Tharā Gabriel: Life as a hard of hearing person in Trinidad and Tobago – “Yuh Deaf Awah?”

If I tried to explain the underlying attitude toward deaf and hard of hearing people in Trinidad and Tobago these three words sum it up; “Yuh deaf awah?” which translates as ‘are you deaf or what?’

Imagine having a conversation in the schoolyard with a group of friends where you don’t catch something that was said. Then the speaker immediately asks in a condescending tone, “yuh deaf awah?” and everyone laughs because it’s a widely accepted joke. Everyone laughs, that is, except me. At that time my hearing was perfectly fine but I come from a hard of hearing family and I am nothing if not an advocate for vulnerable persons!

My decision to defend deaf people and condemn the taunting use of the term led to me becoming alienated from most friends at a young age. In their minds I was no fun and I couldn’t take a joke. They couldn’t understand why I was so defensive especially since I wasn’t deaf. They would snicker and make fun of the fact that my Mom wore two hearing aids and spoke louder than everyone else.

Looking back, it’s alarming to realise that not once in the 6 years I spent at primary school was there any reference made to the fact that there are deaf and hard of hearing people living in the world, far less for our tiny country.

To be clear, I am not deaf as such, I am hard of hearing and actually very proud of it. I make this distinction because in the beautiful twin isles of Trinidad and Tobago the slightest degree of hearing loss is considered “deaf” to hearing people.

As a young girl growing up with a Mom, Aunts, Uncles and cousins who are all hard of hearing I have been exposed to hearing loss for as long as I can remember. From age 3 – 9 I was aware of the subtle differences in my family communication made even more obvious when I started primary school. The ‘touch before speaking’, the exaggerated pronunciation, the lip-reading, the strange speech sounds and patterns and the volume; everything was 5 times as loud!

Yet while my friends had regular check-ups at the dentist or doctor’s office, for me there was always that extra check-up at the dreaded “DRETCHI”(Trinidad and Tobago Association for the Hearing Impaired.) There I would have to sit still and repeatedly listen to these annoying sounds for what seemed like forever. Cut to 20 years later I will say that I am extremely grateful to my mother for her persistence in tracking our aural health. Thanks Mummy!

I should note; I began losing my hearing around age 10. I grew up in a family of 9 with a hearing dad and 3 hearing sisters, in addition to 3 hard of hearing sisters and my Mom. Imagine the household dynamics!

In Trinidad and Tobago hearing loss is seen as a disability and in the early stages of discovery was often associated with being dumb even at the highest echelons of society. The handful of organisations that service our community and promote deaf empowerment have since tried to change this. Nevertheless, the types and degrees of hearing loss are largely misunderstood by the bulk of our society, which is who we interact with on day-to-day basis.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually met or communicated with another deaf or hard of hearing person. From time to time I see someone wearing a hearing aid but unless you’re within a deaf organisation or watching some special broadcast on tv, you won’t ever see sign language in the public sphere.

Our official sign language is TTSL or TSL (Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language or Trinbago Sign Language) but it is considered somewhat “endangered” by our linguistic academics. It’s history is interesting because it laid the foundation for how sign language and deafness are seen today.

In 1943 the first school for deaf children was founded; Cascade School for the Deaf. The purpose of the school was to equip deaf children with speech and lip-reading skills and signing was strictly forbidden. Signing was not allowed in the classroom and those caught trying to communicate with their hands were punished.

In the school dorms, however, they could communicate however they wanted and they preferred to sign. This is where TTSL was born. The children of this school created signs in secret and passed them on to future students subsequently creating our very own sign language.

TSL is heavily influenced by both ASL and BSL and share some of the same signs. Still, sign language is somewhat taboo to the hearing community. For the layperson, signing is still associated with being dumb and there are no interpreters in our hospitals, groceries, banks, pharmacies or any of the other places we frequent on a daily basis.

You might wonder “why is this relevant?” Well, as a hard of hearing person who never learned any sign language it leads me to another aspect of deaf culture in Trinidad and Tobago. There was a book that floated around our household called The Joy of Signing which two of my older hard of hearing sisters made it their business to read.

I always looked at it, thought it was cool and put it down. I learned the ASL alphabet, thank you, yes, and that was about it. What this means for me is that I’m somewhat alienated from the deaf community because I can’t sign and I don’t wear my hearing aids (for reasons I will share with you in my future articles.) But I am also alienated from the hearing community because well, I can’t hear everything either. In Trinidad and Tobago it’s really black and white; if you sign, you’re deaf and if you don’t, well you should be able to hear.

You’re probably thinking to yourself “well, why doesn’t she just learn sign language?” and you’re right to wonder. After all it seems like an issue I can easily rectify but for me there are a lot of factors at play.

First off I grew up watching my Mom operate like a rockstar without using any form of sign language, I’ve always figured I can do it to!

Secondly, as I mentioned before, I almost never interact with TSL speakers. In all my jobs over the years I have never even once met another hard of hearing person!

Thirdly, even if I chose to learn, a basic sign language course can set you back TTD$900. In a society where pay is not commensurate with qualifications, deaf people rarely occupy mainstream jobs, and the cost of food and living in general is constantly increasing…$900 is a lot of money. As we Trinis like to say, “is banga season, nobody ha money fuh dat!”

Trinidad and Tobago has many notable attributes but sadly deaf awareness and public sensitisation to deaf culture is not one of them. The last 50 years of  family experiences added to my personal observations, show that we still face the same problems everyday with deaf and hard of hearing people still being novelties instead of fully integrated members of society. It’s simply not our society. It may be a harsh assessment but this is my reality.

With all of that said, I like to refer to my hearing style as lip-reading and winging it! I’m very vocal about my hearing status and my needs as a hard of hearing person even though I basically exist between communities. I can tell you more about it in my next article “Neither ‘Oral’ nor ‘Deafie’: What am I?”

Till next time!

T.G.

 

Tharā Gabriel is a Creative Communications and Administrative Professional from Trinidad and Tobago living with genetic, progressive Sensorineural Hearing Loss. She sings in her family band and plays guitar-even though she can’t hear all the notes! Ultimately she loves shattering stereotypes about the way deaf people should look and behave. 

Credit: Dr Ben Braithwaite, Lecturer in Linguistics; Coordinator, Linguistics Postgraduate Programmes, and UG Diploma in Caribbean Sign Language Interpreting. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, for research contribution to Trinidad and Tobago Endangered Languages Project – Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language | https://sta.uwi.edu/rdifund/projects/ttel/sign_history.asp