When you first learn your child cannot hear well

This content is from page 180 of Helping Children Who Are Deaf

Learning that a child cannot hear well or is deaf can be very upsetting, even for families who have relatives who are deaf or cannot hear well. This is natural. You may have feelings of:

I don't know anything about deafness. How could I possibly help my child?

worry about what to do

fears of what it means to be deaf and fears about the future	How will my child get married or earn a living?
denial	My child will hear well if I just find the right treatment.
anger at what has happened	It's not fair that this happened to my family.
loneliness	No one else knows what this is like. No one can help.
guilt about what you might have done to cause the deafness	If I had eaten better during my pregnancy, this would never have happened.
shame because your child is deaf	What will our neighbors think?
sadness, helplessness, or no feelings at all (depression)	I feel so hopeless...
accepting it as fate or punishment	We can't do anything to change a curse. It is just our fate.