Serenity

Okay, so the other day was quite an emotional day. But I'm alright now. After all - I hadn't really expected to ever be a hearing person again. It was just difficult hearing from a specialist that this was the case. But I'm alright.

Life has a tendency to throw things at you, and if you don't adapt or roll with it, you'll end up being pretty miserable. You know what springs to mind? The serenity prayer.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

So, I'm doing good.

I was at a social last night, for the students at the church that I've just started going to. It was a really fun night. There were a few occasions where I couldn't hear what was going on - especially at the beginning where I was talking to a woman opposite me, while the guy next to me was talking to a guy across from me. Everything was just one loud noise, I couldn't make out anything.

But I've realised that that's okay. Instead of trying to catch every single word that is spoken, I've realised that as long as I get the gist of things, that's fine. After all, I'm no longer hearing. I'm deaf, I'm going to miss some things. Unless what I've missed is vital to the conversation, there's no point dwelling on it.

And it really was a fun night, and when I didn't catch something, I either asked someone to repeat what was said, or moved on. It was a really good night.

In other news, I was quite excited the other day. I picked up Diva, a monthly magazine, and was pleasently surprised to discover that a letter I had written to them was printed in the 'Your Shout' section at the beginning. If you recall, I wrote here that I was thrilled to see that they had written a piece about a deaf song signer (blog entry here).

I wrote in to express how pleased I was to see that article, and they printed my letter. Not a big deal, I know, but still, it's quite cool to see my letter there!

Deaf Girl

Media

One in seven people in the UK are registered as deaf or with hearing impairment. One in seven, which is about 14%. Yes, we're in the minority, but not by my much. Consider this; 13% of the population in the UK is a redhead. So statistically speaking, we are more common than redheads.

Now look at the media. Look at magazines, books, TV... Other minorities, such as redheads, are portrayed more frequently than hearing impaired or deaf people. The media isn't proportional to the general population. Not that that's surprising - the media typically only shows good-looking, white, non-disabled people. That's Hollywood, get used to it. The media isn't reality.

So it's always a pleasent surprise when I am watching TV and a minor character is deaf, or I pick up a book and one of the characters is hearing impaired. What's even nicer is that it's not made a big deal about. Some people have hearing difficulties. It doesn't define us. It's just a small part of who we are.

I picked up a book in the airport the other day. A chick-lit. The synopsis said it was a book about the relationship about a mother and her daughter. I started reading it, and it turns out the daughter is hard of hearing. I loved that it wasn't made a big thing of, it just was.

I was reading one of my monthly magazines, DIVA, and in it there was an article about singsong performer Fletcher (look her up on youtube, JaynieF). She's deaf and signs at different musical events (one example; one of Ronan Keating's concerts).

One assumption is that deaf people don't enjoy music and have nothing to gain from it. People like Fletcher and Lee (check out lovesbth on youtube) prove this is wrong. We do enjoy music (though admittedly not all deaf people, as some believe it's part of the hearing world and should be kept that way).

But I'm going off on a tangent. I was just thrilled to see an article about her in what is a pretty high-selling magazine. It's nice to know that we aren't being ignored and kept in the dark like old days. We're going mainstream baby!

Deaf Girl