The Deaf Community

[jillio]

Originally Posted by posts from hell

I'd say an easy yes. CI's are pushed for way more than the alternatives. I know this because I seen it from the get-go with my daughter. It was sickening.

And in the time frame that I have been dealing with my deaf son, I have seen the change. He was diagnosed a year prior to DPN, and I saw the move toward a more cultural perspective as awareness increased. With the increase in implantation, I have seen a move backward to the medicalized perspective.

[jillio]

Originally Posted by thumbelina

the difference with CI's is it has now opened up a different way to hear. My ear drum has gone bad so a hearing aid would not help me, but a CI would work for me. CI's have made the medical world more powerful in saying being deaf is a medical complication. Personally i am not going to get a CI. A CI would be the only option for me to be able to have hearing back in my left ear. However, i have decided to not take the medical approach and am embracing the change in life and learning ASL. The doctors can see me as medically wrong as they want, but that is their decision and not mine.

Well stated, thumbelina. Use these life changes as a way to grow on a personal level. I admire you.

[souggy]

Originally Posted by jillio

And in the time frame that I have been dealing with my deaf son, I have seen the change. He was diagnosed a year prior to DPN, and I saw the move toward a more cultural perspective as awareness increased. With the increase in implantation, I have seen a move backward to the medicalized perspective.

I grew up experiencing that.

First ten year of my life? Deaf culture, deaf culture, deaf culture! But around 1999... 2000... 2001, it was "CI has come SO FAR since the early days, that we might not even need sign language anymore!" And that's directly from the mouths of the TAs.

I may be young, but I remember almost everything TAs told me; a lot of it was uncalled for and should been discussed with mother, rather than her finding out at the dinner table et ceterta.

[jillio]

Originally Posted by posts from hell

crazy.. and to think i just walk into streets without looking....

I'm hearing and was hit by a car when I was 12 years old. Go figure.

[jillio]

Originally Posted by souggy

I grew up experiencing that.

First ten year? Deaf culture, deaf culture, deaf culture! But around 1999... 2000... 2001, it was "CI has come SO FAR since the early days, that we might not even need sign language anymore!" And that's directly from the mouths of the TAs.

I may be young, but I remember almost everything TAs told me; a lot of it was uncalled for and should been discussed with mother, rather than her finding out at the dinner table et ceterta.

Absolutely. I know that you are around the same age as my son, so you would have witnessed the same time line of changes.

[thumbelina]

Originally Posted by jillio

Well stated, thumbelina. Use these life changes as a way to grow on a personal level. I admire you.

Thanks so much. The decision definitely has my friends and family torn. I like the changes I am happier, and have made many friends because of this change. I figure why delay the inevitable i always knew i was going to lose my hearing. Would rather have it happen now then when i have started my career and would have to start all over.

[deafgal001]

TAs?

[souggy]

Wirelessly posted

Teacher Assistants.

[Bebonang]

Originally Posted by souggy

Wirelessly posted

Teacher Assistants.

In another word, Teacher Aides.

[GrendelQ]

Originally Posted by deafgal001

TAs?

In college, usually students in a related Masters or PhD program who assist the prof. in grading and take on labs / work sessions, working individually with students.

[souggy]

Wirelessly posted

Originally Posted by GrendelQ

In college, usually students in a related Masters or PhD program who assist the prof. in grading and take on labs / work sessions, working individually with students.

In primary and secondary school, they're meant to help divide the labour alongside teachers.

In the mainstream deaf education, someone who is not certified to work with the Deaf (interpreters, CART etc) are usually assigned to the student when finding a qualified person is a daunting task. Casually, I would sarcastically call them "interpreters" with air quotes because a few of them believe just because they can sign, they can occupy the same role as an interpreter in the classroom; but really, on paper, they're really just teacher assistants.

[deafgal001]

ahhh yeah, I had those, especially in LD/special education classes in my public school . it wasn't specifically for me because I'm deaf though, they were there to help everyone who have LD or special needs . They were volunteered parents. It sort of made me nervous having them there because they are parents of other students (who don't have LD or special needs) and they get to know about your private issues. I go to classes with these students too .

