Skip to main content

Through the Deaf's Eyes

Question: What does it mean to be deaf or hard-of-hearing?

Answer: Simple. It means you can’t hear.

Question: What it is like being deaf or hard-of-hearing?


Answer: Simple. It’s like being a goldfish. It’s like being a goldfish in a bowl. It’s watching everything and feeling like being in a different dimension, always having to watch, always needing to be aware. It’s knowing that lips are moving, and hearing gibberish. It’s tired eyes and headaches. It’s being denied repeated answers with “Neverminds” and “Don’t worry about its.” It’s being on an island among foreigners. It’s laughing at the old jokes with a five to ten second delay. It’s wondering if they are whispering about you. It’s when the first thing you notice about a person is their lips, then the crookedness of their teeth. It’s training your brain to recognize the shape of the lips and the placement of the tongue. It’s a strategy. It’s repetition. It’s keeping your eyes closely engaged in the conversation, watching back and forth between people, like a tennis ball in the court, the words being tossed from mouth to mouth, then laughter. It’s forcing a laugh when you realize they are laughing. It’s nodding as if you understand what is going on when nothing makes sense. It’s feeling like a fool when you nod at the wrong thing. It’s shaking your head quickly when you realize you nodded at the wrong thing. It’s preferring quiet to loud, light to dark, simple to complex. It’s finding contentment within your own realm. It’s normal. It’s simple, really.   

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 1, 2016 at 3:58 PM

    Love it! No one can explain it better than those who experience it...and we can not understand, ever!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2017 at 4:43 AM


    Hi admin,
    I read your blog,I really like it.which is abouot anxiety attack symptoms.
    With some attacks the symptoms can be so severe that you fear for your life.
    Other symptoms of panic attacks involve the respiratory system and you feel short of breath.
    anxiety attack symptoms
    Thanks,

    imran

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nguyen LinhMay 1, 2019 at 7:51 PM

    2player free
    friv play
    jogos io online
    Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New Normal

Life is unfigureoutable. One minute, it's going one way. And then the next, your life is forever changed. My name is Jensen Parrish. And my life has been changed. I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the Washington, Vancouver Mission, speaking American Sign Language. I had been out for a year. My brother, Ian Parrish, was also a missionary for the church, serving in the South Dakota, Rapid City Mission. Our missions meant EVERYTHING to us. The growth that we developed there has truly changed our lives. The principles that we taught became firmly rooted in us. Little did we know, that our testimonies of those very principles would be put to the test, in the most unexpected way. On February 23, 2014, just three days after my year mark of being a missionary, I received the news from my mission president and his dear wife, that my mother, my father, and 2 younger brothers had peacefully passed on from this life into the next. The ca
20 comments
Read more

Little bit of Chaos

My home is a disaster. (Mom would not be happy with me right now...) Letters, cards and packages from a variety of caring people, wanting to do anything that they can to help. A basketball signed by the BYU Provo basketball team. Things that have been gathered, sitting in the living room, waiting for voyage to D.I. Things that I want to save. Chocolates. Clothes. Chaos. A little bit how I feel about life. These past two weeks have been the slowest and yet the fastest that I've ever experienced in my life. There are 5 steps in the grief: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance Simple. Yet complicated. Or, my favorite word... Unfigureoutable. Why? Because we all grieve differently. Some people take control of the situation. Some people handle things well. If you're like me, you go on "shut-down, don't talk to me" mode. Which may not be the best way to handle a funeral. Because I wanted nothing more than to just run away from the world and hide.
17 comments
Read more

The Newest of "Normals"

I remember that night as if it were yesterday. I remember that the living room light in the apartment was off, but the kitchen light was on. I remember I was wearing an old EFY T-shirt with pink cotton pajama bottoms. I remember that whole day was a good one, a great one even- we had had dinner with an amazing family and had a great spiritual lesson. We were on a spiritual high from the day, excited and ready for our break the next day, excited to be able to check our emails, excited to talk to our families. I remember kneeling next to my bed, saying my night prayers. I remember saying, “Please bless Mom, Dad, Keegan and Liam at home. I’m grateful to be able to talk to them tomorrow.” I remember the knock at the door right at the end of my prayer. Confusion seemed to buzz throughout the apartment as the six of us girls poked our heads out of rooms, wondering, “Who is knocking at 10:30 at night?” I remember seeing my mission president and his wife, their faces sad, scared,
11 comments
Read more