There are so many things in life that people who can hear never think of when it comes to people who are Deaf or hard of hearing (DHH.) They are simple things like not hearing the doorbell, or the sound of one’s baby crying, or wind whooshing through leaves on a tree. Things like the honk of a horn of an approaching car warns us of possible danger or the sound of the electric coffee maker signaling that the carafe is fully brewed. Hearing folks can enjoy the aroma and sound but being Deaf or hard of hearing deprives that population of the perking sounds that result in a pleasurable beverage to come.
Ooops…the toast in the toaster just popped up.
People who are Deaf have to rely on checking these things all the time. To this population, sounds are replaced, at times, with visual clues, and they act accordingly.
How many times have those of you who lived near the ocean gone to the shoreline to relax with the sounds of the waves breaking on land? Imagine not hearing any of what I said above! It can be devastating, to say the least.
Ahah…you have become aware of the issues those who have hearing loss of any level to total deafness, face each and every day. I’ll go further and say that they face trials and tribulations each and every moment of every hour of every day, week and year of their lives.
What do we do to live, work and play with the Deaf and hard of hearing population better? Education is the key. We need to learn how to understand the very unique needs of the Deaf Community.
Believe me, it’s a real, tight-knit community with members who rely on one another for daily life in the world of silence. By tight-knit, I am referring to today’s high technology of items that assist the DHH to communicate. Think a moment of the days of beepers and pagers. We’ve come a long way since those items were used. Enhancements back then were things like digital and alphanumeric pagers where short, one-way text messages helped us at work and home. My wife used to “beep” me with a double zero, oo! That looks like 2 eggs…meaning bring home eggs. On we went with email and text messaging that removed the blockage in conversation as well as making it just about instantaneous.
Today there is Deaf VideoPhone service making it possible for those who are Deaf to actually make phone calls to other DHH folks and to those who can hear. No longer does a person who can’t hear need to ask for help in calling to make a dental appointment, or calling an airline for arrival and departure information. Of course, today all of us, DHH included, can use a Smartphone to check airplane schedules via the Internet from just about anywhere.
If you want to find out more, we’ll be adding information like this to our website periodically. People in business, government, law enforcement and other public safety agencies should arrange to take the unique and exclusive training class entitled “I Never Gave THAT a Thought!” Not only is it a comprehensive and detailed 4-hour, fast-going presentation, the writer has been told many times that it is a fun class to take.
We are thrilled to let you know that and share it with you, the reader.