Being chased by those guys on the streets!
You know the guys collecting for something or other that seem to jump out of the clouds from nowhere, and invade ur day unexpectedly when your absentmindedly strolling through town thinking about aft things that may or may not need to be done!!
Being severely deaf, I have a thing I do if anyone like this jumps at me and goes to give me a hug or shake my hand and once they got you, thats it your there for an hour and eventually ur talked into handing over your account number!!, well Im going straight to hell for this but it works, and Im not entirely lying either!!, I usually sign to them and mouth that Im deaf!, well Im not lying am I, its just a quick and polite way of saying leave me alone!, well I did it today, but the guy didnt let up, he followed me! and said, are you really?? really are you deaf??? and mumbled on about people doing it often to get him off his back, He had a beard and town was busy and not a great environment for lipreading, so the truth was, I couldnt hear him properly so I signed it again and pointed to my hearing aids, and walked off, and he yelled something after me!! I was pretty pissed off over that, that was kind ignorant on his part, who yells at the back of a deaf person?? Im not completely deaf no, but still that was uncalled for! This was the same guy that did it to me again about a week ago, my little sister was with me and he did the same thing so its not the first time it happened with him!
yet I felt a little guilty as he is just doing his job as invasive and all as it is, so I stopped around the corner and wrote a note, I have no Idea why, Im well able to talk I just didnt want to, so I wrote a quick note with the entention of handing it to him quickly and be off on my merry way, my note said,
‘Im sorry I walked away I know ur just doing ur job, but I am deaf, and I cant hear you properly and if I had more time id try to listen, good luck’
I turned around to walk back to where he was, and there he was running towards me, and he said, ‘Im so sorry for being so rude,’ I handed him the note, he continued, ‘ Its just so many people do that just to be left alone, I thought u were the same, Im so sorry for behaving that way’, he read the note, and I said, ‘ur fine but I do have a hearing problem and didnt have the time to lipread you I know ur only doing ur job but be carefull, there are some of us who dont lie’!
He said im so sorry, again and shook my hand and smiled, and I went to work! I was pissed at first with the way he reacted to me on the street, but I admired him for swallowing his pride and following me up to say sorry, that was genuinly nice 
But in all fairness he should be more carefull and learn from what happened, these people walk the street and have no training first, I hope he knows better now!
Lette
September 2nd, 2006 at 3:24 pm
wow…its gotten so quiet in here…busy summer huh guys?
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Hi Lette!
Yeah, so busy! I saw this post a few days ago and meant to add to it…
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything so extreme as this guy you described- but I have put people on the spot, telling them I couldn’t hear/cooperate with them because, dude, I’m deaf.
I recall a time when I was on the bus, and the bus driver was apparently ignoring all bell requests for a stop, and despite the fact that I was standing right by the door, he missed my stop. I saw/heard that he was yelling something, but I couldn’t make it out.
As I got off, snarling at him because he missed my request for a stop, I think he retorted that he’d yelled to see if anyone was actually getting off- and kept going when he received no response (or, a blank stare from me).
He looked a little ashmamed when I told him that I was deaf. Not a great encounter for either of us.
September 12th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
I hate those people, I know they have a job, but they shouldn’t physically touch you or harrass you in the streets, deaf or not.
I have done the deaf thing at them too, and if they won’t go away I will just keep walking away until they get bored. If they ever followed me to the point of harrassment I’d go into the nearest shop and ask them to phone the police for me.
I don’t see anything wrong with anyone saying “I’m deaf” to make those types go away. Yes it is a horrible job, but at the end of the day there are limits and if they can’t do that job well without resorting to bullying/harrassing/intimidating behaviour they should not be in that job.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I stumbled upon this site today… sort of stressed out.. sort of happy.. sort of lost and sort of angry.. and then for about 5 mins i felt so alone… then i got online and ne and found thousands of others that I know go thru what i do.. being profound deaf but the abiltiy to have a voice… oh the emotional stress of explaining to people on a daily basis .. am i DEAF yes but I really do try to do my best to lipread afterall i was only concsidred hearing imparied when i was younger.. do i like music ? yes love it and love finding the words to follow along… do i like people staring behind me when im using relay ? no it invades my privacy after all when people are gabbing on the phone it sounds like mubmling to me do i worry about them no .. oh i can go on and on forever about stuff but if anyone can find me a place a place where someones just deaf and able to talk .. but tries like heck to clinve in ack to live in a society where people think if u can talk u arent deaf.. if u dont sign u arent deaf .. heck sometimes i just dont want to talk anymore… wheres all the doctors that study this and should know all this stress of what we go thru causes needless emotioanal issues ? ada law ? omg i got a headache with tryin to get people to enfoce that properly.. espeically those that assume if they give u a tty somewhere u are fine.. haha thats