Volume 1 (1999/2000)
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Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
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Volume 2 (2000/2001)
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Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
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Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)

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Silent World

Petra Madill
Holy Child CS, Sallynoggin

My name is Petra! I have been deaf for two years. I want to tell you about life for me without hearing.

Losing my hearing 'changed' me, it changed me for the better. I wasn't the nicest of people to know before I lost my hearing, but that's changed. I'm different now and my outlook on life has changed. I have never let my deafness get me down and I never will. I live my life to the full. Yeah, I know I'm quiet in school but, that's only in school.

I have similar interests to other young people - I watch TV, I play computer games, I surf the Internet and I collect things. I even still like music because I can hear it in my mind, other deaf people who could once hear would understand that, it's like having a jukebox in your head. I do go to the cinema but following certain types of films is very hard. Last July I went to see 'The Matrix' and it was such a complicated story I couldn't really follow it, but recently I went to see 'End of Days' and I could understand the story easily. Activities such as swimming, bowling and Q-Zar are tough because they rely on balance but I don't let that stop me.

Communication is hard at best because I can't lip-read that well yet and a lot of people get frustrated with me. A lot of people need to write a few things down for me. A few people like my cousins have learned the single-handed sign language, which is extremely helpful. I visit Internet chat-rooms where I have many friends and can chat normally, so the Internet is a great social point for me. The Department of Education and Science have loaned me a fantastic laptop. The Via-Voice device I was also given doesn't work very well, but the laptop is great as people can type things in and I can have a normal conversation again.
School is very difficult for me, as I can't make out what teachers are saying in class. I could easily miss an important point the teacher makes but, thankfully teachers often write stuff down for me. In addition my friend Charlene writes a lot of class-work down for me and I'm very grateful to her. I have to be VERY alert in class in case a teacher gives out important instructions I can't afford to miss, or if there is a fire drill. I also have to keep an eye on my watch and watch out for when the class starts to pack up or move so I know when it's the end of class. That in itself is very tiring. Also it is often necessary for me to revise a bit more than other pupils in case I missed something important in class.

Many people are helpful, despite their frustration, they try hard to communicate with me. I have a teletext TV so I can get subtitles for various programmes. I also have a video decoder that puts captions on captioned videos. My alarm clock is very helpful as it vibrates under my pillow to wake me up in the morning - although sometimes I accidentally sleep through it. The bell in my house has a special device that dims the lights when someone is at the door or, if the lights are off, the device turns them on when the bell rings. Even with all the help I have, being deaf is not easy. Although life for deaf people is difficult I am not bitter about losing my hearing, rather, I feel lucky that I got to hear. I had fourteen years of hearing and there are people who were born deaf and don't know what sound is like. However, I am worried about my future, career-wise. It will be extremely difficult but I've taken everything life has thrown at me so far so, I'll take that too. When I was a child and looked at my mum, who is deaf, I thought it was easy, I was so very, very wrong. It is a very silent world and it can get lonely at times.

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