My Experience: A Journey Into The Deaf World

On October 15th I went to the Panera Deaf Chat in West Orange and this was an experience that I will never forget . I was supposed to attend with one of my classmates but unfortunately she could not make it so I decided to ask a friend to take me. I was excited when I knew my classmate was accompanying me but when she canceled fear consumed me. I was really nervous because I did not know what to expect although Professor Wohsteller mentioned that people from the Deaf community are very friendly. When we arrived at the building I was literally shaking and numerous questions flooded my mind. I remembered that there were two questions that lingered for quite some time and I could not get them out of my head. I kept asking myself “ What is I

I wanted to know if they were both born Deaf but Al said yes. He told me his mother and two other siblings are Deaf but his father is not. He said that it never bothered him because he was able to live a productive life in spite of the fact that he was not hearing. He mentioned to me that his wife is hearing and their two children are also hearing, but he thought them how to sign. I then asked Abby the same question and to my surprise she answered and said “ I am not Deaf I am hard of hearing.” I felt a sense of relief that Abby can talk but I was a little annoyed that she allowed me to go through all these hoops to sign and I could simply ask her. I realized that he she told me that she was hard of hearing she signed it as well. Then I remembered that is not polite to speak in the present of a Deaf

The information she relayed to me was kind of disturbing and I was irritated by the treatment she got from her mother. Abby was born hard of hearing and had a difficult time growing up because he mother had difficulty it. She mentioned that he mother would give her hearing aids and call her from a distance to find out if she was really hearing her or not. She was dragged from doctor to doctor but the diagnosis still remained the same. As she was relaying the story there was sadness all over her face and I wanted to reach out and hug her, but was not sure if that was appropriate. I made a gesture to her to stop since it is bringing so much pain to her; Al mentioned that it was fine she will be just fine. She told me that she took a year at Montclair State University and was going to pursue a degree in psychology but she changed her mind and dropped out of school. She is hoping to go back in the future but has no idea in which field to get her degree. I typed a message on telling her that going back to school was a good idea, I should it to Al since I did not want him to be left out of the conversations. Al stood up and began to dance and he said is because he was happy for her; we all laughed because Al is a terrible