The unforgivable deficiency.
It’s fairly safe to say that those that are blind are, by and large, given a great deal of consideration, some may call it sympathy, I like to think of it as consideration, for their disability and they are also shown a great deal of respect because of the tenacity they show in living their lives to the fullest; and it’s also safe in saying that there isn’t a soul alive who envies their plight and would swap places willingly.
Blindness you see is a very visable affliction!
That being said brings me to the subject matter of this essay which for want of something better I’ve called the unforgivable deficency. Loss of hearing and deafness. A subject that unfortunately I am becoming increasingly familiar with, I had held out hope for many years that I would be fortunate enough to avoid this plight that afflicted my father and both his parents, the three of them all eventully suffered a 100% hearing loss and became completely deaf.
So far I’ve been lucky, when first tested at the insistence of my wife a few years ago, (she’d got a bit fed up having to keep repeating herself when speaking to me) my loss was just under the 70% the last time it was over the 70% mark, the time span was perhaps 2 years. I’m due for another test, two months ago, as usual I forgot all about it. 🙄
Trouble is deafness is unseen; it is immediately apparent when encountering a blind person that they are blind and consequently appropriate action and consideration comes into play; but with deafness or severe hearing loss there is no indication of this disabilty/deficency on display and you, the sufferer, are looked upon as being rude when you ask again and again for a repeat of what was said; eventually you are ommitted from the conversation altogether as it’s too annoying for the other party/ies having to keep repeating what is said, and then you are suddenly not there at all.
People don’t mean to be rude or uncaring, it’s seems that there is a certain degree of fear in the approach to somebody who cannot hear properly or at all, it’s the loss of the power of communication I suppose.
Anyway I’m living with my deficency, and at times welcome the solitude but what I cannot abide is the tinnitus, which comes and goes but as my hearing gradually fades is becoming more frequent; it never seems so great during the daytime, it’s during the night it becomes a big problem, I awaken after perhaps two or three hours sleep with a miilion cicadas singing in my ears and there is nothing I can do to silence them. Unlike the cicadas in the trees that seem to strike up their cacophonic singing in concert as if Toscanini himself brought down his baton and cease just as suddenly my cicadas just keep up their song.
At 01.30 today I awoke to their song in my ear, for two hours I listened to them and then dozed and slept fitfully until I gave up and got up at 06.30, they are still singing but thankfully just gently in my ear now and it’s nigh on 10.30 hours on this not too fine Australia Day morning.
I feel somewhat debilitated! 😥
LordBeariOfBow 
I too have a certain amount of hearing loss. My father and grandmother suffered from it also. I was told when i was 11 yrs old that it was genetic. So as I age it is getting worse. I am lucky I don’t have the noises. But I do have fools who think I can’t hear them, Or will say they told me something, I just didn’t hear it. So my dear friend, you have my sympathy, I fear if I live long enough I will face the same challenge.
LikeLike
There are some who think that it’s a pretend thing and is just another sign of ignorance however I wouldn’t wish the affliction on anybody
LikeLike
An eloquent post, Brian. Also sad. It takes a huge dose of empathy and relational savvy, I’m guessing, for many of us to slow down and connect with our hard of hearing or deaf friends and neighbors. It also takes an uncommon amount of ‘common’ sense and discipline to resist talking down to them as though they were children. You wrote this in January 2015. I wonder how things are (percentage-wise) today? And whether any solution to tinnitus has been found–the kind you’ve experienced. I almost wish you could enjoy our true cicada concerts with their ebb and flow!
Elouise 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you Elouise; I thought it a pity, that only two of the people who follow my posts, had acknowledged it with the ‘tick’ for like; and the only reply I received, was from a lady in Kentucky who is my longest continual Internet chum, from the last century, when it first started. Her name is Lisa, she does not have a weblog site.
Did any of my other followers read this and decline to comment; thereby acknowledging the truth in the statement made? I don’t know. It’s possible. which you see, only confirms what I said,
I’d hoped that some may have re-blogged the post to get the message out to the non sufferers, but it was not to be, which makes it doubly sad for me.
Thank you too, for the compliment, In 80 years I do believe that’s the first time anything I’ve written or said has been called eloquent. I almost blushed. 🙂 🐻
LikeLike