Deaf Awareness Week
Information and education
I’ve struggled with how to express my opinion of the significances of Deaf Awareness Week, this is the 14th rewrite. In previous versions I’d written how DAW will make hearing people aware of the best ways to speak with deaf folk.
I mentioned the exhaustion of lip-reading and signing. How using those skills all day makes many deaf people too tired to communicate with the family in the evening, preferring instead to shut down in front of the TV. How TV would be easier if subtitles worked instead of freezing, losing synch or disappearing for just enough time to render the show unwatchable. DVDs, that’s the answer.
I went on about minor and major issues before realising I’d been biased in my views. The significance of Deaf Awareness Week is not about educating the hearing world to the struggle of being deaf. It’s about assisting hearing and non-hearing in making life easier. I’d been biased because I’d been looking solely at how DAW could help Sue and others in her situation. It’s a joint effort with joint needs.
For many deaf people isolation, leading to depression, is a serious problem. Life becomes a viscous circle with the isolated person trying harder to stay away from the hearing world. It happens all too often and with home shopping and a computer is now easier to achieve than ever. Ironically, the computer is the way to find assistance and interact with other deaf people.
When Sue lost her hearing and gained the problems that accompany Meniere’s all we were told was, if she was lucky, she wouldn’t be confined to bed for years. Seriously, that was it and that’s a fairly common introduction to living with deafness. Many people think learning lip-reading is all that’s needed to cope with deafness. If only! The best thing is speaking with deaf people who’ve already been there and done that – share and learn.
That’s where Deaf Awareness Week is invaluable.
Through DAW deaf folk, hearing partners and family members will find how to share those experiences. The idea of a ‘group’ is alien in this country, it’s an American thing. Until I spoke with other hearing partners at Hearing Link I thought I was alone in feeling guilty because I could hear what Sue could no longer enjoy. Music lost all appeal, even bird song made me sad. Turns out that is a very common experience. Chatting with others will help, it’s also a simple and effective way to learn coping skills.
Sue dreaded being with other people when she joined lip-reading classes, same when she went on to signing. She now enjoys the company and loves ‘school’ to the extent that they’re arranging practice get-togethers for the summer break.
Family and friends, please encourage ‘the deaf person’ in your life to join in. It’s heart breaking to see a loved one sat alone, feeling ignored, look into DAW and make a start, an improvement.
Remember, “Deaf Awareness is for life, not just one week”.