ever wish you were deaf?

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I depend on music for most of my social life and my special interests, and I'd hate to lose the sound of human voices in conversation with me. Sound pollution does impact badly on the quality of my life, but not as much as losing all that music and conversation would. A volume control or mute switch would be ideal. It might be OK if I were partially deaf (hearing sensitivity say 20db below normal, flat across the whole audio spectrum)....then a relatively simple hearing aid would give me that volume control. But the earpieces would have to be ultra-comfortable. The earplugs I've tried are too uncomfortable.

I wish I had a hearing aid, and when an obnoxious toddler is screaming and shouting, I can take the hearing aids out and then I would be able to sit calmly and happily whilst the whole bus/restaurant/shop is being drowned out by the horrible din of this one brat.

Everything is too loud and I also have CAPD so I can barely register voices as it is. I might as well be deaf in that sense. Subtitles wouldn't bother me because I already use them.

I wish you could close off your ears like shutting your eyelids. It would be great to just turn off sound sometimes, I can only think of one occasion were I've 'heard' silence (walking on the moors), it was a eerie but very calming. It's easy to forget how much noise pollution there is even when your not in a crowded place.

I spent some time among the hearing impaired community. They were very big on self reliance, advocacy and such. But I never met a single one that thought being deaf was a gift.

Glad to know I’m not the only one who turns the subtitles on because of auditory processing disorder. If I watch a DVD without subtitles, I’ll miss at least 30% of what’s being said. I’ve also fantasized about being hard of hearing and in need of a hearing aid, so that I could hear when I needed to but could take the aid out when I didn’t.

From my sign languge book, as well as other things I have studied and read, Deaf people consider it a way of life and not a disiblilty. They have their own culture.

I have never seriously wished I were deaf but there are aspects of their culture that I envy. I envy how close their cummunity is. One of the reasons (there are others) that I have a hard time in my sign language class is that many signs include touching your body. You will have to look at books or sites like ASLPro for the movements but the signs for happy, fun, funny, fine, and many others include touching your body. I find even touching myself tiring.

But I remind myself how I would feel if I couldn't hear my family's voices again or other people that I know and consider friend's voices again. It is the voices themselves that I would miss because communication is in many ways that are not verbal.

I once started learning British Sign Language, for interest, but no I wouldn't want to be deaf. However I would like to have a remote control that allowed me to turn the volume of the world down.

As another person with hypersensitive hearing, there just isn't a good way to block out the intrusion that inhabits my head without my permission. It would just be good to have boundaries.

I am severe sensitivites to noise. Many sounds make me plug my ears, hurt me, make me cringe, etc. That being said, I still don't know if I would want to be deaf. There are lots of other noises out there that I crave or that put me at ease. I love the sound of waves, of a running stream, of leaves rustling in the air, etc. I think I would be sad if I could not hear those things again.

Every time I say ''I wish I was deaf'' to my mum (or other close NTs), they always yell at me, ''oh don't be so STUPID!'' or ''stop saying such strange things!'' Sometimes I don't always mean it, but I just say it angrily when I hate the sound of most things.

I think it isn't so much wishing to be deaf as it is wishing others would control their output. Rules of social interaction, public interaction, interaction between neighbors...INCLUDE not disturbing the PEACE. This particular rule gets violated repeatedly, though, and on the premise that 'the peace isn't being disturbed, YOU'RE just too sensitive...' ('what's the matter - don't you like kids/dogs/parakeets?', 'how do you expect me to properly maintain my yard if I don't use a leaf-blower 4 or 5 times a week?', etc.). Guess that's one way for rule violaters to help themselves justify corrupting (by their wants/preferences being given precedence over others' needs) what is really a MORAL IMPERATIVE. Diminishing one's own contribution to noise pollution (rather than redefining what constitutes 'pollution' or insisting on it being a necessity) is one of the acts consciously performed by those with a 'citizen' mentality who recognize that what they do impacts others (sometimes negatively) and seek to alleviate any impositions they may create/cause. Adding to the noise pollution definitely seems more of an individualistic statement: 'Hey, I'm here! I'm still here! I'm busy being busy! And I have the right to! All of us should!'

