Would you say this is true?

Pennyworth

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Don't worry - this isn't for a class. I already know how annoying that is. I read through the FAQ about questions and interviews, etc.

This is just a little rant I wrote recently. Me and my friend were arguing about how deaf people are considered "disabled" and I thought that was a little unfair. This is what I said:

I think it’s wrong how Deaf people are considered “disabled”. I understand why they are considered that term, but I look at things differently. It seems like they are only disabled in terms of how we function in society as a whole. If you were to change how society works, deaf people are no more disabled than hearing people.

One way I look at it is this: most people have five senses – sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Blind people are also considered disabled. However, it has been scientifically proven that there are more senses than just five, especially in animals. Bats, for example, have sonar capabilities that help them see what they’re hearing as the sound waves bounce off walls. Humans are not able to have this skill because we cannot sense that frequency, so therefore, all humans are disabled when it comes to that ability.

To say that deaf or blind people are disabled is saying that they are not capable of all the things hearing or seeing people are capable of based on how our society works, and that is untrue. It has been proven that deaf people can function in our society just like everyone else. They can drive cars, raise children, have jobs, just like everyone else. Saying that deaf people are “disabled” seems incorrect to me. Some deaf people are probably more successful in life than people who are hearing.


I'm a hearing person with no hard-of-hearing, so I'm not aware of what it's like to be deaf. That rant is just based on what I'm feeling. I'm trying to imagine what it must be like, so I'm sorry if I'm wrong here. I'm not trying to cause an argument :aw: :wave:
 
This has been discussed a lot. It is a lot harder to be deaf in our society that it is to be hearing.

So it is just a matter of semantics whether you wish to say disabled.

Please though, do provide us the information on the very successful rich deaf people who have the hearing beat at money making.
 
I suppose Marlee Matlin is an obvious answer, and she even won an Oscar. I'd say she's more talented and more successful than I'll probably be, and I'm hearing.

There are several authors I'm reading right now too, like Carol Padden and Tom Humphries who wrote books about culture who are also very successful. Their book "Inside Deaf Culture" is very highly regarded.

Although, I'm not sure... is Marlee Matlin fully deaf or just HoH?
 
I suppose Marlee Matlin is an obvious answer, and she even won an Oscar. I'd say she's more talented and more successful than I'll probably be, and I'm hearing.

There are several authors I'm reading right now too, like Carol Padden and Tom Humphries who wrote books about culture who are also very successful. Their book "Inside Deaf Culture" is very highly regarded.

Although, I'm not sure... is Marlee Matlin fully deaf or just HoH?

My point was meant to be, "Deaf people are just like everyone else! We are varied!"

I think I should have just said, "Snarl, I disagree!" That is what I usually say, but I have been working on my good manners.:lol:
 
I suppose Marlee Matlin is an obvious answer, and she even won an Oscar. I'd say she's more talented and more successful than I'll probably be, and I'm hearing.

There are several authors I'm reading right now too, like Carol Padden and Tom Humphries who wrote books about culture who are also very successful. Their book "Inside Deaf Culture" is very highly regarded.

Although, I'm not sure... is Marlee Matlin fully deaf or just HoH?

Marlee Matlin is Big D Deaf. It doesn't really matter what she is physiologically, but to answer your question, she's profoundly deaf.
 
Wow, I had no idea Steve Jobs was hard of hearing- I googled and found a few articles. I'm an avid Apple fangirl.

Pennyworth, I'm hard of hearing and for me, it's just the way I've always been, but everyone else speaks unclearly and too quietly- if I could change that, and get everyone to speak facing me, I wouldn't have problems. I don't feel 'disabled' as such but I do feel hindered; I can't hear things right off the bat that hearing people can, and it takes my time and effort to ask people to speak clearer/louder/slower etc. It's very frustrating for me. However, if everybody did that without being asked, they might be speaking uncomfortably loud/slowly for the ears of hearing people, I don't know.
 
Wow, I had no idea Steve Jobs was hard of hearing- I googled and found a few articles. I'm an avid Apple fangirl.

Pennyworth, I'm hard of hearing and for me, it's just the way I've always been, but everyone else speaks unclearly and too quietly- if I could change that, and get everyone to speak facing me, I wouldn't have problems. I don't feel 'disabled' as such but I do feel hindered; I can't hear things right off the bat that hearing people can, and it takes my time and effort to ask people to speak clearer/louder/slower etc. It's very frustrating for me. However, if everybody did that without being asked, they might be speaking uncomfortably loud/slowly for the ears of hearing people, I don't know.
 
My point was meant to be, "Deaf people are just like everyone else! We are varied!"

I think I should have just said, "Snarl, I disagree!" That is what I usually say, but I have been working on my good manners.:lol:

Haha.. oh botti you're one funny gal!..
but i agree.. deaf people are just the same as everyone..
i was watching a video in deaf community class today.. and i guess for some odd reason i hadn't ever thought of it.. but its like..
Okay if deaf are sooo different then so are the different races.. and other different "differences" like being left handed or right handed stature.... so on and so forth... but really we're all the same people.. we're all different in someway somehow..but thats how the world was made.. no need to put deaf people down.. just because of their deafness..it made so much sense to me i have no idea why i never thought of it like that. but I liked that explanation.. ehh im a little slow what can i say! :P
 
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