kuifje75 said:
If a genie came to me and gave me the choice to be able to hear or be deaf,
I like that.. thats a good guide for me. If that were to happen to me, sorry folks, I'd ask to be hearing. I know what its like to be hearing, i know what its like to talk for hours on an end on a regular phone. I know what its like to be in choir, play the guitar, listen to music anywhere I want to and know that its not super loud. I miss those things, a whole lot. Often times I get fustrated (the feelings mutual, i know) with Megladon, when I cant see him well or he says something and im like huh? I often wish I could talk to him without looking at him, or hear the things he'd like to whisper to me. Its hard, a daily struggle, but you learn - i try to teach him ASL!
Sometimes my patience (and im sure his too) runs very thin, but at the end of the day i find myself wondering why I ever bothered to worry about the differences.
However, I could never give up the ASL skills I have, or the experiences I've received by being a coda-lda.
Im deaf by nature, and hearing/deaf by culture. It wont last, you know, eventually I'll have to pick which culture do I want to live by. Right now, Im perfectly happy with my ASL/oral combo
I just wish my life were simpler, not so complicated as it is now.
err.. the question... i should answer that - I think people should be bilingual. The ability to talk has opened more doors for me than it has for my mom. (who has been deaf since the age of 2, by spinal meningitist) I dont think it ruins the culture or the language like most Deaf people do, I think it makes life simpler, easier if i can say that. And I dont think being deaf endangers our lives, it makes us more attentive, as it has been said. Only stupid people dont look both ways, or pay attention to the road while driving.