Irritated Ears

Comments

November 20, 2008 at 8:51 am

(1) Niq says:

I never had this problem for 15+ years until I got a new hearing aids 3 years ago. It was very NASTY, as my skin kept peeling of and secreting fluids, etc. Three months ago I got tired of it, and when I went to a doctor visit with my mom she gave me two dermatological creams. I believed that they would not do anything, but I was amazed that I was healed in a week. I spent 3 years in pain for nothing!
I like to see people that are interested in topics that don’t affect to them, but they are open to learn about them. I have a tendency for learning about blind persons. I don’t know why, but I feel more attracted to persons with blindness. I guess because I can see but can’t hear. I love my sight, and love it when the blind can experience sight, even if it is by touch.

I’m HoH. I do speak well, as Janis, and people only think I’m not from Puerto Rico (in where I was born, grew up and still live). Many people talk back to me in English (in Puerto Rico we speak Spanish) because they mistake my voice for a North American or European accent. Other people think that I’m sick with sinuses or a cold. I’m not sure if I would be offended if someone offered me paper & pencil just because they saw my hearing aids. I’m sort of an independent person. Still, I have sometimes requested for it. And, contrary to Deaf persons from the Deaf Culture, I won’t tell the person that I’m offended. There are people that don’t have the right tone or speed when speaking. Others have mustache, gum, bracers, etc. I work in a State Advocacy System Agency, in where I used to give motivational and awareness trainings. Many of the comments expressed here are very true. But also, it is very different for persons of the Deaf Culture. Depending on their openness to the Hearing Culture they may or may not offended. I don’t know conversational ASL and I just learned last year basic ASL. I’m a talented at basic ASL, but when I see two Deaf person conversing, it scares me! But I do try to approach them the best way I can to help out.

One day a girl came to our Agency to open a case because Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) was not providing her with an Interpreter for the University. Sad thing is that there aren’t enough Interpreters available in Puerto Rico. We can’t bring people from the next State because they will have to fly in, instead of drive in. And now, with so many Video Relay companies coming to Puerto Rico, everyone wants to work for them for the good money. After all, VR never pays on time and not enough. When I went to her to assist, she recognized me and started to vent that EVERYONE in the world HAS to learn sign language, specially her professors if they knew she was Deaf and coming to class next semester. I was so shocked. Come on, how will a professor learn so much sign language in a couple of weeks. Professors have other things to do, and many don’t have the time to learn advanced signs for their specialties. Maybe some can, but not ALL of them. She forgot that, even she has a right to an Interpreter but the University was offering other alternatives due, the majority of the world is Hearing. When you go to Russia to live you don’t order to everyone to learn English just because of you. You go out and buy a Russian Dictionary and learn about it. So, I think that many Deaf persons should learn a little bit of a voice language to be a little bit independent. Their voice may not sound well (they don’t use it enough) but it may help them in an emergency. After all, Interpreters aren’t robots but humans and won’t be with them 100% of the time. And they shouldn’t be abused either.

Some one said to speak up, other said that sometimes it makes it worse. When I speak in public I say: “Please, don’t scream at me. Why do you scream at me? I’m deaf, I can’t listen your screaming.” Then I proceed to explain the difference between hearing and listening, speaking loud and screaming, different tones and why some people can’t hear even if you repeat something and raise the voice. Hearing loss most of the time is actually “frequency loss”, instead of “volume loss”. It means that, even my mom, my sister, my aunts, my grandfather, cousins, etc. we all are hard of hearing, we DON’T HEAR THE SAME THINGS. I can hear very well when the phone rings, but I can’t hear a conversation on the phone. My sister doesn’t hear the phone ring, but she can hear a conversation. I can hear male voices better than females. There are some consonants I can’t hear, but my sister does hear them and the ones I do she doesn’t hear them. (that’s why I can’t pronounce English very well, I can’t hear it!) Lip reading is a good thing to combine with hearing aids, but it doesn’t always work. And in English, only like 40% or 60% of the words are understood by lip reading.

Here’s a tip: tell the person you can’t hear well either. This way the person won’t think that he/she is the problem, but that you are at disadvantage and the person sure will be more empathic and friendly. After all, it’s not a lie, you can’t actually hear well the person. And everyone is deaf at some degree in their lives.

November 20, 2008 at 8:53 am

(2) Niq says:

OOOPS!!! I pasted another comment I only meant to post the first paragraph, until the word “nothing”. I’m so sorry!

November 21, 2008 at 4:10 am

(3) Christine says:

I used to have the same problem and the itching, burning and pain was unbelievable when I first started wearing the molds. Turned out I’m allergic to the colour they put in a mold. Now the audiologist has to specify to the maker that they be made with no colours or dyes. I never knew I had any allergies till this occurred. Haven’t had a problem since.