Also, wanted to point out that 'deafness is a way of life, not a disability' (a stance taken by many of the Deaf) has much truth on several levels. But, though deafness may not be categorized/defined as a disability, the concept of LIMITATIONS enter the picture when involving the non-Deaf. Certain measures must be taken for successful interactions between Deaf/deaf and the non-deaf and, often, the non-deaf end up defining the Deaf/deaf in terms that are much more relevant to those with 'normal' hearing (doesn't hear 'too little' nor 'too much').

...The same could be said about Asperger's/Autism. In a certain perspective, Asperger's might not be categorized/defined as a disability but, enter some non-compatible NT standards/expectations, and conflicts arise (labeled as 'limitations' BY THOSE INFLICTING THE INJURIOUS ACTIONS/BEHAVIORS [AS EXPERIENCED BY THOSE WHO'RE SUFFERING/MAY SUFFER AS A RESULT] - i.e. 'it's just cuz the deaf can't hear us...let's label them as disabled' or ' it's just that Aspies are too twitchy/hear 'too well'...'let's list the common aspie factors and count them as symptomology' ... 'not my fault there's something wrong with them...I'm not required to be trained for handling those with handicaps'...) by those who hope their preferences are what persevere. How those conflicts become resolved by the humans causing them (and who, specifically, causes them is a question that doesn't often get an accurate answer) and by the humans experiencing the (perceived) negativities of the conflicts (do our silent ways hurt them worse/more frequently than their noisy/noise-some ways hurt us --is it harder for us to work around their racket than for them to invest in not making racket? etc.) ...how those conflicts become 'resolved' shows immense disproportionate and systematic inequities. For instance, having a formal noise ordinance is of little consolation when it's rarely enforced by a lethargic policing entity.

But, going deaf isn't truly a credible option for dealing with others' clamoring. At least, I sincerely hope not.

Kids in school see it all the time. If others aren't making fun of you (making life hard in some way or another) for one thing, it'll be another. What's being made fun of -what's being CAPITALIZED on- though, isn't necessarily a 'wrong' condition of the recipient being mocked. More quiet, more verbal/noise tranquility is our right. Wanting it, fighting for it, indicating that we don't live well without it is NOT a weakness. It's not a disability (in/of itself). It's not something that's to be periodically 'granted' to us, depending on the giver's whim. ...I sure hope I don't arrive at some point in my own life and have to say (even if just to myself) 'the noisemakers' win. 'They' don't care about quiet and so I'll never get to have quiet in my life, in the way/at the times I need it. Truly dismal... but, in the end, no...I don't wish for deafness.

I couldn't live without music, I'd rather die than be deaf.

I don't wish I was deaf. I enjoy my music too much.

When I was a baby, my grandpa thought I was deaf cuz I never responded to him when he called out for me but it was my grandma who told him "she's not deaf, she's just ignoring you."

Yeah, some NTs will go nuts if you express that kind of thing in front of them. Some non-NTs, too, but mostly non-disabled people. It's like they can't ever seen anything good about having any disability, ever, at all, so if you say something like, "It would be interesting to be deaf," then they'll look at you horrified like you just said it would be interesting to eat a baby or something. It's when they've got the pity/tragedy idea in their heads about disability, like if you're disabled then that means you sit around feeling sorry for yourself and being utterly incapable of doing anything for yourself at all, so of course they look at you funny when you say something neutral or even positive about a disability.

I once mentioned to a friend that I thought wheelchair dancing was cool, and he went, "Yeah, but you'd have to be crippled to do it," like that was the worst thing in the world and it was just utterly obvious that you wouldn't want it. (He was also wrong about needing to be "crippled". You can use a wheelchair even if you can walk, or you can partner up with somebody who does; "mixed" couples add a whole new dimension.)

I think those NT friends of yours are just scared of the idea of being disabled. There are NTs who literally think they would rather die than acquire a disability. Seriously. Of course once people do become disabled, they adjust and go on with their lives, but this idea that it's the worst thing EVER to happen to anybody is still pretty prevalent.

i am Profoundly deaf so i prefer quiet i hate loud noise all instead my sisters screaming talking loud i didnt like it so when i go bed i take hearing aids off helps me alot im very deep sleeper