a medical discovery for deafness

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TXgolfer said:
Yes I would do it in a heartbeat.

There seems to be a big misconception here that somehow gaining/regaining hearing changes you. No, it changes your life experience, that's it. It's really no different than eating a piece of chocolate.

1. Some people have never had chocolate. Of those some may like to try it someday based on what others have said about chocolate, whereas other couldn't care less.

2. Some people have had chocolate in the past, but not lately. Of those some would kill for a Hershey bar right now. Some wish they could have a Hershey bar but if they never do, they will live. Some never cared for chocolate so they won't waste money on it. And some can't have chocolate due to medical conditions so they don't even consider the option.

Regardless, the chocolate doesn't change anyone (except for diabetes maybe)......it merely changes their life experience. Chocolate is not necessarily better or worse.....just more desirable for some than others.

So, isn't silly for the person that doesn't want chocolate to complain that a person wants chocolate because they think chocolate is better?
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Why am I craving chocolate all of a sudden!
 
ambrosia said:
exactly, that was one little example, just one, and there are so many many more......

oh yeah, and of course I'm speaking as a formally hearing person, someone with experience with actually being hearing, which you have not. So no you can't say that hearing is over rated, you have no experience as being a hearing. You blowing smoke up your own ass and trying to blow it up mine. You're drinking your own kool aid. But I'm sorry I'm not buying because I don't need to give myself a pep rally and tell myself how great it is to be deaf now, just to be able to deal with it.

Pay a little bit of attention to what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that hearing is absolutely necessary to function. You can function without a lot of things. But just because you can doesn't mean functioning with it is over rated. So yes if they could wave a magic wand over me and give me back my hearing why the hell wouldn't I want them to do that??? Nothing you can say, nothing, will convince me that I wouldn't be better off if large ways and small if I had my hearing back. That isn't an audist view that's a realistic one.
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Actually I do. I had atresia repair surgery as a teen, which made me hearing for a bit. It failed and closed up. Heck, if it had worked, I wouldn't have the abilty to turn off my hearing with a flick of the switch. At the time I mourned and raged against "losing" my hearing....but then realized that I simply had not come to terms with being Dhh.
In other words the problem for me (and a lot of other dhh kids/teens) is that society was trying to put me in a square hole when I was a round peg.
It's exactly like how Kate Bornstien had SRS surgery (was born male and then had it to become female) S/he said s/he thought s/he was gaining something, but realized s/he was basicly beyond gender.
 
deafdyke said:
Actually I do. I had atresia repair surgery as a teen, which made me hearing for a bit. It failed and closed up. Heck, if it had worked, I wouldn't have the abilty to turn off my hearing with a flick of the switch. At the time I mourned and raged against "losing" my hearing....but then realized that I simply had not come to terms with being Dhh.
In other words the problem for me (and a lot of other dhh kids/teens) is that society was trying to put me in a square hole when I was a round peg.
It's exactly like how Kate Bornstien had SRS surgery (was born male and then had it to become female) S/he said s/he thought s/he was gaining something, but realized s/he was basicly beyond gender.
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Oh God...here we go again with gay/hearing comparison.....society wasn't trying to put you in anything...no one has that power over you unless you give it to them. Reading all your replies over the months I've been on this forum, you strike me as someone that hates hearing people (and straight people). You seem to extend that hatred to deaf people who don't share your opinion and secretly wish they could hear themselves, which you personalize as a betrayal of the deaf community. It's normal for someone that has hearing loss to wonder what it'd be like to hear. If it's something that's achievable, that's their choice and they don't need anyone's approval for that or validation from anyone on this forum.

It's like wanting to push a blind man down a flight of stairs for confessing that he's always wanted to see the sun set.
 
deafdyke said:
..Wanna know something? I have HEARING friends who have told me they wish they were dhh, so they could turn off their hearing.
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Not asking about your friends, but it made me wonder if people like that have ever deafened themselves so they could be deaf and turn off the hearing.
 
deafdyke said:
Wanna know something? I have HEARING friends who have told me they wish they were dhh, so they could turn off their hearing.
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Wanna know something? Your friends were most likely being facetious. If not, I have good news for them. Cotton balls are much cheaper than hearing aids.
 
ambrosia said:
That's not what I'm saying at all. It's not like... okay I can't hear shit, my life is over, everything is going suck, I might as well go slit my wrists in the bathtub, I'm never going to be happy.

