Welcome.

Welcome.

Welcome to my blog. I have great plans for this empty space and like a deranged super-villain, I will be happy to share them with you.

I guess we should start with the name. Its just a catchy reference to the ancient proverbial phrase and modern meme of the three "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys. You see, I am partially deaf. I often can't hear any evil, I miss it completely. I can indeed hear, but... well... only partially.

That in itself is misleading, as there are so many details and misconceptions about what it means to be "Partially" something. Which part? or rather, what parts are you talking about at all?

Those close to me, with the possible exception of my wife, really don't know how I experience the world. This became obvious when I started talking to my mom and sister about it. Two people that have known me most of my life and yet still had gross misconceptions about me, what I can and can't hear, and what I do to contend with my own limitations (more on that later). This isn't entirely their fault, in recent years my hearing has declined. I was born with a hearing loss, so I have no reference for "perfect", but I can share about "what was" and "what is".

In the past year I have had to start depending more and more on the tools and resources available for deaf and hard of hearing people to integrate into a society largely ignorant of this minority population.

I have come to realize that I need a place to share my story.

I am a father of three young children, a husband, and in general a geek. I will try to share in an honest way how I see the world, what it means to be partially deaf, and general information about the disability that you might not be aware of including helpful links to resources online. I will also share what it means for my family. I'll talk about struggles and solutions as I discover them with my kids, resources I find, products I use, and reviews of what does and doesn't work for me. My strengths, weaknesses, and even some benefits to being hard of hearing. For other parent out there with partially deaf children, I'll try to reminisce some about growing up with the disability.

So please check back. Start here and read on as I post things once a week or so.

(And don't worry, the blog will be prettier soon. While my hearing is bad, my vision is perfect and my graphic design skills are quite proficient.)