I Had a Creepy Experience
This isn't the first creepy experience I've had and I'm sure it won't be the last, but it's the most recent.
A little background information, I'm hard of hearing and I take night class for ASL (American Sign Language) II at my local college. There's another student in my class who is hard of hearing as well for the purpose of this story we'll call him Caleb (not his real name). Every Tuesday before call we have tutoring which we credit for if we attend.
So tonight I show up at school around 5:20 for tutoring. Tutor isn't there. About five other students included Caleb show up before 5:30. Still no tutor. By 6 we realized the tutor wasn't coming (learned later that she was sick and the person who was supposed to tell us forgot). We decide to hangout and practice since we still have an hour left until class starts.
This student from a ASL I class- we'll call him Lester, he shows up and he purposely wants Caleb and I to help him because he sees Caleb has a hearing aid and when he shows up Caleb and I were talking about having similar experiences being hard of hearing. So he wants the "speaking deaf kids" to help him and doesn't care about the other ASL II students. Caleb says sure so I kinda feel like I need to say yes as well because I don't want to be rude.
Lester pulls out a take home quiz for his ASL I class and wants us to help him with it which I immediately say we can't because it's against school policies and we could get expelled for even helping with his quiz. Lester then gets defensive saying that he just wants to go over the vocab words of the quiz and not for us to actually do the quiz for him. So Caleb and I agree that we'll say vocab words and have him sign them so we can gage his understanding. After going over the vocab Lester really didn't ask for anymore help so Caleb and I are just casually having a conversation again about our similarities and differences having grown up hard of hearing. Lester decides to insert himself into the conversation. He keeps calling us deaf which I hold my tongue on because whatever no big deal. He then goes on to say how he doesn't get why deaf people don't like being treated like they have a disability even though they do. He repetitively hits Caleb with his pen to try to get his attention and he keeps getting in my face as well.
Finally I can't hold my tongue anymore because he starts comparing being homeless to being deaf ad if it's the same exact thing. As soon as I mention that being homeless and deaf are two completely different things and can't be compared Lester gets in my face yet again but this time he's being aggressive and starts yelling at me that I'm condescending and that there's not different between being homeless and deaf and that as a "deaf" person I'm looking down on the homeless for saying it's not the same and blah blah. I keep trying to explain to him that the experiences are completely different which is why it's not comparable. He's going on about how I'm looking down on him because he doesn't know what it's like to be deaf and I do- blah blah.
At this point I then correct him that I'm hard of hearing not deaf. Lester's all aggressive again calling me condescending. We start having a misunderstanding because I'm having trouble reading his lips at this point and so he's saying how I'm not paying attention to him and criticizes me for not being able to read his lips well. Caleb's trying to defend me but without getting Lester more agitated because at this point it's clear that Lester has issues. Lester then decides to ask us if we feel fortunate to be "disabled" which both Caleb and I exchange a "wtf" look before saying that we didn't feel fortunate or unfortunate. Lester then is in our faces saying how fortunate we are.
Luckily it comes time to finally go to class. Lester does a 180 and starts acting overly friend. He forcibly grabs Caleb's hand and shakes it. He then grabs my hand and tries to kiss it. He says hell's see us next Tuesday and then leaves. Caleb feels bad for me and starts apologizing for the actions of this stranger. We ended up reporting him to our teacher because it just was such an uncomfortable experience for the both of us.
Honestly, now I feel a bit scared to go to tutoring because Lester is effing crazy and I don't want to deal with him again. Our teacher doesn't want him showing up for tutoring but because tutoring is open to all ASL students she can't do anything about it.
A little background information, I'm hard of hearing and I take night class for ASL (American Sign Language) II at my local college. There's another student in my class who is hard of hearing as well for the purpose of this story we'll call him Caleb (not his real name). Every Tuesday before call we have tutoring which we credit for if we attend.
So tonight I show up at school around 5:20 for tutoring. Tutor isn't there. About five other students included Caleb show up before 5:30. Still no tutor. By 6 we realized the tutor wasn't coming (learned later that she was sick and the person who was supposed to tell us forgot). We decide to hangout and practice since we still have an hour left until class starts.
This student from a ASL I class- we'll call him Lester, he shows up and he purposely wants Caleb and I to help him because he sees Caleb has a hearing aid and when he shows up Caleb and I were talking about having similar experiences being hard of hearing. So he wants the "speaking deaf kids" to help him and doesn't care about the other ASL II students. Caleb says sure so I kinda feel like I need to say yes as well because I don't want to be rude.
Lester pulls out a take home quiz for his ASL I class and wants us to help him with it which I immediately say we can't because it's against school policies and we could get expelled for even helping with his quiz. Lester then gets defensive saying that he just wants to go over the vocab words of the quiz and not for us to actually do the quiz for him. So Caleb and I agree that we'll say vocab words and have him sign them so we can gage his understanding. After going over the vocab Lester really didn't ask for anymore help so Caleb and I are just casually having a conversation again about our similarities and differences having grown up hard of hearing. Lester decides to insert himself into the conversation. He keeps calling us deaf which I hold my tongue on because whatever no big deal. He then goes on to say how he doesn't get why deaf people don't like being treated like they have a disability even though they do. He repetitively hits Caleb with his pen to try to get his attention and he keeps getting in my face as well.
Finally I can't hold my tongue anymore because he starts comparing being homeless to being deaf ad if it's the same exact thing. As soon as I mention that being homeless and deaf are two completely different things and can't be compared Lester gets in my face yet again but this time he's being aggressive and starts yelling at me that I'm condescending and that there's not different between being homeless and deaf and that as a "deaf" person I'm looking down on the homeless for saying it's not the same and blah blah. I keep trying to explain to him that the experiences are completely different which is why it's not comparable. He's going on about how I'm looking down on him because he doesn't know what it's like to be deaf and I do- blah blah.
At this point I then correct him that I'm hard of hearing not deaf. Lester's all aggressive again calling me condescending. We start having a misunderstanding because I'm having trouble reading his lips at this point and so he's saying how I'm not paying attention to him and criticizes me for not being able to read his lips well. Caleb's trying to defend me but without getting Lester more agitated because at this point it's clear that Lester has issues. Lester then decides to ask us if we feel fortunate to be "disabled" which both Caleb and I exchange a "wtf" look before saying that we didn't feel fortunate or unfortunate. Lester then is in our faces saying how fortunate we are.
Luckily it comes time to finally go to class. Lester does a 180 and starts acting overly friend. He forcibly grabs Caleb's hand and shakes it. He then grabs my hand and tries to kiss it. He says hell's see us next Tuesday and then leaves. Caleb feels bad for me and starts apologizing for the actions of this stranger. We ended up reporting him to our teacher because it just was such an uncomfortable experience for the both of us.
Honestly, now I feel a bit scared to go to tutoring because Lester is effing crazy and I don't want to deal with him again. Our teacher doesn't want him showing up for tutoring but because tutoring is open to all ASL students she can't do anything about it.
26-30, F