A Deafening Experience

Being deaf was an entertaining as well as trying experience. I’ve never stopped to think of the disabled often, but now, it is like an eye opener. Being deaf isn’t all it’s cut out to be, obviously you can’t hear, but you also have to rely on all your other sense. I couldn’t hear what was going on around me, but I could sense when there was movement around me, and I would then turn my sights to the movement. Leading a blind and mute person wasn’t easy either.

I couldn’t hear what my blind friend was saying, so I had to rely on my mute friend to make gestures to tell me what she needed and then I would say it out for my blind friend to hear. It’s funny to not be able to hear, suddenly I felt at a lost, because I couldn’t exactly know what was happening and things seemed to happen around me without me realising it.

Unless someone were to make a gesture right in front of my face, or in my line of sight, or to even tap me on my shoulder, I wasn’t able to see that someone was trying to get my attention. I had to rely on reading sign languages and reading lips or even text messages. We took a walk around the premises and it was hard to do as I had to remember to tell my blind friend when there was a step or a bump or even a wire on the floor.

And most of the time, it wasn’t easy to do because I wasn’t entirely focused on what my blind friend was going through but rather on what I was feeling and sensing. It wasn’t until my mute friend pulled me and gestured that my blind friend need directions. The bunch of us also got many weird stares from people as they did not understand what we were doing.

It’s hard to communicate with others because their hand gestures and sign languages may not exactly speak what they really intend to say. It’s not even easy to cross the road, I had to watch out for cars at all angles because I couldn’t hear them coming. I had to always be on the look out for people who were trying to speak or communicate to me.

This experience also made me realise that there aren’t many facilities to help the disabled around Jaya One. It wasn’t easy being deaf, and I applaud those who are and manage to live in this modern world.

Carleen DMC 13