DEAF AWARENESS WEEK 2019
I can’t believe a whole year has passed, and it’s already Deaf Awareness Week 2019! (In fairness, I have tried to raise Deaf Awareness throughout the year since!)
It’s still as important to me now as it was a year ago to try and show that being deaf doesn’t necessarily mean you have to act in a certain way or be how people expect us to be. I find the word ‘deaf’ so broad with many different connotations and views on the word, that it’s difficult to know where to begin. The biggest misconception I get is,
‘Well you can talk and hear me fine so you can’t be that deaf!’
Okay first of all, WOW THAT’S RUDE. Second of all, there is no right or wrong way of being deaf and if there is, then I clearly missed out on receiving a copy of that book. I don’t want to sound all ‘woe is me’ and as if I’m wallowing in self pity, far from it, but growing up I never felt as though I fitted in either the hearing world, or the deaf world.
Deaf enough to not be a part of the hearing world. Not deaf enough to be a part of the deaf world.
I think that’s changed now though (or so I’d like to think) and believe it or not, social media has helped. Massively. Yes, social media has a lot to answer for in terms of ruining peoples self esteem by constant comparison to others, but it also has many positives which luckily for me, hugely outweigh the negatives! Since becoming a Phonak #hEARo Ambassador, I have spoken with so many deaf people around the world who can relate to feeling as though they don’t fit in in either world which ironically has created a little world in itself!
Despite getting into blogging for Male Grooming and Lifestyle, I now feel that it is important to use my platform that I have built up to carry on raising awareness for the deaf community and I hope you will follow me on this journey.
Remember, always make sure you are facing a deaf person, and make an effort to move your mouth in a more expressive way, without going too OTT, as you could look incredibly patronising leaving a deaf person feeling embarrassed, and as though it is drawing attention onto them!
Be sure to follow my social media channels this week as I am currently doing a ‘Sign of the day’ in which I am encouraging you to guess what BSL Sign I will be signing!