How to be Deaf

After more than 40 years, living as a hearing woman in a hearing world, I woke up one day without sound. Being diagnosed as profoundly Deaf, I realised that I now lived in a world which I never knew existed. Suddenly, I was bullied, laughed at, put in the "too hard" file and abandoned by those I once proudly called "my friends." 

With my rights having been taken away by the government, being told that I was unteachable, unemployable, and then threatened with arrest for talking too loudly in public, I learned the meaning of Audism and Surdophobia. I also learned to stand up and be proactive. 

This is the book I wish had been available to me when I first woke up to a world of silence. In a way, I've written it for my younger self as well as others who have lost or are losing their hearing. I share it in the hopes of softening the impact of such a hard transition. Going from hearing to Deaf really knocks the wind out of you, but not for the reasons you would expect.