Small exercise in boasting
 

I feel the need to boast.

Next Tuesday I will be at my graduation ceremony. I finally decided to go as family and friends wanted to cheer me on, and I think thats great. So this daft old bat, 54 years old, deafened, has an Ontario College Diploma with a GPA of 3.83. Not bad eh??

We came here almost 2 years ago. We've gone through illness, stress, depression, but we have kept on going. My hearing has got significantly worse since we have been here and now I am profoundly deaf. This has made stuff pretty difficult. Stuff being studying and work. I have had to face discrimination, sometimes intentional, sometimes through lack of understanding but whatever the cause its been hellish to deal with.

I have spent many hours talking to you lot, and in the main you are a very lovely bunch. Some notable exceptions out there, you know who you are! (actually you probably dont but others will) So, those a**holes aside, thank you all for the entertainment and support.

So there, boasting over.

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done!

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

congratulations! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

enjoy your graduation ceremony! :cool:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Woohoo!!!!!!!

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:Congratulations you.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Congratulations!:thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

I think you have every right to boast - good and proper. Well done you :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

(As an aside, are there any environmental or personal factors that have worsened the hearing loss - or do you think it was due to go that way anyway, at some point - or has it taken you by surprise? OK - so that's very nosey of me, but I am genuinely interested :) )

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Hearing, it was destined to go down and eventually it willl go away altogether. It has got worse much more quickly than expected though. Various reasons have been put forward. One was that just before we moved I probably acquired a low grade mumps infection that dropped around 20dB from the high frequencies. (So thank you to all those who didn't get their children vaccinated). The rest has just been put down to stress.

Another reason to boast is that I have learned to "lipread" in Canadian. Speech patterns and lipshapes are different here of course and so my guesswork was thrown considerably. The people I was at college with made a huge effort in communicating with me, I really appreciate that.

Thank you for being interested, I appreciate that muchly

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Thank you for sharing. That lipreading lark is no mean feat either, especially with a new twist on the words with the accent (and new vocabulary!) ;)

My brother has often subconsciously used lip reading (never taught anything formally, it just became part of his routine in communication) - but recently his eyesight has deteriorated considerably with a poor prognosis for the future. Life sure throws some shitty difficulties at people sometimes. But hey, things could be worse apparently :blink: ;)

Anyway - have a fabulous grad ceremony - do you get to buy a posh frock or a new red lippie ?! :D

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Many congratulations! :thumbsup:
x

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You are my hero DB, only another 2 years and Ill be there.

I can only imagine the difficulties you have faced, but good on ya for sticking it out :thumbsup:

Mrs M xxx

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Kudos to you and congratulations!!:thumbup::thumbsup::thumbup:
Yoong

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done Batty!!!! :thumbsup:

On the subject of lip-reading .... I used to work in a Leonard Cheshire Home, where there were a couple of people who were deaf (as well as having cerebral palsy) - incidentally they were married to eachother which made life interesting! :rofl:

The guy used to lip-read pretty well, though he had virtiually no speech, by virtue of his deafness and of his lack of voluntary movement control. Sorry ... getting to the point here: I acquired a new assistant, who happened to be Welsh, and he had great difficulty making our lad understand what he was saying. He thought I was taking the micky when I explained that he probably didn't understand his accent! :p

Welsh people tend to have a wide mouth and sort of talk behind their teeth without moving their lips much (try it for yourselves). Ozzies and Kiwis have a very definite manner of speech as well, which I'm sure presents difficulties to British lip-readers.

So (finally) .... Well done for learning "Canadian"! :thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

:thumbsup: Congratulations on sticking it out and achieving an outstanding GPA:thumbsup: Good luck with the future and whatever life throws at you I am sure your character and determination will see you through to success.

Warm regards

David

(I'll bet you lot didn't know I could be formal did you:D)

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done Batty, you're a star:thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Hey! Fantastic news, batty! :thumbup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Nice one Batty :thumbsup:

(I just had to edit that as I called you Barry... ;) )

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done indeed batty.

<worries if I'm one of the assholes>

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Nice One Batty :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done B, don't forget to add in there being a good artist too!!!!:thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Aww thanks all. I feel a warm glow! We do have a pretty good online community here, (no Novo you aren't a rectum;)). Advice, debate:sneaky: humour...

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

I can that people have an accent from watching their faces when they speak, sometimes I can tell which accent. I'm not very good at lipreading and need sound as well, I should practice more.

When I started at college I found some people very hard to follow and was so relieved that two of the lecturers had accents that I knew, plus both of them spoke English English and I didnt have to try and work out the Canadian phrases too. One was Nigerian and the other from Sri Lanka. Both lovely ladies and excellent teachers who spoke so clearly. Well to me at least, the Canadian students struggled sometimes.:rofl:

I understand about the sight thing too, its bad enough being cut off from people by deafness but if you can't see to lipread, to read the captions on TV, to read books. Its terrifying. I didnt say earlier that I also have a new diagnosis of glaucoma, and am being investigated for other sightloss things related to being extremely shortsighted. This sucks! Still the eye doctor is a very nice man and I am going to be seen every 6 months to monitor stuff.

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Congratulations on your graduation and on your Canadian lip-reading skills too. You have every right to boast especially amongst friends.

Lynne

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done chuck.

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Ah. I'll try harder in future. :sneaky:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

If it makes you feel any better...:p

No even I wouldn't go that far. ;):)

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Thats brilliant news Batty, well done.

Enjoy the ceremony.

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Fantastic new batty, enjoy your ceremony - you'll have a great time. Do you get to wear a gown and a silly hat too?

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Congratulations. Enjoy your day of celebration.

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Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done indeed! You have many reasons to be proud of yourself. :thumbup:
Enjoy the ceremony.

MrsDV

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Congratulations - i hope you have a great day with everybody there cheering you on!!

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

you should be really proud of yourself :thumbup: hope you have a great day.

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

:Good for you and well done......:thumbsup:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

I did the ceremony thing, I came over all soppy when the national anthem was sung (signs of going soft in my old age there). We had native drummers too. It was all rather nice. When I walked into that hall and saw all the people and the Maple Leaf flag I realised that I had done it!

College had arranged for a real time captionist for mum and me. She and her laptop sat between mum us so we could both read the speeches and so we could participate properly. They had sat us right across the aisle from my class too and so I didnt feel left out at all. It was great, well thought out.

So thank you all for your good wishes and karma. Now if someone could tell my whats wrong with this laptop keyboard, damn cursor is jumping all over the place, going backwards, aagghh:eek:

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::beer:;)

And I think that sums it up quite nicely :p

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

I do too!! thanks! :D

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

MANY CONGRATULATIONS BATTY!

Sorry to be late but I've been in the UK for 2 weeks and have only just read your news.

Cheers :beer::beer:

Jo

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Ditto the congratulations from everyone else. So glad you enjoyed the ceremony, you deserve to bask in your success.
With very best wishes,
Lorraine G

Re: Small exercise in boasting
 

Well done DB. What's next on the agenda for you?