Mc Gusto

Ok this is going to be an unpopular opinon....I am never going to understand why someone would want to stay deaf or blind,it's like saying i want to stay poor/homeless cos i have been this way since birth and thats the way i am

Deafness

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ravensteve1961

You better be prepared for a shock comming.Scientist have found a way to give animals back their hearing. I strongly consider doing experments on apes and monkeys. Cause my doctor told me Apes & monkeys do have the same identcal Cochlears that humans have. But if they hear again scientist have to figure out on what are they hearing? They might react to sound but what about the clarity and speech? Clarity and speech is very importaint to human world otherwise you dont know the words correctly.

Mc Gusto

how did they do it ???

ravensteve1961

I really dont know,,,But Alex had a link he wrote a story a while back.

Hear Again

McGusto: I was born blind. If I were given the opportunity to have my sight restored, I'd refuse. Why? Because I'm content with my life as a blind person. If I regained my sight I'd have to learn how to function as a sighted person. This includes learning how to read print and recognize objects in my environment that I've never seen before.

The next question you may be asking is why I decided to get a CI. For me as a totally blind person, my hearing loss has posed the greatest difficulty in my life. My inability to rely on visual communication (visual sign, written communication, etc.) has made communication with the general public difficult at best. Because I cannot see to use visual communication, I must use alternative techniques such as print on palm (tracing block letters into the palm of one's hand), Tellatouch (QWERTY typewriter with Braille output), TeleBraille (Braille TTY) and tactile sign.

My CI has been activated for 5 months now and my life has changed dramatically for the better because of it. I no longer feel limited by my own deafblindness because I'm able to hear sounds in my environment and communicate with others without the help of an interpeter or captionist. It has been a liberating experience and one I'd do again in a heartbeat!

Mc Gusto

hear again ,learning how to function as a sighted person would be nothing compared to what you gained with vision and if you think getting a c.i. was a liberating experience i'd think that sight regained would be equal at least.Me myself i'd rather be deaf than blind anyday.Sorry if my opinion causes any offence


ravensteve -i would'nt be holding my breath on that one

Liebling:-)))

Interesting, Blind CI people do not need an interpeter or captionist?

Some of CI people, I am befriend with. They still need interpreter and also subtitles. I thought deafblindness CI also do the same, too?

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deafdyke

McGusto, I totally see what she's saying.....Hear Again has no conception whatsoever of seeing. She doesn't miss it b/c she never had it in the first place. I don't miss being hearing b/c I have never been able to hear as a hearing person.
Hear Again....I definitly support CIs for kids and adults who are deaf-blind or deaf and otherwise handicapped....gives them another tool that can help!
I also definitly support CIs in cases where hearing aids, (all hearing aids including body worn aids, since I think there might be some cases where BTEs might not be powerful enough for profound or severe losses) and frequncy transponders don't work well. There is nothing wrong with choosing a CI, but it should definitly be a last resort sort of thing...especially with kids and little babies since they cannot really give back feedback on what they can hear with aids and other equipment.

Hear Again

"Interesting, Blind CI people do not need an interpeter or captionist?

Some of CI people, I am befriend with. They still need interpreter and also subtitles. I thought deafblindness CI also do the same, too?"

Some deafblind CI users may need to continue using an interpreter or captionist after their CI, but some may not. The 3 deafblind people I know who have CIs do not use interpreters or captionists. They are able to understand speech in quiet and noisy environments alike.

I'm the first deafblind person to be implanted at my CI center. My audi is amazed with the progress I've made thus far and while there are other factors that may contribute to this (length of deafness, language acquisition, etc), we both feel my blindness has been one of the major reasons why I have been so successful with my CI. For example, since I can't see and only have my CI to rely on, sounds come to me more naturally because I'm not trying to look for the source of a sound. In addition, since I can't see to lipread, speech understanding with my CI is easier because I have nothing else but my hearing to depend on. Throughout my life I've learned how to interpret/use sound in order to travel and function independently and for whatever reason, learning how to hear with my CI was second nature.

When I was first activated I thought learning how to hear with my CI would be more difficult because I couldn't see. However, I've found the opposite to be true. Sounds and speech come to me more naturally and because of that, it's easier to understand what I'm hearing through my CI. Like sighted CI users, I still need people to tell me what I'm hearing, but sometimes I can identify sounds on my own. It all depends on what the sound is, whether or not I've heard it before and what a sound/voice is like with my CI compared to what I remember with hearing aids.

The only difficulty I have related to my CI is sound localization (being able to tell where a sound is coming from). I plan to have my other ear implanted. Right now I'm in the process of gathering information for insurance approval.

Hear Again

McGusto: Don't worry, I'm not offended. In fact, you're not alone. Many people are afraid of blindness -- especially people who are deaf and HoH. Since vision is something deaf and HoH people rely on for communication and safety, the thought of losing that sense is understandably frightening. I felt the same way about my hearing. The thought of losing my hearing or going deaf was overwhelming. When it started happening to me I thought my life was over and I thought about committing suicide. How would I communicate? How would I travel independently? How could I live safely on my own if I couldn't see or hear? etc. etc. Once I received training and learned how to do these things without sight or hearing, I knew there was hope and that my life didn't have to end just because I couldn't see or hear.

You'd be amazed at how difficult it would be for a congenitally blind person to understand visual concepts -- especially after 20 or 30 years of being unable to see. It would be no different than me sending you to a foreign country and expecting you to function on a day to day basis without knowing the language. How could you begin to function when you don't understand another country's culture, rituals, behavior and language?

