Somewhat Silent

ok, a strange one, But I know nobody here only I am from Ireland, but do any of you know where I could get a lipspeaker?? and are they any good if I am to get one, I think I need something for college for when I go back, but I dunno where to find one at all!! iv checked everywhere on the net, all I have left to do is ask in The National Ass. Of The Deaf, but I wanted to know, if anyof you have had one, are they worth it?? and do u know of how to apply for one, and are they expencive???

Going to prenatal care means that a lot of people become oddly interested in certain things that might indicate genetic disorders. ‘were you born deaf?’ I’ve been asked time and time again by various people at the clinic.

I always answer ‘yes’ without thinking. Sometimes I miss a few beats and then I’m like ‘Err. wait a minute, no I wasn’t.’ More frequently though, my husband lets out a sigh and says ‘No you weren’t!’. I wish I could say that it was because I didn’t hear the question. But I did.

‘Were you born deaf?’  It feels like I was. It feels like life began with this particular flavor of silence. Memories of hearing are abstract. Like stories I’ve told myself. I feel much more connection to the me of the future than I do to the little me of the past, who heard for 6 short years. Honestly, I almost feel as if deafness were a “soul swap” for me. As if the child that was me before my deafness said “Okay, your turn”, and I came into this world into a body that had once heard, and that will likely never hear normally again.

That doesn’t bother me. I feel no angst for it. Even when I had lost my hearing, the amount of angst I felt was amazingly low. People that knew me then have often commented on how calm I was. How matter-of-fact I was. And how I was my own advocate from the very beginning.

Was I born deaf? No. I became deaf later in life. And this is the answer that they want to hear, because from there they can ask ‘What was the cause?’ and once they’re told that it was a viral cause, they relax. My child is not at an elevated risk for deafness.

It’s strange being screened in this way. As if the way I’d raise my deaf child would be any different from the way I’d raise my hearing child. Eyes open, ears open, and heart open to the life that the child needs to live. Speaking with any words or signs that are needed to communicate and to reach it’s heart and mind.

Would you raise a deaf child differently from how you’d raise a hearing child?

Lette,

do you know of this site? http://www.axisweb.org/

ASL aside, I’d love to attain fluency in French- or more practically, Spanish.  Have any of you mastered new languages with (or after developing) hearing loss?  What sort of educational setting worked for you?

In High School, I was originally mainstreamed in French classes, but then my teachers decided that I wasn’t capable of picking up another language in such a setting, so I was dumped into a special ed class for 2 years before I campaigned for Latin independent study… Ugh.  So now I’m gun-shy about traditional language classes.

Any suggestions?  Similar experiences?

Silence, truely is a comfort after a day of low noise, dont you think?

 I just love to take off my aids after a long day of low noise and concentration, its like taking off ur shoes and socks after a long walk