ASL Sign Language

[Barbara N]

Maybe more misinformation, but I certainly have it. Hearing problems and loss of hearing. Do any of you have hearing problems or are any of you deaf. If this is true that most WG people have hearing loss or go deaf, I wanted to know if any of you speak ASL or any other sign language. I do, but my problem is that I don't have anyone to speak it to. I know basic ASL and LSE which is American and Spanish, I used it a lot with my non verbal students even though they weren't deaf. I had several deaf graduate students, recently, come and spend a few months here to learn Animal Assisted Therapy and about horses so they could take it back to the deaf community. It was a great chance for me to relearn my signing. I'm not great but I can certainly understand and communicate which I think is the most important of all. Nurses here in Spain take LSE, so they used to practice with me. My husband finally took an interest in it when I went deaf for 3 months November 2011 to January 2012 and most of the time I don't hear unless I can see the person. My hearing is never good anymore ,it comes in and out but the pain in my ears is constant. Sometime really bad and other times just painful but always there, Is that normal? Before I went deaf, the ENT told me I would go deaf within 2 years, he hit it practically to the day but then my hearing came back, they don't know why or understand.

[Pete]

Hello Barbara,

Many of us on this forum have had GPA involving the ears. My case began with an ear infection that would not clear up with normal antibiotics despite having the eardrum lanced twice. My hearing was somewhat degraded before disease onset thanks to some long-term exposure to noise without hearing protection. I now wear hearing aids, and they help somewhat. Environments where there is a lot of background noise are just about impossible for me.

So far, my hearing is good enough to allow normal conversation. No need for me to learn ASL now, but it may come in handy later. Hope I don't need to go that far, though.

[Barbara N]

ASL is quick and fun to learn. Communication is so important, the more languages you know the better. It allows you to communicate with so many more people. My children used to use ASL when they went out to dances and things so that people didn't know what they were talking about. It has been hard for my husband to learn but even if he forgets the signs he remembers the alphabet so we can always finger spell. It came in very handy when I had my jaw nose operated on because I had a feed tube for 3 weeks and my jaw wired shut and at least I could talk to my children. All that said, I am with you and hope I don't get to that stage again. Here is to hearing. To raise money for my charity we got a famous Spanish rock star to do a concert and we taught about 50 people, deaf, disabled and school children to sign two of the songs. All of the TV stations were there, it was so beautiful to see, that there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

[mrhilgenberg]

Olá Barbara, sei exatamente o que está passando, pois meu caso é bem parecido. A doença se apresentou como uma otite bilateral. Perdi a audição quase que total nos dois ouvidos, sentia muita dor. Quando a inflamação foi controlada, voltei a ouvir bem melhor, porém a inflamação voltou e voltei ficar surda. Agora minha medicação foi trocada e estou sentindo que os ouvidos estão ficando melhores. Ainda tenho dificuldades em ouvir, mas acredito que assim que controlarmos a inflamação, voltarei a ouvir um pouco melhor. Espero que seja seu caso também.
Boa sorte?

[drz]

Many of us wear hearing aids. I had substantial hearing loss in one ear from years of infections and operations. Wegs took all the hearing and my balance mechanism in the other ear which made me functionally deaf for a few months, then very hearing impaired for a year and half till I got a BAHA implant hearing aid which helped me a great deal. It is amazing how quickly your speech deteriorates when you lose your hearing just like how being bed ridden quickly makes your legs and body weak. It takes a long time to recover these functions when they are lost for awhile. I still talk like a hearing impaired person even though my hearing greatly improved since I got the BAHA 10 months ago. My balance is still impaired and along with neuropathy makes me walk like I am drunk and I tend to fall over if I close my eyes.

[Barbara N]

Yo también uso Voltarane y ayuda mucho. Con problemas del riñon no debes usar anti-inflamatorios que lo hace más difícil a todo. Espero que te mejores pronto y entra en un remisión. Un abrazo, Barbara

[Barbara N]

Balance always goes with the hearing, riding is very good for restoring your balance and finding your mid-line. When I first started my association one of my students was a deaf girl at university. She had lost her hearing a few years earlier and had lots of problem with her balance. I have never heard of this BAHA that you all keep talking about- I will ask my ENT next time I am in Madrid, which will be soon because I have to go up to see the ophthalmologist to see what we are going to do with my eyes, they are getting worse everyday so I can't wait long. In Madrid I have a great group of doctors that actually communicate with eachother and three of them operated, three different operation plus lots of biopsies while I was asleep in one operating room. They have really been great and I can call or e-mail them anytime and they always respond quickly. Since they know my fears they do the scary and painful things like biopsies while I am asleep during an operation. It saves me a lot of stress and worry.

[Dirty Don]

OK, you two! Not fair! No intiendo! Well...some...hehe!

[annekat]

My initial hearing loss came about just like Pete's with the antibiotic-resistant ear infection. That killed some of the nerves in one ear. Later, I had loss in both ears due to "blocked ears" or eustachian tube dysfunction, and it improved some and then got worse again before my actual WG diagnosis. I've heard some have gotten their hearing back and you are lucky to be one of those. It would depend on the amount of damage done and whether the structures of the hearing system can resume their normal function despite any damaged tissues. I wear hearing aids and haven't learned ASL. I think it is a wonderful thing, though.

[Barbara N]

At the moment, I have hearing in my right ear but not very good. I am grateful for what I have though because when it goes out it get scary for me because of my sight loss. I am always yelling at my doctors " I can't hear you if I can't see you" and it is true. I never knew how much lip reading I was doing until I met a man with a full beard. He was right in front of me and I couldn't hear a thing.