Spiders I can live without, but spider webs I can look at all day long. Spiders are such wonderful artists, the way they spin such impressive designs. About ten years ago, I started spinning my web – a social web.
I started with stories about my daughters being born, my religious experiences, how I met my wife, and stories about the personal struggles we all face. Social media like Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, and other platforms allow connections to form in a web as intricate as any spider web.
Truly, we are creatures of habit and we like being around one type of people until something forces us to move further out. In April 2012, I lost my hearing. My social web changed that day from a network of people who were only in the hearing world to those in the deaf and hard of hearing world. I believe the social web is about being part of a design, like a spider web, and seeing what a truly unique pattern we create together.
You’re right…
I lost my hearing in Feb 2012..or at least that was when the final drop made me deaf. I am still functioning in the hearing world with CI but see the need to reach out into the world of ASL, support groups and such as there will be times I cannot depend on technology. How have you connected to none hearing world?
You can writing to people
It is difficult at times to connect with those who can hear especially if you are completely deaf. I think it take courage to try and reach out to the hearing world both online and offline but I believe the deaf and hard of hearing community needs to in order for us to educate and communicate about protecting ones ears.
Tell them you are deaf and you sign at them..they get more respect that way…
I am hard of hearing but not deaf. I do not sign. I don’t feel welcome in either environment. I would love to find a social group for the hard of hearing but whenever I find one, it ends up relying on ASL. I practically have no social life at this point. Has anyone else been there/done that?
Abby- I’m not sure if there is one in your area, but I’ve found the Hearing Loss Association to be a good fit for me. It is mostly hard of hearing/ late deafened people rather than people who were born deaf. It’s a bit hard because I am substantially younger than most of the active participants and, as a result, have some different interests. But it’s nice to meet people that are dealing with the same issues I am dealing with and can offer advice.
Consider joining the SayWhatClub. An international online support group for the late deafened and deaf. We also recently started a a Gen Y group online for young people ages 18-39. We hope to start a private chat on FB as well
Where is that? I am 32 yrs old.
Send a request to info@saywhatclub.com
and tell them you are interested in joining the Gen Y list. They will ask you a few questions. Tell them you heard about it here from Pearl