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From: Bill.Swift@p0.f165.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Bill Swift)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Hi all.
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Date: 20 Jul 90 20:19:17 GMT
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[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

    Just signed on here and thought I would leave a message saying hi.
Rick G and I have been friends for awhile now and I got in here because of
this echo and other reasons as well.
     As way of introduction, I am a hearing impaired 34 yo man.  I lost my
hearing at the age of 6 due to a bad case of measles that left me
hospitalized the entire course of the disease and which I have no memory
of.  Massive nerve damage left me totally deaf in my left ear and have
partial loss in the right ear, which apparently after years of being stable
is now starting to change.  The doctor referred to it as "natural
progression" which is french for Im getting older.  I was not amused.  They
want to put me in a multi cross hearing aid but that will have to wait
awhile as insurance will not pay for it.
     As with all others with similar afflictions, I was mainstreamed in
school and didnt learn sign language until I was 30.  Prior to that I had a
"baby sign" vocabulary from working with Mentally retarded/autistic/mentally
 ill adults.  I am now the head nurse of a psychiatric unit for the deaf in
Mass, and it was here that I finallylearned ASL and have become quite
proficient at it.  I really didnt develop my deaf identity until I started
working and socializing with the deaf and have become somewhat militant in
soem respects as a result.  I now demand interpreters for lectures and
trainings that happen in large rooms <I had to have a rather nasty and
protracted arguement with work over that-"You can manage without it." Well
excuse me but I am the only one who knows what I need!>  I did prevail.
Threats of involving my union <under affirmative action> and the Mass
Commission of Deaf/Hard of Hearing <violating the rights of the handicapped
(I hate that word but it can be useful on occasion.  I am not handicapped.
I jsut dont hear as well as most people.  ANd if work has a problem with
it, then they will get over it.
      Most of my experiences in the deaf world have been positive but not
all of them.  There are idiots everywhere and the arent limited by ability
to hear.  Myself and another hearing impaired staff person tried to
instruct our staff that there was more to itthan simply deaf and hearing
worlds.  We are both and neither.  We vented all the shit we had been
through over the years trying to give them a clue as to what it is like
growing up hearing impaired when the deaf think you are hearing and the
hearing think you are deaf.  I myself included good/bad deaf/hearing
stories.  The bad included a hearing man that was shocked to learn I had a
drivers license. <I told him I didnt drive with my ears> and some  obvious
rejection from some native signers from the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf
while I was learning sign <Nothing is quite as obvious as a deaf person who
is disdainfully ignoring you and that hurts--and one of the worst offenders
was soemone who ignored and refused to talk to me at all because he didnt
want to bother now will talk to  me now that he sees I can carry on an in
depth conversation in sign....the two faced bastard.>  The bad is almost
always compensated by the good stories and there are more of them but I
think the bad affects us more.
     Hmmmm I seem to be rambling as usual and this is startign to get REAL
long so I will stop before my fingers fall off.  I am out of work due to a
car accident for a few weeks so I will be using the time to do some
exploration of this ond the other boards here.  Will enjoy chatting with
you all and exchanging stories.  Take care.

--
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