The gift of hearing....do you cherish it?

[sallylou]

I've lost the speech zone and conversations are so challenging under normal conditions. I'm going to proudly call myself deaf. Thanks!

 

[Buffalo]

I've lost the speech zone and conversations are so challenging under normal conditions. I'm going to proudly call myself deaf. Thanks!

Soon, you will pump that "d" part up to "D".

 

[deafskeptic]

No rule. If one is hoh but is more comfortable being called deaf, more power to them. Same thing with some deaf people who are not comfortable being called deaf.

Although many would call me HOH, I prefer to call myself deaf.

 

[saywhatkid]

Like 99% of the world is not a hearing-centric monopoly. And it would appear that the audists aren't content with those numbers, as they apparently attempt to take over the deaf sites on a consistent basis. Applying those double standards again.

I was thinking a couple of points here. First, isn't this the guy that would not allow his kids to watch/hear Obama's speech to schools? I mean, isn't that about allowing other viewpoints? Wait for the rebuttal on this comment.

Secondly, despite some of the name calling and so forth, this topic has a lot of bright spots. Sure beats the usual political stuff. I have enjoyed reading some of the various posts. It all boils down to content. I have no post secondary education, so there are times when I goof. I just try to say what I mean and get out. In this topic, there have been some of the best posts, the last couple of days, that I have read in this forum. I could have called several posts out and presented the ribbon for excellence.

Well done to most of you for posts that really hit home!

 

[Mrs Bucket]

I only wish each person here well with their lifepath and that goes for Kokonut.

I am on my lifepath called Deafhood. It's an amazing journey I tell you. I don't go through this alone. I go through this with my inner-self and with the Deaf-World. I go through this with my husband, my family, my friends and the incredible support of the Deaf Community.

Keep in mind, the hearing community supports our paths too. It is up to us to educate the hearing community and in turn they actually become our advocates and allies. It is so vital we continue to preserve and educate our advocates/allies about our Deaf-World. It isn't ours, it's for our future generations. Our future leaders.

Keep in mind, kokonut may prefer his comfortable space now and it's important to respect that. When he's ready to come to Deaf-World, I will have my arms open and embrace him.

Keep our enemies and our friends closer.

 

[Jiro]

I only wish each person here well with their lifepath and that goes for Kokonut.

I am on my lifepath called Deafhood. It's an amazing journey I tell you. I don't go through this alone. I go through this with my inner-self and with the Deaf-World. I go through this with my husband, my family, my friends and the incredible support of the Deaf Community.

Keep in mind, the hearing community supports our paths too. It is up to us to educate the hearing community and in turn they actually become our advocates and allies. It is so vital we continue to preserve and educate our advocates/allies about our Deaf-World. It isn't ours, it's for our future generations. Our future leaders.

Keep in mind, kokonut may prefer his comfortable space now and it's important to respect that. When he's ready to come to Deaf-World, I will have my arms open and embrace him.

Keep our enemies and our friends closer.

welcome back, Bucket!

 

[kokonut]

My response in bold.

It could be called repartee. Calling my post an armchair analysis implies dismissal of it as coming from someone not qualified to speak on the issue. I chose to make a joke out of it rather than become offended.

When people feel trapped into agreeing to things, or taking actions, they would really rather not then it is bullying. Salesmen do it all the time and call it good salesmanship.

It is a way of offering choices so the one the person would instinctively choose seems inappropriate.

Then they don't have to answer my question at all. I'm not even asking a specific person in this case.

You state it here very well yourself:

I need specifics. I'm not even sure what you're referring to what I stated. Again, such as?

Here you state how you feel. No frills, no verbal games. No implication that anyone else has an obligation to feel or think the same. It is a statement that cannot be disagreed or argued with and I doubt if anyone would try to change you.

I wonder what the response would be if you had said that at the beginning and asked how many people feel the same way.

You just did it and did a wonderful job of it.

 

[kokonut]

Scares the hell out of you, too, doesn't it?

No.

 

[kokonut]

Is it ok to call yourself deaf if you are HOH? Is there some kind of rule, like you have to have a certain amount of hearing loss before you can call yourself deaf? I've always been confused about this.

No rule. A matter of preference as I see it. I've no objection to the word deaf myself. However, I see myself as a hoh person because that describes accurately in what I do and function.

