Please be an AW

squirrly

Everybody wants to.  Consider this your open invitation.  Tell me. . . why your wedding rocks.  Or why you rock.  Or your town, your MOH, your FI.  What's the coolest thing you've done, eaten, drank, done for somebody else, or done for yourself?

pooh8402

no problem, I'm an open book, and since this is an AW thread, I'll go ahead and AW.

I am 100% deaf in my right ear, and 60% deaf in my left (wear a hearing aid in that ear). I had meningitis at 17 months, and the antibiotics they give you for that (vancomycin, gentamycin) are very damaging to the nerves in the ears. but we didn't discover the loss until I was 5, since the one ear still works some. hearing tests showed the aforementioned losses. I got hearing aids, speech therapy, all kinds of fun stuff until I was in 6th grade. now I just have a hearing aid and a specialized stethoscope. I have retained enough hearing that I can get by without the aid most days, I mostly just wear it for class and working in the hospital. it used to be pretty rough on me when I was a teenager, but that was more due to mean bully boys than anything else. now, I embrace it. sometimes, it sucks because I have to use adaptations (hearing aid or stethoscope batteries die, need closed captioning to watch tv and movies, etc). it helps that my best friend since high school is fluent, and a deaf educator (used to teach mixed pre-K and kindergarten classes, now she teaches high school ASL). she's extremely supportive of me.

interesting anecdote: FI is also partially deaf. he lost most of his hearing in his left ear due to an injury, and retained all of it in his right. but you can't tell very easily. so he's deaf in his left ear, and I'm deaf in my right. the night we met, we were sitting on each others' deaf sides, so that was very interesting trying to make conversation--we were both completely turned around in our seats so the good ear was facing the other person as much as possible.

tortis

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_please-aw?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:efaccd0c-58fa-44f9-b7ab-b8e3f887fbb5Post:29f4b944-0138-4fee-8760-99deabf2d56a">Re: Please be an AW</a>:
[QUOTE]Tortis, I'd steal Emmit in a heartbeat, so for your sake, I wouldn't bring him anywhere near the Philadelphia area.  Fair warning. :)
Posted by TeresaLovesDave[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Haha! He's such a goof. He's gained 7 pounds in 4 weeks (and the vet said to feed him more!). He noms on everything (hands are his favorite). And Fi came home tonight after being out of town all week and Em got really excited and peed on the floor... But he is my baby so you may not have him. Sorry! : )</div>

TeresaLovesDave

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_please-aw?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:efaccd0c-58fa-44f9-b7ab-b8e3f887fbb5Post:61a0690b-9aad-415a-83ba-3f0940b026ba">Re: Please be an AW</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Please be an AW : Haha! He's such a goof. He's gained 7 pounds in 4 weeks (and the vet said to feed him more!). He noms on everything (hands are his favorite). And Fi came home tonight after being out of town all week and Em got really excited and peed on the floor... But he is my baby so you may not have him. Sorry! : )
Posted by tortis[/QUOTE]

I gained 7 pounds in 4 weeks, but I blame that on Christmas... :)

And he sounds like a sweetie, peeing and all!

squirrly

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_please-aw?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:efaccd0c-58fa-44f9-b7ab-b8e3f887fbb5Post:53dc16ce-6cb6-4e3c-bec1-c59127e10869">Re: Please be an AW</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Please be an AW : Oh, that's unfortunate you got bombarded with them. Fair enough, and funny story. :)
Posted by beatlesgirl25[/QUOTE]

Beatles, I could tell SO many stories.

Like. . . I was in college, and traveled a lot for work in the summers, so one summer my parents had two students but I hadn't met them.  They knew that I existed, conceptually, but were kinda clueless. 

So, I came home from a trip and saw what looked like my bicycle with some stranger on it leaving my parents neighborhood.  I got closer and realized it WAS y bike, and my sister's bike.  Going uphill on the wrong side of a road with no shoulder and no sidewalk in the country.  BAD CHOICE.  So, I pulled up beside them, rolled down the window, and yelled at them (in broken Japanese) "Danger!  Go back quickly!"  (It was the best I could do!) 

They were SO suprised when they walked in the house and I was there.  

squirrly

pooh, that's very cool.  I have an athlete who can hear just fine (although she ignores most of what you tell her!), but her mom is COMPLETELY deaf.  I struggle to communicate with her.  And when she calls with a translator on the phone it's very awkward because they want you to not acknowledge that the translator exists. 

I have one more only semi-appropriate question, and then I'll try to return to being PC:

I've seen a number of things on TV (both news and drama) where people in the deaf community eschew cochlear implants, hearing aids, etc. in favor of fully embracing deafness and the community that comes with it.  When you say you 'embrace it', do you mean in that sense, or something different?

tortis

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_please-aw?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:efaccd0c-58fa-44f9-b7ab-b8e3f887fbb5Post:fcb3111b-77be-45f5-b999-294ba34507b2">Re: Please be an AW</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Please be an AW : I gained 7 pounds in 4 weeks, but I blame that on Christmas... :) And he sounds like a sweetie, peeing and all!
Posted by TeresaLovesDave[/QUOTE]

<div>That made me actually laugh pretty hard. The difference is that you didn't weigh 6 lbs to begin with! (At least I hope not, b/c thats a whole other issue)</div><div>
</div><div>He is a sweetheart, he's only 10 weeks so when he pees or chews on my hand, he's so cute that there's no way I could get upset.</div>

pooh8402

no, I'm not like that. that would be Deaf with a capital D. there is abstolutely a Deaf culture, with Deaf communities, organizations and the like. Deaf people prefer to hang out with other Deaf people, go to school with other Deaf people (see Gallaudet University in DC), marry other Deaf people, and I've even heard that some are upset when their children are not hearing impaired.

when I say I embrace it, I mean that I'm no longer fighting it, or trying to hide it from others. I am a deaf (lower case d) person in the hearing community, and I grew up in a hearing family, went to hearing schools (with appropriate accommodations, of course), and am working towards a career where, to be honest, having your ability to hear is a plus. I am eschewing a cochlear implant, but that is because it is not the best option for me, not because I'm doing it on principle.

JessAndTrav

Hmm...what to AW about...

Well, I have a number of people that I know that have been to tons of weddings, nice ones, bad ones, average ones, all types---and they've gone out of their way to tell me that our wedding was THE NICEST they'd ever been to, that they loved that we had thought of everything, that it was a fun night for them, and that the hot chocolate bar was the best idea ever.

It made me feel really good, I'm not going to lie. A few of the women who told me this are well-known in the community, especially among people who have lots of money, so for them to say it was the nicest says a lot, IMO.

I can't wait for pictures.

pooh8402

ladies, it's been fun AWing up and reading everyone else's, but this AW was supposed to be in bed a half hour ago. night!

rhodesign

In case you read this tomorrow, Pooh, that's pretty awesome that you want to be ASL cetified! I made a list of goals in 8th grade and one of them was to learn sign language. I hope to make good on that goal some day. We don't get tons of deaf/hearing impaired folks, but I too am a nurse and would love to have that skill. The best I have it Spanish, and I'm not fluent!

squirrly

Pooh, sorry it took me a while to get back to this one - but thanks for answering.  I appreciate it.  Not that you care, but I hereby award you one of my cool kids stars.   

Seriously, though, that's really enlightening to hear, and I appreciate you sharing.  It's not something I come across too much, but I really appreciate your candor.