Deaf Nation is Everywhere

This hits close to home.

One thing that most people don’t understand is that a lot of people they encounter have hearing loss. They don’t see the hearing loss – it doesn’t wear a cast or sit in a wheelchair – so it’s easy to miss. Further obfuscating the situation is that most people, particularly early in their careers as hard of hearing people, deny having a hearing problem.

They nod a lot. They nod, smile, frown – all in sync with the facial expressions of the person talking to them. They say things like “Wow” and “Yeah” a lot, stand with their arms folded across their chest, you know, to look in control. And then they head for the exit when they sense that the person talking to them is about to ask them a question. Being asked a question is heart stopping because you will either have to admit you didn’t hear the question and ask for it to be repeated or answer the question you think you heard. Better to drive your car off a cliff.

And then there are the large gatherings planned well in advance that invariably have problems with microphones. Each speaker has to pick up the microphone, look at it like it’s a medieval pocketknife, wonder where the ‘on’ button is, and beseech the meeting facilitator for guidance. Like how many times did you have to be taught how to tie a slip knot in Scouts? Lordy.

Today’s gathering had super colorful microphones that oddly looked like instruments of a way different kind of endeavor, each a different color and adorned with glittery on and off buttons. Great, I thought, this is very cool. Everybody has their own piece.

They didn’t work. So, of course, the moderator put down the microphone and said, “Can everyone hear me?” in a voice so soft, he could have been whispering secrets to the Russians using a toilet paper roll. And then he went on with his murmuring until magically another microphone appeared, the one stored in the closet in the hallway, and I yelled, “Yay!” out loud, since I was already irked by having come to listen to an expert panel and probably not being able to hear anything – the topic being homeless encampments, especially interesting to me.

It all worked out in the end. When the Q and A time came, I asked a question talking extra loud just out of a sense of revenge. I am petty like that. Of course, having two cochlear implants on my head like giant brown barrettes kind of entitles me to act out that way. I’ll be damned if people can’t hear me. We all have our deal. Being deaf is mine.

Anyway, what do most people not understand? Deaf nation has a bigger population than anyone imagines.

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Photo by kyle smith on Unsplash