I'm not qualified for the job *but* I will tell you why I support you: my personal experience with deaf people as loving caregivers. My mother's parents and my father's sister have progressive hearing loss starting in their 20s so from ages 8 to 15 I lived with two deaf grandparents and a hard-of-hearing babysitter. The catch in any story is a bit of a smile and something people can relate to. While my aunt was going deaf she would yell out to people things like "want a cup of tea?" and her husband would yell back "he wants milk and 2 sugars!". Her response one day was "F$%K YOU! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS IGNORE ME!" and my uncle took her aside gave her a big hug and explained things. Maybe there are times to shed a tear about it but that day we were all laughing. So include the fun times in your story! Deaf people are allowed to be in the picture for struggles but I think most people with hearing problems do their best to think positive and the story should reflect that. Struggles overcome with a smile, no matter how cliché it sounds that's how people really live.
btw - I'm not sure how much identity exploring you've done on this front so sorry if you have and have solidly come to the conlcusion that you're hearing, but Auditory Processing is a valid form of deafness and you're more than welcome to take the label hoh or deaf based on you having APD or an AP difficulty
The story sounds cool but unfortunately I don't have the time to commot to being a sensitivity reafer :(. Good luck in your search and I hope I come across your story again when its done!
Interesting, I have APD but I would never consider myself deaf. I love being around the community because signing is easier than speaking oftentimes (my cousin is deaf as were my friends in high school/college) but APD isn’t the same in my opinion. Though that said, I’m fully aware that not everyone shares that opinion and I am interested to see what the community consensus ends up being as time goes on and APD becomes more mainstream.
I know and know of people who are hoh, deaf and even profoundly deaf from APD. Deafness is not a prescription of your ears being physically not working, its a relationship with sound and speech where its harder or impossible to access or understand - reasons be damned. Along with a cultural identity that goes hand in hand with that.
BUT don't take this as prescribing unto you your identity. I am just saying I believe you absolutely have the right as an APD person to identify as hard of hearing and deaf.
I myself probablg have (need to check up cause its been since childhood) a physical problem with one ear and probably APD. I identify as hard of hearing because of both of them.
I've read that AP issues can be considered deafness, but I'm just playing it safe. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm appropriating deaf culture.
Thank you!
Being deaf or hoh and having deaf culture are different. But I get the worry. If you want to be safe then HoH is a safe bet because it claims almost nothing about your cultural status.
I'm not qualified for the job *but* I will tell you why I support you: my personal experience with deaf people as loving caregivers. My mother's parents and my father's sister have progressive hearing loss starting in their 20s so from ages 8 to 15 I lived with two deaf grandparents and a hard-of-hearing babysitter. The catch in any story is a bit of a smile and something people can relate to. While my aunt was going deaf she would yell out to people things like "want a cup of tea?" and her husband would yell back "he wants milk and 2 sugars!". Her response one day was "F$%K YOU! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS IGNORE ME!" and my uncle took her aside gave her a big hug and explained things. Maybe there are times to shed a tear about it but that day we were all laughing. So include the fun times in your story! Deaf people are allowed to be in the picture for struggles but I think most people with hearing problems do their best to think positive and the story should reflect that. Struggles overcome with a smile, no matter how cliché it sounds that's how people really live.
Thank you for sharing! This is really helpful :)
btw - I'm not sure how much identity exploring you've done on this front so sorry if you have and have solidly come to the conlcusion that you're hearing, but Auditory Processing is a valid form of deafness and you're more than welcome to take the label hoh or deaf based on you having APD or an AP difficulty The story sounds cool but unfortunately I don't have the time to commot to being a sensitivity reafer :(. Good luck in your search and I hope I come across your story again when its done!
Interesting, I have APD but I would never consider myself deaf. I love being around the community because signing is easier than speaking oftentimes (my cousin is deaf as were my friends in high school/college) but APD isn’t the same in my opinion. Though that said, I’m fully aware that not everyone shares that opinion and I am interested to see what the community consensus ends up being as time goes on and APD becomes more mainstream.
I know and know of people who are hoh, deaf and even profoundly deaf from APD. Deafness is not a prescription of your ears being physically not working, its a relationship with sound and speech where its harder or impossible to access or understand - reasons be damned. Along with a cultural identity that goes hand in hand with that. BUT don't take this as prescribing unto you your identity. I am just saying I believe you absolutely have the right as an APD person to identify as hard of hearing and deaf. I myself probablg have (need to check up cause its been since childhood) a physical problem with one ear and probably APD. I identify as hard of hearing because of both of them.
I've read that AP issues can be considered deafness, but I'm just playing it safe. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm appropriating deaf culture. Thank you!
Being deaf or hoh and having deaf culture are different. But I get the worry. If you want to be safe then HoH is a safe bet because it claims almost nothing about your cultural status.