Most people I meet have never had an opportunity to interact with a deaf person before. When I first met my wife, it was a learning process for both of us in how to best communicate. While it is handy that we’ve both learned some sign language, and I can lipread her from across a noisy gym, most loud environments are terrible for me. Dialogue gets washed away in a sea of white noise and it can be tough to explain that to someone who has never had that issue before. Dates to the movie theater end with me leaving having no idea what the plot was. Whispers or conversations in the dark are useless. Noisy restaurants are impossible. It is frustrating at times to not be able to communicate like a “normal” couple, but we’ve come to learn that it’s part of our unique story. . . She’ll still sometimes tease me when I miss things, but we’ve learned what works for us and what doesn’t. She helps me by making many of my phone calls, helps me regulate my volume control (I often speak too softly beca...