#AUDistance Learning

[umeacademy001]

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[lovecatsys]

not going to lie being hard of hearing kind of sucks because i feel like i don't have enough hearing loss for like. it to be necessary enough for me to use sign language exclusively but also i am not hearing enough to fully function in hearing society so hearing aids are the option for me that work best but i still want! to connect to the Deaf community and i know they would accept me but i still feel like my experience is very different for them because i can Mostly hear. and also the hearing people in my life would Definitely not be willing to learn sign language when i can hear as much as i can/have access to hearing aids. which sucks ngl

[scriptlgbt]

I have a deaf trans character who went completely deaf in his teens. He is on T. Is it normal for him to be very conflicted on how he sounds to people? Would he be scared, especially when he starts passing more because the voice in his head will always be his old voice? Would he try to ask people to describe exactly how his voice sounds? Is it okay if he really wants a 'cure' due to this and never cared before he came out? Doesn't actually get the cure though.

I'm hard of hearing so my qualifications for answering this are limited. I can hear my own voice. This is my frame of reference here. I hope that deaf trans people can chime in.

When my voice dropped, I could physically feel the change when I talked. I would go to say something in the way I normally would, but it would feel more strained, or I would feel my voice break. (Hard to explain this feeling... It's like a pressure just gives way and I can feel my voice go softer? I don't know.)

I think in general, it's normal to feel self-conscious when your voice is changing. People who have known you with a higher voice seeing you for the first time in a year might be surprised and comment on your voice. Mine changed over a really short timespan so I had more people notice the change and comment on it and usually people expressed they were a big fan. I had platonic friends say it was hot, even. And I think, at least in my own trans community, there's a lot of celebration when people go through milestone changes.

The voice in my head has never been of any particular range or pitch. Sometimes there's an intonation to it, and if I focus, I can imagine a sound so clearly it nearly becomes hallucination. But my normal inner voice is more of just general language, maybe even closer to text than sound. This is another one of those things that varies with everyone.

I think that the story you're describing with your questions strikes me as an unusual level of hyperfixation on this. There are definitely people who do fixate on one specific dysphoric trigger, usually either isolated from trans community or whose only trans community are people obsessed with "passing" and coming across as cis enough. This usually speaks to an unhealthy community surroundings and a very big sense of danger in some way, whether founded in reality or not.

But I also don't see why this character wouldn't want to de-prioritize voicing if he has these concerns to this extreme of a degree. We (or me anyway) live in a society which is oralist. Everyone is assumed to communicate via oral language, and this is audist (part of the oppression against deaf and hard of hearing people). This is going to depend extremely on individual access, but, if this character has access to resources to learn the local sign language, this seems like a normal option. It's only really helpful if you know other people to sign with, but that usually comes more easily once you take the step to start learning in the first place. Some d/hh people also use other means of communicating, like typing.

There are some people I know who sometimes go nonspeaking and who carry a notepad for that reason, and will use this to interface with clerks or friends or whoever else they need to. There's also AAC in general.

None of this is to say that these things don't mean facing oppression, harassment, misunderstandings and assumptions from strangers. But I do know that some of the folks I know who use nonspeaking methods of communication are sometimes gendered differently by strangers who do not hear their voice. If this is truly that severe of an anxiety, this is probably the route the character would go.

But I don't think this level of hyperfixation on this is necessarily normal. I think wishing for a cure gets into some really big existentialism, like, what if this extremely core part of me were entirely different? It also assumes that deafness is necessarily a disease that requires cure, rather than something that just happens sometimes, which might or might not be related to some pathology or pathological origin.

I'm sorry to keep bugging them with my tags, but I rec reading work by @cripplecharacters.

But overall I'd just avoid writing this if you haven't experienced it. It's a really specific kind of experience and anxiety. I don't know your identities or anything, but if you are cis and hearing, I would probably just come across this and see it as weird and almost like... making these identities into an unnecessarily traumatizing spectacle. These can be things real people experience that can be represented, but they aren't for every writer to write. Not until people from those experiences write on them and get adequate success from that.

-mod nat

[wheelie-sick]

Hello!

I’m sorry to bother you if this is annoying question, don’t have to answer.

I’m mute, and been consider learning ASL to be able communicate with others without need AAC. However, I’m also hearing and don’t want risk hurt or overshadow Deaf community or be audist in use of ASL.

Would it be better to not learn ASL? And if it alright learn ASL, are there any things hearing people should keep in mind while do?

