Is being deaf a disability or not?

Aleser said:
A paraplegic can have sex, travel, read, write, ride a bike, fly a plane, watch tv, and listen to music. Are they not disabled?

Disability does not = inability to accomplish tasks. It merely means that some illness/impairment/difference means we have to change the way in which we accomplish those tasks:

A deaf person using sign instead of speech, a paraplegic using a wheelchair instead of walking. In the first case, both accomplish communication. In the second, both accomplish mobility.

And before you say "Oh, but some deaf people speak!" I will add "Oh, but some complete paraplegics walk!" (Yes, that is possible with specific, if extremely difficult and tiring to use, reciprocating braces)

So, yes, I think deafness is a disability.
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:gpost: I agree with you completely!

You're also right that paraplegics can walk. I did until I was 11 yrs old. I chose to become completely wheelchair bound from there, but I had the ability to walk with braces and crutches.
 
Anij said:
I personally don't feel that being hoh/deaf is a disabilty ... a communication challege at times - yes, but a disablilty not really.

I'm one of those people that "puts my money where my mouth is" on that one too .

I've bought my TTY, visual signallers ( SonicAlert stuff - door, phone, etc flashers) hearing aid, and any other adaptive devices I use all at retail price, and I don't think "society owes me" for them ... is it lousy that my phone (uniphone tty ) costs 500.00 instead of 25.00 at walmart ... YUP. But honestly many individuals have specific needs that cost more than "standard". Heck I save money since I'm not buying hundreds of CDs and various MP3players, iPods etc LOL.

I've worked full time since I graduated college, and I've never claimed or applied for a discount on my taxes etc for being hoh/deaf. I don't agree with claiming SSI purely because someone can't hear ... infact it flat out ticks me off when people do it. The only deductions I've ever taken for being hoh/Deaf have been claiming the small about for my TTYs one year on my taxes ( the gov gave me I think 25$ back because it counted as a medical expense .. yippy for me !), my addition health insurance I pay at work covered $150.00 of my HA cost and I was allowed 1/2 tuition for an ASL immersion program, which offers discounts for hoh/deaf who are learning ASL.


Of course no everyone one will feel the way I do ... and that's ok too...

personally I think that being deaf/hoh is a lot like coming from a different country that speaks a different language ... I run into communication problems ( so I carry pen and paper) , I run into ignorate people ( the same ones that make fun of other minority groups) , I get frustrated with situations that are made harder than they have to be .... but all in all - I don't really feel disabled by my hearing loss - I feel challenged.. but challenge often makes us more understanding, more accepting, and 'better' people ... if we choose to let it :)


If you want to say that deaf/hoh isn't a disablity .. then you have to ACT like it !

just my 2 cents
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Good for you. I am not deaf, but I am a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adult) and it just ticks me off to see those people standing on the side of the road with a sign that says,"Please help. I am deaf and can't work." My mother worked for a bank and an insurance agency until she retired and she is DEAF. She was born that way and went to deaf school from the ages of 4 to 18. My step father is deaf and retired from Boeing. He has a college degree.
 
Hear Again said:
i was left handed and slapped because of it while i was growing up in the 70s.

unfortunately, i remember it all too well.

as for slapping someone because they are deaf or blind, i don't know about that, but i do know in some schools for the blind, students are abused in a manner i'd rather not mention and suffer psychological consequences as a result.
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I know I'm new here but wanted to make a comment. I am left handed and it had no bearing on school other than there were not many left handed people around other than a great uncle. As far as being disciplined for being hard of hearing they took me out of classes to go take hearing tests several times a year and it makes you feel like an outcast. And I ended up being placed in a special ed math class which in my opinion now was wrong, it wasn't that I needed it. it was just because I couldnt hear the teacher well. And was pulled out of other classes to take the special ed math class which made me get behind in other subjects as well and as a result my grades suffered. And back then they just let it go by as the deaf and dumb sterotype which is extremly annoying to say the least. Back to the topic, is being deaf or hoh a disability? I think its what the person makes of it. To quote a wise man, Adapt, Improvise, Overcome. :cool2:
 
ncff07 said:
I know I'm new here but wanted to make a comment. I am left handed and it had no bearing on school other than there were not many left handed people around other than a great uncle. As far as being disciplined for being hard of hearing they took me out of classes to go take hearing tests several times a year and it makes you feel like an outcast. And I ended up being placed in a special ed math class which in my opinion now was wrong, it wasn't that I needed it. it was just because I couldnt hear the teacher well. And was pulled out of other classes to take the special ed math class which made me get behind in other subjects as well and as a result my grades suffered. And back then they just let it go by as the deaf and dumb sterotype which is extremly annoying to say the least. Back to the topic, is being deaf or hoh a disability? I think its what the person makes of it. To quote a wise man, Adapt, Improvise, Overcome. :cool2:
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i know exactly how you feel. i was misdiagnosed as having a learning disability from 3rd-12th grade due to my blindness. when i entered university freshman year, i was given a test to determine whether or not i had a learning disability and it was discovered that i did not and was actually considered "gifted" (i don't mention that to brag; only to point out how damaging it can be to place labels on someone.).

i also like that quote you mentioned (which incidentally happens to be a famous marine corps. slogan).
 
disability is like a mindfuck from 'normal people' in society saying to you, they're better than you, and that decide for you where you go to school and where to work basically they dont want to know you. This happens to anyone who are deemed as different. This is disability , it has not much to do with how different we are, but more to do with how different society treats us, and that's usually for the worse. So dis/ability is actually an act, or gesture or policy, or ignorance in order to cut you off from being able to do things on your own terms, instead they want us to do it on their terms,- thats for Everything!
 
