“Between 3 Worlds”
by Dawn West

I live in a world dominated by the hearing;
my personal world is hard of hearing,
and there is a cultural world for the Deaf.

I am propped delicately somewhere in the midst,
between these 3 places,
too far removed from and often ignored
in the hearing world;
I am constantly shifting within the hard of hearing world,
as the insidious progression of hearing loss takes place.
I am usually not accepted into or recognized
in the Deaf world.

Truthfully and Thankfully:
Not every hearing person ignores me,
the hard of hearing usually recognize me,
and some Deaf do not disown me.

Yet, I often feel that I am closer to the world with no hearing
in terms of my hearing loss;
as a result, some say I am deaf with a small d.
It seems that I often don’t get to choose
or even know where I belong.
There are so many labels: deaf, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, the oral deaf........

Where do I go? Where do I fit in? What do I do? 
How am I supposed to feel? How am I supposed to deal?

I am trapped, precariously unbalanced
between 3 worlds that shift effortlessly
without me even feeling the changing momentum.
Despite this all, I accept the place that I live in.
I demand to be included when I am unfairly excluded.
I find humorous moments thoroughly endearing.
I even embrace the truth—that I am hard of hearing.