Don’t want to take anything that’s not my place to. Thank you if decide answer, and hope you have great day whether or not answer.

you're so fine to learn ASL

despite everything I say I do want people to learn ASL and I think it's great as a way to communicate but you should be using it as just that- a way to communicate (which is sounds like you are) learning ASL for the right reasons as a hearing person is not harmful

I actually was talking about nonverbal* people using SL last night so I'm just going to copy and paste my response here

"I don't feel qualified to entirely have an opinion about that because I am not nonverbal. always hoping for a nonverbal Deaf person to share theirs but Deaf people in general are already hard to come by on Tumblr so 🤷 I'm personally very open to it. I know a lot of nonverbal people do benefit from it because, from my understanding, it's a very different experience than verbal shutdowns. and I'm still fine with people who have verbal shutdowns using the language as well. I just think a lot of people had a lot of misconceptions about it being, you know, a second language and not AAC. for a long time I had been seeing people try to learn sign language for verbal shutdowns, realize it's harder not easier to use, and then abandoning it because they only saw it as a tool for them to use. ultimately though I think people have a right to communication in whatever form that takes. I also know a lot of nonverbal people who use sign language as a mode of communication also end up joining the Deaf world so it's a pretty different dynamic."

*I realize you may not identify as nonverbal but my opinion for mute people is the same and it's simpler to just copy and paste

I do think it's important to remember and acknowledge where ASL comes from when learning the language as a hearing person. there are certain rules in the Deaf community about hearing people's participation such as not giving sign names or inventing signs, not selling ASL merch, etc. and as long as you remember that being mute does not negate your status on the community as a hearing person I think you're fine.

[shootinwebs]

More Disability stuff about Fizzarolli from my brain because I love him and I'm Disabled:

I wonder if Fizz is Deaf (and either lip reads to some extent while he does hear some sound, or has some sort of prosthetics for his hearing, a la cochlear implants for imps).

The kid he signs with in the audience at his performance has cracked horns, and I wonder if that means that imps hear with their horns? But just like with humans, there are a number of different sources of deafness, even just with different ways the ears can be injured. So if that's the case with imp horns, they can probably still have injuries to their horns without hearing loss (or variations of total to partial hearing loss).

And then there's the fact that Fizz isn't bothered by airhorns and just thinks they're fun lmfao.

If Fizz had no hearing loss from the fire, I think it's likely he still had a personal reason to learn sign language after the fire: we know in canon that the fire damaged his vocal cords. Maybe he lost use of his voice almost completely, and eventually had speech therapy to start talking again, but he learned sign language in the meantime while his throat was recovering from the burns.

Buuut. If he grew up performing in a circus where at least Blitzø's family lived in a circus tent, could his parents (?where are they? lol) afford speech therapy in addition to the probably massive hospital bills they were slammed with??

Since it seems like Fizz is fluent in signing, it's very likely signing was his means of communication for years, so he didn't speak at all with his voice until his body recovered from the burns as much as it possibly could.

The fact that he spent his birthday at the circus around Blitzø's dad makes me think Fizz is either an orphan or his parents just weren't around (either they couldn't be there or they just flat out didn't care about him).

So, if Blitzø wasn't around for Fizz after the fire, and his parents are fuck all, who did Fizz even have to talk to while he was recovering? Hopefully his sign language teacher, at least. Or anyone else in the hospital who happened to sign, or who weren't impatient audist assholes and talked to Fizz by reading notes from him.

It honestly just gets worse the more I think about it, because if Hell is just debatably worse than Earth, it must be just about as ableist and exclusionary, and Fizz was pretty much all alone.

And that makes all the more sense with Fizz's obsession with pleasing Mammon: the illusion of purpose, of adoration. The lie that fame tells of never having to be alone again.

[wc-confessions]

i wish hearing people would listen to more hard of hearing/deaf folks about the aus with snowkit. i know i have mentioned this in your asks before anonymously, but i just wanted to come out to say as a deaf individual, i cannot fit into the warriors fandom. there is never a spot for us, and when we try to make deaf characters, we are told that “they wouldn’t survive in the wild” or that “it’s unrealistic.”

i want every hearing person to think about how this is bad. they are implying, as hearing people, that cats in a society similar to humans, with their own religion and government, cannot survive. that they would die easily. that is audism, to me. and it hurts a lot more than most hearing people realize.

these snowkit au’s just bring more as a reminder to me that snowkit’s death and character brought a LOT of audist behavior and arguments in the fandom. snowkit should just left alone to be forgotten. as a young 6 year old who had related to snowkit and was excited to have a deaf character, only for them to die was, well, surprising for me. these books affect people, and they change the way people think about marginalized groups.

i just wanted to give a more fleshed out statement, and perhaps i’m just spitting absolute nonsense but, i don’t know. i have been surrounded by deafness my entire life and being deaf myself, you get a lot of toxic hearing warriors fans spit harmful rhetoric at you, and it hurts.

i just want a hearing creator to talk about snowkit and how harmful his character is, and hopefully, they’ll listen to me. it’s just shameful that a hearing person has to tell other hearing people instead of listening to an actual deaf person.

and i know that these hearing people who make snowkit au’s are just trying to have good fun, but kost deaf warriors fans i have spoken to about snowkit habe told me they absolutely despise his character. i try my best to let hearing people be excited about deaf characters! i enjoy seeing hearing people get invested into deafness and perhaps even research it on their own and try to learn sign language! but snowkit isn’t it.

sorry for the long ask. i just wanted to say this now because it’s on my mind. hope you are having a good day, and if you’re not, it’ll get better. remember to drink water and take care of yourself. good day <3

[hippo-pot]

American Sign Language media content for receptive skills practice

Made this list because I really could have used it earlier on! My rubric is that it needs to include Deaf people signing, and that SimCom doesn't count (it may be present, but it can't be all there is).

