Unilateral Hearing Loss / Single Sided Deafness

If you have this sort of "impairment" or "challenge," you likely feel rather isolated and alone in your "condition."  But you (or your child) likely have learned many coping mechanisms that allow for pretty "normal" functioning day to day.  But there are also instances that, no matter how hard you try to cope, leave you frustrated and isolated.  For instance, take a stereo head-phone set... you know the kind that allows half of of the ser to project one instrument and the other half to project another instrument or the base of the music.   That's great - that's stereo - if you have hearing in both ears; but if you have a hearing loss, you miss half the music or half of whatever is playing on your headphones.   Or, take a simple whisper in the ear... ooops, wrong ear! and you have to turn to the other side... sometimes seeming pretty disruptive when a fully-hearing person would have quickly heard the whispered message.  Stuff like that makes unilateral hearing loss a constant reality - an isolating disability.

Hearing loss does NOT mean ignorance. 
Don't be ignorant about hearing loss.
Be aware; Get educated about non-hearing
and learn communication skills.

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NEW! DEAF LINX -
Resources and guides for the deaf community

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Single-sided Deafness

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Wikipedia - Unilateral hearing loss

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Hearing Impairment

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Deafness and Tinnitus

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About Deafness... when only one ear works

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Deaf Planet - the first website and TV show in American Sign Language (French also)

HEARING LOSS - DEAFNESS

You can't hear it ?  See it !!
Learn Sign Language!  ASL or American Sign Language
videos are probably available at your local library - ask your local library to ad ALS material for you and others to use.

         Here are some Sign Language links:

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American Sign Language Browser
See mini Quick-Time videos
by Clicking on the beginning letter of the word you'd like to see signed and then it will open an index of words that begin with that letter
(on the right side of the screen).
 

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A Basic Dictionary of ASL Terms

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ASL University Online...

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First 100 Signs... learn and click "next"

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Signing Online


AUDISM
In the deaf culture, calling someone an audist is akin to calling someone a racist.

Definition
What is audism? A simple definition would be that it is a negative or oppressive attitude towards deaf people by either deaf or hearing people and organizations, and a failure to accommodate them. People who have an audist attitude are considered to be audists. For example, the refusal or failure to learn to us and to use sign language in the presence of a sign language-dependent person is considered audism.

The other day I overheard a couple of our children talking together and one of them was lamenting that his cold was giving him a stuffy head and was making it hard to hear.  And then, I heard our daughter say to him: "Welcome to my world." 

I closed my eyes... a pang of hurt in my heart for this little one who didn't respond angrily and wasn't trying to put the brother down... but was stating a fact.  It stung my heart for her as I realized we all take so much for granted and make light of things we, in our ignorance, trivialize.  O, may we not be trivial or insensitive to the plight of those who are different than we or who do not have the same abilities as we...... or those who don't hear what we hear.