Are you deaf or hard of hearing or know someone who is? Let's talk here!

Have you started learning sign language? Here in the US it is American Sign Language. I am right now learning it with a private tutor once a week and with the book American Sign Language the Easy Way. It's not easy to learn it as an adult, though. I will have to say that. Although I do not yet know ASL very well, I force myself to make phone calls using VRS (video relay service) with VCO (voice carry over) as much as possible to kind of force feed myself ASL, and hear what I can with the VCO. This might be one idea you could try. I'm just throwing out ideas. Also, there is the CapTel phone here in the USA. If you live in the US, you might be eligible for a free one. If you are interested in this, please let me know. It captions phone calls for you on the screen, live and in real time. It's a relatively new technology. Also, have you spoken with a vocational rehabilitation counselor about all this? There might be ways you might be able to keep your job in spite of possibly losing more and more of your hearing. At the worst you might change to another department, but I would definitely consider talking with a rehab counselor about this first. I have fluctuating hearing problems myself but it's not Meniere's, and nothing has yet shown up on any hearing tests. But, I lose some or all of my ability to understand speech from time to time. It is terrifying to lose your hearing. Wow... that is a hard one! But, it is possible to live with it, as scary as it is. I am right now dealing with pinched nerves and am also battling migraines, which could be one of the reasons why I have the fluctuating hearing problems. It is maddening. Sometimes I hear great, and sometimes I hear terribly, and it's hard to explain why or how, and it's hard to get others to understand. Do you have problems explaining why you can hear better on some days than others? I get accused a lot of faking my hearing disorder. Do you? I have also battled such debilitating vertigo that I would suddenly collapse while the room would spin. Sometimes I would throw up all over myself again and again and then go into dry heaves when there is nothing left to throw up. Ever had that? I am glad to meet you. I just wish we didn't have to meet with hearing problems in common. More later. I think it's time for me to check the dryer downstairs. I can't always rely on hearing the timer so I have to check the clock a lot. Please let me know if any of the ideas might help or not. I am curious now. Also, I am active somewhat in YouTube. If you can do YouTube with a web cam or something, we could chat in ASL there or we together could learn it if you want. Just another idea to throw out. More a bit later...

I have heard about Meniere's, by the way. Has anything helped you at all with it? That's got to be hard to have. At least for me there does not appear to be the prospect, as far as the doctors know, of my ever becoming completely deaf. Just tortured with fluctuating hearing problems for possibly the rest of my life. It would be absolutely terrifying, the prospect of eventual complete deafness. Any chance you could teach your little one sign language so he could still communicate with you? It's very hard to talk about this, I'm sure, but it's got to be done if there are hopes of being able to get on with life. Life bites sometimes... :-(

Wow, you have a lot of really good suggestions! Since I only found out I have a hearing problem at all last year, and I have other health problems that have always taken precedence, I haven't actually done as much research as I should. My husband and I have mentioned the possibility of ourselves and our son learning sign language, but haven't actually done anything about it yet. I'll have to look into some of those things you mentioned! Yes, it is really hard to explain that I can hear better some days than others. Especially working with the public, I have certain regular customers that I've wound up trying to explain the whole thing to because they ask. And even for my coworkers it's hard to understand... once in a while they'll get angry with me and think I'm being lazy or just rude because I didn't hear them ask me to do something, or didn't answer a question. If I were having the problem all the time, they would get used to it, but since it's on and off they really can't understand. Yes, I have also been accused of faking it. It makes me really angry. I don't know any vocational rehabilitation counselors. Is that something my doctor would know about? How do you find one? It's really sad that you're not sure what's causing yours. At least if you have a name for something, you feel like you can deal with it. For me, being diagnosed with Meniere's was a relief in a way. I had all kinds of weird symptoms during my pregnancy, and afterwards kept having the vertigo. Once the doctor gave it a name, I started feeling like I could cope better. Sometimes I throw up too, all day long it seems like. And I fall down a lot. Again, a scary thing with having a baby. There have been times when I crawled while carrying him because I wasn't sure I could stand up and not fall. Now that he's almost walking himself (he can if he's holding onto furniture) I'm starting to feel a little less scared about it. The falling down is also something that's hard to explain. I'm only 26 years old, and my lung problems (the other health problem I mentioned) isn't really apprarent, nor is the Meniere's. So I often get expected to be able to do things that I simply can't do because of the vertigo. I have to be really careful so I don't have a serious fall. I am really happy to meet you too! I'll try to look into your suggestions a little more when I have time (probably this weekend) and get back to you! As for the YouTube idea, my webcam was used so infrequently that it hasn't even been unpacked since last time I moved. But I'll try to fish it out, and if it's in good shape, I would love to practice with you that way!

You can also Email me @ mercury_blue_199@bellsouth.net