Language of the Deaf

So, phew! I finished my blog posts about deafness issues so what's next? So far nobody has commented much on it....phew! anyway, those post were intended for those who might come across it and needs to gain necessary informations about deafness and especially where and what SCHOOLS!!!! and that there is still HOPE for their deaf child to live normally as possible just like any of the rest of us in this world!

In my my 10 years or so teaching experience I have met numerous parents on the verge of losing hope and giving up on their deaf child. Thinking their is no future or tomorrow when they grow up. Most parents are either frustrated if not in denial about their child's disabilities. It's so painful to see when parents cannot accept the fact they have a special child and how blessed they are for having one. Sometimes they forget the purpose of having a special child, they don't see the reasons and positive side of having them in their life. Because having a deaf child means God knows you are strong and capable to take care of them. God has entrusted them to you for the reasons He knows they will be well taken cared by you. Parents are God's instrument for these special children. He knows every capabilities of each human being. As the saying goes..."God will not give you heavy burdens enough for you not to bear." He knows your limitations.

As a deaf teacher, I know when parents come to enroll their kids in school they look up to me in awe. It's not that I am beautiful or that I posses the most brillant glittering jewelry but they are amazed that inspite my handicap I have attained this career in my life. I always tell parents not to lost hope when their child is not doing well in school especially when it comes to my subject: Language and Reading. I tell them it's not easy for a deaf child because of the language delay due to their handicap. Most parents would even force their child to learn to speak. Again, it's not easy. Most of our little ones in the preschool are trained in a Speech classroom to develop their speech and learn lipreading. However, this is very stressing! I try to explain how speech class can stress a child or why most deaf refuse and hate to attend speech just like how they hate Filipino subject. I knew what is it like to take speech lesson because I have experienced trying so hard to lipread some words that I don't always encounter in daily conversations and understand what other people are saying during the first few years after I lost my hearing. I experienced dizziness which triggers my vertigo and I get tired pronouncing words or saying them in the proper pronounciation. You have to blew air out of your mouth sometimes and it can make you dizzy if you keep doing that until you get the correct pronounce. But to a deaf child they have to exert more effort in learning to speak. It hurts the throat and makes them tired and dizzy for the reason they were born deaf and are not aware of the sound thus they do not speak and when they try for the first time in speech class the laryngitis is forced to move which can irritate their throat and causes soreness. Deaf Children are not used to speaking a lot! I also knew why in the beginning deaf children refuse to wear hearing aids. Its because of the sound they hear is not actual concrete but just noise. Some children born deaf may have residual hearing sense. Not all children who cannot hear are completely or profoundly deaf. Some of them can still develop their hearing sense as they grow up. Others have selective hearing sense. Another reasons is because of the tightness of the ear caps that is inserted in the ear hole. It can be irritating like a tight headband behind your ear. Sometimes out of tantrums deaf children are aware how important the hearing aids are for their parents and they use this thing as their way of revenge when they are frustrated. They would grab these hearing aids out of their ears and throw them on the floor or wall. Knowing their parents would stop them so they use that as their way to have what they wanted...

When A hearing aid is thrown on the floor or wall it breaks and are hard or even more expensive to repair. A single hearing aid can cost 15,000 up to 30,000 plus and it is not for a life time device. The hearing aid needs to be changed depending on the hearing progress of the child. It needs to be changed as the child grows. Regular cleaning of the ear blubber is also a necessity. You must also take care of it not to get wet as it is not water proof.

You can imagine how precious a deaf child is! Having one needs all kinds of love, care and support. Most parents finds it "magastos" or "costly and expensive" to have a special child. Considering the medical expenses such as doctor's fee, medicines, laboratory test, hearing aids, school tuition fee is also very expensive, speech therapy and so on... Another factors that parents had to face and consider is the language or communication barrier they need to cross over. Most of the parents in our school do not attend sign language program and again, I find this painful. Majority of the parents especially those who are rich only attend from the beginning and they are never seen again for the next meeting. Others parents though not equally rich may have completed the sign language course however, they are still at lost in communicating with their deaf child, because of as a Deaf, they have their own unique culture and belief... Huh?!? is this getting complicated to understand? hehehe!

Let me explain that learning sign language is not sufficient enough to cross the language barriers between hearing parents, sibling, relatives and friends to a deaf person. Because you have to learn to open your heart and communicate with them in their own way...in their own natural language, culture and belief. Deaf have their own attitude and I am telling you here its not the same way with hearing people....
Oh, geez! how do I explain this thing, more accurately!? Because even I, sometimes, I also have some difficulties understanding my own deaf community. We have also have diverse culture you see, and I have been boxed for 10 years concentrating on finishing my studies and focusing on my job as a teacher for the deaf....They have this question of identity as a deaf person. If hearing people have what they call indigenous group well the deaf have a certain group they call with a capital D or small d and hard of hearing, etc...

Anyway, for one person to completely understand the Deaf people, their culture and ways, one needs not only learn the language but you need to "immerse" yourself in their life and community in order to have a complete view of what's it like to hear a hand? Do you really have to be deaf to understand? ;D