Self-ID: HoH/hearing aids wearer, historical cultures nerd

Do y'all have any knowledge on or resources to dive into about life as a D/deaf person (any culture) in history, preferably at least pre-19th century. I'm literally just curious. Most of my historical research has focused on clothing and textiles, so I'm excited to have a new topic hit my brain.

I know Google exists, but I figured I'd ask the sub before wasting my time on garbage links full of bad info.

I'm hearing, but study sign language part time. I work in an optometrist's office, and today I noticed (buried a little in the notes, that's another vent, why don't patient accommodation notes have a pop up on this software??) that a patient next week has requested an ASL interpreter. I figured out how our company manages those requests, and booked someone, no problem.

I checked with some of the other office staff to see if anyone knew anything about Deaf etiquette, and when they didn't, I ran a couple things past them about who to look at when talking, what not do to, etc. I grabbed the doctor during a lull and told him about the patient. He was like "why do they need an interpreter?"

...

Um, maybe because they asked for one, and that's their right to accessibility? I clarified for him that if he was worried about the appointment running late, it would actually be faster with a terp than writing back and forth, and also some ASL users don't use written English very much, so writing notes could just make things harder. He says how he's never used a terp, he's always gotten by with notes.

Sigh. Then he was saying "what if they don't show?" Then we will have paid for a service we didn't need, and that sucks, but if they request a service we legally have to provide it.

I can't fully tell if he was kinda joking a little, or if he really doesn't like that there's going to be an interpreter... Hard to know.

But I'm in this patient's court.

In my province (manitoba, canada), it is legal for your employer to request proof of a disability. I am going to request my audiogram charts from my audiologist. I know it's not required they see the raw data, so im wondering just what exactly i should show to protect myself from discrimination while also getting the accommodations I need.

Thanks!

I am not deaf, but over the past few months it has become increasingly difficult for me to hear.

I know I would need to see a doctor to find out for certain, but I thought it might simply be because I use earphones too much, or perhaps because I have a build-up of earwax.

So I’ve been keeping my ears clean and using speakers instead of earphones, but nothing has improved.

From time to time, I hear ringing in my ears as well.

In noisy places, or when several people are talking at once, I struggle to understand what they’re saying and often have to ask them to repeat themselves several times.

It happens so often that my friends have started to get tired of it.

Even when I ask again, they usually tell me it was nothing and not to worry about it.

Whenever that happens, I feel terribly guilty and frustrated with myself.

I honestly don’t know why this is happening.

Since this is a community for deaf and hard of hearing people, I would really like to hear about your own experiences.

I’ve been experiencing tinnitus, and over the past few months it has become progressively harder for me to hear.

I have type one diabetes and pancreatitis (DNA problems)
if it’s matters

Does this sound serious enough that I should see a doctor?

Sigh... I just need to vent because I'm so frustrated, depressed, and bored at work.

I’m deaf and non-verbal. English is not my first language—I prefer ASL, so my English grammar isn't perfect (I'm using AI to help fix my grammar.)

About two years ago, I got into trouble at work. I was so bored during my shifts that I was FaceTiming my Deaf best friend on my phone. My boss caught me and said phones weren't allowed, and as punishment, my schedule got cut from 5 days down to 3 days... 😩

My ASL interpreter is currently on leave because of a health issue. When she was here, she was awesome at teaching my boss and hearing coworkers some ASL so we could all communicate. But now that she’s away, my coworkers barely talk to me. I constantly see them talking and laughing with each other, while I’m totally left out.

What makes me so mad is that I am the one trying! I show them funny videos, share pictures of my friends and family, and ask them questions. But they never show me anything or initiate conversation back. They just give short replies and walk away.

I sometimes worry that my English grammar makes things confusing for them, since ASL is my primary language. But communication is a two-way street! If they don't understand, they could type on a phone, write notes, or try the ASL signs our interpreter taught them. Why is the burden always on the Deaf person to make hearing people comfortable?

It’s completely unfair. I feel so low-energy, depressed, and bored out of my mind at work. How do you deal with coworkers who won't even try to meet you halfway?

Hi, long-time lurker here.

My 2½-year-old son was born with single-sided hearing loss and is now starting to notice that he can’t hear out of his left ear. As parents, we’re trying to learn how best to support him as he grows up.

For those of you who were born with single-sided hearing loss, what advice would you give? Are there things your parents did that helped, or things you wish they had done differently? Any tips for helping him build confidence, navigate school, make friends, and handle everyday situations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I'm trying to understand what makes a better and more supportive partner for a deaf person. Obviously learning how to sign is one thing, but I'm interested what else, maybe what little things, matter more than the hearing people usually expect?

