Have you noticed the uproar at Gallaudet?  Of course you haven’t. There is not much speech there but if you can follow the flashing fingers and hands of the signs of hearing impaired and deaf students you can learn a lot.  The politics of the non-hearing world are interesting.  One student put it this way: “I don’t need to be fixed.  My brain is O.K.”  He refers to the cochlear implant that some think is needed in young children to give them a sort of hearing – mechanical but making it possible to be part of the hearing world.  Some in Gallaudet would like to bridge the world of sound with the world of silence.  Then there are those willing to remain in a world that is not too different from their own but excludes the other world’s communication.

My hard of hearing world has been upgraded since Carol agreed for me to be tested for a new brand of aid that is marginally better than one that I have had for years.  New technologies appear all the time and my old aids seemed to bring me back to the point where I had to ask “What did you say” more and more.  The new aids are in use now and I am testing the world of the full-hearing person although you people do make a lot of ear hurting noise with your speech.

My friend, Norman the Genius, was losing his hearing in one ear and heard of the implant and believed it would settle his problem once and for all.  I argued against it for there was no guarantee.  He believed.  He then went ahead and got the implant and … it did not work.  He was effectively deaf in that ear where he once had some hearing.  He is just one example of the difficulties non-hearing people have in a hearing world.  Can you imagine a college that is run by and for the deaf?

I was lucky; I get along in the world and don’t sweat the problem of not catching on what people are saying.  I prefer to read than to watch and not hear what is said on television.  But, one must communicate with the majority in this world and most people hear quite well.  My problem is somewhat like being in a room of foreign speakers who are making a lot of sense with each other and I am left out.  I am also left out when I am with a group of signers whose flashing fingers and hands I cannot follow.

I can understand a deaf person saying he is O.K. and does not need to be made “normal” by becoming a hearing person.  I can also understand my need for a device that enables me to hear clearer than my last one.  I promised Carol that I would wear the new one more frequently if we went for the expense.  I am comfortable with them in place most of the day and I do wish people would not speak so loudly.