Well deaf culture has been around for a long time, probably longer than LGBT.
Alexander Graham Bell (yes, the inventor of the phone) was the one who thought being deaf is akin to being dumb and he even insulted his own wife, who was deaf. He invented oralism, a language where deaf people would just talk instead of using their hands and whenever a deaf person use their hands, they'd get slapped with a ruler or a broom, or go outside and stand in the rain. Some even got burned because of that. Due to oralism, education among the deaf community has decreased their intelligence.
If it wasn't for deaf culture, we won't have stuff we've come to know today like the huddle in football and the umpire signs (strike, out, safe). They all came from deaf culture.
The huddle was because deaf football players know sign language so when you are trying to relay the playcall to other players, the opposing deaf team would see you talking about it and plan accordingly, hence the huddle so they can talk, while hiding their signs from the opposing team.
The umpire signs were created due to a deaf baseball player named Dummy Hoy. He couldn't hear the umpire saying strike or out so he asked the umpire to do signs so he will know what is happening.
Also fun fact: Hillary Clinton's Clinton Foundation is one of the few people/organizations who encouraged a lot of deaf people to get cochlear implants, a fact that has been forgotten by many deaf people and I've always pointed that out for them and they'd go, "So what?! I still love Hillary!" and they're the same ones who say they are against CIs.
Another fun fact: Martha's Vineyard used to have all deaf residents living there until the hearing people moved there and eventually pushed the deaf residents out until it's now fully hearing residents.
Subtitles are here now thanks to the deaf community and I've been told this from many hearing people who uses subtitles, "Thank God for subtitles because I'm going deaf soon and I can continue watching shows/movies" or "Subtitles is great because sometimes when I'm listening to the movie and it'd often go soft/quiet/loud and I can't make out what the person's saying but the subtitles said it so I don't have to go back and try to make out what the person just said" and so on.
That's fine if you think CI should be required, however you are mistaken if you thought 99% of deaf people would be able to hear. My deaf friend got CI and she couldn't hear shit. Instead, she got severe headaches for a long time. Had operation 3 times to fix the CI issue but at the end, she opted to have it removed. Once it got removed, her headaches went away completely.
CI doesn't benefit ALL deaf people like you claim it does. I'm against CI, in case if you haven't noticed this yet because yes, it takes away deaf culture. FYI, deaf culture is fading out, thanks to the doctors for their aggressive encouragement to have parents of deaf children to get CIs once their kids are born. If parents decline, the doctor will shame them, saying their kid(s) will always be treated as an invalid individual for the rest of their lives.
Finally, another fun fact. When you learn American Sign Language or you've started losing hearing, you've become a part of Deaf Culture! What affects us now will affect you later in the future when your hearing goes, so I'd trend carefully here!
You are a very passionate person and seem quite knowledgeable on the subject.
I think the overall point was being frustrated with people who choose to avoid treatments that could work just for an "easy ride", ignoring of course that being deaf or mute or disabled in any way is not an easy ride.
If a treatment is right for people, they should consider taking it. Not staying disabled for the sake of being disabled and the points they get for it by people, you know?
And if the treatment doesn't work, they shouldn't be shamed for not being able to hear or talk or see. We can help people. That's fine and good and a part of our foundational values
Would you think CIs is the right treatment for me, who have been deaf pretty much my whole life and that's a little over 40 years?
That means I'll be training my brain to understand the vibrations being sent to my lobes and it may take me 20 years or longer to finally understand what's being "said"? Maybe never, seeing how hearing aids didn't work for me and I started wearing them when I was a baby and wore them everyday until I turned 21 yr old and eventually chucked them out. For 21 years, it never worked for me.
CI's isn't perfect. I've seen a lot of deaf people who got CI's either when they were a baby or later in their adult life and they said it didn't work out the way they expected it to.
It's quite rare to find someone who said the CI's is a success for them. I've met some who said it's a success for them then I asked them if they can use the phone, listen to a movie at the theater without subtitles, carry a conversation without using sign language AND not reading lips? They said meekly, "No..." so that's not what I call a success.