This only includes stuff I've actually seen (or partially seen). Also, I'm including some warnings about what you may *not* want to watch, because again, I really could have used those warnings myself.

Easy (i.e. has subtitles and/or voiceover available, IIRC)

Mostly speaking:

CODA (movie; comedy/drama; on AppleTV+)

Kinderfänger (scary movie. Note that it has a 3.7/10 on IMDb. I personally liked it fwiw. not sure if it's streaming anywhere)

CODA (short film; on Kanopy)

Master of None S2.E6: New York, I Love You (TV show episode, currently on Netflix)

Wild Prairie Rose (drama/romance, currently on Peacock)

Queer Eye S8E4: Protect the Nest (reality TV, on Netflix)

CSI S11E13: The Two Mrs. Grissoms (crime show, Hulu)

ANTM Season 22 (the one with Nyle, obviously. I had to get this from the library on a DVD that, get this, had NO captions available. Not impressed. (The ASL was voiceovered))

CSI NY S3E12: Silent Night (crime show, Hulu). I found this one pretty ableist/audist (but it's hard to explain why without spoiling the whole thing - here's the summary if you're fine with spoilers: https://csi.fandom.com/wiki/Silent_Night) also the camera work sometimes seemed more interested in making the signing look artsy rather than making it legible lol

Sue Thomas, F. B. Eye (Peacock) - some episodes have lots of signing, some have none or close to it. Honestly it's pretty racist (the show came out 2002-2005. A lot of episodes are about terrorism, and they're constantly justifying racial profiling). If you can stomach that in exchange for surprisingly decent Deaf rep, here's a (probably incomplete) list of the ones with at least one non-Sue Deaf character, with a * if there are multiple: The Signing, The Heist*, He Said She Said, Girl Who Signed Wolf, Homeland Security, Bad Hair Day, Into Thin Air*, The Holocaust Survivor*, Elvis is in the Building*, Did She or Didn't She, The Fraternity*, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Troy Story*, Endings and Beginnings*. But yeah, I can't exactly recommend it, just trying to be honest about the pros and cons.

Switched at Birth - I really don't recommend this one either. I understand some people like it, but I have to give my disclaimer that if you watch a couple episodes and think "Well, I didn't like that, but maybe it will get better," lose that hope right now. To me, it only got worse. There is soooo much SimCom (yes, even later in the show when everyone should have learned to sign. Do NOT think there will be more or better signing later on). Daphne's actress has Meniere's disease; in a Reddit AMA, she said, quote, "Technically I am not deaf," so I really question why she was cast as the main Deaf character. Regardless of how she identifies, she is playing an experience she has not had; she isn't a native signer (she started learning in high school, not at age 3 like her character), and when she speaks in the show, she FAKES a "deaf accent". Also, this show is not as lighthearted as it looks, there are some truly disturbing plotlines that just get brushed over. Maybe you love this kind of drama - power to you. I'm just asking that if you watch a couple episodes and don't care for it, quit. Read some episode summaries on the wiki if you need to satisfy your curiosity, but don't hold out hope and watch almost 2 seasons' worth while feeling worse and worse about it l like I did. Moving on:

All or mostly signing:

Deaf U (reality show, on Netflix)

WHAT? (movie; comedy, silent movie; on Prime)

Blue Apple (creepy short film) https://media.gallaudet.edu/media/Blue+Apple+%281994%29/1_wke1swj2 also like. click around on the website. Gallaudet has soooooo much media available (plays, films, etc)

Scarecrow (creepy short film), also a Gallaudet production https://ssl.gallaudet.edu/videolibrary/?embed=16500 tbh there's not a ton of dialogue in this one, so maybe don't watch it if you don't like slow pacing

Don't Shoot the Messenger (raunchy YouTube series about an interpreter)

Barbie in ASL (On Max. It's the movie Barbie, but with a Deaf interpreter in the corner)

PBS also has some stuff with ASL interpretation. I didn't check everything so I don't know if they're all done by Deaf interpreters, but I recognized Jeremy Lee Stone as the interpreter for (at least some of) the Arthur episodes, and Lisa McBee for (at least some of) the Daniel Tiger ones https://pbskids.org/videos/american-sign-language-full-episodes

speaking of Jeremy Lee Stone, his Youtube channel is a great resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9HZ1JdV1Us

as are Nathie Marbury's storytelling videos https://www.youtube.com/@dawnsignpress/search?query=nathie

other kids' stories and resources for kids: https://www.youtube.com/@RMDSCO from Rocky Mountain Deaf School and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhbEjnwOPpyIHotZrGLu68OGeEZlTuvbg from Texas School for the Deaf (some of these are captioned or follow along with a book that they show on screen, but some aren't)

a few nonfiction Youtube series: Daily Moth (general news), Atomic Hands (STEM education), Quantum ASL (STEM education - just a couple longer videos, the rest are basically dictionary entries), BEHEARDDC (prison abolition), Joel West Barish (travel), Rogan Shannon (queer topics), Melmira (interviews)

