Last post Sat, Feb 23 2008 11:03 AM by minkey. 25 replies.
I think all of us who are hard of hearing, deaf, or suffer from any "invisible" disability have bluffed at one time or another. Are we so good at it we can defeat a "lie detector" test?
Sometimes telling people our "story" so they can understand can be a bit repetitive in every day life. So while we can ask for something to be repeated once or twice --- the third time 'round, most of us just smile and "bluff" (bobbing our head up and down or sideways, taking cue from the others in the crowd). Just for your interest, a new type of "lie detector" has been invented which can pinpoint a "bluffer" a mile away: (I know -- a bit off-topic -- but interesting)
Student turns gut instinct into a top science project
"...Cassandra Fong, a well-spoken Grade 12 student, spent more than a year and a half perfecting her experiment, titled, "Liar, liar, your stomach's on fire."
One hundred volunteers were questioned 100 times, while electrodes measured their stomach activity, she said. When they were lying, the activity changed..."
(The truth now --- how many of us find our stomach tightens, when we bluff? Ah Hah! Did you know when you blush, your stomach blushes also? Talk about "gut instinct", eh?)
Karen. I have a question for you as a parent. Do you find that your children take advantage of your hearing loss? I have three children and my husband is Deaf. All three know when I am out of the room and when Dad is in charge. They take advantage of that and it drives me nuts! Do you have an suggestions for us?
Thanks!
Painterzwife.
I have a mild hearing loss in both ears, In elementry I went to a school that had a deaf/hard of hearing program. Also the kids there were understanding to the special needs kids wich made school easyer. Growing older was harder, I had to tell people to speak up so that I can hear them, I still struggle with it today. All schools should have the programs for the deaf and the hard of hearing, we like to learn to. Look at Helen Keller, she did not let herself be held back, she did something with her life.
Ah, kids will be kids and they'll take advantage of Dad's inability to hear what they're saying when Mom's not around. What you can do is sit down with the kids and let them know that it's not acceptable. If they misbehave in a manner where they take advantage of Dad-- there's gotta be a consequence to that action or a privelege taken away.
With both me and my husband being deaf, our kids get away with some stuff that we can't catch. Some days, I just have to say a prayer that I'm raising them with a good head on their shoulders and they'll do the right thing!
Ahhh, the Deaf nod. It is done with Deaf in a hearing atmosphere and hearing with the Deaf. I have been caught doing that by a few Deaf. I have also caught a few Deaf. It is funny when we catch it. we usually laugh. I have learned to just ask. Most Deaf are very understanding of us slow signing hearing people.
Thanks for the advice. This is kind of a new thing as my little ones are only 5 and 2, but I hear them in the other room when I step out. I am not sure what my husband catches and doesn't. Dad's aren't always as tunned in to the kids as moms are. He has recently started saying they seem to be doing this. I will pass on your advice to him and hopefully we can come up with something that will help them understand this is not acceptable. I have seen it with many of our Deaf friends. Their kids say things that if the parents knew what they were saying, would reprimand them, but because they can't hear it they have no idea.
The behavior isn't bad at this point, thank goodness, but I would not want it to get worse. :)
I have been hearing impaired since I was 18 months old. Doctors do not know how I became so. And I also have fluctuating hearing, which is apparently pretty rare. I have had two seizures, one in which I lost hearing, and another which did not affect me.
I go to a public school and I have been surrounded by hearing people all my life. I barely know alot of sign language, just enough to get by. I have a job in a retail store as a cashier. I do most of my communication from lipreading, which I am very skilled at.
I am now 17, and getting ready to graduate high school. Any advice for college?
I plan to be a teacher of the deaf. Because I feel I can be a good role model to them and show them that we can make it out in the "real" hearing world too. We're just as good as anyone else.
HI Deafkid17, welcome to Disaboom! College was a fun time for me-- I hope you have a blast as well. For info on becoming a teacher in deaf education, go to www.deafed.net. There's a list of colleges with deaf education majors there.
Since you say you've been surrounded by hearing people all of your life, you will want to explore the deaf community and get to know deaf and hard of hearing people. Check out your local clubs and events and immerse yourself in meeting new deaf and hard of hearing people and kids near you.
Watch www.deafhhcareer.com in the upcoming weeks-- I will be featuring some deaf and hard of hearing teachers on the site.
hi deafkid...cool kid too! good luck in college. i hope that you meet some new friends here.
After reading through these posts I guess I was more fortunate than most. My parents discovered my hearing loss before I started the 1st grade. Evidently the hearing loss came on slowly and lipreading came fairly naturally but that's another story.
Anyways, the schools used to test my hearing at least twice a year and by the second grade I was in a speech therapy class. I had a series of radium treatments (they don't do this anymore) and that had managed to restore some of my hearing, however, while it was gone I developed a lisp and had a hard time with the way to make certain sounds. A few years of that and I was back in business. They figured at one point I had lost a little over 80% of my hearing. The treatments brought me back to about 80% of "normal" hearing.
Did the teachers always understand? The short answer is no. You have to tell them. Some were more understanding than others.
These days my hearing is pretty well shot. I sport one hearing aid as the other ear has less than 15% discrimination. Well, the last time it was tested anyways. Recently I have had that shock of where I take out the aid and one of my kids speaks to me about 2 feet from me and I can't hear a word they say. I guess it's time to start learning to sign.
I too have been hard of hearing since birth. The doctors were not sure if the hearing loss was a birth defect (I was a premie) or genetic. In any case, I've dealing with issues of communication ever since. I went to UC. Berkeley, where I signed up for and received help taking notes in my classes. I would suggest wherever you end up going to college to try to find a similar program. It was very helpful to be able to sit in classes without worrying about "missing something." I think they also had interpreters available as well. Good for you for wanting to be a role model!