But on the other hand, a person can and should be honest with themselves. Some things in life would certainly be easier if I could still hear. Trying to convince myself it doesn't matter and being deaf is better than hearing would just be lying to myself.
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That is what I was trying to say in my earlier post. Didn't mean it to sound like I give up and all is lost. I still strive to to my best and make the most of it in any situation and in all aspects of my life...it's not easy, but wish it was.
 
deafdyke said:
Wanna know something? I have HEARING friends who have told me they wish they were dhh, so they could turn off their hearing.
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Ha, I can guarantee your friends will NOT last three days before they go nuts and want their own hearing back. It's a huge huge change in their lifestyle and comforts if they were to lose their hearing immediately on their so called "wish".
I have had friends say the same thing to me and I tell them in a serious attitude that being deaf is not fun and not to be taken lightly.
 
ambrosia said:
That's not what I'm saying at all. It's not like... okay I can't hear shit, my life is over, everything is going suck, I might as well go slit my wrists in the bathtub, I'm never going to be happy.

But on the other hand, a person can and should be honest with themselves. Some things in life would certainly be easier if I could still hear. Trying to convince myself it doesn't matter and being deaf is better than hearing would just be lying to myself.
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Not you..


I know many of you dont know my style here on AD. In the past if I wanted my post to imply that it was a certain person saying certain stuff, I would have quoted that person. I didnt quote anyone so it means I was talking about those in general who have said that hearing people have it better than us.

Thats all.
 
shel90 said:
Not you..


I know many of you dont know my style here on AD. In the past if I wanted my post to imply that it was a certain person saying certain stuff, I would have quoted that person. I didnt quote anyone so it means I was talking about those in general who have said that hearing people have it better than us.

Thats all.
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I don't think I have ever seen anyone say that here. I have seen people say they would prefer to hear or that they enjoy being able to hear, but that is just personal preference.
 
:aw:
TXgolfer said:
I don't think I have ever seen anyone say that here. I have seen people say they would prefer to hear or that they enjoy being able to hear, but that is just personal preference.
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it wasnt toward to you. But shel wanted to inform that wasn't for ambroisa but in a general. its all solved. now.
 
TXgolfer said:
I don't think I have ever seen anyone say that here. I have seen people say they would prefer to hear or that they enjoy being able to hear, but that is just personal preference.
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Do a little search. Many people have said that it is better to be hearing.

It's a common thing late deafened people say.
 
Bottesini said:
Do a little search. Many people have said that it is better to be hearing.

It's a common thing late deafened people say.
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I don't think I have seen it. I have seen people explain why they prefer or would prefer to be able to hear. I have seen people say why they feel one way is a better approach for education than the other. Again that is just personal preference.
 
TXgolfer said:
I don't think I have seen it. I have seen people explain why they prefer or would prefer to be able to hear. I have seen people say why they feel one way is a better approach for education than the other. Again that is just personal preference.
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http://www.alldeaf.com/general-chat/109238-medical-discovery-deafness.html#post2141766

From post #10
Maybe for you, and it makes you feel better to think so. But considering you've never actually been hearing you have no idea what you're talking about really.

Now, just because if they could magically cure deafness, and I'd jump on that does not indicate that I'm chasing a cure, holding out for a cure or even wishing for one. I suffer no such delusions that it can happen. We're answering an IF question. What if frogs had wings? They wouldn't bump their ass when they hopped. Being able to hear is better than not being able to hear. Being able to see is better than not being able to see. Being able to smell is better than not being able to smell. Being able to feel is better than not being able to feel. Being able to walk is better than not being able to walk. I think you can see where I'm going here.
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That is just one fairly recent one. Many late deafened people have exactly that sentiment.