It isn't as simple as teaching me how to identify objects I can't see. I would also have to learn how to associate words/objects with concepts I may have no prior experience with. For example, the thought of learning the alphabet in order to read print is overwhelming to me! Not only would I have to learn how to recognize letters and numbers individually, I would also have to learn how to identify them in words and sentences (including non-traditional spelling and useage) and derive meaning from what I've read.

When you think about how many objects and concepts there are in the world, that's an awful lot to learn!

Hear Again

"I would choose to "see everything" if I'm deaf and blind. I would of die if I see and hear nothing. It would be okay if I am deaf and can see OR if I'm blind and can hear."

Yes, being unable to see or hear anything is a scary thought! However, almost all deafblind people have some useful vision or hearing they can use for communication and mobility. Very few deafblind people are completely deaf and blind.

Even though I was born blind, I could rely on my hearing for most of my life. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with severe-profound hearing loss but I could still function well with hearing aids and an FM system. When I lost what speech discrimination I had in my right ear 2-3 years ago (left ear has had no discrim. for 10 years), many things in my life (such as communication and mobility) became more difficult. That's why I'm so thankful for my CI. I wish my hearing loss never would have deteriorated to the point where I needed a CI (heck, I wish I had normal hearing!), but those are the cards I was dealt.
Life goes on!

deafdyke: I'm glad you understand the importance of CIs in special circumstances like deafblindness. As for children being implanted...although it's not my place to make that decision for a parent, I think a child should be allowed to decide for themselves if they are old enough to understand the implications (positive or negative) of a CI.

Levonian

OK. If it's free, I'll take it.

deafdyke

Actually Hear Now, you're saying that you were a Hearing person, in the same way that we Deaf people are Seeing people. I don't think of myself as hearing impaired, but rather as a person whose eyes are their ears!
LOL...oh no, look out, we'll have you being against CIs next! I definitly think that if a case is ambigious that the child and parents should decide. I was born without ear canals and eardrums. There is a surgery that can help restore hearing....it can be done when a person is five but my parents decided to wait so I could decide on my own. I am glad they did...I did undergo the surgery when I was a teenager (almost ten years ago) and it failed. While initally I was disappointed, it helped me to realize that I simply had not come to terms with my being deaf. Some parents of implant kids really do have some psychological issues with their child being deaf....don't even get me STARTED on that!

Hear Again

[QUOTE=deafdyke]Actually Hear Now, you're saying that you were a Hearing person, in the same way that we Deaf people are Seeing people. I don't think of myself as hearing impaired, but rather as a person whose eyes are their ears!

deafdyke: Because hearing has been such an integral part of my life (i.e. for travel, personal safety and daily functioning), I've always considered myself to be a "hearing person" -- even when I was diagnosed as profoundly deaf.

More than anything, I'm a *person* before blindness or deafness. My deafblindness is a part of who I am but it does not define me.

I like your description of being a person whose eyes are their ears! In my case, I'm a person whose ears are their eyes!

Me against CIs? Not a chance! LOL!

Mc Gusto

Hearagain ,that was well explained what you said before,helps me understand where you at a little better .I lost my hearing (well all of it in one ear anyway) when i was 7 years of age before then eveything was normal, i can still remember what perfect hearing was like

deafdyke

Good point, but 95% of us with pedatric hearing loss don't have that...we have either never been able to hear like a hearing person or we don't remember being able to hear like a hearing person.
HearAgain, I must say I do like your attitude towards CIs! It's refreshing to witness such a down to earth attitude towards CIs. I commend you for that!
Some of the sites and people out there ....*shakes head*
Oh, and I think the only instances where very early implantations should be allowed are in the case of auditory nereopathy (hearing aids tend not to help in AN) or very very little benifit from hearing aids....I just think some kids are being implanted too soon.

Levonian

That’s the understatement of the century. SSD can be a colossal pain in the wazoo.

darkangel8603

I am sorry, i know this is a dumb question, but hear again: How do you read the messages or comments on teh computer? I am curious cuz i never seen or knew how a deafblind person can communicate on the computer.

Again i am sorry if its a stupid question..

Hear Again

darkangel: No, that's not a stupid question at all! I use a screen reader called JAWS and a Braille display to read this board (there is a text only version of AD which does not contain graphics or pictures), e-mail and the Internet. The screen reader sends print information that appears on the computer screen to my Braille display where it can be read by me. Using my QWERTY keyboard, I issue commands to the screen reader and Braille display in order to move to different parts of the screen. (i.e. up, down, left, right, top of document, end of document, etc.)

For more information about Braille displays and screen readers, visit these links:

What is a Braille display?

http://www.deafblind.com/display.html

How does a screen reader work?

http://www.blind.state.ia.us/access/how.htm

Hope this helps!

darkangel8603

Wow, that is awesome. I never seen anything like that.. Its amazing what technologly can do in this century.
THanks for the information, I learn something new.

Liebling:-)))

check this interesting link: Deaf people can do and can´t do.

http://www.cochlearwar.com/deaf_can_do.html

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pintnight

How does a hurricane destroy your hearing?

pintnight

ravensteve1961, Go see Benny Hinn. I'm placing a $100 bet that your hearing will not be restored after Benny Hinn "heal" you. It won't happen! Benny Hinn is a fake.

Come back here after you meet Benny Hinn. Are you up to the bet?