Friday, 15 January 2021
You're banned!
Thursday, 14 January 2021
The Deaf Way to endorse abuse.
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
I need an ID, so what am I?
I know it might sound silly, but i don't know anything about hearing loss etc, so now there have said I've got mild-moderate hearing loss does this get classed has partiality deaf??? , I'm really sorry if it's a daft question
To be or not to be seen, appears to be your question. I don't envy the poster wondering what on earth his 'classification' is, just pick 'n mix your own, where a silly hat, it really doesn't matter, it won't address your loss of hearing. Searching for an ID suggests you have other issues, not just hearing loss. Perhaps get that seen to first? Not everyone needs to be social 24/7.
All is absolute confusion and awareness whatever you make it. There used to be a quite simple identification of hearing loss, if you CAN hear ANYTHING [with or without alleviation], then, you are NOT deaf, if you CANNOT hear anything at all with or without alleviation then you were deaf simples.
Didn't the DWP make a legal challenge to 'deaf' people who took their aids out and stated they were deaf, as attempting to gain welfare and concession support by fraud? insurance companies did too. Look at the problems of mask-wearing today and nobody believing you have a valid excuse.
Deaf were refused ID cards that identified them because nobody clarified what deaf meant, and the Deaf themselves felt it ID's them as disabled, then rights entered the fray and all was clear as mud because a lot of Deaf had some useful hearing, but changed the debate to lack of inclusion.
The issue is not what they can or cannot hear but if what they do hear can be effectively followed, however, the DWP said that 'moves outside clinical loss', because not everyone follows everything the same way hearing or not. This led to legal challenges where deaf lip-readers were also said to not be deaf at all by the DWP AND by BSL deaf areas too, who said that lip-reading and speech, was a clear indication you were not deaf. It descended into rank silliness.
The arguments seem to go on and on and on about it. 'Quality of life' entered the arena, but nobody could quantify it. Quality of deaf life revolves not on lack of inclusion but on ensuring their lifestyles are protected, that lifestyle seems EXclusive not INclusive.. Access is still primarily via 3rd parties so social inclusion is relative.
BSL people have it easy! 'I sign therefore I am obviously deaf', and the system accepts that, but, a number of them we would identify as severely hard of hearing, NOT profound deaf because 'profound' means total/extreme, it is an absolute, and their loss isn't. The HoH version tends to be shrugged off as 'hear when we want to..' because hearing loss varies considerably, and because those with it are unsure what they are supposed to able to hear.
Hearing loss isn't subject only to ears failing. It can be nerve induced, a mental health issue etc, it is incorrect to put it own to hearing loss alone.
Goalposts shifted, they were a culture, debate erased.
For them! I think personally HoH rolled over far too quickly in accepting that point which effectively shut them out and replaced any voice they had.
That's their problem, they need to speak up for themselves.
BSL is a visible disability, hearing loss isn't. In obtaining help and support it pays to take up sign language clearly, but is that fraud? Given it is not aligned with deaf culture or that area at all?
Who cares? Desperate people will take desperate means to get help. If you are struggling, all's fair.
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Kids, can YOU design a cure for deafness?
The annual, worldwide search from leading provider and inventor of hearing implant systems, MED-EL, invites youngsters to create their very own design which will improve the quality of life of those who suffer from hearing loss. Entries can be sent via a video, drawing, or sculpture, but the most important factor is for young people to think big and channel their ideas to support those who cannot hear.
Due to the COVID-19 situation worldwide, the ideas4ears contest for 2021 is focusing on children and adults who are currently home-schooling. The contest is a great opportunity to participate in a fun and educational activity the whole family can do together while at home.
The brains behind the ideas4ears contest and the Head Judge of the inventions is Geoffrey Ball. Geoffrey became deaf as a toddler and then went on to invent a revolutionary middle ear implant to treat his own hearing loss. As of today, Geoffrey has over 100 patents to his name.
Ball said: “Children should see their deafness as their superpower! Being deaf as a kid gives you many powers; the ability to have empathy for others, to become adaptable, and to find creative solutions to everyday problems when you live in an environment that is not set up for those with hearing loss. The challenge is ending this week and I can’t wait to see the ingenuity of the inventors this year!”
Monday, 11 January 2021
There is no Deaf community.
Lost to deaf culture.
It is interesting there are areas of deaf people that will include non 'Deaf' online, but, online is not face to face, and you still aren't living their lives. If you are using text as a means you aren't using their preferred communication either. The problem is zero advice or support for those with serious hearing loss on what expectations they can go for and what ability they have to make it work. Going deaf is the start, there are lots more hurdles to overcome, and, adopting more limitations, alternative social norms, you don't expect deaf culture and lifestyle will impose on you, nothing is for free, and most are still battling with trauma. Learning sign language and attending a deaf club alone won't provide those alternatives since, they are a way of life, not an area you can just pick and choose from.
