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.

Well done!

congratulations!

enjoy your graduation ceremony!

Woohoo!!!!!!!

Congratulations you.

Congratulations!

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

(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 )

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

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

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

Many congratulations!
x

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

Mrs M xxx

Kudos to you and congratulations!!
Yoong

Well done Batty!!!!

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!

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!

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"!

Congratulations on sticking it out and achieving an outstanding GPA 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)

Well done Batty, you're a star

Hey! Fantastic news, batty!