When the deaf meet the blind...........

[tinknal]

My wife is deaf. Today we stopped at The National Eagle Center in Wabasha MN. Neat little place if you ever get in the area, especially this time of year. Bald Eagles from all over the upper midwest and Canada congregate there in the winter to feed on fish. Anyway, as my wife was admiring a display a blind woman approached and asked her about what it was. Kind of funny to see. We all had a good laugh after all was explained. The woman could see enough to know someone was standing there, but couldn't see enough to realize my wife was deaf, and was getting frustrated that this rude woman wouldn't talk to her.

[Ezekiel's Garde]

Oh no!!! I bet it was funny, after it was all explained!

[arabian knight]

Ah yes we have TONS of bald eagles around this year.
So neat to see them.
They hang around the Huge Chicken barns after they spread the manure out on the fields.~! (Golden Plump) barns.
I was with a friend and we pulled over on the side of the road and counted no less then 30~!!!!! WHAT a sight to see and that was just a few weeks ago. And that is only 3 miles from where I live too~~

[tinknal]

A few years back I passed a hog farm. They had been spreading manure (along with dead baby pigs) in a field surrounded with trees. There were thousands of birds. The field was only about 10 acres. There were hundreds of eagles, 10s of hundreds of hawks, and thousands of crows, ravens, and vultures.

[EDDIE BUCK]

We use to tent camp right much a few years ago. Some friends who would go with us most of the time,had a little boy about five,who was almost completely blind.We would use a Coleman gas lantern for light on the picnic table.

I was always amazed when the little boy noticed the lantern light and would almost touch it with his nose,trying to see as much light as he could.He could tell by the heat, he was close enough without getting burned. Made me think,all the beautiful sights I am so blessed to be able to see,I take them for granted most of the time.

How about the deaf meeting the deafer??My hearing is also poor.I can hear low frequency sound fair.High frequency I'm totally deaf.

I made a huge mistake one day by asking this 85 year old man I know,to go fishing with me.He can't hear it thunder and he was in the front of the boat and me in the rear seat.I never want to go through that again lol. It was,What?Pass the crickets.Huh,I said pass the crickets?Here,did you Have a bite?What?You had a bite?Oh,you need the crickets back,here.Why Leave here,the fish is biting?What?Oh, you got another bite?No I said, you had a bite?What,yea I did,he got my cricket.Pass the crickets.Huh,what? This lasted at least eight hours.Seriously,I enjoyed fishing with this old man, no matter how we aggravated each other.That was the last fishing trip we had together,and the last one he would ever have.Every time I think about that trip,and remember how funny it would have been,had someone been on the bank listening to these two deaf rascals trying to communicate.But,if the truth be known,we somehow pulled it off,because on the supper table that night,,their was plenty of fried golden brown bluegills to help us forget our troubles enough,we could hardly wait till our next fishing trip together.

[snoozy]

That's a funny situation.

My grandparents were like that, though to a lesser degree: my grandmother was pretty much deaf in her last 10 years, my grandfather was naturally softspoken and could hardly see . She had all her wits about her, but couldn't catch a lot of what was going on, while my grandfather was slipping into alzheimers, though he seemed "all there" mostly. They were like the irresistible force and the immovable object.

[where I want to]

My mom was blind and my father lost most of his voice when he was about 70. I can remember once, when my father was balancing my Mom's check book, he tapped her arm to get her attention so he could explain something. My mom assumed that he was criticising her spending (not an infrequent happening,) so she told him off about his attitude. He tried so hard to get her to listen but it was no use- no way she was going to put up with.....well whatever. She left with her opinion in place while my father just looked at me, smiled and shrugged. After all they had been married for 65 years and had pretty much adjusted to each other.

[Paquebot]

I have 2 half-sisters who were born hearing impaired. For a time it was thought that they were retarded since they were learning things so slow. When they got their first hearing aids, I was with them. The first new sound that one of them heard was a bird singing. Until that moment, she never knew that they could produce such a sound. We went to the local midget auto races shortly after and they are so loud that they can be heard a mile away. Part way through, I noticed that she was having no trouble to hear me without looking at me to read my lips. She didn't care how loud those cars were as she had the hearing aid turned way up! That "retarded" girl just retired after many years in working in California's "Silicon Valley".

Martin

[Lyra]

I am partially deaf. The thing with being deaf is that people can't tell because they can't see the disability. You learn a lot about an individual's personality in the first meeting. It is either a rude or kind interaction. They can't fake it.

[CherieOH]

I have precious little hearing left and honestly can't find anything funny about it at all. I wear two hearing aids and still don't hear well. It's quite stressful. I hate going out to public places like grocery stores and such. Many people come up to me from behind and speak but I am totally unaware of their presence and don't respond. They can get quite irate about my "rude" behavior. I've been shoved and knocked down because I ignored them. No, not funny at all.

[Ardie/WI]

My DH is somewhat hearing impaired and we have interesting situations!

I've asked him to just say "acknowledged" or something to let me know he has heard and understands what I have said!

He also sometimes guesses what I've said and the outcome gets pretty funny!

[TedH71]

I'm deaf and a signer although I can talk. Easier for me to sign because I do not know how to pronounce every word and I wish I could slap anyone who asks me that question, "Can you lip read?" Most people don't realize that lipreading is basically a myth and it didn't help that the FBI hired a deaf woman who apparently was a champion lipreader. In reality, most deaf people can catch one word out of every 8 or 9 words then have to frantically string along words until they make a sensible sentence.

I've never been shoved or what not because I am intimidating in my looks :-) but I can tell you this, it's tough for deaf people to find jobs regardless of degrees that person may hold. My wife has two degrees and she is deaf and was able to land a job working for the city while I just recently graduated with two certificates and no job prospects at present time. Lots of hearing people sometimes think that deaf people are of low intelligence when really...most deaf people were diagnosed late in life so they had to play catch up in language development so that has NOTHING to do with intelligence!

Signing is a really nice tool when you can't hear although it may be harder for older people to learn to accept and adjust to signing. If you're losing your hearing but still have good eye sight and want to watch TV...nowdays the new tvs are required to have a chip inside it to enable you to have close captioning be set up. We no longer use TTYs anymore for phone calls now that we have videophones! I use a vibrating alarm clock which also hooks up with a lamp so it goes off as well. We have a baby crier alarm in case our kids are crying.

[Goat Servant]

My dad enjoys a good beer now & then. His hearing is virtually gone. He is also slow to comprehend & slower to respond. He is in his 90's.
His wife & I were talking one day, Dad in his chair not participating in the conversation.
By & by I asked him if he would like a beer.
Wife says, "He can't hear you."
I says to her "Watch this"... "DAD! We brought a six-pack!"
He looked at me & cupping his ear asked, "Did you say something about beer?"

It's almost impossible to talk to him on the phone anymore cause half the time he forgets his hearing aids & blames it on the blankety blank connection.

I be in me late 50's & if a young person calls on their cell talking fast I get frusterated too.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by CherieOH

I have precious little hearing left and honestly can't find anything funny about it at all. I wear two hearing aids and still don't hear well. It's quite stressful. I hate going out to public places like grocery stores and such. Many people come up to me from behind and speak but I am totally unaware of their presence and don't respond. They can get quite irate about my "rude" behavior. I've been shoved and knocked down because I ignored them. No, not funny at all.

My wife didn't lose her hearing, she never had it in the first place. I'm sure it is tougher for you because you had to adapt to a foreign world. Tracy Ann is totally comfortable with being deaf (don't you dare call her handicapped ). She isn't even interested in any technology or medical advancements that could make her hear.

[Reptyle]

Hear no evil. See no evil.