Why Are You Angry, When It's Me That's Going Deaf

by Bill Russo


Open Letter To Almost Everyone
Who Ever Has Spoken With 
A Person Losing His or Her Hearing:  

Please stop yelling at me just because I am going deaf!

It is an illness and it is not my fault.  It is very embarrassing to have a bunch of people shouting at you.  Hearing aids cost a great deal of money and are not covered by Medicare and other insurances.

They are also not the panacea that folks with good hearing think they are.  Further, many of us have painful conditions going on inside the ear canal that make the use of such devices the next of kin to 'torture'.  

"Why don't you get your ears checked?" is another thing that triggers frustration in the hard of hearing.  Do these people think that we go to our doctor and say, "By the way Doc, I'm losing my hearing so make sure NOT to check my ears!"

A large number of individuals with hearing difficulties can actually hear you fairly well, if they can see you.  By a combination of reading your lips and hearing most of what you say in a normal voice, you can communicate well with most of us.

Screaming at us behind our backs or off to the side where we cannot see you, might be appropriate if we are on railroad tracks and a train is coming, otherwise it is not.  

Booming at us in a stentorian voice and treating us as stubborn children only makes you frustrated and us angry, embarrassed and less likely to want to participate in society.

Frankly, I would rather be left out of a conversation than have you yelling at me.  

"I'm talking to you!  Do you get it!" and other pejoratives that I frequently hear, border on insulting.  

I'm losing my hearing folks, not my I.Q.  

That's my rant for the day.  I will try to be a little more patient with you, if you will do the same.

"DID YOU HEAR ME?  

IF NOT, PUT YOUR EAR RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR DEVICE 

AND I WILL SCREAM INTO IT!!!!"