Valentine’s Special: 5 reasons you should date a deaf person! By Teresa Garratty

Despite the fact that it is snowing in some places we are well into February, the month of commercial love, aka Valentines Day.

It’s the time of year when couples get each other ridiculously over priced cards (if they remember, if not, they get separated) and single people feel even more desperate in their quest for true love…whatever the hell that is!

I can imagine that dating as a deafie is a bit of a struggle. How can a deaf person survive the dating world when it’s full of hearies? Not only that, totally deaf unaware ones too! It could be your first date and you might be the only deaf person they’ve ever met!

Total nightmare.

To make matters worse, us deafies are seriously outnumbered by the hearies (as always), so we probably get overlooked on whatever soul-crushing dating app you’re using.

Even though we’re used to that sort of thing, it ain’t right I tells ya! So to help the course of true love run a little bit smoother, here’s a “top 5” list to share far and wide on why it’s really good to be dating a deaf person!

1. First things first, lets get the obvious out the way. We are of course ALL incredibly good looking and talented. It’s a scientific fact…probably…not.

2. When dating a deafie you don’t have to worry about snoring as much. You can probably snore your head off and follow with some bongo practice (not a euphemism) and we still wouldn’t wake up!

3. If both of you are lucky enough to know sign language you can have lewd conversations/awkward arguments pretty much anywhere you like. Just be warned that you never know when other sign language users might be about. There always seems to be a lack of sign language in the world until you want to us it to have a private conversation in public!

4. On the other hand, if you’re a hearie that’s completely new to the deaf world, dating a deafie means you’re about to experience a whole new culture complete with a bunch of new friends! What’s not to love?!

5. And finally, let’s not forget that just because we’re deaf that doesn’t mean we’re terrible conversationalists. In fact, I think you’ll find that a lot of us are darn good listeners!

If this little list in anyway helps you find the love of your dreams, then don’t forget to invite me to the wedding (just the reception, not the boring bit.)

And if it doesn’t, there’s always pancake day this month too!

Read more of Teresa’s posts (with cartoons!) by clicking here.

Teresa is a freelance film maker, photographer and full time cynic. At school, she was voted “Most likely to end up in a lunatic asylum”, a fate which has thus far been avoided. Her pet hates are telephones, intercoms and all living things. Follow her on Twitter as @TGarratty