Hmm.. question for you all. If some of you don't view deafness as a disability, just differently abled, does this mean you view ALL the "disabilities" as differently abled? Such as learning disability? Does "disability" even exist in your world?
 
Daredevel7 said:
Hmm.. question for you all. If some of you don't view deafness as a disability, just differently abled, does this mean you view ALL the "disabilities" as differently abled? Such as learning disability? Does "disability" even exist in your world?
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i do. each of us (regardless of disability) has our own unique skills, talents and abilities. a disability is only as disabling as a person makes it out to be. in my case, i can do anything but drive. i don't consider my deafblindness to be a disability. instead, i consider it "a different way of doing normal things."
 
Daredevel7 said:
Hmm.. question for you all. If some of you don't view deafness as a disability, just differently abled, does this mean you view ALL the "disabilities" as differently abled? Such as learning disability? Does "disability" even exist in your world?
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No such thing as a disability in my world.

Though I see plenty of people with foot-in-their-mouth disease. :lol: No worries, you're not one of them. :cool2:
 
Berry said:
Hopefully no school principal ever slapped someone because they deaf or blind -- But a lot of us left handed people were.
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We're figuratively slapped all the time, Berry. I'm left handed too, by the way. And as a blind person, every time someone neglects to describe a picture, every time something isn't available in large print/braille/audio, that is a figurative slap on the wrist for a blind person. Every minority gets figurative slaps on the wrists, not just lefties.
 
Not to mention, nowadays there are even desks and scissors, etc. made for lefties. So far each of my college classrooms has had at least one lefty desk.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Hmm.. question for you all. If some of you don't view deafness as a disability, just differently abled, does this mean you view ALL the "disabilities" as differently abled? Such as learning disability? Does "disability" even exist in your world?

,
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Disability does not exist in my world.

Our society is dysfunctional and the individuals in it tend to focus on what other people can't do, or do differently (even such a small difference as left handed) and use it to swell their own sagging egos.

A functional society would focus on what people can do and reward them for doing it.

It is not just the Deaf, the "disabled", or the different that suffer from the poor treatment they are given. It is every member of society and society itself.

Unfortunately dysfunctional people with low self esteem seem to be in the majority -- and you will never convince them of their error.
 
Berry said:
Disability does not exist in my world.

Our society is dysfunctional and the individuals in it tend to focus on what other people can't do, or do differently (even such a small difference as left handed) and use it to swell their own sagging egos.

A functional society would focus on what people can do and reward them for doing it.

It is not just the Deaf, the "disabled", or the different that suffer from the poor treatment they are given. It is every member of society and society itself.

Unfortunately dysfunctional people with low self esteem seem to be in the majority -- and you will never convince them of their error.
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Oh WOW!!! That HAS to be one of the best post I have ever read! Beautiful and I agree with you 110%. I will remember this one for a long time especially qwhen people put others who r different as they r down cuz they have a "disability" in their eyes.

Wow...
 
Berry said:
Disability does not exist in my world.

Our society is dysfunctional and the individuals in it tend to focus on what other people can't do, or do differently (even such a small difference as left handed) and use it to swell their own sagging egos.

A functional society would focus on what people can do and reward them for doing it.

It is not just the Deaf, the "disabled", or the different that suffer from the poor treatment they are given. It is every member of society and society itself.

Unfortunately dysfunctional people with low self esteem seem to be in the majority -- and you will never convince them of their error.
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Well said, Berry!:h5:
 
Aleser said:
A paraplegic can have sex, travel, read, write, ride a bike, fly a plane, watch tv, and listen to music. Are they not disabled?

Disability does not = inability to accomplish tasks. It merely means that some illness/impairment/difference means we have to change the way in which we accomplish those tasks:

A deaf person using sign instead of speech, a paraplegic using a wheelchair instead of walking. In the first case, both accomplish communication. In the second, both accomplish mobility.

And before you say "Oh, but some deaf people speak!" I will add "Oh, but some complete paraplegics walk!" (Yes, that is possible with specific, if extremely difficult and tiring to use, reciprocating braces)

So, yes, I think deafness is a disability.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
Berry said:
Disability does not exist in my world.

Our society is dysfunctional and the individuals in it tend to focus on what other people can't do, or do differently (even such a small difference as left handed) and use it to swell their own sagging egos.

A functional society would focus on what people can do and reward them for doing it.

It is not just the Deaf, the "disabled", or the different that suffer from the poor treatment they are given. It is every member of society and society itself.

Unfortunately dysfunctional people with low self esteem seem to be in the majority -- and you will never convince them of their error.
Click to expand...

excellent post!
 
I would only be normal in a world that believed understanding can only be achieved through full context and that humor is the highest path to sanity.

Doesn't look like I'm going to be normal any time soon.
 
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