Is deafness a "handicap?"

lanapoo

lanapoo

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I have a friend who keeps saying that I'm handicapped and I constantly correct him that I feel it's a derogatory term. I'm not handicapped to require a blue parking permit. At the best, I'd call myself disabled because I'm simply not able to hear although I still don't quite like the term. I feel that there's a huge difference between "handicap" and "disability" and no one uses handicapped anymore nowadays.

I've been trying to educate him that deafness is a minor disability, that I can still do whatever I want, it's just a bit harder. He's the type who asks really stupid questions like "Do you get a headache? How do you drive? Does your ears ring? etc" I feel that he asks these same questions every other 3 months so it gets really annoying trying to make him understand. We've been best friends for two years now, but I'm now at the point where I can't take it anymore with him. He should have known all the answers by now. I swear he has the IQ of a snail. He's still very set on calling me handicapped and I find it to be offensive.

What do you consider your deafness to be? A handicap? A disability? What? :hmm:
 
lanapoo said:
I have a friend who keeps saying that I'm handicapped and I constantly correct him that I feel it's a derogatory term. I'm not handicapped to require a blue parking permit. At the best, I'd call myself disabled because I'm simply not able to hear although I still don't quite like the term. I feel that there's a huge difference between "handicap" and "disability" and no one uses handicapped anymore nowadays.

I've been trying to educate him that deafness is a minor disability, that I can still do whatever I want, it's just a bit harder. He's the type who asks really stupid questions like "Do you get a headache? How do you drive? Does your ears ring? etc" I feel that he asks these same questions every other 3 months so it gets really annoying trying to make him understand. We've been best friends for two years now, but I'm now at the point where I can't take it anymore with him. He should have known all the answers by now. I swear he has the IQ of a snail. He's still very set on calling me handicapped and I find it to be offensive.

What do you consider your deafness to be? A handicap? A disability? What? :hmm:
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I agree. I don't think of my daughter as handicapped -- that sounds like she's got a permanent and static limiting burden on her, which she doesn't. Even "disabled" is a tough term. A friend of mine once said my child has a "diffability," not a disability. She's certainly able, but differently-abled rather than not-abled or wrongly-abled.

I think she lives in a world where her deafness can be perceived as making her less able. So, deafness isn't her disability, but that external perception of what deafness means is. So, I'm very grateful for disability accommodations that address those perceptions.
 
It's only a handicap if you let it get in your way of enjoying life.
 
lanapoo said:
I have a friend who keeps saying that I'm handicapped and I constantly correct him that I feel it's a derogatory term. I'm not handicapped to require a blue parking permit. At the best, I'd call myself disabled because I'm simply not able to hear although I still don't quite like the term. I feel that there's a huge difference between "handicap" and "disability" and no one uses handicapped anymore nowadays.

I've been trying to educate him that deafness is a minor disability, that I can still do whatever I want, it's just a bit harder. He's the type who asks really stupid questions like "Do you get a headache? How do you drive? Does your ears ring? etc" I feel that he asks these same questions every other 3 months so it gets really annoying trying to make him understand. We've been best friends for two years now, but I'm now at the point where I can't take it anymore with him. He should have known all the answers by now. I swear he has the IQ of a snail. He's still very set on calling me handicapped and I find it to be offensive.

What do you consider your deafness to be? A handicap? A disability? What? :hmm:
Click to expand...

I think he is handicapped one if deaf people disable him.
 
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Banjo said:
It's only a handicap if you let it get in your way of enjoying life.
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Very true. I definitely don't let it bother me at all. It bothers him though so I shall call him a handicap. :lol:
 
Most people think "handicapped" and "disabled" are the same thing.

In the US government's dictionary, being deaf is a debilitating disability, and yes, we can be classified as "handicapped".

No, we don't like to be called 'handicapped', and I agree, we should only be called 'disabled'.

That guy that is getting on your nerves with questions is just ignorant, probably has no experience with someone who has an "invisible" disability like deafness.

I get stupid questions like that all the time.
 