I never had a TA's for the deaf though.

[jillio]

Originally Posted by thumbelina

Thanks so much. The decision definitely has my friends and family torn. I like the changes I am happier, and have made many friends because of this change. I figure why delay the inevitable i always knew i was going to lose my hearing. Would rather have it happen now then when i have started my career and would have to start all over.

Friends and family have their own adjustment to go through. They have roles that they fulfill in the relationship they have with you. When a person acquires a disability, very often those roles are forced to change. Do what you need to do for your own comfort and let your friends and family deal with their own issues. There are support groups for adjustment to disability for family members. You might suggest they seek one of these out.

[jillio]

Originally Posted by souggy

Wirelessly posted



In primary and secondary school, they're meant to help divide the labour alongside teachers.

In the mainstream deaf education, someone who is not certified to work with the Deaf (interpreters, CART etc) are usually assigned to the student when finding a qualified person is a daunting task. Casually, I would sarcastically call them "interpreters" with air quotes because a few of them believe just because they can sign, they can occupy the same role as an interpreter in the classroom; but really, on paper, they're really just teacher assistants.

Have seen this situation far too often in the mainstream. Sad.

[thumbelina]

Originally Posted by jillio

Friends and family have their own adjustment to go through. They have roles that they fulfill in the relationship they have with you. When a person acquires a disability, very often those roles are forced to change. Do what you need to do for your own comfort and let your friends and family deal with their own issues. There are support groups for adjustment to disability for family members. You might suggest they seek one of these out.

Thanks so much i have been just giving the family space so that they can just adjust at their own pace, and not allow me to get frustrated at the same time. Everyones roles have been changing, for the better and for the worst. I have suggested to my family to do some research and join support groups. They are not the only ones in the world going through this, and they are not the only ones that will ever have to go through this.

[katz4life]

Agreed. When I was in 5th grade, I brought some book that had contained a high-school English level (probably 9th grade level) for during the "free time" period class and one of the hearing TAs was sitting at the table with other TAs along with the head teacher for the Hearing Impaired program class behind me, she stood up and went to overlook what I was reading. She interrupted me and asked me if I understand what I'm reading and what those big words meant. She made me feel uncomfortable but responded yes I can try to learn and can pick up a new word that I hadn't seen before and there was nothing wrong to check the dictionary if I don't know some big words from the book. She demanded me to read it aloud in signing to her and then she asked me what does that and this word mean, I was like sigh - I told her don't worry I can find out by checking it in the dictionary. All of a sudden, she grabbed my book and told me that I cannot read these stuff and ordered another TA to assist me to the library and showed me the section that I should pick to read. So did I, but the book from the section at the library the English level of that book was 3rd grade level. It angered me. I would never forget how much upsetting I was at the way they treated me. Sometimes I couldn't trust hearing educators from the Deaf/HH program class in the mainstreamed school. Sadly, it made me finally gotten out of Deaf/HH program when I was in sophomore year at HS after some years struggling with the corrupted education from Deaf/HH program and the problems with head teacher and TAs or you might call them "interpreters".

Sorry for sort of off-topic.

[shel90]

Originally Posted by jillio

And in the time frame that I have been dealing with my deaf son, I have seen the change. He was diagnosed a year prior to DPN, and I saw the move toward a more cultural perspective as awareness increased. With the increase in implantation, I have seen a move backward to the medicalized perspective.

That's such a shame. A big one.

[katz4life]

Err. I couldn't edit it to add quote after deafgal001's quote about Jillio's way of putting a big word in this thread... Gotta havea new pager today.