I've gotten used to being deaf for a long time so do you honestly think I'd jump at the opportunity to have half of my head cut open to implant a CI and be told, "It may work. It may not work but we'll give it a try and see what happens." ? If it was something like I've suddenly became deaf as recent as last year then I may be interested in getting CIs because I'm sure I'd like to be able to hear again, even if it will be effective about 50% of the time.
I've been deaf my whole life and I've gotten used to it. Honestly I'm fine with who I am so why bother being able to hear about 20% of the time, more or less, and risk having scarring and possible brain damage/severe headaches/vertigo?
If it doesn't work then I'd have it taken out of my head, which will then leave an ugly scar on my head then I'll have people asking me what happened to my head? Did I get into a car accident or have someone bash my head open?
Are you also fine with the doctor forcing parents to have their kids put on CIs and if not, they'd be ridiculed by the doctor and maybe the doctor's staff? This actually happened to my deaf friends who have 4 deaf kids and each time they had a baby, the doctor forced them to have their kid be put on CIs. They have had 4 DIFFERENT doctors and 4 DIFFERENT doctors said the same thing to them. Even one held their baby "hostage" for a week because the doctor refused to let them leave the hospital if their kid wasn't going to get CIs. My friends threatened to sue the doctor so the doctor gave up the baby and let them go home.
At this point, CIs may appear to be a "perfect" solution or even a better solution over hearing aids, but it's nowhere close to being perfect. MAYBE better than hearing aids but I wouldn't know as I don't have CIs and honestly, I'll never will get it, even if CI technology has finally gotten to the point where it works effectively 85% of the time.
I mean ha d signals are used all the time in loud situations. Any cultures add emphasis and speak with their hands in their own way. My family is Spaniard and there is a method to the madness that is gesturing that is subconscious to a large degree.
Italians are the same way.
Police and military need to speak with gestures to not be heard, people have probably been doing that longer than they've been talking. Gestures are our basic communication.
I wanted a CI, but my anatomy wouldn't allow it. Being hard of hearing isn't all bad, either. I probably only hear a third of what everyone around me says and only a third of THAT is actually worth hearing! :D
BRO. If you aren't deaf or hard of hearing, it's really challenging to understand. It is a disability, but it's one with its own language, communication approach, and tools. It's a culture whether you agree with that or not. A culture full of really intelligent people who are interesting af and lead awesome lives.
A CI or hearing aid doesn't restore hearing to 100% or come even close to the clear quality hearing you are likely thinking of. CI's work using conductive hearing. Put a pair of headphones behind your ears instead of on them, then turn the volume up to half. That would STILL give you better sound than CI's in most cases (depending on anatomy).
Imagine you've lost the ability to speak (or never had it) and you start using other ways to communicate with the world around you and express yourself. Those in your family and circle understand you and you understand them. Then, you're given the option to hold what is basically a vibrator to your throat to vibrate your vocal cords. It makes you sound monotone and doesn't at all match the expressiveness you've grown accustomed to. But, it's "speaking", right?
You wouldn't be less intelligent for choosing to not use a device like that.
I understand where you are coming from but those people you were referring to are self-entitled dumb fucks who also annoys me.
Deaf culture is real, it has been around since 1800's but there are stupid people like the ones I mentioned to you, takes it to a whole new level because they felt they're owed everything, just like the black people and their reparations.
I'm not one of those people. Think of them as millennials but deaf.
As for "Don't let it stop you from succeeding", I never let anyone stop me from succeeding. I have a college degree in I.T. and a couple of I.T. certs, been using computers since I was 7 years old and I'm really good at what I do.
However, I applied to over 1,000 jobs in my lifetime and NOT one was willing to hire me because of my deafness.
When I had an preliminary interview done over email, I don't let them know I'm deaf so it went like this:
We talk back and forth and they're gushing over my skills and they're saying they'd love to have me work for them. They invite me to do a phone job interview. I accept but I had to let them know, as courtesy, that I'm deaf and when we do the phone interview, it will be like this - there will be a "man in the middle" (the relay operator) and they will be conveying our conversation for us.
Doesn't sound like an issue but once they find out I'm deaf, they put me on hold so they can talk to their boss/supervisor/co-worker or whatever.
They come back to me and say this, "You know what? I'm really sorry but my boss had just informed me that while we were having this conversation, he had already hired someone to fill in the position so we will retain your resume on file for 6 months then after that, you're more than welcome to apply! We'd love to have you aboard but I'm really sorry!"
