Today I got into a conversation with a friend of mine about judging people. It started when someone walked by who seemed like he might be homosexual, and she started giggling. Whenever it comes to homosexuality, my friend always laughs or scoffs. I find it very rude and it makes me sick to know that she judges someone for that. She is an amazing artist, and she claimed that when she notices differences in people she wants to draw them, or their feature that makes them different, because they're interesting to her. I told her that doesn't mean she should laugh at him and that it would probably offend me if someone wanted to draw my ear with my hearing aid in it because it's considered different and interesting to them.

I was born hearing impaired. Growing up I was always made fun of and judged for having hearing aids. In elementary school, many of my classmates actually thought my hearing impairment was a sign I was mentally disabled. I'm very self-consious about it now, but most people would never even know that I'm hearing impaired after all the surgeries and speech classes. I can definately share the pain of being judged with anyone. It's one of the worst feelings in the world.

When people come up to me and say things like, "Whoa! You're deaf?! That's so cool!" I actually find it quite offensive, especially when they yell it out. First of all, I like to keep it on the down-low. Second of all, I'm not profoundly deaf, I'm moderately hearing impaired. People should make a big deal out of differences. It's okay to notice them but to some people it's very offensive to go and point them out. I don't usually tell people about my hearing impairment, but when I do, I don't mind if they ask questions after I tell them. It just bothers me when people walk up and start asking questions.

I have many friends that are judged by the way they look. One of my friends gets judged because she's super thin, she's quite pale, and wears sweatshirts all the time. People think she's anorexic and she cuts, but she actually eats a lot and wears the sweatshirts to try to hide the fact she's so thin. Another one of my friends had a surgery done on her skull when she was very young and it messed with the growth of her face. She didn't have the "normal" alignment of facial features. I knew people who would say she's weird and would make stuff up about her even though they had never tried to get to know her or even talked to her. She is by far one of my best friends now and some of my best memories are with her.

In conclusion, I know that many of us could work on judging others less. We all have our things that we judge people on, and we should try to stop judging those things. Work your way up. When you notice something that you tend to judge people on, try to not think about it or think about what might cause them to look or be that way. We should never treat anyone different or be rude to them because their different, though it happens often. It will take time and it won't be easy, but it would be worth it in the end.