SILENCE

I have a disability. I’m deaf and regularly use hearing aids. This is a typical day in my life.

My day starts with waking up to silence. My eyes take in my bedroom, and my ears hear nothing. Not even the annoying noise of the clock ticking. My ears are broken. The last thing I do before I rush for the bus is put my hearing aids on. Beep beep. I’m suddenly hearing a world of noise.

My hearing aids pick up on some high and low vibrating noises. It is difficult for me to tell where some noises are coming from. The most obvious noises are cars and ambulance zooming past. As I get on the bus and sit down, I usually hear a background of chatting. I cannot understand what their conversations are about because the voices blur together. Too many people talking at once!

I am a fluent British Sign Language (BSL) user. BSL is a language with its own grammar. In short, it is different from the English structure. I see this as a beautiful language, and it amazes me that a language can be spoken using your hands. It helped me to learn more about deaf culture and how it is different from the hearing world. It also helped me to make a few lifelong friendships with like-minded deaf individuals.

I have an invisible disability. When you see me with my hair down on a bus journey, you would assume that I am hearing because my hearing aids are not showing. There are two signs that show that I am deaf. These are my hearing aids and when I start signing to someone.

When I get to my university class, I choose a seat at the front. There are two interpreters who help me. They translate what the teacher or other students are saying into sign language. They also translate any questions I have about the class. I can lip read so that is another reason I choose to sit at the front.  To be honest, I am not sure how the other students in the class feel about seeing two interpreters there.

Being deaf has its challenges. For example, other students might think I am unapproachable. This could be because people are not sure how to communicate with me or they think it will be too difficult. They often leave me alone. The sad truth is about 95% of the time I have to make the first move if I want to start talking to someone.

My day ends with removing my hearing aids and going back to my silent world.