 

[kokonut]

I only wish each person here well with their lifepath and that goes for Kokonut.

I am on my lifepath called Deafhood. It's an amazing journey I tell you. I don't go through this alone. I go through this with my inner-self and with the Deaf-World. I go through this with my husband, my family, my friends and the incredible support of the Deaf Community.

Keep in mind, the hearing community supports our paths too. It is up to us to educate the hearing community and in turn they actually become our advocates and allies. It is so vital we continue to preserve and educate our advocates/allies about our Deaf-World. It isn't ours, it's for our future generations. Our future leaders.

Keep in mind, kokonut may prefer his comfortable space now and it's important to respect that. When he's ready to come to Deaf-World, I will have my arms open and embrace him.

Keep our enemies and our friends closer.

Thank you, but I prefer a world that involves everybody without holding any prejudices as to their perferred mode of communication. There is still too much political divisiveness and political correctness that I've seen over the years when it comes to these "Deaf-centric" issues and "requirements." Though I do interact with my Deaf, deaf, hh, and hearing friends. I don't bite, I just have a preference.

 

[kokonut]

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick here.
A lot of posters are like that, but they don't all get attacked in the way Kokonut is.

I think that it's more a question of wether you accept the status que or not. If you have differant views then you will get attacked however they are worded, and besides some people are plain speakers and are no good at mincing their words. I'm no good at that either, but I do feel I have a right to express myself and so does Kokonut.

You mention bullying, but I don't see Kokonut as being a bully here. I see it more a case that people are very quick to get offended by his posts and have made some really rude comments.

I very strongly disagree with Kokonut when it comes to Audism, but I won't jump on the band wagon since I've noticed so much attacking going on recently. I felt attacked and for a while I got so sick of it all that I stopped comming so frequently.

Kokonut is also deaf.

Glad to see you agree to disagree and that's how it should be. Though to be incessantly followed after by a stalker day in and day out like Jillio is gets scary. And to see mulitple posts after my posts just for the sake of posting?? It just gets really ridiculous, comical even. Of all places, I never thought I see the day that I get followed by a hearing stalker in a deaf forum who is getting an advanced degree in the field of psychology? Talk about irony on ten different levels. I know that celebrities pretty much have their own "personal" stalker(s), so to speak, but this is getting ridiculous here.

 

[Mrs Bucket]

Thank you, but I prefer a world that involves everybody without holding any prejudices as to their perferred mode of communication. There is still too much political divisiveness and political correctness that I've seen over the years when it comes to these "Deaf-centric" issues and "requirements." Though I do interact with my Deaf, deaf, hh, and hearing friends. I don't bite, I just have a preference.

This is where I can understand your preference and really do respect that too as well.

Now that I'm in college for 5 weeks and believe me those 5 weeks have been life-altering. I went into the ALIP program with an ego, I won't deny that. I thought I knew everything about Deaf Culture. Being a Culturally Deaf person as well from a 6 generations Deaf family, guess what, I had a cultural shock.

Literally I re-learned everything and re-learned my approaches. This program is the only one offered worldwide. Gallaudet doesn't even offer it, George Brown College is the first to offer it. A plus for Deaf Canadians. :P

The point I'm stating for everyone, we must preserve our Deaf-World as well as our individual paths. We cannot rip other people's paths thus we rip our own paths.

We cannot misidentify other people thus we misidentify ourselves.

It is very, very and I repeat very important to support each other in other people's lifepaths. Some call it Deafhood, some say DeafBlindhood and others prefer to call it "My life journey."

It's important to show support and have support received as well. Children learn what they see. We are their mentors whenever we like it or not.

 

[Berry]

I need specifics. I'm not even sure what you're referring to what I stated. Again, such as?

I gave you specifics. Below is exactly what you said:

I see my hearing (what's left of it) as a gift and I cherish it. Simply put.

The above quote is loud and clear; It states your position plainly without hiding and without implying those who disagree with you are wrong. There is no manipulation or concealment.

 

[kokonut]

I gave you specifics. Below is exactly what you said:

The above quote is loud and clear; It states your position plainly without hiding and without implying those who disagree with you are wrong. There is no manipulation or concealment.

