Deaf Experience Essay

An auditory processing disorder, is when your ears and brain don’t cooperate together, the ways in which the brain interprets sound through speaking and or sounds.

As I was laying on the cushioned couch on a Saturday afternoon, my phone began buzzing in my dark black Nike basketball shorts. As I read the caller ID I noticed that it was my mom. As soon as I picked up the phone I knew something was wrong. My mom's voice was scratchy, and depressed. As I picked up the phone she immediately told me the horrifying news. For a few seconds I had to comprehend what I was hearing. After I analyzed what she had said I screeched my lungs out, bawling hysterically, as if I had heard that the world was ending. For a moment I couldn't breathe, hearing that our healthy Chihuahua had passed away. After that tragic day, about a few months later, even though I was still awestruck by that wretched day the question finally

Being hard of hearing, or deaf, is a common disability. Rarely is a person completely deaf, and a hearing loss could fall anywhere from being completely deaf to hearing. The amount of functional hearing varies greatly from person to person. While it may seem that being completely deaf is the only hearing disability, any sort of hearing loss is seen as impairment. A simple daily task such as communication becomes difficult when one’s hearing is lost. For the most part, English is an oral and aural language supposed to be spoken and heard. Therefore, it is quite challenging to learn and understand English when you

Louise was informed by doctors and Friends not to use gestures or sign to Lynn but to only talk to her and treat her as a normal child so that she someday may become oral and learn to speak.

Ever since I was young, I knew something was different about me. I’ve always had an active imagination and would write all kinds of stories, sometimes through pictures and sometimes through words. Not until I was in first grade did I notice my writing was different than my friends. It didn’t bother me though because I was too young to realize something was wrong; I was just different. One weekend, after playing restaurant with my mom and brother, my mom contacted my teacher to talk about some concerns she had with my reading and writing. She was told that I seemed to be progressing on an age-appropriate level with my peers and that nothing appeared to be wrong. But my mom persisted, and insisted that I be tested for a reading disability. My dad is dyslexic and my mom, knowing it can be passed down, was watching for the signs in my older brother first and now me. After testing, one of SV’s school psychologists announced that my results showed I had a learning disability. I then went to my pedestrian to talk about it and then to a special learning center in Sewickley for further

For my major project, I decided to challenge myself by being deaf for one day and experience what a deaf person is living every single day and get a better understanding of their living situation. It seems as an easy challenge to do, but it turns out that it wasn’t.

I chose the task of being deaf for about 4 hours which I thought may be the easer and safest option for me but I was quickly surprised that being able to hear contributes to so many things in my life. For example not being able to hear my kids call me when they say mom was sad because a mother will always know there child’s voice even if she’s in the middle of Time Square on New Year’s. Therefore not being able to come to their aid quickly was my biggest challenge. I wasn’t able to laugh at the things that they were laughing at when we watched our family movie. I couldn’t do my job at work of answering my customer’s phone calls because I couldn’t hear. I was afraid to drive because I was scared that I wouldn’t hear

In order to gain a better understanding of the difficulties faced by people with hearing loss I wore ear plugs for an entire day in a variety of settings. The hearing loss simulation made relatively simple parts of my day much more difficult and really showed how much hearing loss can impact daily life. As discussed in class the shift from being “able-bodied to disabled”, was quite difficult to cope with.

The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in

The sponsoring organization for the Pomona deaf event was called Deaf Nation. Their purpose for the event was so that people could have connection meeting other people who are deaf and people who want to learn more about the deaf culture of American Sign Language. The membership was free admission anyone who was interested in the Deaf Expo could attend for more information about the deaf culture. The event was located in Fairplex building 7, there was a large amount of people. The event was on May 7th on Saturday. It started at 9am, but I came late. There were Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people in the building. The building was ginormous and people were really welcoming. The purpose of the event was to help the deaf community people to interact with other people and people who could hear learn more about the culture. It is hosted by Deaf Nation every year in Pomona and also in other three

In the background, I heard something fall to the floor. Although I knew this was my cats’ doing, I did not check to see what mess they had created and continued to put my clothes in the washing machine. After I had added detergent and assorted my clothes, I cranked the dial and noticed for the first time that I could hear every click that the dial made, in addition to the water beginning to fill. It usually takes about twenty minutes for my clothes to wash, so I checked the clock and planned to move my clothes from my washer to my dryer once they were done washing. Once I was finished, I walked to my couch and I heard my feet patting my kitchen floor with every step that I took. This was a huge eye-opener for me. It made me realize that Deaf people are not able to hear the sounds around them, nor the sounds that they make themselves. If I was not able to hear my cats, washing machine, dryer, or alarm, I would become incredibly discouraged. It is obvious that I depend heavily on noises to alert me. Instead of taking action to make sure things are taken care of, I rely my ears to do the work for me.

I grew up at a Deaf residential school. For most of the time I slept there at the dorm. We –they had a night supervisor who also slept on site. Aww, she was such a very sweet old women. She retired at her old job and got a new job here at the Deaf residential school where I was staying. It was four of us girls she would watch. Nine-nine-thirty the lights were out. But at midnight, me and my three roommates decided we’d meet at- meet up. So I waited till midnight. I kept looking at my clock- is it time, is it time? And then the clock struck midnight. Me and my friends we met up. One of the girl had a boyfriend who came back from Canada. He had bought a whole sack of c-f- firecrackers when he was there. They’re not allowed here in the states but he bought them anyway.

I woke up like everyday, in perfect silence. I can’t remember a time when I able to hear. The fact is that I’m deaf so that means I couldn’t hear a thing. I slid from my bed and walked over to my dresser. It was Monday and I had to go to school. School made me feel incompetent, my teachers smiled and pointed to stuff trying to help me understand. A place where my fellow classmate don’t understand that I can’t hear their taunts and bullying. When people heard that I’m deaf, their first thought was that I’m helpless.

My leadership activities have brought big responsibilities into my life, but also great joy. As the Art Director for North’s Drama program every play brings new opportunities for creativity and new challenges. It is my job to create the poster, design the set, manage supplies, direct the students helping me, and plan ahead so that every piece of the set can be finished in time for the show. I could never do the job alone and it is such an incredible feeling to begin with a few ideas and bring an entire world to life as a team. My experience as the Hi-Tones Representative has been fantastic. I think that the most important piece of my role is to help create a family environment in the group. I also take on extra tasks whenever needed such as

Wearing earplugs for six hours has given me so much insight into what those who use hearing aids and cochlear implants experience. It has also given me a new appreciation for my ears. I did not realize how difficult it would be to attempt to communicate as I normally would with the earplugs in; however, it was frustrating, straining, and exhausting. I wore the earplugs in three different situations. The first setting was with my roommates at home, the second setting took place in a shopping trip to the mall, and the third setting in which I wore earplugs was a cell phone conversation with my mom. These experiences were trying, but ultimately gave me a better understanding and empathy for individuals who are hard of hearing; this exercise will