This is what a 5th grade girl told me today when she came to the Media Center to assist me. I smiled softly and responded, “Well, clearly I’m not since I can hear you.”
“He said, ‘She can’t hear. She just reads lips,'” she said. I’m wondering who this boy is but she clearly excluded his name for a reason.
“Well,” I told her. “I do read lips sometimes, but I’m not deaf. I’m hard of hearing.”
She seemed slightly surprised at this, but then her face turned to concern. “What happened?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I assured her. “I was born this way.”
“Oh. I thought maybe something happened.” She then walked away and presumed to carry out the task I had given her to do. And that was that.
It’s not the first time someone’s commented on my hearing impairment. Usually it has to do with my speech, as they try to place where my “accent” is from. I’ve had someone ask if there is such a thing as being “legally deaf,” like “legally blind,” and whether I would be considered “legally deaf.” I don’t know about that one.
Image from http://www.imdb.com
I’ve been watching “Switched at Birth,” an ABCFamily show, on Netflix, and I am fascinated with the conversations in ASL. They recently aired an episode this season that was completely in ASL, with no dialogue except for the first and last scenes. It was really cool. I also can resonate a lot with some of the struggles and barriers that come up for Daphne, the main deaf character. In the most recent episode I watched, she went on several interviews for jobs in restaurants, but they were all hesitant to hire her when they found out she was deaf (she can communicate very well and read lips well). One of her interviewers asked where she was from (Russia?) because of her “accent,” and I could totally relate!
The show makes me want to learn ASL again! I took a few classes when I was younger and then took it as my foreign language in high school. I recognize several of the signs from the show, but I don’t have the courage to begin signing around others.
Maybe if I start signing, the students will really think I’m deaf!
Exercising toward Godliness 