聾子DJ的世界
人生百味
作者：by Robbie Wilde
I was born in England with perfect hearing. In 1990， when I was five， my family moved to the United States. I started getting ear infections every three months or so. We didn’t have health insurance at the time and when I got a third infection， my parents couldn’t pay for the treatment. I went deaf in my right ear and was left with 50 percent hearing in my left. Over time， my remaining hearing dropped to 20 percent， where it is today. My doctors predicted that I would be completely deaf by now， so I think I’m doing pretty well.
There was always music on in my house when I was little. I loved listening to 2）Metallica， 3）Led Zeppelin， 4）Bob Marley， Michael Jackson. My dad was a DJ， so he played disco， folk， dance， rock， and music from other countries. For my 18th birthday， my dad asked me to deejay at the restaurant he owned. After doing that for a few weeks， I was hooked. I wanted to learn more.
I e-mailed DJ Shiftee， a well-known New York City DJ， when I was 25： “I know you like a challenge. How about teaching a deaf person to deejay？” He wrote back the next day： “Challenge accepted.” He tutored me twice a week for two years， helping me develop proper technique. I practiced four hours a day. Now when I’m performing， muscle memory takes over.
When I started， I wouldn’t tell the club managers I was deaf. I would just show up， introduce myself， and start playing music. At the end of the night， someone would say， “Oh， here’s the check.” And I’d say， “What？ Oh， I can’t hear.” They were always so surprised. Sometimes I would bring doctor’s notes because they wouldn’t believe me. It was reassurance that they were giving me 5）gigs because I was good， not out of sympathy.