Trying to find out about a gym

(Aka Why is Everything Inaccessible part 73726193)

*searches website for pricing*

Website: CALL NOW to find out more about our membership pricing

Me:.....*heavy sigh*

No, history professor. I cannot have someone else watch the video and explain it to me. I need it to be captioned by the DRC. I deserve the same access to the material as every other student. 🙃

My mom had this really...frustrating?... conversation with me the other day about how she doesn't like the way I use interpreters. "Oh you can use your voice. You shouldn't just sign. Talk so that people don't look at you weird." Okay first of all, people are gonna look at me weird anyway because I have an interpreter! Second. I cannot physically switch between ASL and English that fast. I'll end up making a mistake one way or the other. It's easier to pick one and stay there unless I have something I want to say and want it said a certain way/can't express the idea the way I want to in ASL. Third! She! Is! Not! Deaf! Therefore does not understand how this stuff works. She complained about how I "make myself seem totally deaf" because I watch my interpreters or because I don't make a lot of comments or because I chat with my interpreters in ASL when there are long breaks where no one is doing anything. ??? I am Deaf dude idk what you want

What Is Your Problem?

My communcations professor approached me today during class after I moved toward the back of the classroom with my laptop in order to be able to charge it if it ran out of charge so I could get my transcription. She was just passing out stuff from our last speech, so I didn’t think anything of it, until she said, 

“I really love that you moved to the back of the classroom. Your laptop and setup is so distracting to other students, I wish I could have just put you back here to begin with. I wasn’t going to say anything, but other students stare.”

Meanwhile she’s the one who’s constantly trying to look at my screen, only to see that the only thing on it is exactly what she just said to the whole class. This woman obviously does not understand how Deaf students work, and she says she’s been teaching for like 10 years???

To the woman who owns my high school:

Let me just say that telling a Deaf student that they should “Learn to lipread if they ever want to succeed in getting a job” is completely inappropriate and it’s also complete bullshit. 

Implying that I need to pass as hearing in order to be successful is terrible. I have a job that I love, and I didn’t need to lie to get it. I didn’t need to strain my eyes and struggle to understand to get my job. And guess what! We use ASL at my job all the time. Not even just for work but for casual conversations in the store. 

To tell a Deaf student that they should want to be more like hearing people and that it’ll make them more successful, ESPECIALLY if you’re the founder of the school, is inappropriate bullshit and I will NOT stand for it. 

When you go out to dinner with a bunch of hearing people and you end up sitting and scrolling on your phone through the whole thing 😭

WhaT?? (A sequel to WhY??)

So it’s Wednesday, one week from the previous Communications incident in class involving my laptop (see the post titled WhY?? for more info). 

I did have this class on Monday, but it was mostly uneventful aside from some strange mannerisms and comments from the instructor. 

Today, I thought class was going okay, until the teacher started standing in front of me (I sit in the front row, but she was literally touching the front of my desk with how close she was) and SCREAMING while she lectured. I don’t know if she thought that would make me hear her better? idk. 

But since I got my hearing aids turned up yesterday (and they’re about 20dB at least over the volume they should be for my hearing loss bc the domes let out a lot of sound), every time she would scream standing that close to me, my hearing aids would whistle. Not just a little, either. It was hurting my ears at one point because it was so piercing. 

I took them out periodically to reduce the loud-noises headache, and it helped. But I started to notice the instructor complaining out loud about the whistling. She said, “Whoever is making that sound needs to stop. You’re interrupting class and it’s rude.” And I didnt say anything bc I don’t really need to? Like if you would stop screaming in my ears it wouldn’t happen but okay. You continue to do it. Fine. 

So then during the class, she has us mock up some outlines for a fake speech to give us practice. She’s lecturing like normal, asking various students for examples from their outlines, etc. She eventually calls on me, inevitably, because I’m sitting right in the front row. I give her the examples, and I realize I’m not talking loud enough (this happens a lot bc of the hearing aids im not used to). 

So I repeat myself and she smiles and continues on and I’m like okay cool. 

