Funny moments

As we all know, I'm a lip-reader. What I can't hear, I can see. My hearing aids work up to a point, and my eyes do the rest. Most - if not all - of my friend know this. But they often forget, and it's not obvious when I'm meeting new people.

Some people feel uncomfortable, as it appears I'm staring them in their eyes the whole time we talk. I've had one person make the comment that I'm quite 'intense' when they talk to me, to which I've had to reply that no, I'm not staring deep in to your eyes when we're taking, I'm lipreading...

There can be aother, albeit amusing, problems. One guy, when I was talking to him in a club, asked me if I wanted a kiss. I was confused - this seemed to have come out of nowhere. I politely declined his offer, generous though it may have been, and asked him where that had come from. He replied with something along the lines of 'well, the whole time we were talking you were looking at my lips, and I read somewhere that if a woman does that it means they want to kiss'. I laughed and explained to him I was lip-reading, to which he turned bright red.

Of course, there are other times that have caused me to laugh. For instance, when I'm wearing my bluetooth necklace (that connects to my hearing aids turning them in to a headphone) and answer my phone on that, people look at me strangely when I suddenly start talking to myself. Or some people think I'm talking to them and look very confused.

And on the topic of my bluetooth necklace - a couple of times it has connected to the TV with no warning, making me jump out of my skin! The first time it happened, my parents were watching some kind of action movie and I was walking down the hall from my room, when suddenly I hear gunfire and loud explosions. Definitely made me jump - but luckily I managed to save some of my dignity by not falling to the ground shouting 'don't shoot, don't shoot!', as I was very tempted to do.

Some people must also think I'm being very rude when I'm listening to music through my bluetooth necklace - like anyone wearing headphones and listening to music, I just don't hear anyone talking to me. But of course, because there are no wires, it just looks as if I'm ignoring them.

The same goes when I'm watching TV with my necklace on - my parents start talking to me but I just don't hear them. They laugh and say it's a likely excuse, but it really is!

Until another time,
Deaf Girl

Peace and quiet

I'm currently at home cat-sitting while my parents are visiting friends in Germany. It's lovely. I'm not wearing my hearing aids - what's the point, it's just me and my cat Snoopy - and I'm thoroughly enjoying the peace and quiet.

It's nice sometimes to just not wear them. They can occasionally make my ears all hot etc. So it's nice to not have to wear them this weekend.

Although, I'm not sure my neighbours would agree - they can probably hear the TV through the wall.

Okay, so I don't hear the doorbell, fire alarm or phone ring - but that's what my deaf alerter is for. So I'm wearing that little pager thing. Tell you what - it scares the hell out of Snoopy. The doorbell rang, and my pager - which I had put on the seat next to me, started vibrating (it's not like a phone vibrating - it's much stronger than that) and my poor cat who was sitting a couple of seats along, jumped out of her skin.

One minute she was all curled up on the sofa, dreaming about chasing mice or something, and the next she was on all fours on the floor staring at my pager. It was quite funny to watch.

It's nice not to hear sometimes and to just switch off.

Although I did put my hearing aids in for a bit today - had to go to the shops to get some stuff. Tell you what - I really had to use my lip-reading skills then. I have never seen the shops so busy, there was not a single parking space left in the car park - I had to wait about 5 minutes for a space to free up.

So of course, the shop was absolutely packed. And noisy. Especially after having a day and a half of silence. Very noisy. I needed to talk to someone behind the counter so that I could buy some Euros. I could not hear a thing she said. It probably didn't help that she was sitting behind some very thick glass. After asking her to repeat something a couple of times, I gave up using my hearing and instead focused on her lips to lip-read. It worked.

I might not get it first time, but I am getting better at lip-reading. I managed to buy the Euros with no problem, and even managed some polite conversation about Las Vegas.

And it's not just in the hearing world where lip-reading is useful - it's very useful in sign language class as well.

My sign language teacher is deaf with no speech. But she can lip-read and often when teaching us new signs she says what the sign is. Of course, she doesn't speak, but her lips form the word. A lot of the time the others can't understand her, as hearing people generally don't have the need to lip-read. I'm finding that it's getting easier and easier to read her lips (as she's a lip reader herself, she really forms each syllable so it's easier to read).

So - lip-reading isn't just helping me along in the hearing world, it's also helping me along in learning BSL.

Very useful indeed!

Deaf Girl

Go Go Gadget Girl

One thing that I really like, is that I get lots of free gadgets from the NHS and my social worker, Dot. I've also bought some things. All of them help me to live in a hearing world.

