#deaf problems

Being Deaf

Being disabled

Audism

Ableism

Intersectional discrimination including ableism and/or audism

This blog is run by Heishi from @primadonna-sys, a DeafDisabled host of a system.

General rules for interacting with this blog:

Be kind and respectful towards your fellow disabled and Deaf people. This is a safe space for all of us.

If you are Hearing and abled, do not comment or add anything when reblogging, including in the tags. This space is not for you, do not treat it as such.

Discrimination is not allowed. You may talk about internalised bigotry, but other than that I will not accept bigoted behaviour or language. This includes (but is not limited to): racism, transphobia, ageism, homophobia, sexism, and intersexism.

Rules for submitting posts and sending asks:

When adding a link, state that it is a link so that screenreader users know. Example: read this (link).

If necessary and possible, tag trigger warnings using the format stated at the bottom of this post. If it is not possible for you to do that, it's okay, I will.

You do not have to be polite when venting, you may be mad and rude.

If you post any images, please provide an image description (ID) for blind and low vision people. Please avoid putting IDs in alt text as tumblr's alt text is unreliable, instead please put IDs underneath images. It is okay if you can't provide an ID, I will.

If you have italics, bold text, a typing quirk, or a fancy font, please provide plain text (PT) for blind and low vision people. It's okay if you can't provide PT, I will.

I will tag trigger warnings using the following format: #tw trigger. Example: if I am tagging a warning for cats, I will tag the post like this #tw cat or #tw cats.

If you require a trigger warning for something specific, that wouldn't be triggering for most people, please let me know and I will tag it.

Other disabled blogs:

@autiebiographical

@canon-disabledcharacteroftheday

@disability-shout-outs

@disableddyke

@disabled-models

@does-it-like-disabled-people

@elektra-pop

@mewos-laptop

@my-heads-gonna-explode

@postmanic

@thisisableism

@this-is-anti-idd

@this-is-deformimisia

@writing2changetheworld

@yourfavhasdidosdd

Other Deaf blogs:

@powertofail

@this-is-audism

Other DeafDisabled blogs:

@disabled-primadonna

My parents put so much effort into making sure my hearing impairment didn’t “hold me back” that, in the long run, it held me back. Or at the very least left me frustrated.

I am beholden to my hearing aids all day every day. I cannot sign. I can’t communicate with other deaf &hoh people unless they have clear verbal language the way I do. Wearing them so much puts me at greater risk of ear infections, and frankly, they’re sweaty and itchy at the end of the day.

I’m proficient at lip reading, but not as much as when I was small, because my hearing aids do so much of the work. I was only so good at it when I was little because I had no other choice.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the communication skills I built, but I’m not so grateful that I wasn’t given another choice. People have commented on things like my clarity of speech à la “I would never have realised you’re deaf”. It’s not really the compliment they mean it to be.

I WANT you to know I’m deaf. I want to not have people roll their eyes when I ask them to repeat themselves a third or fourth time. I wish I hadn’t needed support everywhere I went during Covid, because masks made it borderline impossible for me to understand what anyone was saying. I had to wear a badge so people wouldn’t get frustrated with me. Even after masks became less common, I was so anxious to leave the house on my own. I’m only just getting over it now.

There are a number of languages you can search for works in on AO3, including Eald Eanglisc of all things, but the one language on there that really throws me for a loop is...American Sign Language.

Like, is there even a video option on AO3 for this to be possible?

I once picked a really big fanfic collection to search for ASL fics in and the only one that categorized as ASL was *written* in English. No videofile too be seen.

The most you can do in ASL in writing is write English words with ASL syntax. But that's still not ASL. ASL does not have a written alphabet or syllabary.

Genuinely bewildered about how this came about. Can people just post something and write in an "other" language and AO3 just adds that language to the list of languages they have fics written in?

Meticulously cleaned my ear molds because I decided to wear my hearing aids today.  Took 30 full minutes.

Promptly forgot them at home on the bathroom counter.  Chances are they will die and I will have to recharge them AGAIN before I’m in the mood to wear them again.

Met a random Deaf stranger in a bookshop.  Talked for 45 mins.  Exchanged life story and childhood trauma while friends waited on me.

Proceed to get very annoyed at my hearing friend for talking to the barista for longer than 2 mins and asked her why all hearing people have to talk to each other so much.

friend 1 thinking it was offensive to call me deaf and when she saw me say something in sign (of the limited i know) she goes "OH!! because you're,,, uh,, you . can't hear?"

me mentioning my dislike of certain sounds (because im autistic) and friend 2 being confused because i obviously can't hear sounds as well as them