Sign with Robert (available for free on both Kanopy and Tubi): this is mostly just general ASL teaching, but there are some episodes specifically labeled receptive practice where he tells jokes and stories (25, 26, and 29 - for 26 and 29 they play the stories twice, with captions the second time so you can see what you missed, it's actually super nice haha)

her specific channel doesn't have much, but you can just look up Melanie McKay-Cody, who does research about Indigenous sign languages (she is herself Cherokee). Lots of videos from her all over Youtube

SoCal Stories (interviews with folks including Marlee Matlin, CJ Jones, Bernard Bragg...): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8T937th3Qg&list=PLwR2tgM-4_AYjBRvj3GWqWRjjMiZz_w8u this is part of the Youtube channel Convo Communications, which has tons of other stuff I haven't explored

ASL music videos: this list was curated by a Deaf person so I trust it https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx1wHz1f-8J_xKVdU7DGa5RWIwWzRWNVt

Deafies in Drag (Youtube comedy series)

Reverie (short film, drama. Heavy themes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiFWE6Mtpu0

Perfect Match (short film, drama / sci fi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxE65yzMgyE

The Witnesses (short film, satire) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u9iQ_hjXDg

4 translations of MLK's I Have a Dream speech: Richard Bailey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H2-3O-NJFg (no captions or voiceover), JC Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUmdM965Si8 , Takiyah Harris (rough video quality on this one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiyG_h1tnZE , Missouri School for the Deaf students https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mmxJByigac

Intermediate

Mostly Speaking:

Sound of Metal (movie; drama; on Prime) (the late-deafened characters are not played by Deaf actors, but there's still a lot of Deaf actors. Most of the signing is mid-movie, and if I remember correctly, some is not subtitled, while some is)

Children of a Lesser God (movie; available on Kanopy). The signing isn't subtitled (it's mostly voice-interpreted by another character) and also it was very hard to understand - I gather it leaned more toward SEE? So that's why it's in intermediate.

Star Trek TNG S2E5: Loud as a Whisper (on Paramount+): no subtitles; most of the signing is voice interpreted, but not all. All the ASL is in the 2nd half but there's still a good amount, I thought

All or mostly signing:

look up Gallaudet Theatre Arts on Youtube. There's actually a variety of levels here (of the two I've watched, Bunnicula has voiceover, but Midsummer Night's Dream doesn't. The audio/video quality isn't great on any of it). I'm listing it as Intermediate because for e.g. Shakespeare you can just look up the script of the play and have it in another tab to check what's going on.

Sign (short film; some sexual content) https://vimeo.com/157890479 I was able to understand most of this, which means it's a loooot easier than the Shakespeare, but yeah, no subtitles, no voiceover, no help

The Deaf Family (YouTube sitcom) (don't be fooled, only the first episode has subtitles) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1uuntQOPnw&list=PLx1wHz1f-8J9KzkK5lLO3z0wk64eUzo3Y

Not going to list anything hard because I haven't made it through anything hard, but bonus warning categories:

Doesn't have as much signing as you'd think

(ranked roughly from most signing to least signing)

The Circle, Season 5 (reality show on Netflix. I did really enjoy the Deaf contestant but I definitely wanted more)

Fargo, season 1-ish (show; horror? On Hulu) I only watched a few episodes but Russell was only getting like 5 min screen time per episode and i wasn't enjoying the show otherwise, so it wasn't worth it for me personally

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist S1E9: Zoey's Extraordinary Silence (jukebox musical TV show. On Peacock)

Only Murders in the Building (mystery show on Hulu) - I did enjoy this show, so for me it was worth watching all of it, but if you're not interested, you could save time by only watching the 7 episodes with Theo in them

The Family Stone (I did enjoy the movie though tbh. on Hulu)

Curb Your Enthusiasm S12E3: Vertical Drop, Horizontal Tug (TV comedy, on Max) Troy only gets like 5 min of screentime 😭 he's an Academy Award winner...

