Post-Deaf Experience: The Rest is Noise

So, as you could probably see, this post was not made last night - due to some serious issues with my internet. But alas, the issues have been resolved and you now have this post to read.

My Week of Deafness was certainly eye-opening, but so was the first day back in the hearing world. The first thing I noticed was that the world is one noisy place! I took the ear plugs out, and was overwhelmed with all kinds of sounds all around me. There was the sound of my fan running, the birds chirping, traffic, pots and pans clattering, and my six-year-old neighbor requesting breakfast in bed. What was strange was that, normally I would have drowned out all these sounds. However, it took me about half a day to readjust and get used to doing that.  Even now, I am very aware that the air conditioning unit in the library I'm posting this from is running just off to my left, and that someone just got off the elevator several floors above me. It's almost distracting how noisy the world is.

However, I will admit that I was quite relieved to rejoin a world in which I could easily and freely communicate with most people.  That's the one thing that I learned in all of this: it's not the deafness that's a "disabling." Deafness, as one of my friends pointed out upon discussing this with him, means you're differently abled.  For instance, no - I couldn't hear. But I picked up skills that I only would have picked up in such a situation; I learned to develop very quick/efficient means of communication when absolutely necessary; I learned to problem solve in ways that I never could before; I learned to connect with people on a much more emotional/human level rather than on a flat verbal level. For example, on the bus during this week I accidentally bumped into a woman who was also standing on the crowded bus. Rather than responding to her oral response of "ow" or "watch it you moron!" I realized, uh-oh, that probably hurt, and responded accordingly with "sorry!"

I think that the "problem" is not deafness. The problem is the fact that people aren't willing to open their minds enough to find a way to work with this particular demographic of the population. For all intent and purpose, you'd be "deaf," too if you went to a small town in a third world country where they didn't speak your language. You would have the exact same problems I did: you wouldn't be able to communicate without getting a little creative. And, quite honestly, put in that situation you would actually probably come up with your own form of sign language to communicate.

I think what I took away from this experience more than anything is that people just need to stop thinking of differences as "disabling" or "negative." Physical, cultural, ethnic differences are what makes our culture so rich.  Each different group and person brings with them a different history, a different story, different struggles and different triumphs. If we weld all these together we'll get something truly beautiful - something that will make each and every one of us better for having done it. But right now our culture is resisting this. We're resisting allowing those from "the outside" those "Others" from entering our world - and it's not just the "heteronormative white Christian" majority. It's everyone! We're all incredibly wrapped up in our own cultures and pasts - so much so that we tend to forget that how much we can learn from these Others. What I took away from this Deaf for a Week experience is that it was a different culture and a different life. But that's all. It wasn't disabling. It was just different, and I invite anyone to deny that differences are a great thing in our society.