Quote:
Originally Posted by faire_jour
First would be happy. But then from there it would mean living up to their personal potential. Of course that is very individual, but generally they would be equal to hearing peers in language, educational and vocational success, etc.
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Do I believe a deaf child can be happy without ASL? Sure. But, then again, happy is subjective and largely a self created concept. Living up to personal potential. Personal as in character wise, or personal as in ability to achieve academically and occupationally? Equal to hearing peers in langauge, vocational success, and academically? What if their potential actually places them in the position of being able to far surpass their hearing peers' performance. Then equal to is not living up to their potential. In other words, a child who is not provided the tools they need to access their environment will always be stunted in their achievement, simply because they do not have the tool necessary. I personally am not satisfied when a deaf child with an IQ of 140 performs at an average level. They are capable of so much more.