Queer as Folk S1E4: F*ck Disabled People (on Peacock) (Nyle is in it but I don't think he even ever talks to anyone else who can sign? He's mostly communicating via writing)

Not Worth It

What the Bleep Do We Know: we attempted to watch this "doc" without realizing beforehand that it was all pseudoscience. Honestly, I'm not even sure there was signing in it? I think there was a little

Wonderstruck (2017). There are multiple Deaf actors on the roster. But not one of them gets to sign *anything* as far as I could tell. (One plays a character who hasn't learned to sign, I think at least two were playing hearing people (I do support Deaf actors taking hearing roles, but not if you're gonna take that as an excuse to do the reverse.... which this movie did.....), and some must have had barely any screentime). Two hearing actors get to sign (also the signing doesn't start til like the last 20 min of the movie), and two other hearing actors briefly fingerspell. 👎

Intentionally Didn't Watch (the summary was that bad)

These included Deaf people despite not really wanting them to exist!!!! (think along the lines of forcing ppl to get cochlear implants)

Scrubs S6E16, "My Words of Wisdom" https://scrubs.fandom.com/wiki/My_Words_of_Wisdom someone described this episode to me in a bit more detail than the summary here, and yeah. not good

House S5E22, "House Divided" https://house.fandom.com/wiki/House_Divided legit infuriating

[flowercrowncrip]

hey do you have any advice for dealing with audism? i’m hard of hearing in my left ear and this one fucking kid on my debate team is audist as shit (shouting at me to get my attention, knowing asl but getting pressed when i ask them to use it, making jokes about my deafness when i definitely don’t know them enough for that) and it’s the Literal Worst.

They sound absolutely awful and I'm so sorry you're having to spend any time near them let alone being on the same debate team. I've met people like that before and they are absolutely awful to be around, and you don't deserve that at all.

I do need to say that I'm not deaf/Deaf so haven't got any personal experience with audism specifically so take what I say with a pinch of salt. I have definitely experienced ableism though and some of what I've learned might be helpful.

For me, if I'm stuck with someone ableist the most important thing I've learned is to always put myself first. Sometimes that means challenging whoever it is or letting them know what they're doing isn't okay, or even making a formal complaint depending on the situation, and doing that even if I feel people don't want me to. But sometimes it's recognising that maybe I'm not comfortable or safe doing that, or that it's unlikely to change anything, and that it's not solely my responsibility to try and end ableism forever everywhere.

When I was at university, I was frequently stuck in classes with some of the most ableist people I've ever met and nothing I could do or say was going to change their views or stop them saying some truly horrific things. In that situation finding an outlet to vent was exceptionally useful. Sometimes that was finding someone else in class who was able to recognise when something ableist was going down and with whom I could share a Look of recognition. Sometimes it was posting online about it or texting a friend after class.

I would also have coffee at least once a week with a friend who was having a similar experience in a different course and we'd fill each other in on what was happening and get annoyed on each other's behalf for a while before talking about other things. I think those coffee catch ups kept are the reason I managed to stay long enough to graduate. We're both out of that environment now but we still have regular catch ups now and I always look forward to them.

One of the most infuriating thing I've learned is that sometimes people will ignore or dismiss me saying something's ableist, but if another nondisabled person pulls them up on the same thing then suddenly their behaviour changes. Sometimes having allies can be invaluable.

But yeah, I'm sorry that person's put you in that situation. You don't deserve that crap and I really hope it gets better for you. If you need to vent in my inbox go for it.

[wetleavesandfeathers]

That awful audist/oralist/sexist anti-ASL for young Deaf children group is in my ads again. How dare you make me look at your shitty ads during disability pride month. ASL *is* a real language and it's critical for Deaf people (and their hearing family members) to learn as early as possible. An oral language only approach is nonsense. Go fuck yourselves.

[queenofzan]

so i was listening to the latest episode of this podcast will kill you, which is about osteogenesis imperfecta, and it made me think (as things often do now that i'm constantly writing vorkosigan knock-off stories) about miles vorkosigan

and especially like. man how the fuck did they handle the tiny bones in his ears??? because OI often has hearing loss like comorbid/because of the OI, and i don't think we ever hear anything about that

but otoh lmb skips over most of miles's childhood and the details of what we are told were many medical procedures to try and treat the bone problem and also the side effects of those treatments and also his weird reactions to many drugs due to having a major disruption to his fetal development

i mean i guess you could also argue that we've been working on mitigating hearing loss for centuries bc it has such a strong social impact and quality of life impact for people who have actually lost hearing (as opposed to being congenitally d/Deaf/HoH) and like. obviously barrayar is an environment that would be audist as fuck and prefer d/Deaf people get implants and learn lip-reading over ever adopting any sign, but like.

idk just thinking thoughts about how much i wish actual details that weren't science fiction got dug into. catch me giving sasha petrov hearing aid problems

[umeacademy001]

Annamalai University In Kolkata

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[voidpacifist]

another Deaf steve steddie/fruity four au For Your Consideration

this one takes place in the present day btw

steve has been profoundly deaf his whole life. his parents have always been ignorant to Deaf culture, attempting to mainstream him, convince him to get cochlear implants, put him through intensive speech therapy, etc. then after steve graduates, he moves out, cuts contact with them, finds a job so disappointing that it repels them from trying to reach out to him in the first place, and tries to rebuild a life for himself without all the audist mindsets he grew up surrounded by.

then at his first job, he meets robin buckley, who went to his high school and is fluent in ASL, because she's a coda. she acts as a bridge between steve and the culture he was depraved of as a kid, teaching him Sign and inviting him to dinners with her family and just in general, being a really big source of comfort to him. he meets her girlfriend nancy, who is hearing but has a younger brother who's hoh. mikes been tutored by mr. buckley his whole life, which is how his family and robins met. they all have connections to Deaf culture in their own respects, and that's what makes the trio so close.

