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Originally Posted by Hear Again
A deaf person who wants to hear wants to improve their opportunities for communication, socialization with family/friends, employment, etc.
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I've been profoundly deaf and I have been HOH. I must say I prefere being profoundly deaf. I think my communication actually improves as a profoundly deaf person as I don't have to rely on people being quiet so I could use my HA to hear speech with.
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A hearing person who wants to deafen themselves is deliberately limiting their opportunities by creating a permanent disability that cannot be reversed. (Note: When I say "limiting," I'm talking about not having communication skills such as sign language or lip reading.) Some of them also do it because they enjoy the sympathy they receive from others.
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Not neccessarily. As a HOH person I was very sound phobic. I could hear but the noise used to bother me a lot. If I avoid noisy situations because I can't bear noise that is also a limitation. More limiting then wearing ear plugs (or deep ear moulds with my HA switched off) to cut noise out completely.
You don't get sympathy as a deaf person anyway. I don't like people feeling sorry for me because I'm deafblind as being deafblind isn't the big deal people think it is.
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I agree to each their own, but I will never understand why anyone would want to permanently deafen themselves.
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I suppose it would depend on your reaction to noise. Some people, especially those on the autistic spectrum, have problems with noise. I have mild Asperger syndrome. Not that I've always been this bad with noise. It's got worse since I started wearing really powerful hearing aids after I lost most of my sight. (I still have some useful sight though.)
I think there are people who probably do it for other reasons. Maybe to punish themselves. I think this was the case with this guy I met once who put his own eyes out. He was in a mental hospital at the time. He used to be an artist.
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By the way, 90% of the people on the Deaf Wannabes list have a self-inflicted mild or moderate hearing loss. I don't think any of them would have the courage (for lack of a better word) to deafen themselves completely. If they did, I'm sure the reality of what they've done would hit them like a rock.
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The link didn't work for me so I can't really comment on that but I think it would be probably very difficult and very painful to completely damage your own hearing. I don't know anyone to have done it. I only know people who blinded themselves.
They might like being totally deaf. I do (or rather did). I've just recovered from a really bad ear infection. I had a lot of stuff in my right ear that has been blocking sound out for about 4 years which made me profoundly deaf. Now I do hear some sound but I don't like it very much. It's all so distorted and it keeps setting off my tinitus.
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I hope I didn't offend anyone with this message. I'm not saying that deafness or hearing loss is the worst thing in the world -- it isn't. I just don't think these people truly understand the implications of what they are doing.
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No offense. We just have different views on this matter.