The Interview
So, the researcher on the project I posted about concerning the impact of the internet on deaf people came to see me this afternoon and was here for two hours. Very interesting it was too. Though some of it was repeating questions asked in the online survey (a UK three-university project), the interview gave me a chance to expand on answers, and her to ask some follow-up questions.
As an interviewer, the person (a postgraduate student) was extremely well-prepared, ultra-courteous and completely non-intrusive. So it was very relaxing and I was inclined to talk too much, as usual. The most thought-provoking questions? Certainly those about important friendships I would never have made otherwise (including two barely a mile away from where I live), about the international scope of online friendships, especially with other deafies, and, most provatively, a question about how my identity as a deaf person had changed or be conditioned by the internet. It suddenly struck me that it is largely thanks to the internet that I am “out” about being deaf in a way I never was before. I would do everything to hide my deafness and fake being a hearing person (not very convicingly, needless to say). The nature of the friendship and support that is here on the internet has changed all that. So the identity question produced some very positive reflection.
Things moved on to how the internet has affected my relationships with hearing people. Easy one that – revolutionized it. And not just because of email/chat/blogs etc., but also because there are resources to point hearing people at for what being deaf is like (somewhatsilent.com is a kinda good place to start, yes?) and so on.
There was lots more. I’m rather tired out by too-much-audio-information, but the student had a very clear, loud voice, and she was very easy to lipread. It was altogether a good afternoon 
October 22nd, 2005 at 11:18 am
It sounds like a very interesting afternoon!
I often think about how the Internet has impacted my life, my self esteem, and the scope of my human interaction.
Damn. When I think about where I was before I discovered the internet, and where I am now as far as “what is the criteria that I have for friendships”, I’ve come a long way from “They have to be able to tolerate my deafness” as being the sole element on the list. Now that’s somewhere wayyyy down on the list. Of course, then I was 15 and now I’m 25. So it may also be a factor of age.
Then there’s the whole “immediate, one-on-one, spontaneous interactive communication” thing. Something that I had never experienced with new people. The ability to communicate spontaneously… It takes my breath away–even today–when I think about it.
It’s also drastically improved my ability to understand people via lipreading and other measures–oddly as that seems. By providing me easy and immediate access to a wider variety of speech patterns, it’s populated my mental database with more words, and more examples of how people communicate.
Heaven.