I'm the kind of girl that loves clothes. Absolutely love them. Fashion magazines are my bible, payday's my favourite day & my closet is fit to burst. I eat, sleep & worship fashion. My friends say I should be a fashion stylist but I have nightmares of little old me being trampled by herds of tall stick-thin models.
Anyway back to the title, the Deaf closet. Picture this; a dark little closet tucked away deep inside of Deaf people where their deafness hides.. Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into some scary horror-movie story.. But I can't promise monsters, or freaky little aliens for that matter, won't be mentioned.
On holiday, I bumped into a bunch of Deaf lads. "Are you Deaf?" they ask. Sensing an opportunity, "Actually, no" I reply. "Wow! You sign really well!" they say. After an hour of pranking how I am hearing & choruses of "I can't believe you're Hearing" one of the lads asked me to interpret so he can pull a gorgeous girl at the bar. Not one to give in easily, I strut over to the girl, decide to let her in on my secret and there it is; through the red lipstick & her perfect teeth, bubbling away on her tongue I can see it .. "Wow, you don't look Deaf!"
The boys were whooping victory of course, "I knew you were Deaf!"
Perhaps there's some kind of radar. A bit like a gay-dar. Some kind of sixth sense of who's gay and who's not. I know I'm pretty well known for my mind working in mysterious ways, my dad calls me limited edition, but is there such a thing as Deaf-dar I wonder? Can us Deafies really feel who's Deaf & who's not?
However, my Deaf-dar theory was soon crushed; Arriving at a Deaf club, a Deaf receptionist greeted me "Wow you sign really good, what level are you?" Me "I'm Deaf" Deaf receptionist "*gasps* really?!" & here we go again.. "but you don't look Deaf!"
Since becoming a teenager, embarking out into the big, wide world, all too often I see the words "You don't look Deaf" The postman, the milkman, the air stewardest, even the old lady peering through her wonky glasses at the audiology reception.
You don't LOOK Deaf? What is that supposed to mean? I mean, what are Deaf people supposed to "look" like? A three eyed monster with freaky mini aliens for ears?!
I was born Deaf into a Deaf family. I don't wear hearing aids. I don't walk around with "I'm Deaf" on my t-shirt however proud I am to be Deaf. I suppose some may say it could be a solution but it'd break all the fashion rules in the book. Slogan t-shirts are a crime against fashion.
Deafness truly is a hidden disability, unintentionally, hidden deep down inside of us. Being Deaf does not make you stand out unless you look really closely for the telltale signs; a hearing aid or waving hands. Even then, you can't be quite sure. Quite often, being hidden, it presents yet another barrier to knock down, which is another story on it's own..
I'm sure this is not the first story, I know it's not going to be the last.
Rant over. (The End)
i'm partialy deaf & i do not have a deafdar what so ever! the only way i can tell a deaf person apart from anyone else is their hearing aid! & most of them are surprised to know that i am actually deaf because i will not wear a hearing aid(i hate things touching my face & ears are no diffrent!)
ReplyDeleteactually, there is one person i thought was deaf the first time i saw her, she is the sign language teacher. i don't know what it was, it was her face i think, i can't really describe it, there was also something about how her mouth looked.
the thing i hate most about not being able to hear is that people will always talk to me on my bad side, or if they're turned away from me, or quietly & i can't hear then. if i ask them to repeat, i''ll proabaly get what they're saying but some times i take a few more times & they get really mad & it makes me want to cry because i missed information(i love me some info!) i wish life had subtitles!
one thing deaf people are better at... reading emotions(i am add,according to a doctor who hated me, so i shouldn't be good at this) i mean sometimes i don't get some emotions; but the emotion when somebody is hiding something, i can see in their face & other people i've met(non-deaf) have problems with that! like that singer gotye, look at his facial expressions in "somebody that i used to know" he looks like a jerk & it turns out he kinda is! when ever i see anyone with facial expressions like that, i automatically think of that band in jennifer's body who sold their souls to the devil to become famous lol
i do think there is a deafdar, it's just a bit harder to reconize than gaydar! haha
sorry for ranting as well!
Those are good points. I think there’s already an “image” created and seen by most people on how a deaf person looks. There can be some who still look like it although they don’t look like it. Some of them can also be shy, that’s why they’re easily recognized.
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