[deafskeptic]

Originally Posted by katz4life

Agreed. When I was in 5th grade, I brought some book that had contained a high-school English level (probably 9th grade level) for during the "free time" period class and one of the hearing TAs was sitting at the table with other TAs along with the head teacher for the Hearing Impaired program class behind me, she stood up and went to overlook what I was reading. She interrupted me and asked me if I understand what I'm reading and what those big words meant. She made me feel uncomfortable but responded yes I can try to learn and can pick up a new word that I hadn't seen before and there was nothing wrong to check the dictionary if I don't know some big words from the book. She demanded me to read it aloud in signing to her and then she asked me what does that and this word mean, I was like sigh - I told her don't worry I can find out by checking it in the dictionary. All of a sudden, she grabbed my book and told me that I cannot read these stuff and ordered another TA to assist me to the library and showed me the section that I should pick to read. So did I, but the book from the section at the library the English level of that book was 3rd grade level. It angered me. I would never forget how much upsetting I was at the way they treated me. Sometimes I couldn't trust hearing educators from the Deaf/HH program class in the mainstreamed school. Sadly, it made me finally gotten out of Deaf/HH program when I was in sophomore year at HS after some years struggling with the corrupted education from Deaf/HH program and the problems with head teacher and TAs or you might call them "interpreters".

Sorry for sort of off-topic.

That TA reminds me of the time when my dad tried to take the book Watership Downs by Richard Adams away from me while I was reading it. He thought it was too hard for me. We ended up in an argument over it.

He stills thinks it's impossible for me to read as fast as I can so I have to read the documents several times over before he believes I read it.

I also have not forgotten the time all the deaf girls in my resource room in mainstream got a Flintstone dictionary. All of us had better vob than the dictionary which was at 3rd grade level. We were in the sixth grade.

[AlleyCat]

Originally Posted by deafskeptic

That TA reminds me of the time when my dad tried to take the book Watership Downs by Richard Adams away from me while I was reading it. He thought it was too hard for me. We ended up in an argument over it.

He stills thinks it's impossible for me to read as fast as I can so I have to read the documents several times over before he believes I read it.

I also have not forgotten the time all the deaf girls in my resource room in mainstream got a Flintstone dictionary. All of us had better vob than the dictionary which was at 3rd grade level. We were in the sixth grade.

Reminds me of all the years I was made to read workbooks that discussed idioms, such as "it's raining cats and dogs." I was still being made to do this in high school, even though those were elementary school workbooks. Come on! And, I graduated 77th of 400+ in my class.

[BecLak]

I also had a similiar humiliating experience in school. I had just started a new school. Spelling was my favourite (Australian/UK spelling) subject. In my previous school I was the top speller in my class. However, in the new school I was degraded to the lowest grade spelling book just because the teacher rattled off the words like a machine-gun and I couldn't catch even half of them. I was also tested on my ability to spell out loudly (something I still struggle with today) yet, get me to put pen to paper and there is a stark contrast. My comprehension and vocabulary actually exceeded the highest grade spelling book.

To think that many of us deaf become reliant on reading to help us through the day, yet there is that miscontrued perception from the hearing that we can only read at a '3rd grade level'. Ha! There are too many articles out there about the low standard of linguistic and cognitive ability in deaf children/adults that are too far from the truth.

BTW, most idioms are learned out of school.

In this day and age, ignorance is no longer bliss.

[deafgal001]

wow! who knew people would argue with a deaf person that a book is too hard for them to read. I heard of parents arguing with their kids about sexual or spiritual books, but never about books that are too hard. Weird. If the book is too hard, deaf people can figure that out themselves.. I did argue with my teachers about putting me in English special eduation English class when I was in 7th, and they told me they don't have a choice because they don't want me to fail. I don't know why it mean I had to stay there until high school ... it is like a 3 years contract or something. But still, no one argued with me about a book being too hard (but on the other hand, the English class materials did seem very elementary to me, I crave more).

[Speedy Hawk]

I had the same thing. My school wouldn't allow me read books I wanted to read, I had to read easy books. I had to read books from kindergarden in 5th and 6th grade in primary school!!

[jillio]

Originally Posted by Speedy Hawk

I had the same thing. My school wouldn't allow me read books I wanted to read, I had to read easy books. I had to read books from kindergarden in 5th and 6th grade in primary school!!

Just goes to show how incorrect their assessment of your abilities were. That is something I was discussing in another thread.