Ask a deaf guy anything

[eBank]

Who technically speaking is the best ventriloquist?

I'll answer this!

Bob a.k.a. Jay Johnson is, hands down...(and it's not even close)

 

[Goat Meal]

Hey, White Moose. I'm not sure if you remember but you and I talked briefly a few months ago. My biological mother is deaf so just by seeing your posts I could tell you were deaf, although your English is a million times better than most other deaf people.

Just wanted to drop in and say hey.

 

[White Mongoose]

I did a course in BSL (British) a few years ago so i could communicate on a basic level with signers, and my first chance to put it into action happened to be with an American who signed ASL.

Totally different, we basically couldn't communicate at all. It made me wonder why they didn't just implement a universal sign language, but i guess it's for the same reasons their isn't a universal spoken language.

Lol! Yeah both are a whole world of different. I have met some British and Australian people and it was impossible to communicate with them. On other hand, ASL signers can communicate with French signers since ASL originally come from French sign language.

What if anything does music mean to you?

It don't mean a thing to me. I can pick up vibrate but it don't do a thing for me.

Hey, White Moose. I'm not sure if you remember but you and I talked briefly a few months ago. My biological mother is deaf so just by seeing your posts I could tell you were deaf, although your English is a million times better than most other deaf people.

Just wanted to drop in and say hey.

Hey there! Yes I remember you! I almost started this thread on the day we met, but chickened out because everyone seems to be getting sick of "ask a (insert something)" thread. However I decide to go ahead with it and am glad I did as it seems as if lot of readers are enjoying it.

 

[Nentisys]

Just wanted to say that this is a great thread. Thank you, White Mongoose.

 

[Bay Area]

Do you like pizza?

 

[SuperSaiyan]

How do you guys hear yourselves think?

 

[SuperSaiyan]

Do you like the ****?

 

[Irenaeus]

No sympathy necessary. Honestly I think I have a pretty damn awesome life and am quite happy. It is just that there are some social issue that I really struggle at. Looking at other deaf people, I think I have it way better than most of them.

However I just hope that this thread increase awareness toward those who are deaf or disabled. I just hope that if anybody here ever bump into a deaf person, they at least would try to be more understanding and give them a chance instead of just act all awkward and avoid them.

I'm glad to hear you're doing well. From my outsider's point of view, the whole situation just seems incredibly challenging, and I have my doubts I would be as successful in your situation.

As for communicating with a blind person, I have communicated with a deaf and blind person a few times. It take a lot of patience and it can be somewhat awkward. I have had a deaf friend who was in wheel chair, I have had a amaputee deaf friend, I have been around deaf people who aren't mentally developed and others. I just can seems to find a lot in common between us and something both of us are interested in.
However for blind and deaf person... It just isn't the same. I would still talk with them no problem and I don't avoid them or anything. It is just... personally I cannot really see myself being their close friend or anything. I'm so active, very visual, and always want to get out to do things. Kinda hard to do that with a blind and deaf person.
As for straight up blind person... We both are pretty much nonexist to each other to be honest. I don't know braille, I cannot read lips or anything. The blind person cannot see me gesturing or read the writing and I cannot speak that well. Put us both in a situation together and I'd probably see myself end up wander away and deal with the situation on my own as much of a asshole as it sound...

Thanks for the answer. The bolded part is pretty much what I imagined. You almost seem to occupy different dimensions. I also find it fascinating how different communities the two handicaps seems to have resulted in. Blind people have much use for people with sight in their daily life, and seems to very easily spread out among others. Deaf people, on the other hand: Most of the problems of being deaf seems to be when relating to non-deaf people, and communities arise more easily.

About your friend's son... Can he sign? Did he mainstream his whole life or was he sent to school for deaf or what? Did his parents sign? Who are his buddies? If I have answer to those questions, I would be able to answer much better.
Without the answer, I'm just going to say that I suspect the parents don't sign so their communication are really limited and I'm almost 100% sure he mainstreamed. However the question is, do he go to school with few other deaf students or was he just thrown in hearing school?
If he was just thrown in hearing school, then I'd say he have a poor social skill to began with (even if he can hear, he probably would be one of those "awkward kid" with no social skill) and he just end up become so reserved and no body ever made any effort to communicate with him or anything. Over the year, he just think no body want to talk to him and he never had any luck with making a friend or anything like that.
If I'm wrong and he go to school where there are few other deaf kids, then he must have been the outcast among deaf students (I was pretty much one...) and he made no effort to fit into the hearing world.
Either case would lead him to feel like there's nothing out there for him and probably is incredibly depressed and lonely. So he turn to the only world that he feel like he's treated equal which is WoW. He have every ability, can talk, understand others, and get to work with other and do things with others which is something he never have in his life outside of WoW.
Quite sad case...

He mainstreamed, and seems to me to be at least a little socially awkward. I'm not really sure about how well his parents sign. His writing is pretty close to fluent in three languages, so I imagine he functions quite well in the online community. In general I think you're probably right, he manages to avoid his handicap in another world instead of dealing with it in this one. I hope he choses to try real life again some time, or failing that, that he's happy where he is.

About that deaf student, yeah they tend to have two translator so one can take a break and other one take over every 15 to 30 minutes. As for the third person, that's rather bizarre, I have never heard of such thing.

The third person was studying to be a translator, as far as I could understand it.

As for her overslept... Well disability resource at college are far far from being nice or your friend. They are one of the biggest reason I dropped out of college. It is a lot of work to get everything set up with them and if you do anything wrong then well... they are gonna bend you over and fuck you really hard and make you smile and thanks them afterward. So I sympathy her...