If you thought this happened once, you are sadly mistaken. I have heard this "canned" response from over half of the jobs I've applied to. ALL of it came from when I LET THEM KNOW I'M DEAF. The rest? Either wasn't good enough for them to consider me or I've switched my approach from not telling them up front that I'm deaf to telling them up front that I'm deaf. That part most certainly didn't work at all.
I never let them stop me, however when they give me an excuse, that's when the opportunity stops right there for me. This is why I have yet to start my career job in I.T. since graduating from college over 15 years ago, all because no one want to give me a fair chance to prove myself. This is also why I hate "Diversity" because if this is true, then I'd have a job, yet I don't so when a company I've applied to in the past, embraces diversity, I know they're lying.
And if you think about it, if people actually gave deaf people a fair chance at proving themselves and having them employed for a large chunk of their lives like me, we'd not be on disability income, collecting $$ from your paycheck. I hate it but how can we survive if we don't have jobs? There are over 1 million of deaf people living in America and pretty much 90% of them are on disability income (social security benefits) because no one will hire us.
This is why I believe in Trump because I am tired of surviving off disability income, which is fixed all the time, rather than having a decent pay like a salaried job that I've envisioned myself doing when I graduated from college. That dream is pretty much gone and I'm in a reality I didn't envision myself being in.
Yeah there was actually a school for the blind in one of my old towns near my home. I know deaf is not synonymous with blind but it was very interesting how many blind people were crossing streets and standing in line at stores. They were frequently in large groups too. I can imagine how a subculture can grow up in a group with a disability, especially when it affects the size of a person's available pool of social interactions. If 80% of humans around you act awkwardly and avoid contact with you, but you have easy and painless communication with others who can relate to you, of course there would be some differences there.
I don't (necessarily) see that as a victim culture thing although it might lend itself to that. People are either empowered and demonstrate a triumphant spirit, or they're stuck in a victimhood mentality and hold themselves back.
Well deaf culture has been around for a long time, probably longer than LGBT.
Alexander Graham Bell (yes, the inventor of the phone) was the one who thought being deaf is akin to being dumb and he even insulted his own wife, who was deaf. He invented oralism, a language where deaf people would just talk instead of using their hands and whenever a deaf person use their hands, they'd get slapped with a ruler or a broom, or go outside and stand in the rain. Some even got burned because of that. Due to oralism, education among the deaf community has decreased their intelligence.
If it wasn't for deaf culture, we won't have stuff we've come to know today like the huddle in football and the umpire signs (strike, out, safe). They all came from deaf culture.
The huddle was because deaf football players know sign language so when you are trying to relay the playcall to other players, the opposing deaf team would see you talking about it and plan accordingly, hence the huddle so they can talk, while hiding their signs from the opposing team.
The umpire signs were created due to a deaf baseball player named Dummy Hoy. He couldn't hear the umpire saying strike or out so he asked the umpire to do signs so he will know what is happening.
Also fun fact: Hillary Clinton's Clinton Foundation is one of the few people/organizations who encouraged a lot of deaf people to get cochlear implants, a fact that has been forgotten by many deaf people and I've always pointed that out for them and they'd go, "So what?! I still love Hillary!" and they're the same ones who say they are against CIs.
Another fun fact: Martha's Vineyard used to have all deaf residents living there until the hearing people moved there and eventually pushed the deaf residents out until it's now fully hearing residents.
Subtitles are here now thanks to the deaf community and I've been told this from many hearing people who uses subtitles, "Thank God for subtitles because I'm going deaf soon and I can continue watching shows/movies" or "Subtitles is great because sometimes when I'm listening to the movie and it'd often go soft/quiet/loud and I can't make out what the person's saying but the subtitles said it so I don't have to go back and try to make out what the person just said" and so on.
That's fine if you think CI should be required, however you are mistaken if you thought 99% of deaf people would be able to hear. My deaf friend got CI and she couldn't hear shit. Instead, she got severe headaches for a long time. Had operation 3 times to fix the CI issue but at the end, she opted to have it removed. Once it got removed, her headaches went away completely.
