Haven't you been listening to a word we have both been telling you!?!?!?!
Well, basically, both of us always tell you all how nervous we get in social situations and how crap it makes us feel - in class especially and how group discussions with other students is too hard for us. We don’t have four eyes and cannot lipread a whole class at once! We just end up sitting there and daydreaming.
I was not in on friday and Imogen text me that it was ‘Salad day.' Why the heck is it called 'salad'? <— I didn’t even know it was on anyway. She told me something that we have both always warned everyone about and it still became an issue?
Do know this day is so bad for deaf students? It is so unfair for us. Doesn’t anyone care about people in the LNC? It not just about deaf people, I mean, what about Jim L? He can’t even speak!? Yeah, don’t worry, we are all used to it.
Then everyone goes and tells Imogen to go to class when she doesn’t know anyone in child development and you all say “Oh it will be okay ‘cos you have your LSA with you so you won’t be alone” BUT ITS NOT ALL ABOUT HAVING A LSA! LSA’S MAKE THE WHOLE SITUATION WORSE? DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!? Having an adult with you makes everything more awkward as you have someone there watching and listening to all your conversations. Most people will avoid us as there is an adult there. WE ARE TEENAGERS! We shouldn’t have to feel embarrassed or alone? Yeah we love them, our LSA’s are lovely but we just don’t get a chance to be ‘normal’ or feel calm or able to be comfortable in our own skin.
* The one thing that really bugged me, was that you were too 'busy' to actually deal with the situation properly. So you send her off to sit in N9. If you didn't have to do so much, situations like this would be dealt with calmly, sensibly and maybe next time something like this happens, you would know how to deal with in the future more quickly. *
Also, when someone we don’t know asks us a question sometimes we can’t hear them, then it makes you go all hot and you panic because your not sure what they said, then you panic more because you need to find an answer.. THEN, you get even more panicky because the answer might not be right, then your afraid that people will judge you. So we’d rather just skip the whole thing than feel so uncomfortable all day.
This is one of our most biggest issues! Do you not you know how embarrassing it is? Don’t you realise that if both of us went to class and had to sit there listening to a bunch of crap all day and having to pretend to know what is going on? How left out we would feel? It feels like being a shadow all day, just fading into the background and no one cares and most importantly no one even bothers to realise. This is too hard to explain.
I know it’s none of my business, but if Imogen won’t speak up, I will.
How. many. times. have we told you all!?? Seriously.
We appreciate you trying to do as much as you can to help, its just that we don’t think any one actually listens or does anything about it. We are just wasting our time explaining it all to people really.
Ms. Delaney was apparently the ONLY person to understand how Imogen felt today and said it was unfair. Obviously she knows how we feel as she is deaf herself - shows it all really doesn’t it?
No deaf student should be put through this misery. I feel sorry for anyone coming to this school next year.
Sorry for the “Essay” we just made you read. URRGGHHH.