Same. Also, I overslept a lot when I was a student. Hell, all students do. She just got a little more awkwardness out of the same action as the rest of us. And it only happened once. She's good in my book.

Working with a translator does take a bit adjustment because they have to process everything you say and translate it into signing and their hands can only move so fast. So that's why you have to slow down lol.

I know. It was a really fascinating experience. I've worked with translators before (and I've been one myself), but never to sign language.

 

[Irenaeus]

Most of the problems of being deaf seems to be when relating to non-deaf people, and communities arise more easily.

This made me think of another question: Do you feel being deaf is mostly a social handicap?

In your daily life, in what kind of situations, if any, do you find being deaf is a handicap when not relating to people?

 

[ventrue]

The kid in There Will Be Blood spoke fine until his tragic accident on the well.

After he went deaf, he began speaking like a retard. Why? Is this typical?

I am kind of fascinated about this topic.

 

[Voltaire]

Might you be a candidate for a cochlear implant?

 

[Sexy]

Do you know any deaf couples who have children who aren't deaf?
I knew a girl in high school, her and her sister weren't deaf but their parents were.

 

[White Mongoose]

Just wanted to say that this is a great thread. Thank you, White Mongoose.

You're quite welcome! I'm really glad you enjoy it!

How do you guys hear yourselves think?

Gee tough question to answer. It really depend on what I'm thinking about. For example, if it involve physical things such as balance, coordination, etc... I tend to think in more... Physic/mathematics way I'd try to picture how I'm suppose to move or whatever and how it work and try to adjust myself to success.

If I'm thinking about a scenario such as if I have to go up to someone and talk, I'd think in more like movie. I'd think "what if I do this? What if I do that?" and replay it over and over.

If I'm talking to someone via text or internet or whatever, I try to imagine how they would say it, their body language, and stuff like that.

I can go on all night. It depend on many things. But there's some idea.

...

Sometime I do wonder what I'd have been like if I could hear... But yeah... I am pretty happy with how things have been for me even though it wasn't always easy.

Yeah couldn't put it any better. The deaf people and blind people both live in their own world and probably wouldn't understand each other at all.

It sound like your friend's kid is more of social awkward kid than anything, even if he was hearing, but it is deafness that push him over the edge and become like this. I do hope he get out and see there's so much more than game though.

Ah! Yeah that's somewhat common to have third translator come in to watch to learn.
Yeah the disabled person in college tend to have it hard because disability dept. are a major asshole and make life tougher than necessary.

This made me think of another question: Do you feel being deaf is mostly a social handicap?

In your daily life, in what kind of situations, if any, do you find being deaf is a handicap when not relating to people?

Definitely! It seems to be pretty much only true barrier the deaf people have beside very few things such as music.

As for the situation when I find being deaf a handicap... Honestly I can't think of anything beside very high level of balance (think tight rope walking or balancing on ball sort of stuff).
Even if there's something that require hearing such as one time I was looking at a car to buy. People keep tell me to bring a hearing friend over so they can listen to engine. I cannot find anyone available at the time I need them. So I went to meet the car seller anyway. I decide to ask him to turn the engine on. AS he was about to turn it on, I place my hand on top of the hood.
As the engine got turned on, I realized that I don't need to hear because I can feel the rytheme (sp?) of the engine and it answer my question.
So basically we always find a way around needing hearing ability pretty much.

The kid in There Will Be Blood spoke fine until his tragic accident on the well.

After he went deaf, he began speaking like a retard. Why? Is this typical?

I am kind of fascinated about this topic.

That's because he cannot hear himself as well and have to rely on feeling which only offer very vague idea about how well you are talking. So his voice sound "off"

Might you be a candidate for a cochlear implant?

I can get one if I want. However I don't want it for the reason I don't want my hearing back. Plus there's so many requirement afterward (annual check up by specialist which could be a few hours drive away, intense speech therapy, and numerous other things)
Plus it don't work for everybody. To make thing worse, doctor isn't sure if I lose my hearing because the fever burned up all "hair" in ear that carry sound wave or the part of brain that control hearing got damaged when I was sick.
So it would be a hit or miss for me and hearing aid don't even help me. So the odds don't look that good for me even if I want one.
Also with the implant, I cannot skydive or scuba to certain deep and other things and I plan on do both one day.

Do you know any deaf couples who have children who aren't deaf?
I knew a girl in high school, her and her sister weren't deaf but their parents were.

Yes that's pretty common. Me... If I was to have a child, it is extremely unlikely the child would be deaf because my deafness wasn't affected by genetic or anything. It was affect by a disease, so basically being deaf is like a scar.
One thing that make my blood boil is how some deaf couples want to make their hearing child deaf or refuse to allows their deaf child to use hearing aid or get cochlear implant. That sort of stuff piss me off really badly!

AS for the girl you know in high school, yeah that situation is extremely common. Only real way deaf couple could have a deaf child is if one of them are deaf as a result of genetic.
BTW children of deaf adult are known as "CODA" among deaf community.

 

[Sexy]

She was hot, FWIW.

 

[00 Buck]

Death Guy,

Do you have any special powers or abilities?


Thnx

 

[White Mongoose]

Death Guy,

Do you have any special powers or abilities?


Thnx

Lol! Depend what you consider special powers or abilities. I guess I can say I freak some people out by how I can pick up vibrates so easily that they cannot even hear or feel.

 

[AncientEnemy]

Have you ever tried one of those musical lollipops?