CI doesn't benefit ALL deaf people like you claim it does. I'm against CI, in case if you haven't noticed this yet because yes, it takes away deaf culture. FYI, deaf culture is fading out, thanks to the doctors for their aggressive encouragement to have parents of deaf children to get CIs once their kids are born. If parents decline, the doctor will shame them, saying their kid(s) will always be treated as an invalid individual for the rest of their lives.
Finally, another fun fact. When you learn American Sign Language or you've started losing hearing, you've become a part of Deaf Culture! What affects us now will affect you later in the future when your hearing goes, so I'd trend carefully here!
You are a very passionate person and seem quite knowledgeable on the subject.
I think the overall point was being frustrated with people who choose to avoid treatments that could work just for an "easy ride", ignoring of course that being deaf or mute or disabled in any way is not an easy ride.
If a treatment is right for people, they should consider taking it. Not staying disabled for the sake of being disabled and the points they get for it by people, you know?
And if the treatment doesn't work, they shouldn't be shamed for not being able to hear or talk or see. We can help people. That's fine and good and a part of our foundational values
Would you think CIs is the right treatment for me, who have been deaf pretty much my whole life and that's a little over 40 years?
That means I'll be training my brain to understand the vibrations being sent to my lobes and it may take me 20 years or longer to finally understand what's being "said"? Maybe never, seeing how hearing aids didn't work for me and I started wearing them when I was a baby and wore them everyday until I turned 21 yr old and eventually chucked them out. For 21 years, it never worked for me.
CI's isn't perfect. I've seen a lot of deaf people who got CI's either when they were a baby or later in their adult life and they said it didn't work out the way they expected it to.
It's quite rare to find someone who said the CI's is a success for them. I've met some who said it's a success for them then I asked them if they can use the phone, listen to a movie at the theater without subtitles, carry a conversation without using sign language AND not reading lips? They said meekly, "No..." so that's not what I call a success.
I've gotten used to being deaf for a long time so do you honestly think I'd jump at the opportunity to have half of my head cut open to implant a CI and be told, "It may work. It may not work but we'll give it a try and see what happens." ? If it was something like I've suddenly became deaf as recent as last year then I may be interested in getting CIs because I'm sure I'd like to be able to hear again, even if it will be effective about 50% of the time.
I've been deaf my whole life and I've gotten used to it. Honestly I'm fine with who I am so why bother being able to hear about 20% of the time, more or less, and risk having scarring and possible brain damage/severe headaches/vertigo?
If it doesn't work then I'd have it taken out of my head, which will then leave an ugly scar on my head then I'll have people asking me what happened to my head? Did I get into a car accident or have someone bash my head open?
Are you also fine with the doctor forcing parents to have their kids put on CIs and if not, they'd be ridiculed by the doctor and maybe the doctor's staff? This actually happened to my deaf friends who have 4 deaf kids and each time they had a baby, the doctor forced them to have their kid be put on CIs. They have had 4 DIFFERENT doctors and 4 DIFFERENT doctors said the same thing to them. Even one held their baby "hostage" for a week because the doctor refused to let them leave the hospital if their kid wasn't going to get CIs. My friends threatened to sue the doctor so the doctor gave up the baby and let them go home.
At this point, CIs may appear to be a "perfect" solution or even a better solution over hearing aids, but it's nowhere close to being perfect. MAYBE better than hearing aids but I wouldn't know as I don't have CIs and honestly, I'll never will get it, even if CI technology has finally gotten to the point where it works effectively 85% of the time.
TIL about cochlear implants
Thank you for sharing this!
Imagine thinking we wouldn't have hand signals without deaf people lol
Seriously, one of the dumbest things I've ever read on here.
Yet you took the time to say this out loud on what appears to be a burner account.
Cool.
I mean ha d signals are used all the time in loud situations. Any cultures add emphasis and speak with their hands in their own way. My family is Spaniard and there is a method to the madness that is gesturing that is subconscious to a large degree.
Italians are the same way.
Police and military need to speak with gestures to not be heard, people have probably been doing that longer than they've been talking. Gestures are our basic communication.
I wanted a CI, but my anatomy wouldn't allow it. Being hard of hearing isn't all bad, either. I probably only hear a third of what everyone around me says and only a third of THAT is actually worth hearing! :D
This is so amazing! Thank you for the interesting read!
