October 7, 2010

Don't Forget That You Are Hard of Hearing and Plan Ahead

For a moment, I forgot that I was hard of hearing.

There was a famous pop artist coming to town and I really wanted to go and hear him give a talk at a museum. I bought the tickets and excitedly thought about what he may talk about.

An enormous amount of people had shown up to hear this guy talk. I was sent to the nose bleed areas in the balcony.

The speaker was tiny from where I was sitting, and I could hear most of what he said. But, I had to really strain and concentrate. There were times where he said something I did not hear and people would laugh. I wondered what was so funny. It was frustrating.

An example of how I heard the speaker:

"Look at the pictures of this j---, perhaps there ---- gu----ble and I know that this represents a slight ------ --m--. And I knew that this would be the ----- important work. It was ------ mystery, and I love the pink color and the broad brushstrokes."

Aargh!

I should have known better and planned ahead. I need to remember that I don't hear very well and could use the help of closed captions in certain situations. Next time, I will need to call ahead and see if I can arrange for them to have captions or perhaps CART services or sit in an area better suited for my hearing needs.

I will be sure to call the people in charge and see if this is possible or how I can arrange this for next time.

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