Writings about Ataxia, being DeafBlind, family life. The best life can offer!


How Deaf am I?

Hey ya all!

I just want to tell you how deaf I am!

I can “Hear” if someone is talking, but what they say I can’t understand.

I can “Hear” my wife yelling, and often attribute it to anger.  But what she is yelling, is lost on me.

I can “Hear” my kids talking, but again, what they are saying is beyond my ability to know.

I can’t even tell which one is talking, if Boy 1 is on Left and Boy 2 on Right, I still can’t tell who is talking.

I am not at the least bit sad about this; it is me!  I can’t change me just as a leopard can’t change its spots!

I can hear, or so I thought, my dog barking at the door!  Tuesday morning I was blogging and so forth, yet was constantly annoyed that my Maltese cross Shih Tzu was always barking at the front door!  Finally I had enough of his barkery, I turned to scold him… sleeping on the La-Z-Boy!  Hmm!  Who was barking?  I know we only had one dog, and I couldn’t hear the TV, so what was Barking?  I sat down at my laptop and pondered, and added to the blog I was working on.  Bark Bark!  There it was again!  What?  Then I picked up the mouse, and moved the cursor, Bark Bark!  Ahh!  Case solved!  I had my ZoomText Reader on!  And it was Barking at me everything!  I got it!

Usually I turn this feature off, but apparently I had so much to do Tuesday morning that I had forgotten to do that!

Have yourself a great day!

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About the author

Craig MacLean is DeafBlind with ataxia, a rare condition called CAPOS. He & his wife of 22 years have two sons, the oldest of which has CAPOS as well.

Craig uses American Sign Language to communicate. He is an avid writer, friend, Hot Wheel collector and intervenor advocate.

Craig sits on many committees, boards and associations as a DeafBlind rep. He graduated university with a BA in psychology in 2000.