The first thing I got was a necklace. It's bluetooth. I can connect it to my mobile phone. That way, if I want to call someone, or someone calls me, the phone automatically connects to the necklace, which in turn connects to my hearing aids. There's a microphone in the necklace, and whoever I'm talking to is talking directly in to my hearing aids. It's as if I'm wearing headphones. I love it! Of course, I do get some strange looks, as it looks like I'm walking around talking to myself. Quite a few times people have stopped as they're walking past me as they think I'm talking to them.

I can also connect the necklace to my Ipod, which is great. Again, it does have its disadvantages - since my hearing aids act as headphones, I can't hear if anyone is talking to me. A few times people have come up to me and asked me why I ignored them in town, to which I reply I was listening to music. Of course, they then say they didn't see any headphones, so I have to explain that I don't wear headphones, but for all intents and purposes, my hearing aids are the headphones. It's great.

The necklace also connects to my landline at home. So as long as I'm wearing the necklace, I can talk on the phone. I love it! It's horrible having to rely on other people to make important calls for you. If I wanted to order a taxi, call my doctors, order a take-in etc., I always had to rely on other people to make these calls for me, as I could never hear on the phone. So, as long as I'm wearing the necklace (and I remember to charge the necklace!), I can talk on the phone and listen to my Ipod whilst I'm out and about. It's fantastic!

Another one of my gadgets which I got from Dot is a different necklace. This one is quite big, and it works on a loop system. Hearing aids have an option where you can change it to the 'T' mode. If you're ever out and about and you see a sign on doors etc., with an ear with a line through and a little 'T', it means there is a loop system. They have them in banks, churches, some lecture halls etc. So you turn your hearing aid to the 'T' mode and again, it is as if the speaker (priest, bank teller, lecturer etc) is talking right in your ear.

Anyway, back to my gadget. There's a little box that is connected to the TV at home. When I'm wearing this necklace and have it switched to 'T' mode, the sound from the TV is directed straight to my hearing aids - again, as if I were wearing headphones. It's great for programmes that don't have subtitles (that's another entry for another time). The only problem with this one, is that the necklace has to be facing the box, so I have to sit in a certain way and hold the necklace in a certain place, otherwise all I hear is static. And I have to remember to charge it!

I've also been given a gadget for in my room, again from Dot. Now this gadget took a while to set up. It's a deaf alerter. It sits on my bedside table and is connected to this round white ball thing by a wire. The white ball thing is under my pillow. The main box is connected to the doorbell, the telephone and the fire alarm. It took the electrician quite a while to figure out how to connect it all properly - he was there for more than half the day trying to set it all up.

It means that when I'm sleeping and the fire alarm goes off, the white ball will vibrate (and believe me, it vibrates a lot - no one, not even the heaviest sleeper, could sleep through that) and alert me. I then look at the box which has a few different buttons, and can immediately tell what I'm being alerted to - the fire alarm, the telephone or the doorbell. Deaf parents have it connected to their babies' rooms as well, so they can be alerted to when their baby is crying.

In this box there is also a little pager. So if I'm not wearing my hearing aids - which if I'm alone at home I often don't, I carry the pager around, which again vibrates if either the fire alarm, telephone or doorbell goes. It's a very handy little thing. I just have to remember to put it back in the box every night to charge it. And it's very reassuring as well - it's nice to know that I won't sleep through a fire alarm because I couldn't hear it! I know it has reassured my parents, as it means they don't have to come and wake me up in case of a fire, my deaf alerter will have woken me up.

Of course, like all gadgets, it's not without its problems. For example, the doorbell alerter. There's a receiver which is connected to the doorbell to pick it up, which then wirelessly transfers that to the alarter. However, it picks up any loud noise. So if my parents or anyone is standing where the receiver is playing loud music, my alarter tells me that the doorbell is going. So I often open the door to find no one there. But all in all, I would say that is a small nuisance to pay for not dying of smoke inhalation!

There are other gadgets available - bluetooth radio, a music collar (basically, it vibrates in tune to the music), deaf phone and many other things. But for now I'm happy with the three gadgets I have. Especially since getting more would entail me having to remember to charge them, which I'm quite bad at remembering... It's quite annoying when I'm in the middle of a conversation on the phone, and my necklace suddenly dies!

But it's very nice to know that there are so many options out there, and that there are people out there working on how to make a deaf person's life easier. It's a very nice feeling.

Deaf Girl.