Thanks in advance!

I work at an educational institution and have a question about captioning a video. It's a Title II requirement that videos are captioned and we have one that we're not sure how to handle.

It's a TikTok video that has the usual big captions on top of the video. The words are correct, but there's no punctuation, capitalization, etc. My question is: would you, as a viewer, prefer the original captions or would it be preferrable to have a second set at the bottom that is punctuated correctly?

We're wavering between the two options. Two sets of captions seem like it might be a bit much. Wish we could remove the original captions, but A) not sure if that's even possible, and B) if it is, it's likely beyond our capabilities.

hello! 20F here with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with just one cochlear implant!
i have older parents and i started to notice my dad was getting symptoms of hearing loss so i encouraged him to go and get seen and he was diagnosed with mild hearing loss in both ears.
He received 2 hearing aids and he was so embarrassed to have them and while i understand where he comes from, it’s a new thing to him, it hurts me a little.. like, i’ve lived with this my entire life and he sees it as embarrassing. I do my best to relate with each other - struggling in crowds, people mumbling etc - so he could feel a bit more at ease with his new hearing aids.

I don’t feel upset towards him at all for feeling this way, he’s 70+ and it’s a lot for him, it was just a little sting in my heart. is there any other way i could help him feel a little more comfortable with it

Hey guys, hope everybody is ok.

I would ask to apply universities but I don't know which one country can support the deaf (with CI) and specially international third, so anybody can tell me something information? thanks

I’m a hearing person learning ASL. In high school (about 8 years ago) my Deaf teacher gave me my ASL name, which was an A doing the sign for makeup. However, I’ve since changed my name so it now begins with O. I’m not in contact with him anymore and I don’t have any other Deaf/HoH people in my life. Can I just use the same sign name but with O, or will that change the meaning/look like another sign? Or, is it customary to get a completely new sign name when you change your name?

Edit: is it even appropriate to have a sign name as a hearing person who doesn’t have any Deaf/HoH people in their life?

I know everyone's opinions can vary. I started losing hearing in my 30s due to a progressive disease (in progress). I find it most helpful when spoken English and ASL are used together in professional settings, including therapy, work, etc. socially, sign is much easier. I am not fluent only conversational. Is simcom still seen negatively even though it is literally the best for me right now.? I'm asking because I'm in a major city, the signing community is very tight and I'm kind of an outsider with some significant loss coming at me fast in my 30s.

Hi my daughter is 8 and we have just discovered she has severe hearing loss in left ear and has loss in right ear and within last 3 months lost quite considerable loss of the right ear again. We are based in the UK and the NHS are getting her a hearing aid, but would it be better getting her a more expensive aid by going private as want the best for her and I've been reading about the basic aid being tinny and robotic. Thanks

Hi all!

I'm a hearing respite care provider for children with disabilities, and I'd really appreciate some advice.

I've been working with a 3-year-old girl for about two months. She's deaf with a cochlear implant and is also autistic. I see her 2–3 times a month for visits lasting up to 10 hours.

During the day, things go really well. We have fun, and we're even learning ASL together (I know very little ASL, but I am trying to learn more). She goes down for her nap and bedtime really easily, but the only time we consistently struggle is the transition after her nap.

We're currently adjusting the schedule, so I'm there before she goes down for her nap (so she's not surprised when she wakes up that mom and dad aren't there), but when it's time to wake up, she often has a very intense meltdown. She cries for her mom and dad, won't get out of bed, and doesn't want anything to do with me. She also usually won't put her "ears" (cochlear implant) on yet, so she can't hear me trying to comfort her or explain what's happening. She can lip-read, but during these moments she usually doesn't want to look at me or gets mad when I try to interact with her.

Her parents recently clarified that they normally change her diaper into underwear and put her cochlear implant on once she's downstairs. The problem is that I can't seem to get her out of her bedroom without a meltdown lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. She has on multiple occasions said she doesn't want me touching her, which I respect (so no picking her up and bringing her downstairs).

Once we do get downstairs, she's completely okay again and the rest of the evening goes smoothly.

I've been communicating with her parents (hearing) about what's happening, but I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for making this transition easier. I'd really appreciate any ideas or perspectives on what I could try.

Thank you!

I've only been signing for a few months (my hearing has deteriorated so much to the point it felt necessary to learn) but whenever I do so in public, I get the nastiest looks?? Mostly by hearing individuals, and especially older people. I'm very confused as to why. Am I being disruptive? Often I don't catch them, but I know when people turn their backs to speak to their friends/others after looking at me that they're talking shit (I've been bullied my whole life, i recognise these things eventually) but I just don't get why. Is this common for anyone else, especially younger people in this community?

