Another Perspective

Okay, this feels really weird talking from my mom’s blog. I know this blog is widely read…I think I am getting stage fright.

I gave an aggravated and stirring (well, at least aggravated) speech to my mom this morning about one of her sign classes.

Last week she was explaining to this sign class their assignment, “Deaf for a Day”, which I think my mom has mentioned earlier in this blog. It’s an assignment she really looks forward to each year, excited for her students to see things from a new point of view.

Now, this year I am a senior, and everyone LOOKS incredibly young to me anyway. But I was shocked at how immaturely some of the students responded after hearing their assignment. They were downright WHINY. I have a slow temper (unless you talk to my brother), but I was furious. Here was an assignment that my mom was excited about, worked hard on, etc., and they acted like brats.

I truly wish, and hope, they will see the reason for the assignment. It is a ONE DAY assignment… ONE DAY. It is not going to ruin their life to take this time to see things from another perspective. A person with hearing loss cannot take a day off from not hearing to see things from a hearing perspective. They live with it EVERYDAY. I have first-hand experience of this with my mom. I felt offended for my mom’s sake…like they were saying her life was too horrible to go through for one day.

Being a KODA (kid of a deaf adult), I want to encourage y’all who have a hearing loss, that most friends and family of those with a hearing loss, admire you who have to be “deaf for a day” EVERYDAY. And not all students choose to learn nothing from this experience. Some really embrace it and learn to be thankful for their hearing as well as being able to better understand those with a hearing loss.

Thanks Mom for allowing me to post from your blog where more people could read it, seeing as how my blog is never read….or posted in…actually where is my blog?

Sincerely,
Kyersten Portis

P.S. That is an AWFUL picture of me. My mom thinks I look so cute in it, but that’s because she is my mom. I was having a bad hair day…and face day….and etc. Just to let you know.

3 thoughts on “Another Perspective”

Good for you! All Moms should be blessed to have a daughter as loyal and loving as you are.

As a Mom with some disabilities who is awaiting a service dog of my own, I frequently am stunned to discover how many people don’t have a “clue” about the differences we disabled experience. My daughter, bless her, went into a diatribe of her own when a person made a slighting remark about the disabled taking up room in lines and in the parking lots.

You keep right on giving stirring diatribes! And I’ll keep right on applauding you!
Elizabeth
http://waitingforthewoof.wordpress.com

I find that my family is the same way with a fuller awareness of how hearing loss affects so much. They are more caring about less-than-able-bodied people in general.

It even carried over to their jobs! One of my sisters was always called on to handle Relay calls whenever a Relay call would come in at an insurance company. The others would be frantic and scared of handling such a call!

This same sister made a point of talking to a patient at the clinic she now works at who had just been implanted with a cochlear implant but not activated yet. The patient had no trouble understanding my sister who is used to talking clearly and distinctly.