years go by, mike graduates, and steve decides to get a college degree in teaching, because after meeting mikes friends, he realizes he's good with young people. he graduates college and starts teaching at a high school in a nearby, much larger city. rumors immediately start flying about this young, brand new, super attractive teacher who not only teaches a Deaf/hoh class, but also teaches ASL at nights for anyone who's eager to learn.

enter eddie munson, the larger than life, unconventional, very gay music teacher at the same high school as steve. eddie's uncle is hard of hearing, but the two of them never bothered to learn ASL until now, since waynes hearing is getting significantly worse and he knows it'll likely be gone before the next year is up. so he and eddie decide to join steve's night class.

and eddie not only recognizes this dashing new teacher, but also decides right off the bat that he's cool enough, and also quite pretty. as soon as eddie's mastered introducing himself and making small talk, he worms his way into steve's space and decides they're going to be friends.

they bond over a lot. bad childhoods, the teaching life, and, toeveryones shock, their shared love of metal music. eddies always been a huge metalhead, and steve really likes how expressive it is, and that no matter where it's playing, he can still experience it because it's loud and imposing by nature. on weekends, they start looking for local shows to go to, which turns into steve using it as an excuse to drill eddie on the different signs he's been learning when he hears the sorresponding words during the songs. which then turns into eddie looking up on google in his spare time how to translate different songs into ASL so he can impress steve.

and steve is impressed by the vigor of his coworker/student/friend. he tells robin and nancy about eddie, and the two of them are cautiously optimistic, because yes, it's clear that eddie cares about being invested in steves world and native language. but they're also worried that eddie's only learning as rigorously as he has so he can take advantage of steve in some way. but then they meet eddie for the first time and are immediately enamored by him, by this charming, loud, and really sweet guy who is the exact opposite of steve in several ways.

then let's say prom rolls around. steve is on a committee with miss cunningham, one of his students and the special ed teacher at their school, to come up with managing the accessibility for the event. eddie is on a committee with mr argyle, the art teacher, to curate and dj the playlist for the event. all the happy couples get there, everything is going according to plan, and then while it's argyles turn to dj, eddie asks steve to dance. and frankly, who is steve to refuse eddie a dance? even though he can't hear what they're dancing to, he lets eddie take the lead. they both have a good dance.

and by the end of the night, both are feeling decently optimistic about next monday. unbeknownst to them, the students of both their classes are absolutely buzzing with gossip. "mr munson?? with mr HARRINGTON??? DANCING CLOSELY TOGETHER AND HAVING A GOOD TIME????" and this is the last thing any of them expects, but a few weeks after the dance, the rumors of them dating/liking each other die down.

and then they don't. because eddie and steve actually DO start dating. they go on double dates with robin and nancy, go to oodles more concerts together, go pretty much anywhere they can that doesn't tax their budgets or their schedules.

robin and nancy get married. they have the ceremony with an interpreter, and eddie and steve go as each other's dates. it gets them both thinking about marriage, moving in, doing real adult shit with one another other than dates and banging. for many many months, they've been decided that they want to be married, but they're both too chicken to make a move.

until eddie does. and at this point eddies so fluent in ASL that it's basically his second language. sometimes steves students hang out in his classroom during the lunch hour just because they know they can talk to him (and because he's outrageously cooler than their polo-wearing, black coffee drinking, teacher). so they're definitely on board with the idea that eddie and steve are made to be together forever.

it's after a school trip that eddie proposes. he can't very well sign with a ring in his hands, but he still gets down on one knee, right in the middle of the museum with a bunch of obnoxious highschoolers surrounding them, and it's not anything insanely cliché but it's the most romantic thing that's ever been done for steve, and the most romantic thing eddies done at all. he doesn't use simcom, so only steve knows the specifics of what eddie says to him, but all the students can guess what's happening.

in a similar fashion to robin and nancy, steve and eddie have a deaf accessible wedding. they say their vows in Sign. they dance barefoot when the time comes for it, so steve can feel the music while he's being led by eddie. at the end of the evening, they, robin, and nancy ditch for fast food. I imagine their honeymoon was spent somewhere quiet, near enough to a concert venue if the two decided they want to go to a rock show. they definitely do

[be-gone-procrastination]

“i think sign language should be taught in every school” is not the hot take you think it is. 

firstly, we’ll get the obvious thing out of the way: there is no “sign language”; there are hundreds of sign languages and having a school curriculum decide which language/dialect you should learn is.... problematic. you cannot separate culture from language. for example in an american school would it be right to make all students learn ASL, taking away BASL from black students, all the varieties of PISL from native american students, and any foreign sign language from students with Deaf family overseas? 

