Deaf Backpackers Travel - Deafying Stereotypes

Deaf News: How can you survive in this world if you don’t know how to communicate or drive? Deaf people can do anything, except hear!

Two Scots Abroad - These are the most common questions we get asked throughout our lives. So, you can imagine how people react initially when they find out that we wanted to travel.



“Isn’t it too dangerous for you to travel?” Our parents’ utmost fears. They feared that since we aren’t capable of hearing certain surroundings, that there may be a risk to our lives. For instance, they feared that we wouldn’t be able to hear oncoming speeding cars.



The truth is: Deaf people can do anything, except hear. What people tend to forget or may not realise is that although we cannot hear, our other senses are heightened. We naturally developed other senses more strongly - in particular, our vision. We develop skills such as reading lips, facial expressions and body language.



However, we put off travel for a long time because of the fears that society and the media instil into our conscious. One day, we both decided to face that challenge and prove to others that Deaf people are capable of travel. Thus, our blog, Deafinitely Wanderlust, was born.



Through our adventure, we conquered not only the language barriers but communication barriers as well. In comparison to Hearing people, we naturally picked up their local gestures faster because our voices are our hands. We can also distinguish through body language when locals are nervous, annoyed or even lying... See more with photos: http://twoscotsabroad.com/deafying-stereotypes-deaf-travel



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What It's Like To Be A Deaf Novelist

Deaf News - ‘Sometimes I turn off my hearing aids and dip below the surface of the sound.’ Sara Nović explains the challenges of being a Deaf author and why deafness is still used as a synonym for stupidity.

The Guardian - Sara Nović's first novel has recently become an audiobook to which I will not listen. The characters have been assigned voices and accents and inflections that I’ll never hear. This is not a complaint, exactly; to have written a book that someone wants to publish in any and all formats is a writer’s dream. But to hold some disc or drive that contains a thing I made, transformed into a new thing I can no longer understand, is a predicament in which few writers find themselves.



This disconnect will appear with increasing frequency as I embark on a series of literary events following the launch of my novel. As an audience member I have been to my share of readings in New York. I go because I am in love with books; I go to be with my friends. But even as a spectator they require a lot of concentration, and sometimes when I’ve worked myself into a cross-eyed headache I turn off my hearing aids and dip below the surface of the sound, let myself drift in the quiet. At my own events I won’t have the choice to opt out.



So far I have read in public only three times, each distressing in the regular ways (an audience!), with the added terror of exposing an increasingly unknowable part of myself – my voice. I can feel my words in my chest and mouth, but can’t be sure of what they sound like out in the world. As far as I’m concerned my voice has no echo; it does not stick to the tape recording. What does it mean to perform for an audience with such limited control of your output?



Books have always provided me with a sense of solace and companionship when I found the hearing world overwhelming. Growing up I filled notebooks with the things I was afraid to say aloud. Libraries, too, seem designed for me – a place where one isn’t supposed to talk, equality under the rule of silence... Read More: theguardian.com/books/2015/may/23/what-its-like-to-be-a-deaf-novelist