
-Why? It's not---
Here you go.
*Done with conversation
I’ve got other examples: there’s the African accent of my family and friends from Africa. There’s the too quiet, can’t possibly speak louder than a whisper, there’s the too fast for my shirt. There’s the simple phone call from the dispatcher/sales person...There’s too much confusion on both ends and frustration when people on the other end must think you’re rude for wasting their time. I just got to the point that I would sometimes ignore phone calls because I’m not in the mood to embarrass myself not hearing anything they say.
I created this as a way to capture all my frustrations about being Deaf. Hopefully this helps others understand the struggles of being Deaf and also to appreciate the irony and in hindsight, the hilarity of some these situations.