There isn't anything wrong with it. It's just different.

But it's kind of silly to say people don't say that here. That is just one recent example, and it happens all the time.
 
Bottesini said:
http://www.alldeaf.com/general-chat/109238-medical-discovery-deafness.html#post2141766

From post #10

That is just one fairly recent one. Many late deafened people have exactly that sentiment.

There isn't anything wrong with it. It's just different.

But it's kind of silly to say people don't say that here. That is just one recent example, and it happens all the time.
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1. I didn't say that.

2. When put in context, that poster is explaining why she would choose to have the treatment. Thus, personal preference as I said before.
 
I would like to be able to be deaf for a day but I would also like to be able to try being a man for a day or even another person for a day. I think an experience like that could only teach you a better understanding of a different human condition. However, the emphasis is on the "try being" because a) I would have the comfort of knowing I will return to my usual state after the trial and b) stepping into someone else's shoes is not the same as always living in them.

Is hearing better than deafness? For those who do have or have had hearing, the answer is usually yes. For those who have never heard, I can fully understand why the answer could be no. We are most comfortable with what we know best. The idea of adding a new human condition to our present one is often unthinkable because we are a composition of what we are and what we know best. Wondering what it would be like to be deaf or to hear, to be blind or to see, or even to be the opposite sex is something I think everyone has done in their lifetime. However, to wish it as a permanent state for ourselves is a whole other matter and much more individualized.
 
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Journey said:
I would like to be able to be deaf for a day but I would also like to be able to try being a man for a day or even another person for a day. I think an experience like that could only teach you a better understanding of a different human condition. However, the emphasis is on the "try being" because a) I would have the comfort of knowing I will return to my usual state after the trial and b) stepping into someone else's shoes is not the same as always living in them.

Is hearing better than deafness? For those who do have or have had hearing, the answer is usually yes. For those who have never heard, I can fully understand why the answer could be no. We are most comfortable with what we know best. The idea of adding a new human condition to our present one is often unthinkable because we are a composition of what we are and what we know best. Wondering what it would be like to be deaf or to hear, to be blind or to see, or even to be the opposite sex is something I think everyone has done in their lifetime. However, to wish it as a permanent state for ourselves is a whole other matter and much more individualized.
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That's it exactly. Way back there in the thread I said I could see how someone born deaf wouldn't be interested in a cure, they probably wouldn't be better off, especially if they've lived with it for a long time. They wouldn't even be able to process speech. If all of a sudden someone who couldn't hear speech at all could, they wouldn't understand it anymore than if someone spoke Spanish to me. It would just be a string of unrecognizable gibberish. They could hear music though :) Music is just awesome.

I can also see how someone born with just some loss, that gets use out of hearing aids but realizes that they're still not hearing everything would be interested in cure. Just to get to that elusive little more that they're missing.

Also I think I, personally, have said more often in this thread that hearing is better than not hearing. I think I've only said being "better off" just in reference to myself. There is a difference there. In neither situation does better, or better off mean happier. I just mean things being easier. Life is hard enough. Hell people win the lottery and can not be any happier than when they were struggling week to week. Being able to hear wouldn't magically make everyone's problems go away and go riding off into the sunset.
 
The quote "deafness seperates you from people" is really inaccurate.
Yes, there's a language barrier or a "can't hear well enough barrier" but you can and do get around and through that.
There are alternative ways to get around lack of sound/lack of spoken language. You can connect with people despite the lack of sound/lack of spoken language.
Ever interacted with someone with severe or even just significant autism? Now autism can be (not always, especially with high functioning autism, as HFA can = partial social/emotional access) a REAL barrier to connecting with people.
When I was at college, there was a student with profound high functioning autism. He could NOT connect at ALL with other students. He had a complete and utter inability to connect with other people.
My hearing friends and I signed, spoke and even speechread. (my hearing friends have always picked up speechreading abilty from me) We hugged, kissed, cried, talked about stuff, and generally really connected on a HUMAN level.
There are many different ways to connect...........and deafness does not keep you from people!
 
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