The Pros of being Deaf

There are definitely more pros to being deaf than blind. All my life I've actually enjoyed being deaf most of the time. If I'm stuck on a bus with a baby crying, off the hearing aids go - bliss. I can't really imagine me without hearing aids, they are a part of me.

So whilst I am sometimes jealous of people with normal hearing, they can be jealous of me. I think back to when I went camping at a festival with my best friend growing up. Partying and talking happens well into the night making it near impossible to sleep with all the noise going on. Not for me however with comments of 'You're so lucky that you're able to do that!' Of course when someone trips over the tent I still wake up to all the vibrations.

To wake up, my alarm clock vibrates instead of beeping. Once I move into the new house I'll also have the doorbell and fire alarm hooked up to the bottom of my pillow. If I'm asleep, despite not being able to hear, I'll still know if something major happens.

Back at school in my really young years I was the envy of my school year due to having a potentially very uncool box that I had to wear. To explain what this box was, my teacher wore one too with a microphone on and mine was the receiver. Good to be able to hear the teacher over the noise of the classroom. I panicked when I was first told to wear it due to it's ugliness but a few days into the school year the teacher forgot to turn the microphone off. I got to hear all that was said in the staffroom which I promptly repeated to everyone. From being unknown I became popular. The teachers cottoned on after a while but the damage was done. Loved it!

Being one of the most popular kids lasted throughout that school, however when I changed to secondary school things changed. I wasn't bullied a lot or anything, in fact I'm not sure thinking back how it happened but I started to hang out with people who were not popular, had other disabilities or just were the studious type. I didn't like school much but I don't think it was down to this, more that I just didn't like hard work!

A great excuse by the way! 'Sorry Sir, I didn't hear you when you set homework', again after a while they cottoned on so that at the end of class they would come to me directly and tell me what the homework would be. Still I used the fact I was deaf a lot to my advantage. I always have believed that to squeeze out every possible advantage is only fair to have the disadvantage of being deaf.