So despite my (obvious, see previous post) love for San Francisco, I’m still smitten with the idea of moving move to New York City. I didn’t get much feedback from the NYC side of the Deaf/HH community in regards to accessibility and deaf-friendliness, so I wrote to the Manhattan Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America to get the scoop from them.

First as a caveat, HLAA generally caters to late-deafened and hard of hearing adults. As such, there is a preference toward assistive technology — hearing aids, CART, and the like. Although HLAA members span all age groups (I’m 34 and a member), there are plenty of members that are older and perhaps feel that learning any of the sign languages is too difficult or won’t help them communicate with their oral friends and family. The advice from them and their advocacy are then aimed at those that were born (and raised, very likely) oral.

So all that being said, what I found is that the the Manhattan Chapter of HLAA is very involved in advocacy and is making great progress in opening up Manhattan to accessibility. I specifically heard back from Ellen Semel who offered the follow information to me (and granted me permission to share it here at Inaudible Nonsense).  So after the jump, edited slightly for continuity and annotated with links, here’s what Ellen wrote:

We have lots of captioned theater here in NYC, we are working on looping public places. Our chapter is presently involved in getting the Muhlenberg public library 2nd floor room looped. Are you familiar with room loops?  When a room is looped, you can turn your hearing aids to t-coil (telephone program) and hear quite well. Many churches and synagogues are looped. Our monthly meetings are looped and we have CART, which means we have a professional person (like a court reporter) who types on a machine that shows on a screen the very words spoken by our expert speakers. We have movie theaters that show captioned movies. Taxis should be getting loops installed soon — that is the newest, most exciting venue to be looped. The Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, has been very supportive to those with hearing loss. There are many accommodations one can get in the workplace. The League for the Hard of Hearing, here in NYC, has a wonderful technical person who advises us on what we need and helps us get the equipment; there is no charge to meet with him. There are also a few subway stations that have loops. We are working to get more public access. I would say NYC is in the forefront of accessibility.

In theory, I live in the Deaf Capitol, the District of Columbia, which would be great and all if that was the only thing that defines me. But it’s not. And what was supposed to be a one year stop-over in DC has turned into almost four years. (Egad!) So although my hearing continues to decline, I’m also not getting any younger — it’s time to move.

But where?

I’ve long dreamed of NYC (as a kid in the midwest it seemed the epitome of all that was awesome). Even still, despite the costs: it’s got a huge creative economy; it’s international in its influence; it’s got fantastic grad schools; its population is ethnically diverse; and its an urbanist’s dream. All these things are important to me and my partner. But is it a good city for the Deaf/HOH?My fear of the impatient, fast-talking New Yorker suggests maybe not.  However, everytime I’ve been there (which is a lot, no fewer than five former roommates live there), I’ve found everyone to be warm and friendly and to “in nothing-phases a New Yorker” style adjust to alternate forms of communication very easily. Will that still happen in the workplace?

SF on the other hand has top programs for ASL and the Deaf and is very accommodating of  difference and of course international, design-centered and urbanist with great grad schools.So which is better? And is there someplace that I’m leaving out that I should also be considering? (On the coasts please, my partner is not moving to fly-over country.) Perhaps LA? Philly? Seattle?

None of these moves are going to be easy, and jobs are competitive while being hard of hearing may well be a knock against me. (I’ll be honest here. It shouldn’t be. But that’s not the way life works.) But we need a goal and we need to get along from the holding pattern that I’m in right now here in DC.Please chime in. And thank you.

 [UPDATE: Curious Eyes brings up something that I should have pointed out. we've lived in the Bay Area too in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley from 1998-2004. I went to college in SFand Oakland. I met my partner there. I had jobs in Concord and SF, but the job market was such  in 2004 that I wasn't finding full-time work. And friends and former professors were leaving for much the same reason. But I was generally hearing then -- or at least more so -- and thought I would have more years before losing my hearing. That was just hubris. So I'm trying to make a decision that will be good for my developing Deaf identity as well as allow me to eat. And pursue graduate school.]

Image of Manhattan in the San Francisco Bay courtesy of kottke.org