BRO. If you aren't deaf or hard of hearing, it's really challenging to understand. It is a disability, but it's one with its own language, communication approach, and tools. It's a culture whether you agree with that or not. A culture full of really intelligent people who are interesting af and lead awesome lives.
A CI or hearing aid doesn't restore hearing to 100% or come even close to the clear quality hearing you are likely thinking of. CI's work using conductive hearing. Put a pair of headphones behind your ears instead of on them, then turn the volume up to half. That would STILL give you better sound than CI's in most cases (depending on anatomy).
Imagine you've lost the ability to speak (or never had it) and you start using other ways to communicate with the world around you and express yourself. Those in your family and circle understand you and you understand them. Then, you're given the option to hold what is basically a vibrator to your throat to vibrate your vocal cords. It makes you sound monotone and doesn't at all match the expressiveness you've grown accustomed to. But, it's "speaking", right?
You wouldn't be less intelligent for choosing to not use a device like that.
I understand where you are coming from but those people you were referring to are self-entitled dumb fucks who also annoys me.
Deaf culture is real, it has been around since 1800's but there are stupid people like the ones I mentioned to you, takes it to a whole new level because they felt they're owed everything, just like the black people and their reparations.
I'm not one of those people. Think of them as millennials but deaf.
As for "Don't let it stop you from succeeding", I never let anyone stop me from succeeding. I have a college degree in I.T. and a couple of I.T. certs, been using computers since I was 7 years old and I'm really good at what I do.
However, I applied to over 1,000 jobs in my lifetime and NOT one was willing to hire me because of my deafness.
When I had an preliminary interview done over email, I don't let them know I'm deaf so it went like this:
We talk back and forth and they're gushing over my skills and they're saying they'd love to have me work for them. They invite me to do a phone job interview. I accept but I had to let them know, as courtesy, that I'm deaf and when we do the phone interview, it will be like this - there will be a "man in the middle" (the relay operator) and they will be conveying our conversation for us.
Doesn't sound like an issue but once they find out I'm deaf, they put me on hold so they can talk to their boss/supervisor/co-worker or whatever.
They come back to me and say this, "You know what? I'm really sorry but my boss had just informed me that while we were having this conversation, he had already hired someone to fill in the position so we will retain your resume on file for 6 months then after that, you're more than welcome to apply! We'd love to have you aboard but I'm really sorry!"
If you thought this happened once, you are sadly mistaken. I have heard this "canned" response from over half of the jobs I've applied to. ALL of it came from when I LET THEM KNOW I'M DEAF. The rest? Either wasn't good enough for them to consider me or I've switched my approach from not telling them up front that I'm deaf to telling them up front that I'm deaf. That part most certainly didn't work at all.
I never let them stop me, however when they give me an excuse, that's when the opportunity stops right there for me. This is why I have yet to start my career job in I.T. since graduating from college over 15 years ago, all because no one want to give me a fair chance to prove myself. This is also why I hate "Diversity" because if this is true, then I'd have a job, yet I don't so when a company I've applied to in the past, embraces diversity, I know they're lying.
And if you think about it, if people actually gave deaf people a fair chance at proving themselves and having them employed for a large chunk of their lives like me, we'd not be on disability income, collecting $$ from your paycheck. I hate it but how can we survive if we don't have jobs? There are over 1 million of deaf people living in America and pretty much 90% of them are on disability income (social security benefits) because no one will hire us.
This is why I believe in Trump because I am tired of surviving off disability income, which is fixed all the time, rather than having a decent pay like a salaried job that I've envisioned myself doing when I graduated from college. That dream is pretty much gone and I'm in a reality I didn't envision myself being in.
Yeah there was actually a school for the blind in one of my old towns near my home. I know deaf is not synonymous with blind but it was very interesting how many blind people were crossing streets and standing in line at stores. They were frequently in large groups too. I can imagine how a subculture can grow up in a group with a disability, especially when it affects the size of a person's available pool of social interactions. If 80% of humans around you act awkwardly and avoid contact with you, but you have easy and painless communication with others who can relate to you, of course there would be some differences there.
I don't (necessarily) see that as a victim culture thing although it might lend itself to that. People are either empowered and demonstrate a triumphant spirit, or they're stuck in a victimhood mentality and hold themselves back.