Banjo said:
It's only a handicap if you let it get in your way of enjoying life.
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That is it in a nutshell. And, I might add that social barriers are handicapping in a way deafness would never be.
 
I've always considered other people's attidudes toward my deafness my biggest handicap.
 
Person born with a hearing loss, I have always accepted, yet struggled with my lack of ability to hear. I do not exactly enjoy using the term "disabled".
 
Usage of words change over the course of time. Not so recently the term 'politically correct' or 'political correctness' came into play. This changes of lot of terminology that was acceptable in the past. ie: hearing impaired - hard-of-hearing; handicapped - disability; disabled - physically challenged etc.

Just tell him he is old-fashioned and the p.c. term is such and such. If the politically- correct term doesn't match up to what you perceive yourself as, then it is quite permissable to state your personal preference as to how people address you.
 
Society's refusal to accodomate deaf people's needs is a handicap.
 
hey, don't build a stair/steps... if he ask why, just tell him if he must be handicapped if he can't climp up.
 
lanapoo said:
I have a friend who keeps saying that I'm handicapped and I constantly correct him that I feel it's a derogatory term. I'm not handicapped to require a blue parking permit. At the best, I'd call myself disabled because I'm simply not able to hear although I still don't quite like the term. I feel that there's a huge difference between "handicap" and "disability" and no one uses handicapped anymore nowadays.

I've been trying to educate him that deafness is a minor disability, that I can still do whatever I want, it's just a bit harder. He's the type who asks really stupid questions like "Do you get a headache? How do you drive? Does your ears ring? etc" I feel that he asks these same questions every other 3 months so it gets really annoying trying to make him understand. We've been best friends for two years now, but I'm now at the point where I can't take it anymore with him. He should have known all the answers by now. I swear he has the IQ of a snail. He's still very set on calling me handicapped and I find it to be offensive.

What do you consider your deafness to be? A handicap? A disability? What? :hmm:
Click to expand...

U are teaching him and let him to learn about us. I am still learning about people everyday, each of them has their own story of life.


My mother's lawyer considered me not disabled because I work. Must be so nice be deaf and not disabled, miss out so much stuffs out in this world.
 
lanapoo said:
I have a friend who keeps saying that I'm handicapped and I constantly correct him that I feel it's a derogatory term. I'm not handicapped to require a blue parking permit. At the best, I'd call myself disabled because I'm simply not able to hear although I still don't quite like the term. I feel that there's a huge difference between "handicap" and "disability" and no one uses handicapped anymore nowadays.

I've been trying to educate him that deafness is a minor disability, that I can still do whatever I want, it's just a bit harder. He's the type who asks really stupid questions like "Do you get a headache? How do you drive? Does your ears ring? etc" I feel that he asks these same questions every other 3 months so it gets really annoying trying to make him understand. We've been best friends for two years now, but I'm now at the point where I can't take it anymore with him. He should have known all the answers by now. I swear he has the IQ of a snail. He's still very set on calling me handicapped and I find it to be offensive.

What do you consider your deafness to be? A handicap? A disability? What? :hmm:
Click to expand...


I've not seen the word 'handicapped' used for years ! as far as being seen as 'disabled' yes many who acquire deafness would agree with that as the accurate description. However people who don't understand what disability actually is in regards to deaf people unless they are in a wheelchair or something, then it is probably ignorance, you can't see deafness, so people are probably trying to attach something else to it, to make it more recognisable... it's hard for others to fathom out given one sector o deaf opposes any suggestion of a disablement,and the other embraces it as a fact of their life.
 
People who think I am handicapped, because I am deaf is education retarded.
 
Deafness in and of itself is not a handicap. However, the obstacles put in place for the deaf person by hearing society create a handicapping condition around deafness. Deafness does not handicap. The way the deaf are treated is what handicaps.
 
It might be in some ways....I've been labeled "handicapped"..."disabled"..."hearing impaired"....."deaf".....and the other day as "special"....."Labels" constantly change over time. So do people's way of thinking. Today, I'm feeling sort of "special"....(haha)....
 
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