After class, as I’m cleaning my hearing aids bc i can’t hear anything on one side, she approaches me, puts her hand on my arm, and says, “Thank you for being brave and sharing today. By the way, you speak so clearly.” There was this silence that really heavily implied the “for a deaf person” part. 

At that point, I just smiled, packed up everything, and ran out with my transcriber. 

I don’t know what this lady’s deal is? She’s been a professor for like 5+ years, and I find it hard to believe that she’s never had a d/Deaf student before. She’s started making me kind of uncomfortable as well. Like I said in the other post, she’s still giving me that intense upset stare when I don’t make eye contact because I’m reading my screen. I don’t get it?? uGh

I hate it when strangers find out I'm deaf and then demand that I teach them ASL. Like if you were really invested in it I can give you the resources to learn and help you practice but I am *NOT* a teacher, and it isn't my duty to try to teach anyone ASL, esp if you're not even committed to it. If we're close friends that's one thing, but strangers should stop demanding that I teach them ASL just because I'm deaf.

WhY??

So today was the first day of class for me for this semester. I’ve been waiting for class to start because I get rather bored, so I’m excited. First class of the day, no transcriber. Not a big huge deal because it’s an ASL class and I can communicate decently in ASL, so I ask the professor to sign things here and there when I need help.

But then my second class was Communications. Already difficult as I’m more self conscious about the way I speak because I can’t hear myself speaking always. I get into class. My normal transcriber is there. She sets her computer up, then sets me up on the right channel like normal. Professor comes in a little late, but no big deal. Transcriber introduces herself to the professor, tells her what she’s there for and that essentially she’s acting as an “interpreter for a deaf student in the class.”

She tells professors this all the time, by the way, because she’s not really allowed to point out which student or “out” us so to speak. She’s almost never had a problem, because the student (me) also sends a letter of accommodations to the professor beforehand and the transcriber is on this list of things. 

So class gets going, and the teacher is talking, transcriber is doing her thing, and all is well. I’m glancing at my screen every few minutes because, even with hearing aids, I’m still figuring out how to understand the words once I hear them so it’s not just noise. I’m using my system like normal. 

All of a sudden, the teacher stops talking and gets this upset look, walks right up to me (in front of the whole class) and tries to close my laptop, saying very loudly, “No laptops allowed in my class. Put that away.”

It took me a second to realize what she said but I caught my screen before it closed and said, “I could, but I wouldn’t understand you. I’m the deaf student.” 

She gave me that *you don’t look how I imagined (aka you don’t look deaf)* bullshit and then went on teaching, but not without frowning everytime I broke eye contact with her to read my screen so I could, you know, understand the material. Now, everyone was staring at me. Needless to say, I’m unhappy.

Every time I try to solve important issues

Teacher: I can send you the PowerPoint if you need it when you have trouble with your CART thing. Me: send me the PowerPoint for these days please because my CART dude had a lot of tech issues Teacher: sorry I can't do that THEN WHY DID YOU OFFER

Seriously thinking about turning the asks off altogether because some people feel the need to attack me for not being "deaf enough" in their opinion. Some people are going as far as saying I'm lying, that I'm hearing and just want attention. I cannot deal with the bullshit.

Did I remember to tell you guys that my school decided to try hiring me a CART after doing a simple google search because they "didn't realize it was a *real job* someone had to be certified to do?" So they waited too long to request someone and I didn't have one for the class yesteday and so they made a student worker sit next to me and hAND WRITE EVERYTHING because, according to them, that's the same thing.

My high school just basically told my mom I'm too smart to be deaf and need a CART. hAHA what

Listen

If I try to explain something that's bothering me as a Deaf person that hearing people directly contribute to and all you (a hearing person) have to contribute to the conversation is "Not all hearing people are like that' maybe you should try listening really hard to what I'm actually saying like you expect me to do for you all the time.

You can ignore this but like

A girl replied to one of the markiplier comment threads saying something along the lines of: Why are you deaf people making such a big deal about this everywhere in the comments?? ....Did you ever think it's because it is a big deal? Because these "joke" captions are inaccessible and unnecessary and hearing people are talking over us saying how they're a good thing because THEY personally enjoy them? Because we're being cut off from having equal access to content because some kid who never understood what captions are for decided to "meme up" the captions?