u/LucidFoxe

Hello :)

My hearing partner and I are learning ASL (with free online resources and seeking offline community meetups. The first one will be at the beginning of June). Her mental disability makes speech difficult for her, and I have various hearing issues. These combined have made speaking with each other challenging (ever since date #2 lol).

What little we have learned so far has already helped us immensely!!

I am hoping to start a discussion on this post about interacting appropriately, as a hearing person, with my local Deaf community.

I have a disability called misophonia, which means that certain sounds cause me intense pain. (there is a subreddit if you want to learn more! r/misophonia)

Many times throughout the day, I need to wear earplugs. At home, every meal, dinner, outing, gathering, game night, etc. if there is food or something else that triggers me, I must have earplugs.

AT THE SAME TIME I am hard of hearing. I constantly need people to repeat themselves, speak more slowly, clearly, or louder, etc. I have not been this way my whole life, I've only lost some hearing in the past year or two. I am trying to make a dr's appointment about it. I once tried otc hearing aids but they weren't for me.

What I want to discuss is this...

Hearing all of the time is exhausting, especially when subjected to painful trigger noises throughout the day. On the misophonia subreddit, you can find a lot of people who just wish they were deaf. I used to.

I would love to go about my day wearing earplugs and not needing to hear anything. Learning ASL with my partner is making this more and more possible.

When I start interacting with my local Deaf community, such as at a monthly meetup, would it be inappropriate to wear my earplugs? I don't want to come across as "faking" or like I am playing pretend at deafness.

I am sure nuances like this differ by community, but what are your personal opinions? Let's discuss!