Recently, my family was mentioned in a newspaper blurb because of Paul’s being laid off. The blurb mentioned we have three kids and that I’m hearing impaired. I asked Paul what the big deal was about mentioning the deaf part. I mean, it’s like saying someone wears glasses, isn’t it?
Paul said that people believe it’s a big obstacle that a person has to overcome in life. I don’t think of it that way. I was born deaf and it was just another characteristic to which I had to adapt. Like some people have to adapt to being short, tall, have fewer number of limbs than the average, of a certain race or culture, etc.
Although, I admit that I’ve blamed my hearing loss for a lot of things… why I wasn’t popular… why I didn’t have more friends… why I was never voted for anything… I believed people thought less of me because I sounded different and couldn’t always know what was going on in a group conversation. Bugging people to know what was said or what people are talking about. That’s a topic for another day. It’s just impossible not to blame deafness for a few things in life.