second, every school? every- are you sure about that??? let’s take new zealand for example, there are ~2,500 schools here, and ~4,600 d/Deaf people, only 3000-4000 of which are fluent in nzsl. (i’m not gonna explain to you why it should only be taught by Deaf people cause you can do your own research.) for it to be taught in every school, every single Deaf person in NZ would have to desperately want to teach teenagers their ABCs (assuming they are all qualified, as plenty are failed by audist education systems) and there would only be one (and a half) teacher for each school. 

thirdly, sorry to say this but i don’t think that high school would be a good learning environment when it comes to signed languages. most schools have a mandatory 1-2 years of a “foreign” language, heaps of students pick the one they hate the least, then crack jokes to pass the time. imagine the most ignorant twelve year olds sitting in a class where they are asked not only to treat Deaf culture with respect and an open-mind, but they are also not allowed to speak for the entire lesson. 

now of course i understand the sentiment. there are tonnes of d/Deaf and HoH kids in mainstream schools who lack social connections and even full educations because noone else knows how to sign, so there definitely is a need for more people (students and teachers) to learn the language. and teaching them should not be the responsibility of the d/Deaf or HoH individual themselves. but.... there must be other ways it could be taught/learned. 

so why dont you stop commenting that same sentence every time you see a hint of sign language online, and help brainstorm ways to solve this issue. AND LEARN IT YOUR DAMN SELF.

(I am not Deaf, I am not speaking on behalf of Deaf people, and any alternative opinions Deaf people may have on this subject are more valid than mine, as their experiences give them a stronger basis for their argument - please share your thoughts below)

[wheelie-sick]

I’m a little bit shy so I hope elaborating on the “are APD/VDP sensory disabilities” via asks is okay! I agree with what snailsthoughts said in the replies, although I have APD and autism-related issues instead of SPD! I guess I’d also add that I have sensory loss in the form of congenital anosmia, and given how hard it is to find an anosmic community, I’d welcome anyone with permanent (or at least semi-permanent) difficulties with smell, regardless of what it’s legally classified as - the community’s (to me) just as important. So in my eyes, even if (for example) APD is a sensory disability, there is every right to not welcome someone with APD who’s audist and/or refusing to learn/engage with Deaf history and culture, etc.

thank you for your thoughts! /genuine

[hollandorks]

Watch me overshare my chaos lol 😂 Context: I’m a university student and one of my minors in disability studies. Also, I’m disabled (I promise that’s important). I have a class called “Disability Studies” for my minor and, somehow, it is the most ableist class I have ever been in in my entire academic life. The main drama, though this is one of many, is that I have this project that is ethically grey at best and mildly ableist at best (due to, what I call, the dehumanization through spectacle, or what is in fewer words termed “enfreakment”, wherein other people become so focused on a person’s disability that they forget that they’re a person, but also because a lack of freely given consent from other people involved, which is never cool). I communicated my concerns in class, as the badass disabled woman I am (Barbara Gordon and I would be BFFs, I like to think), and one of my able-bodied classmates (they identified as such themselves) dismissed them saying I was overreacting, before then saying more ableist (or, more accurately, audist) stuff. Anyways, the project’s a group project, groups got released, turns out I’m partners with him. That’s great for HIM, who could absolutely benefit and learn by working with someone disabled but not so much for me, who is the disabled person he dismissed. This, among other things that happened in the class, led me to the conclusion that I’m not being treated like other students, but more so being treated as a learning opportunities for my other classmates to observe, which is not great. So I had to email a bunch of people so I could basically refuse to do any other work for the class that clearly doesn’t deserve my time.

The ball gown is because my university was holding a gala the weekend after all that (which was yesterday). It had good food, but I definitely see why Bruce Wayne doesn’t like galas. Even more since he has Alfred and Dory, who could probably cook laps around the caterers last night.

ON TO THE REVIEW—

Of course the reader would gaslight themselves into believing they were wrong! Other than the dramatic tension that comes from them not knowing, it also just makes sense from a psychological standpoint. Like, Marie died. Right in front of them. After they promised they wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Their world is being turned upside down and inside out, so believing Bruce isn’t Batman probably gives them some sort of desperate stability they’re trying to cling onto. They would probably want to believe in this one thing that just makes sense for them since nothing else does.

That comment though? That the Batman would probably be more like them, economically speaking? The angst that would come out of realizing they’re wrong would be insane. Like they’re not wrong because the Batman IS like them! Just not in the way they think. They’re alike in basically every OTHER way than economically.

I think 🦇 anon (correct me if I’m wrong) said something about how Gordon must’ve thought “oh shit there are two of them” but this chapter made me go HOW ABOUT ALFRED? Alfred apparently gave the reader a week off and they were like “nah” and continued on their merry way, working—just like Bruce. Alfred MUST know what’s going on because Bruce is probably just a wreck and telling him because Alfred isn’t gonna believe any lie the reader says. If Bruce hasn’t told him, he probably figured out, watching the two absolute messes of humanity waltzing in through their separate entrances at basically the same time, both injured. He’s smart and he’d know that it can’t be any sort of coincidence. I see now why Alfred would absolutely meddle, other than wanting his OTP to come true and stop beating around the bush, but also because now there are TWO of them. If they’re together, he may hope, they might care about each other to be less of a mess together (the messes will cancel themselves out). In which case, it’d probably be a 50/50 chance, depending on the state of crime in Gotham. Poor Alfred. Love him.

