#hoh problems

July was Disability Pride Month, but I came up with something I want to write about only now. 

I don’t really see a lot of representation of disability of all kinds in HP fanfics, and Hard of Hearing or Deaf folks aren’t really depicted in the stories either. And I get it—it’s hard to portray it well if you haven’t experienced the difficulties yourself. That’s why I won’t talk about other disabilities—while I have a general idea of what may be a problem at Hogwarts regarding them, I will only discuss the details referring to HoH/Deaf folks like myself. I will also propose ideas to fix certain problems—and maybe it could be used in fanfiction, too? 

Reasons why as an HOH/Deaf person I wouldn’t feel good at Hogwarts:

Electronic devices not working or going haywire.

All those substitutes for magic Muggles use – electricity, and computers and radar, and all those things – they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there’s too much magic in the air.'

Goblet of Fire - pages 475-476 - Bloomsbury - chapter 28, The Madness of Mr Crouch

It is canon that electricity doesn’t work well in the castle, and electronic devices might also go haywire. So, how are hearing aids and cochlear implants supposed to work? Better to take them off, eh?

2. Your typical wake-up alarms won’t work for me.

And given that the electronic devices wouldn’t work either—my pillow watch would be freaking useless—how am I supposed to wake up on time for the class? Anyone volunteering to wake me up every day for seven years?

3. Classrooms aren’t really adapted to my needs. 

Only a few classrooms have a clear view of the teacher no matter where you sit. The rest of them contains just rows of chairs and tables the way you have them in Muggle classrooms—and trust me, unless you’re sitting in the first row, it’s difficult to follow what the teacher is saying. Especially if the devices that usually help with that aren’t working.

^ This would be ideal. You can clearly see the teacher and other students and lip read.

Also, Hogwarts is a castle—with high roofs and sound bouncing off the walls. The echo is another factor that makes the sound reception more difficult, especially in the Great Hall.

(The Great Hall is my personal hell. I would be asking people around me to provide explanations of what is being said.)

4. Quidditch commentary isn’t friendly, either.

What are they even saying from that box at the far end of the pitch?! 

5. Spell pronunciation

Do you remember how Hermione was trying to teach Ron how to pronounce Wingardium Leviosa? Yeah, if Ron—a hearing person—had a problem with that, imagine the struggle of a Hard of Hearing person. Was there a pronunciation guide in the textbook? No? Oh.

6. Sign language interpreters

Do they even exist in JKR’s world?

7. Normalising not speaking. 

Sometimes I really don’t want to talk, and I don’t even answer any calls or go out. Sometimes I just don’t want to use my voice and write things down instead. Couldn’t that be an option at Hogwarts, too? Do you have to order everything in Hogsmeade and the Diagon Alley using your voice?

8. Place to relax without my hearing aids—provided that they work?

Trust me, wearing hearing aids/the implant the whole day and adapting to the hearing world is tiring. I really wish there was a room designed specifically for HOH/Deaf students where we could just sit on the couches, turn off and/or take out completely our devices, and nobody would bother us when we are there. 

It would be difficult to find quiet and a moment like that in the castle, even during the weekends—I couldn’t even stay in your room and take off your hearing aids, because I would be sharing that room with other students and there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t respect my boundaries. (It happens more often than you think.)

9. I wouldn’t hear the enemy creeping up on me. 

I wouldn’t hear people wanting to talk to me either if they shouted at me from the other side of the noisy corridor. Also, following a discussion by the table in the Great Hall or school corridors or Quidditch stands? Forget it.

10. Stereotypes

I’m sure Hogwarts is not free of them, especially since there’s no real education towards disability or any kind of savoir-vivre included even in the school rules. A Hard of Hearing person might also look more aloof, finding it hard to socialise and actually hear what other people are saying. They might also experience speech difficulties—and kids can be cruel about that sometimes. 

And there’s no real psychologist at Hogwarts anyway.

Solutions:

Subtitle spell. Everything people say would appear above their heads, visible only to the person that cast the spell. LIKE HOLY SHIT, it would make life so much easier if such a spell existed!

Spell that translates speech to sign language and vice versa. That would be awesome too! Also, Hogwarts could hire sign language interpreters.

Waking spell or a pillow that buzzes slightly. 

Spell pronunciation guide in the textbooks. I’m sure it would help literally everyone.

Education. Please educate the kids and teach them the savoir-vivre that might literally make life easier for everyone.

Creating a room where you can take off your hearing aids and nobody is going to disturb you!

Boards where you can write your order at Hogsmeade/Diagon Alley. A spell that helps transferring your thoughts to paper. 

You can have animals at Hogwarts—so why not have guide dogs or even cats for Hard of Hearing too?

Extensive use of non-verbal spells. Perks: no pronunciation torture, no voice required, no hearing aids required.

Spells that alert you when someone wants to talk to you or there’s danger ahead and you can’t hear it.

Yeah, Hogwarts would be so much friendlier if all of those solutions were incorporated into teaching and daily-life.

I have a hard time with audio processing but my response is to actually just turn the sound down and read the subtitles. That or headphones. But im living with someone whose actually half deaf and he turns the sound on the way high. To the point it actually hurts my ears

Ok that sounds weird but,,,, I recently went deaf in one ear. Not 100% but enough so that it affects me day to day and if I’m sleeping on my hearing ear I won’t hear my alarm (especially with a fan on). The thing is, it’s (probably?) not permanent. My ear is blocked so it’ll probably be reversible through getting them cleaned by a doctor. The only thing I can do right now is use ear drops, which aren’t helping.

All I can really hear is ringing and it’s affecting my mood and the way I navigate things more than I thought but I don’t wanna get involved in HoH conversations because it’ll probably go back to normal soon? But also it’s scary because what if it doesn’t? I’m a singer so I rely on having both ears quite a lot? I have barely sung since it started and when I have it’s been super nervously cus I could barely hear what I was singing. I don’t know how loud or quiet I’m talking so conversations are 50% just both of us going ‘what?’ ‘Repeat that’ ‘what did you say?’