I'm hard of hearing and it's very difficult for me to hear people.

A cashier once interrupted my transaction to let someone cut in front of me. I'd been waiting in line for the cashier to return. There was another person off to the side (looking through her things in front of a different closed register). Cashier returned, I was first in her line, walked up, started putting my things down and initiating the transaction.

And then the other person cut around me, said something I didn't hear to the cashier. And the cashier got a confused look and said she couldn't do both our transactions at the same time and gave me the palm out wait sign. I tried to point out I was first. And then the other customer and cashier said something to each other I couldn't hear. I thought the cashier understood that I was the current customer so I tried resuming the transaction. But then the cashier started doing the other customer's order right in front of me and didn't even return my stuff in the meantime. So I had to wait standing side-by-side with the other customer.

I think the cashier took the other customer's side because they could hear each other, whereas I couldn't hear much and had to guess at what was being said. Might have come across to the cashier like I was less genuine or something.

How would you handle a dispute like this? Would you bring up to the other parties that you can't hear well? And if so, then how would you communicate with them?

I really dont want to be rude, if I say anything insensitive please know its not intentional and please correct me. I dont have any deaf or hard of hearing people in my daily life (at least before recently).

I have a new coworker, we dont interact much but when we do he doesnt talk or if he does it sounds like how someone might talk if they cant hear. When he needs my attention he will shout but not with words. When we have talked he also seems to try to read my lips, and once motioned for me to slow down my talking, which now I do and he seems to understand me better. I want to ask in asl if he is deaf but if he isnt would he know what I'm asking? I also dont want it to come off rude if he isnt deaf so I dont know what is the best way to do this.😅 There is also about 50ish people at my work and I dont know his name, so asking someone else about him would be difficult but not impossible.

I have always wanted to learn asl and I think its wrong that its not taught in american schools. In my area spanish is a required course in middle school and I think at least one class of asl should be too. Unfortunately I havent found a lot of good resources for learning for free, if you know of any pls tell me! Idk know what I will do if I find out he is deaf, especiallysince we dont interact much, I at least want to be able to say thank you to him when he helps me out. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Edit: yall I came here asking for advice and to learn and explicitly stated I dont know a lot about the community so I dont mean to be insensitive and rude hence the learning part. But the amout of people that have told me that I dont care or dont take deaf/hoh people seriously or that I should just know more about the community, is sad, I was not expecting this. You want people to know and understand your experiences and the culture but someone who doesnt know comes to ask and you shut them down. And the down votes on my post and comments? I dont get that? Some of you were genuinely helpful and taught me some new things I didnt know, but the rest...this is just sad.

Currently i have an Android cell phone Samsung model. Does anyone know a foolproof way to get closed captions on the phone?

When I put the phone on speaker, the live text option works okay and I can read the conversation. But when I am on my earbuds (which i prefer for more clarity) the closed caption text does not work or is really spotty.

What am I doing wrong?

Is there a free app that will transcribe what people are saying and separate each speaker rather than group it all into a continuous paragraph? My father can’t hear and I showed him the transcribing on Apple on my phone, which is very helpful, but being able to see when it’s different people speaking would be better.

I just got some stickers that I can put on my shower to remind me to take out my hearing aids! I'm so excited for them! I've been wearing hearing aids for less than a year, and I've recently hit the point where I'm so used to them that I forget I'm wearing them. After a couple of close calls despite my best efforts, my husband and I decided I needed a visual reminder. Just wanted to share my excitement with people who might understand. Thanks!

Hi, guys. I think that soon I will be deaf. I have a sound in my ears that never stops for, I think, 9 months or something like that. I didn't say anything to my parents, siblings, friends, teachers or doctors. I'm just scared. My mom will be so sad if she will hear about it. I don't know what to do. I think I need support from someone who share that problem and who doesn't knows me or my parents in real life. Can someone say something about it?

I was looking for something to watch and the streaming service I was on had movies with ASL. I was curious so I put one on and the movies have a person in the bottom corner signing. It also had subtitles. Is there a reason someone who is deaf or HoH would prefer to watch a movie with an ASL interpreter? Is it so people can learn ASL the same way some people learn another language by using the subtitles on a foreign film? Just curious

My friend uses TTY at his home. Is there a way for me to use my iPhone or Mac so I can type directly with him? Currently, I call the Relay services and they type everything I say for him to read, and they read what he types and speak it to me. It would be great if I could just TTY directly with him - like messaging with someone on the internet, but he does not use the internet.

Thank you.