Non verbal communication

Deaf person. Person who cannot hear. Cochlear implant helps to hear. Sign language. Nonverbal communication.

When above is the account of what a deaf person, like myself, experiences. Let it be clear that this is my personal experience, which may be common in some parts to deaf people (for example, the fact that one cannot hear is clear) and different in others, because everyone does as they please.

The essential point is deafness. And so far, we are all good (more or less). I am a person who cannot hear, became deaf at 40 years old due to an autoimmune disease (first lost my left ear in 2019 and then my right ear in 2020). I was only able to get a cochlear implant (here I put the link because I understand that it may be strange and one does not know what it is…I didn’t know before becoming deaf) on my right ear.

How does it feel with the implant? It feels strange, not everything is fully understood, and there is a long rehabilitation process (at least in my case). Each implant has its map, that is, how to adjust the sound to be able to hear it loud and clear (in my case, being sick and having had meningitis, the map has been changed many times, adjusted countless times, and even today, sometimes it is adjusted during check-ups).

I did not learn sign language because I focused on trying to hear with my implant. However, I am thinking of learning BSL (British Sign Language) for my own benefit, to have an additional way to communicate.

And this brings us to nonverbal communication. According to various studies conducted on the subject, more than 50% of communication is nonverbal. It is a series of movements and expressions, mainly facial ones, with which one can understand.

As you can see in the image of this post, there is a clear sign of nonverbal communication that is the same all over the world.

Now, we Italians (unlike the locals in this hostile country) are a people who gesture a lot. Sometimes, I have come across videos on social media in which hands move, expressions, crazy things, but in which I fully recognize myself.

Yesterday, thanks to the subtitles on my phone, I made a round of phone calls to various Tuscan Cup call centers (I had to book some exams), so yesterday, I managed more or less on the phone. That being said, then there were video calls with people who spoke quickly, whose facial expressions were not clear, and whether they were waiting for you to say something or not was not clear.

In the end, I realized that giving them the middle finger is the solution and the answer to many questions.

PS Yesterday afternoon, while I was fixing my hair, my implant fell to the ground. Panic because a transparent rubber band (the thing that attaches it to the ear) had come off. I was surprised at how calm and composed I remained. Too much for my standards.