The EARPIECE MOMENT was adorable. Cool serious Batman getting all flustered because his crush insinuated something that would be pretty embarrassing for him. Also Bruce is not as good as a liar as he thinks he is. “Do I know you?” He stands totally-not-suspiciously-still in response “No”. The reader is getting close because the man’s a lil sloppy. I mean I can’t blame him. He’s too busy rocking out to Fall Out Boy to think about the make up around his eyes, getting home visibly injured in ways that only the Batman would be injured, saying the exact same words he said to the reader as Bruce Wayne as Batman. Too busy with angst and self-blaming. I love him though—the cute little angsty puppy he is.

The Batman’s POV, or, as I like to call it, The Bangstman’s POV. All the angst. The self-blaming, the brooding.

The JEALOUSY.

I live off of it a little bit. Though I did have that question last chapter of “what the hell are they gonna do if the reader has to sleep with someone/go into a room”. I still have it. Would Bruce let her do it? Would the jealousy overcome him and make him step in and ruin the entire plan? Would the reader go through with it—probably, with how determined they are. Would the reader actually sleep with them or would they kick their ass and hope for the best? Would you do that to us or would there be a deus ex machina of someone stepping in and being like “we don’t have time, just drug her”? Soooo many questions and I know it’ll be resolved soon but ahhhhh

Also I hope Lena doesn’t end up being Marie 2.0 that would suck. I mean I doubt it because it has to be the reader’s turn, so even if Lena got the opportunity, the reader would probably just swipe it. But still you never know. I also wonder what she has to say about the whole situation.

⌨️

That whole ableism thing in a disability studies class: y i k e s! Hopefully administration etc that you emailed actually listen to you and make changes vs blowing you off (which is a total possibility because, from my experience, college administration is just....trash across the board when it comes to these things). How cool about the gala though!! Because you mentioned it, tiny spoiler: there is a gala in this fic! That's all I'm going to say though.

As someone who gaslights themselves, I definitely added some personal experience into writing the reader do it to herself. And yes the economic differences!! I was really inspired by the movie, specifically the scene where Selina scoffs at him and is like obviously you grew up rich.

Poor Alfred keeps adopting these disastrous orphans who can't take care of themselves. I like to think (I phrase it this way because I haven't actually written a scene like this) that Bruce and Alfred talk behind the reader's back constantly. Partially because Alfred figures stuff out but partially because Bruce freaks out over everything.

Bruce Wayne is definitely not as smart as he thinks he is. How is she figuring it out?! Well, maybe it's because you're dumb and keep showing up injured in ways Batman get injured and/ or saying the exact same things as both Bruce & Batman....like hmmm, that might be how she's starting to figure it out.

Playing with his angst and jealousy has been so fun. Poor Bruce. He really goes through it with all of this.

Thanks as usual for the amazing feedback!! Can't wait to continue hearing your thoughts on future chapters! Also sorry if absolutely none of this makes sense, I'm not smart enough to make coherent thoughts and avoid spoilers 💀

[deafangelsblog]

Story Of My Life

A premature deaf daughter born early in the complicated, complex, cruel, ugly and yet beautiful world.

Deaf daughter was born with little brain damaged that has impact in every apects in her life. Learning, memory, and etc.

The doctor told my parents that I need to Stayed at INCU for long while until I grew little bigger and heathy. They Released me to my parents.

Poor parents dealt with my colic for six months. They tried their best to raise me and take care of me.

Life is roller coaster like gamble a dice to decide what menus to throw on me as roulette game.

You may know my cover of my book but you don’t know the story of the cards that I dealt with life has thrown on me.

Doctors told parents that I cant ride a bike but Learned how to ski that proved doctor wrong.

See how I grew, learned and thrive.

I struggles with my mind and heart of a lot of times. i have wrestled with my inner demons.  hard on myself for wanting to be good at anything.

I have overcome obstacles and faced challenges that shapes me who I am today and evolving to be better than yesterdays.

You judge me, reject me, exclude me, pity, underminate and doubt me cause I am indifferent.

I cried with frustrations a lot of time but I wipes my tears to keep going in life of proving more people wrongs.

Ive been in depression for years battling with my heart and mind everyday by ablest and audist society is a burden.

Struggles of doubting and undermine myself if that I am good enough for people or anything.

I used to believe that havin disabilities might be a cruse or blessing, neither. Whether its a medical conditions or god made. coindence, perhaps.

I am good enough. I am worthy. I am loved so are you. you are not alone.

Not every disability is visible. don't judge a disability by its visibility.

there is ability in every disability.

embrace every flaws, mistakes, faults, and etc that make us human. that's ok. we're not perfect. we all have stories that cards that we dealt with.