Um, in my very first post of my thread:

"As for me, the answer is obvious, yes, I do cherish my hearing! It has given me so much and I'm thankful for my hearing aid. My hearing has allowed me to enjoy a wide ranging sound to enjoy, and has also allowed me to communicate and listen, too. I don't take my hearing for granted but I certainly do thank God for the gift of hearing I was given, even though not complete. I am proud to be hard of hearing. It makes one realizes just how precious and fragile the gift of hearing is."


I stated my position clearly already at the beginning. There is no manipulation or concealment going on in what I said.

 

[dogmom]

I find empowerment and knowledge in things I am reading here....Berry, like what your mom thought about the senses!
Jillio, when one comes from background you and I described, I think it encourages much awareness and openess to ways of Being.
Everyone is both teacher and student.

 

[Berry]

One of my grand daughters pointed out that although I disagreed with the way you presented you question I never answered it. She feels I should so I will.

No.

I am a literate person. My primary form of communication is reading and writing. If I were completely deaf I would be able to read and write with fewer interruptions.

I am tone deaf and have always been so. Nor have I ever been able to carry a tune. My relationship to music is minimal. Not hearing it would not be a big loss.

I am not a TV or movie fan. In fact I would rather read a movie script than watch it on the screen. There are places on the net where you can download them for free.

Having been around deaf people off and on most of my life I place little value on the cultural norms of most hearing people. 80% of the hearing people never have anything to say worth listening too and of the remaining 20% at least 80% of what they say is wasted air. I weary of hearing people bitching about other people and what they don't do right. If I never heard another word of that again it would not bother me.

Over the years I hear less and less. Why I do not know nor do I care. It could be working around noisy equipment all my life or it could be congenital or simply wax build up.

My hearing is a tool so I use it. Do I cherish it? No. What I cherish are my wife, my family, my friends, and my off-the-wall sense of humor. With them at my side I can deal with anything.

 

[kokonut]

Berry, that's fine.

I, too, cherish my family, my daughters, my wife, my hearing (what's left of it), my health, my quirky humor and so on. You may see it as a tool but for me I see my hearing as more than just simply a tool. It's part and parcel of my whole senses and how enjoy those senses in more ways than one.

 

[shel90]

One of my grand daughters pointed out that although I disagreed with the way you presented you question I never answered it. She feels I should so I will.

No.

I am a literate person. My primary form of communication is reading and writing. If I were completely deaf I would be able to read and write with fewer interruptions.

I am tone deaf and have always been so. Nor have I ever been able to carry a tune. My relationship to music is minimal. Not hearing it would not be a big loss.

I am not a TV or movie fan. In fact I would rather read a movie script than watch it on the screen. There are places on the net where you can download them for free.

Having been around deaf people off and on most of my life I place little value on the cultural norms of most hearing people. 80% of the hearing people never have anything to say worth listening too and of the remaining 20% at least 80% of what they say is wasted air. I weary of hearing people bitching about other people and what they don't do right. If I never heard another word of that again it would not bother me.

Over the years I hear less and less. Why I do not know nor do I care. It could be working around noisy equipment all my life or it could be congenital or simply wax build up.

My hearing is a tool so I use it. Do I cherish it? No. What I cherish are my wife, my family, my friends, and my off-the-wall sense of humor. With them at my side I can deal with anything.

I dont see hearing as a "gift".

 

[Mrs Bucket]

Berry, that's fine.

I, too, cherish my family, my daughters, my wife, my hearing (what's left of it), my health, my quirky humor and so on. You may see it as a tool but for me I see my hearing as more than just simply a tool. It's part and parcel of my whole senses and how enjoy those senses in more ways than one.

I think it is wonderful you are cherishing your hearing and what is left of it.

I think it is also wonderful to have humility and what is left of it as well.

I think it is wonderful to have vision and what is left of it as well.

The point of this is to have humility and use it on a daily basis. Not so many people are as lucky as you are, Kokonut.

Be humble, my dear friend. Use humility, it does us well.

I cherish the fact I am still here on this earth, DeafBlind, because I know I can still make an impact in many people's lives and still be humble about this.

 

[CJB]

I think it's fair to say we all feel differently about our hearing, or whatever we have left of hearing, or our lack of hearing. No one view is better than the other. Whether you cherish your hearing or not, whether you're proud to be Deaf/Hoh, or whether you cherish your hearing and Deaf/HH identity at the same time, so be it.