Blake Nelson

I would say my personal identity certainly revolves around my hearing loss. Since I was born, my hearing loss has affected how I interact with peers and how I learn in a traditional setting. Part of this transformation was the learning of American Sign Language and then learning to speak English (despite advice from counselors). It's because of this bounce around with languages that I often stumble over words. This contradiction over grammar structure and syntax in writing and speech continues to this day despite losing the ability to use ASL.

 

In Elementary School, I continued to recieve special education similar to the ELL pullout program. It was here that I developed a sense of self-esteem, but I still developed an us vs. them mentality which would prove to add to my cynicism of deaf culture. I refused to identify myself by my disability and outright refused to adknowledge it at times. This was the biggest mistake of my life. I learned not to love my fellow man, but to segregate over something as stupid as a hearing loss. That is, until I joined band.

 

It was band where I was able to use my hearing in a proactive way rather than in a passive way. I went from being forced to read lips to hearing music in a way I never thought I could. Music gave me the ability to use something that I thought was gone: my ears. For that, I credit band for changing my life for the better. Thanks to band, I was able to come to terms with my disability and develop empathy for all people, not just people with my background (except for flute players, flute players are evil).