How is it a small deaf world? Chances are, when you meet a deaf person, that person will:
- Have attended the same college you went to (Gallaudet, NTID, CSUN, or another college with a highly respected deaf program).
- Know someone that you knew at some point in your life, such as a former childhood classmate. A cyber-friend told me that in college, she met someone who she had not seen since her deaf class in the third grade.
- Have worked with someone you knew.
- Have married or been divorced from someone you knew.
- Remember you from some point in time (in college, I met someone who remembered me from a deaf summer camp).
The advantages of it being a small deaf world:
- It makes it easier to find someone you lost touch with. Usually someone you know will know someone who knows the someone you are trying to find. I have not actively tried to locate the group of deaf children I knew growing up, but I know that if I did try, I would probably be able to find at least one of them in a relatively short time.
- It helps with job networking.
- Makes it easier to find love and partners.
- Good news travels fast.
The disadvantages of it being a small deaf world:
It can actually make it harder to deal with things like the end of relationships. It is harder to avoid seeing an ex in a small deaf world. When you go out socially in the deaf community, the odds are great that you will run into your ex-wife, ex-husband, or ex-sweetheart. I heard about a deaf man running into his deaf ex-wife and her new deaf boyfriend at a party. In addition, bad news travels fast.I myself am a beneficiary of the deaf world being a small world. I had not had in-person contact for fifteen years with someone I had known in college. Then one night, I remarked in an IM conversation to a cyber-friend, "I remember my old friend from ntid..." and that cyber-friend knew this friend and was able to put us in touch.
Thanks to instant messaging, the deaf world has become even smaller. IM has enabled deaf people to maintain the same social networks that they had growing up, albeit online.
Have you had any "its a small deaf world" experiences? Tell About Deafness and your story will be added to this article.
To prove it is a small deaf world, here are the names of the deaf children I had known as a child and young teenager in Rockland County, New York and who I would like to be able to find again now that they are adults:
- A. Hagler
- B. Portnoy
- D. Plotkin
- J. Balicalien (or Brucaliere, can not remember exactly)
- K. Murphy
- L. Bremer
- L. Ungar
- M. Dubner
- P. Feudi
- R. McCahrey
- R. Gusta
- S. Burkhard
- S. Yaciuk (can not remember correct spelling)
Update - one of my childhood deaf friends found me again through About.com. She and I now chat from time to time.
If you are looking for someone you knew long ago in the deaf community, try posting an "in search of..." message on the About Deafness forum.
