Sometimes I wonder (er, worry, if we're really being honest here) if my hearing aids are a turnoff to prospective suitors. How do relationships work if one person is deaf or hard of hearing and the other isn't? I know people do it and I'm curious how they manage. Does it get tiring for the hearing person to have to repeat themselves? Does it get tiring for the deaf/hard of hearing person to explain themselves?
Am I thinking too much again?
Don't answer that.
Just watch this video that I stole from Speak Up Librarian. It made me smile. And helped me stop thinking.
And I confess I teared up a little, too. I'm a girl. It's what I do. Just go with it.
Happy Weekend-ing!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hmmm...i have a feeling the guy who falls head over heels for you won't notice your hearing aids.
ReplyDeleteI'm flattered you got the video from my site. The more people who see it the better!
ReplyDeleteI think the way someone treats my hearing loss says a lot about that person and their character.
I think that we all have our little quirks that could be annoying to a prospective suitor, but when the right guy comes along he takes it all as part of a package. He even loves it. That has been my experience!
ReplyDeleteThere are disadvantages.
ReplyDeleteMy wife is hearing, and, as most women, loves to chat with her spouse. I don't do chatting. I have never heard an adult conversation, and never learned how, for one thing. I'm completely non-hearing, for another. I thought I only had a 50% loss instead of the 90%+ when I got married due to non-communicative audiologists and have lost even that. I feel very sad for my wife.
I have heard from a women that hearing men rarely attempt to learn to communicate with their hard-of-hearing wives. If that is true, then that would be an excellent way to separate the chaff from those who will go the extra mile.
Please be kind and do the separating. Long term relationships are pretty weak if there are communication difficulties. Short-term, a man may move mountains, but it is long-term that you need to think about. Just asking the guy if he will isn't good enough, he needs to show real commitment by learning your best communication mode and using it without you asking him to.
If any man is turned off by your hearing aids, then good riddance. You have that consolation, at least--the really bad guys usually have other things to do with their time. (Hearing girls might use this method too!)
I might also point out that you will have an energy rush in courtship and therefore will be able to decipher what the man says better than usual. You will need to realize that. (and as years go by, you will also learn to decipher him better. Well, at least his words, if not his thoughts.:) )