September 7th, 2011 by Rachel | Country: China | 1 Comment »
I was coincidentally on the same flight from London to Shanghai as my flatmate from China, Wentig. Wentig said to me at the airport, “You will get a lot of stares by the locals in many parts of China because they have rarely seen Westerners, but they are the nicest people you’ll ever met.” I thought to myself, “Stares are really not the end of the world.”
“Stares” is a topic that frequently comes up in my circle of friends with hearing loss. Many of them get stares when their cochlear implant sound processors are visible, especially guys as their hair does not cover them. I haven’t experienced noticing people staring at me because I wear my hair down most of the time, which covers my sound processors. My friends tell me that strangers staring at their ears bothers them because they think it’s rude. I tell them that strangers do not intend to be rude, but instead, they are just simply curious because they’ve never seen such a thing on a human being. I tell them it’s a blessing for someone to stare at their ears because we are creating an awareness of the existence of the technology providing deaf people the access to hear. Believe it or not, not many people know there is a technology that allows deaf people to be able to hear almost like a normal hearing person. (There is a great video clip on YouTube, “Man on the Street” depicting a host interviewing random people on the streets, asking them “What is a cochlear implant?” Almost everyone said “No.” I would provide the link, but I can’t acces YouTube in China. So, if one of my friends who is reading this blog knows which video clip I am talking about, would you please be willing to post the link in the comment?) If my friends with hearing loss do have a moment to spare, they also can take the time to explain what the device does, how it works, and also share their story of living with it.
While I was waiting at the gate in Shanghai to head to Haikou, I was surrounded by Chinese. I was the only Westerner. People were staring at me and looking at me like as if to say, “What is this westerner doing here with us?”
I see Chinese people who will stare at me as an opportunity to open them to another culture while staying in their hometown. However, the downside is that I do not know any Chinese, and so I will not be able to share my culture and lifestyle unless they speak English or if I have my friend, Sophia, interpret. I do hope to have an opportunity to learn Chinese one day.
I also have to agree that the Chinese are the nicest people. When I was on the plane to Haikou, all of the magazines on the plane were in Chinese. The flight attendant came to me and handed me a Chinese newspaper written in English. I didn’t request it at all. He just handed it to me.
1 Comment
Rachel
September 7, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxAjGTSBhU to the video.