Hearing loss: How do you identify yourself to others?

i feel the same way!

me too

I'm glad people recognize we aren't the "only ones" and can feel connected to a group ! What are the best coping strategies? This is not ideal...it should change so how? Banned together with only other deaf/ h-o-h people ? (Segregate ourselves)? Fake it in large family/friends groups and bury the feelings? Demand that the group acknowledge that we don't follow the conversation easily and try to control how they are communicating? Never go anywhere without a person u know who will be easy to lip-read so u understand SOMETHING during the time? Refuse to join groups bigger than 2???. Stay home, watch TV and play phone games. Better than being in a crowd of people by purpose fully enjoying a museum tour while we don't know what the heck the guide us saying??? Pretend that that last scene doesn't bother us and at least we we're mingling with other people and got to see what everyone else understands more closely than we do....

I have a moderate to severe hearing loss which came on around age 50. So far, I usually say "I'm hard of hearing" , but that's really not very descriptive. I wish I would remember to say what would help me hear better (i.e. I need to be able to see your face when we're speaking, or could we move to a quieter area). I guess it's a lifetime of learning how to communicate better with the hearing! Thanks for the post - it's a great topic!

@asklar02492, @1634517678, @tulip, @cherriann, @tulip, @lunameow14, @airotto370, @linkeellis, @reallyrosie, @serenade, @briguy, @imallears,

I struggle with labels (how you identify yourself). I am a hearing individual, and when I used to teach we were taught to say 'a person with ????? disability, or ????impairment. That worked well in a school setting, because it told the teachers that this individual would need accommodations in order to learn. My opinion and observation is that the general population does not have an awareness of hearing loss or hard of hearing or deafness because it is something they have never had any experience with.
I want to say thank you for sharing your experiences in daily living and in social settings. I feel sad that sometimes you feel isolated in social settings; I feel sad that I sometimes feel isolateed from communicating with my friends who have hearing loss. I am sorry that in today's world that you have to be the ones to make accommodations for us, the hearing population.

I plan to keep reading and learning from you. I look forward to pouring a cup of tea or coffee and being part of your conversations in this Hearing Group and throughout the discussions on Connect.

@rosemarya

We don't SOMETIMES feel isolate d. We always are isolated in hearing settings. We never want to be a burden. So...IF u are someone a deafie has called "easy to lip-read" and u know something about the people u are with, try to be a bit of an advocate in the situation. Try to unobtrusively include the deafie. I know I would appreciate it. I also know some newly deafened people would be horribly mortified if anyone made a big deal like announcing " we have a hard of hearing person among us" blah blah...

So thank you, sincerely, for expressing your feelings but if u would try to help in some small way, you would be helping us and yourself, too.

Did I say this wrong? I usually do so if I offended someone, that's par for the course🙄

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. Those on both sides of the hearing aisle I think would be served better with more attention and education through print, all forms of media, etc. about the difficulties that those with hearing impairment have. Remembering back to the days when I had no hearing problems, I personally didn't have much of a clue of what not having good hearing means in work and social situations (daily life!). Thanks again for meaningful comments - much appreciated.

Yep, no what you are saying. My brother who has an even greater hearing loss than me, has a great advocate in his wife. In social situations she will repeat parts of what others are saying more loudly when she can detect he isn't hearing it. She has perfected this so it blends in almost seamlessly and doesn't call attention or interrupt the conversation going on around them. Unfortunately, not everyone has someone with them to do this when these occasions arise.

I was not prepared for the isolation from the world I inhabited for 40+ years prior to the onset of my progressive hearing loss. Feeling left out and surprised by the reactions of people I’d known before. Some understood, but some never really did bother to take the time to keep me in their world. As a teen of the 60’s, music was the background to my life. I managed to enjoy concerts with hearing aids but even lost that as my hearing became progressively worse. I wish I could have had this forum before, it is so great to have other people to relate my journey to