Sunday, January 17, 2010

Disclosure

A good blog entry about disclosure from the "Face Me, I Read Lips" blog.

I often work with the public and must disclose my hearing impairment on a regular basis, in order to have a successful interaction. I've been pleasantly surprised that 99% of people behave in a courteous and respectful way. Many speak up a little without being too loud - most don't (or can't) change their voice level but they are quick to write what I can't hear when I offer them a pen and paper. Only occasionally does someone with too soft a voice, or too thick an accent, or a mouth that's obscured by a mustache or veil come to the desk, then I find a colleague to help. Again I am very fortunate to have understanding colleagues.

3 comments:

ms toast burner said...

Hello!

I just found your blog via Sarah's (Speak Up Librarian). I'm hoh and Canadian too... and I too am not into the techie aspects of hearing but more so the social and emotional side.

I have a blog but its focus is not really about being hoh (actually there is no focus to my blog at all really! Much like my life! haha!)

But I have blogged a bit about hearing, hearing loss, etc:

http://mstoastburner.blogspot.com/search/label/hard%20of%20hearing

(I hope that link works!).

Good luck with your blog... lots of wonderful hoh people in the blogosphere! :-)

ms toast burner said...

BTW, I too have found most people fairly courteous... but that small minority who are not, well, grrr, I could twist off heads!

R said...

Thanks for the link to your blog ms toast burner. I've added it to my list of blogs to follow. Nice to meet a fellow HOH Canadian. Love that you CC'd that Rick Mercer episode. I wish all videos on the web were CC'd. Last year I emailed the show and mentioned how great it would be if their online videos were close captioned.