Now, dont jump all over me for posting things that arent from a real deaf perspective. All in all, here I just want to present how hard it is for people with normal hearing to understand what its like to be a deaf individual. I hear too many things about how awful hearing people are to deaf people, and how to fight back. The problem is, there is no implied empathy toward people who have, through no fault of theirs, no real experience with truly deaf people and how they function. HOH doesnt really count, its at the point one can no longer converse on the phone or with spoken language where it really makes a difference... and most people without hearing loss have not had the opportunity to understand that, which leads to misunderstandings or indifference often. I can speak passably, but Im sure to tell them that by no means can I hear as well as I speak, and we might have to rely on handwriting to complete the two-way connection. I expect them to know sign language as much as they expect me to be able to lipread 100%. Thats hardly ever the case, but I always welcome being pleasantly surprised, either by someone who knows some (or a lot) of sign language, or by someone who enunciates well to me. And for the rest, patience. And learn to read and write. There may be a difference between being pre-lingually deaf and post-lingually (in this sense hearing and speaking), and that is what most laypeople dont realize, on both sides of the aisle. And for the record, Im pre-lingually deaf and feel the pain of the misunderstandings both sides throw against each other daily. Why did I post this? I spent 5 minutes on DTP as a non-member and had to leave due to the drama that seems to be the rule. Being loud and obnoxious has never convinced much of anyone to change their minds, and facts fall by the wayside as bandwagons and stereotypes come into relief. Ive no time for that kind of discussion as its exhausting to extract valid points from dialogue like that. It makes me thankful that DFT exists to be a quieter and more cerebral place to think about things and see new things... when I have time. Thank you, McLeod, for providing such a space for people tolerant of multiculturalism or curious about it. Thanks to Buckner for the link! There are many sides to everything, always!
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:22:03 +0000
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