Pessimistically only 5% of those with hearing loss ever manage to adopt a 'Deaf' lifestyle. The answer is simple they don't want a deaf life, they may just prefer social parts of it. It's far from clear 'Deaf' want to be included, and prefer to stay like with like, their battles aren't about inclusion, but about the right NOT to change and to get more support to stay that way. They also oppose educational things those with hearing loss consider their norm, so conflict is going to be there. Topics like non-sign use or deaf cures won't help you either. The naivete of HoH who think they can switch from a hearing to a deaf life with few issues is why they fail to it.
#1 People have different ways of being deaf in the world—whether it be deaf people, people who are hard of hearing, or cochlear implant users. In the spectrum, I lie between deafness and hearing, someone psychologist Neil Stephen Glickman considers “culturally marginal deaf.” These choices aren’t mine but the result of my circumstances and decisions made by my mother who has dictated most parts of my early life. She chose the path for me to regain sound moderately and to live with a cochlear implant.
Unfortunately, my implant doesn’t ameliorate my hearing completely or reconcile me with my peers. It pulls me back from the deaf culture without really allowing me to enter the hearing world. It is a Janus-faced kind of existence, as I try to find balance in both worlds. And since I live with predominantly hearing peers, complexities arise and social adjustment is hard when I try to join the deaf community. I feel very lost and benighted.
There are deaf people who have a realistic understanding of both cultures. They develop a bicultural identity. There are also deaf people whose first language is sign language, securing their sense of belonging in the culture. I am neither and it feels like I’m eclipsed away from both worlds. When cochlear implants were newly invented, many believed they could magically restore hearing. After discussions with physicians and audiologists, many hearing parents were convinced that this was the answer to their child’s hearing loss.
There are early birds and late adopters. I was an early bird, making me new to the deaf culture and engaged in the hearing world. Late adopters are more immersed in deaf culture since they got their cochlear implant late. We are also often coerced into speech therapy, forced to learn a culture and ideal that are not ours. Think of it as “colonialism” from the vantage point of the deaf. The deaf community sees this as a threat and a struggle for acceptance and recognition. Being able to hear at the age of 3 developed my initial speech. I remember my mother telling me how “lucky” I was that I wasn’t like the other children.
This hegemonic notion allowed me to be lulled by a sense of complacency. It created ignorance toward the deaf community, causing me to be shunned from the community.
#2 I lovingly refer to my cochlear implant as Cleo. Outside my house, I would have her by my side round-the-clock. But at home, it was exactly the opposite. I would ditch her, making my auditory perception progressively worse. People I interacted with lost their patience, misunderstanding my “huh?” as trolling or an ironic response. Eventually, I stopped asking “huh?” and just pretended like I heard them. This caused me to feel like I was dissipating or drifting away from the world.
This somehow affected my speech development and further retracted me from deaf culture because my life was fixated on the hearing world. Sound was the only thing keeping me away from oblivion and connecting myself with the world. However, owning a cochlear implant doesn’t help me understand words distinctly—which in the past had helped me become the class clown.
The many painful and hurtful encounters I’ve experienced taught me to let others normalize this perpetual kind of oppression because my ignorance and complacency made me lazily accept things like being shouted at, being misinterpreted and misunderstood. When I first joined the deaf community on the chat app Discord, I sensed hostility from my deaf peers. I had no prior experiences with them nor was I heavily influenced by or exposed to their culture. I hardly knew sign language.
Joining the community
I joined a social gathering on Zoom arranged by one of the admins combating oralism to reinvigorating sign language. I felt useless because I, along with one of the hearing individuals, disrupted sign language communications. But that didn’t anger anybody. They typed as a way of communicating, bringing hearing and deaf peers together.
Everyone had to introduce themselves. When it was my turn, I gave a short introduction about myself and the reason I joined the community. I talked about how rarely mainstream deaf culture is in the Philippines. We all shared feelings on an intellectual level, that degree of loneliness because we all live in a predominantly hearing world. I asked: “What’s the purpose of the call?” Pika, the owner of the server, replied with a simple yet firm answer: “To sign words.” The purpose of the call was communication and to make the participants feel less excluded.
Zoom calls were held every Sunday. During my second time to join, the participants were predominantly deaf people and people hard of hearing. They signed seamlessly. I couldn’t join them or catch what they were saying, reminding me of the unique combination of exclusion I continue to face. In the deaf world, I don’t know sign language, and in the hearing world, I can’t discriminate syllables and organize words, I only hear sounds.