Hi everyone! I hope you are doing okay, and looking after yourself as the days get shorter and the festive mood creeps in.
Recently, as I cycle home from the hospital and unwind from the day, I have been spending more and more time alone with myself. And I realised, I really love being able to take my hearing aids out at the end of the day! I have been thinking about this a lot recently, and thought I would do some research on any perceived benefits for deaf people. So here is a short post on some of the perks of being deaf for me!
- I can sleep in silence! No clocks ticking away, no wind crashing against the panes, no greasy ear buds falling out of my ears
- I can work in silence, and concentrate better on work (or Netflix…)
- Someone annoying me? No problem, just turn the volume down!
- I am more sensitive to body language and facial reactions, and this makes me a more empathetic person (apparently)
- I am motivated. I want to know what I missed, and I know I can work hard to do what others may find easy (but will I do this, is another matter…)
- Discounts, discounts, discounts (though this does come with a side serving of having to prove your disability)
- I can hear music through my earphones with no background noise. My ears come with in-built noise-cancellation!
- I know how hard it can be to access support when you are faced with extra barriers, and I have used this to find opportunities to help other people (which in turn, has helped me)
- Apparently, improved mental rotation skills – a better ability to imagine how an object would look if rotated in space and viewed from another perspective. (How does this help me? Hmm, maybe if I need to imagine how much icing is on the other side of my cinnamon bun)
To sum this all up, I would say my favourite perk is silence whenever I want it – the ability to switch off from the world around me at any given moment, and to slip back into my body. Ahh, now time to take a short Netflix break in the Clinical School Library, but hurrah to not being able to hear the people furiously clacking away at their keyboards around me!
Ashna x
