Are Russian/Ukrainian women open-minded about hearing-impaired men?
by Craig
(Australia)
I've experienced with local ladies that they judge me because of my hearing for one reason or another. I've found it's best to not say anything about it otherwise they won't give me the light of day. Would this be same with Russian/Ukrainian women? It's my main reason for looking overseas for a wife. I want a fair chance like any other guy. This raises a question about communication, to be honest I haven't spoken with an eastern European women so not sure if I can understand them with their accents like I can with Germans or Italians. I can't speak on phones due to my hearing so it really limits me to simply emails and perhaps something like Skype if I can manage it. By the way, I love the details you go into on this site and find some of it true from my experience.
Bob's Answer:
I must start by admitting that I have no direct evidence or information on such a matter, so I'm left only to speculate.
Be careful about being too self-conscious about your hearing. THAT could hinder your efforts more than the actual hearing issue itself. If YOU think of it as a significant handicap, you'll probably subconsciously communicate that to them, and THEN it becomes an issue that it may not have become otherwise.
If you can understand Italian and German ACCENTS, then seemingly your hearing isn't so impaired that you can't converse, right? If it's a matter of accents, I would think you could learn to recognize Russian accents as easily as German or Italian.
Very few Russian/Ukrainian women I've ever encountered seem to have a strong preference for communication via phone. Serious Russian/Ukrainian women would prefer in-person meetings rather than phone or Skype anyway.
Almost anyone not very used to Russian accents already has to ask many times for things to be repeated. Even though I've been married to a Russian woman (now divorced) I still find myself asking Russian/Ukrainian women on Skype to repeat approximately one out of every four sentences.
They might think my hearing is impaired :)