deaf in the shitty
me curious. had a long talk with one of my mostest and bostest about his current work sitch. see, he's a cool lil bloke, but he's doing his do in an all-hearie environment which means dark bars, big groups, and little chance of getting involved. how does a deaf man handle this semi-exclusion? I mean, sure, we're all great one-on-one, but I'm not the only Sy Hersh in the deaf community to notice that once we turn into the Token Deaf in a group of 12 we get whiplash from trying to follow everyone at once, if that's even possible.
Me, I favor either being blunt or learning to live with it. "Look, co-workers, I'm here but I'm not here, ya dig? That cool with you? Cos you know, it's not cool with me." My friend favors humor. He thinks being blunt will turn people off - but he's not sure how humor will work. (I'm not either. I think being funny about things will just make him look stupid - I tried for four years in college and all I got was - serious! - a stupid t-shirt.)
So if anyone who reads this can comment on how they handle being the Lone Ranger in a group of Hear-mericans, I'd love that.
Meanwhile, anyone notice the passport shiz going on right now? The US is gonna prevent people coming in without biometric passports (yep, chips in your passports. Just like Spike's head. Possibly for the same reason.) Europeans will have to have these high-tech identifiers (which seem like a huge invasion of the privacy to me) and North American countries will have to present additional docs. Poor countries, of course, won't be coming to the states anymore. Rich countries will have to pour a huge amount of funds into satisfying American needs. Sound isolationist? Yeah. Of course this is all For Our Protection, though to be honest with the kind of financial resources terrorists seem to have they'll be able to get them more easily than, you know, regular people.
Why is this up here? Cos deafies travel. Oh yeah, we travel. This gonna put a crimp in our plans - and fuhgeddabout having the next deaflympics in NYC... oh wait, that's for the hearies...
Well, more later. Remember, deaf people with hearing groups - GO!
4 comments:
*sigh* being in graduate school at a hearing university means that my social life is a complete zero. my classmates seem to avoid me like the plague. only a handful few brave the potential of contracting the "Deaf disease" by talking to me. being pregnant is an excellent conversation ice breaker, though. =) anyway, what hearing friends i have are part of the Deaf culture, either as interpreters or teachers in a Deaf classroom. i have to admit that i avoid situations where i would be the only Deaf or be without an interpreter. that's alright because my social life amongst other Deaf is fulfulling. =D
oh, by the way, you think that passport hullaboo is bad? in yesterday's Burlington (VT) Free Press, there was some discussion that people would eventually be required to have a passport to travel to and from Canada and Mexico. i only live 30 minutes from the border and have been accustomed to only needing my driver's license for a day or evening in Montreal. now they will be asking for a passport? *sigh*
it sure wasn't easy in grad school either. 9 months of pen and paper. people didn't mind. not perfect, but better than nothing. I could carry two different conversation in turns. a real ice breaker.. especially when you're pissed out of your mind.. social life was limited but hey I got the time for studying..
Simple. Show up late. Drink a lot. Laugh a lot, even if you have to fake it. Wait a hour. Make an excuse about having other plans. Skeddale.
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