The ENT Pro

Today is the last for June is DeafBlind Awareness Month. Now as you have learnt throughout this month, DeafBlindness is diverse, no person is the same. Here is a list from me and other DB individuals. Why being DB can have some positive advantages!

- If something doesn’t work because of my deafness, I take advantage of my blindness as an alternate path.

- Someone is getting changed and they don’t want me to look at them (as if I would anyway), and yet they’re still talking to me? I’ll just turn my blind side towards them. Now we can talk, they will just have to speak up louder! (This is really the only appropriate time to do the whole YELLING thing).

- If I really don’t want to talk to that person or they’re rambling on and on… I’ll just turn my hearing aids off, turn my head slightly to the left so I can’t read their lips.

- I had a FM System during elementary school; one of the many embarrassing perks is, my teachers would forget to turn it off. There are the bathroom stories, but then the bonus part is the gossip! (It cannot be helped when I unintentionally get information about a class field trip, 3 weeks in advance before my classmates do.)

- My take on accessibility is more for the blindness than the deafness, because my white cane serves as my guidance in my surroundings. (Okay admittedly, there’s the seldom temptation of wanting to whack those slow-paced walkers or ignorant people, but I have self-control most of the time.) On the other hand, sometimes my hearing aids are more visible to others than the cane. How does that even work to others, I don’t know. (Maybe it’s because my hearing aids are colorful.)

- I can use American Sign Language from across the room, in most settings. Although, once it’s nighttime or I’m in total darkness… Hello, Tactile Signing!

- Well nowadays with the temperatures getting warmer and the sun is coming out, I may not have my sunglasses present with me. When the sun DOES bug my eyes… I just turn my blind eye towards the sun. Ah, much better! I can see again without the sun bothering me.

- New area? Not familiar with it yet? No worries! Being a visually-aware Deaf person and being able to memorize a layout in seconds to accommodate for my blindness, I have the best of both parts. When I first walk into my house, I immediately take a scan of the layout, memorizing every nook and cranny to make sure I don’t bump into anything. Walk around to touch and make sure I know where the corners were. In case of a power outage, it’s not a problem for me; I’m good to go!

- Since I have limited hearing and sight… my heightened senses are touch and smell. My right hand (which is also on my blind side) is very sensitive to touching things as in feeling different textures more strongly than normal. Even though my sense of sight/hearing is gone… it doesn’t mean my scent of smell is gone, I can smell things twice as normal.

- If I want to sleep, but someone still has the lights on… I’ll turn over onto my ‘good’ eye, and it’s “Aah, finally, I can sleep!” (My blind eye will be exposed but I can still sleep nonetheless.)

- Too much noise in the night? Well, it doesn’t affect me at all, you may say I’m a heavy sleeper, but I’d like to think I’m a dead sleeper. (Deaf joke; if you don’t get it, I’m sorry. Train gone. That means, “you missed it and we’re moving on.”) Good night, sweet dreams!

- Perks to being DB? First off I know that I’ve had to work as hard or harder than everyone else to achieve something. Really helps the self esteem to remember that.

- Being able to laugh at myself when I do something dumb like wander smack into a 40 foot telephone pole. Yes I really missed it.

- The looks on peoples faces when I miss what they’re saying or bump into them and they snarl out “Are you Deaf?!” or “Are you blind?!” Why yes! I BLOODY AM!

- The sense of family freedom and relief you get when you spend time with another DB and for once in your day you know that someone will understand the stupid things that happen.

- Having your DB friends laugh as hard as you when you whack into some damn thing.  Seriously! The hearies always look so horror struck when you knock yourself flat on a doorjam and the lay there laughing your head off because you look a true fool and it’s actually quite a comical moment

- The development of instinct. Since losing my hearing and my one eye, my brain has decided to up it’s game with a whole lot of information that really can’t be categorized. It’s like my brain diverted the energy it used for hearing before into sensing unspoken or unseen things that can really help

- Being able to surprise the shit out of people when they see I’m a photographer with no hearing and only one working eye

I’m about to go attend a deaf event, so I decided to write this quick little list! A lot of my followers don’t know any ASL or even what ASL is (American Sign Language) , so here’s a guide for if you’re ever around Deaf people and how to respect them!

 DO NOT use the term “hearing impaired”. Good willed people like to use it for political correctness, but to the Deaf Community, it’s offensive because they are proud to be Deaf. They embrace their deafness and the lifestyle that comes with it.

TAP, don’t YELL. Yes, unbelievable, I know. They’re deaf. So yelling in their faces won’t help you or them one bit. Besides that, waving obnoxiously to get a deaf persons’ attention is also rude. Simply give a little tap on the shoulder to alert them, unless you’re facing their front! If coming up from behind, give a little tap! If not, a small wave will be fine.

ASL is not a direct translation of English. It is its’ own language, something like Korean or Mandarin or French and so forth. ASL has its own grammar structure and rules, so signing direct English is technically incorrect. If you accidently sign in PSE (pigeon-signed-english) which is direct translation, whoever you are signing with will most likely remind you/correct you to sign in the technical structure.

ASL is not universal. There is no count of how many signed languages there are, just like how it’s difficult to get an accurate number of spoken languages! The point is, there is British Sign Language, German Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language, and so on and so forth. For Deaf who go overseas frequently or attend international meetings, there is an improvised form of sign language, but not so much that it is a learned sign language.

If using an interpreter, talk directly to the deaf person. Facing the interpreter is like saying that the deaf person is not there, which is extremely rude. The interpreter will catch on and interpret even if you’re not facing them, that’s their job.

Breaking eye contact is rude. In the hearing world, eye contact isn’t as important because we can look at one thing but still listen to the speaker. In the deaf world, eye contact must be made while conversing to show respect.

“S…L…O…W…L…Y” is a no.  Many deaf persons can read lips. Does that mean you should mouth every syllable of a word at a snails’ pace when talking to a deaf person? No. It’s like having the same done to you. Also, though it may be done with good intentions, it often comes off as stuck-up/having the higher power. Speak normally.

Don’t be scared! The Deaf Community loves to sign and help students learning ASL. If you have basic knowledge of it, then approach them politely and introduce yourself! Especially if at a deaf event, Deaf are more than happy to warmly greet you and sign. There’s no need to hold back! Just remember that Deaf Culture is different from Hearing.