Are Deaf People (from birth) Disabled?

There are several definitions for disability of which this may be the closest match.

a physical or mental handicap, esp. one that prevents a person from living a full, normal life or from holding a gainful job.
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The problem with this definition is that it uses the term handicap and also makes the assumption that in order to live a "normal life" and hold a "gainful job" one must not be disabled or handicapped. There is where some will disagree including myself. I think the spirit of the definition is correct but maybe a better choice of words would be in order. Some will suggest that you shouldn't use the word handicap, disabled or defect when describing deafness. Some don't care. Myself, I am disabled and handicapped due to injuries to my knee and my vision is not 100 percent which does handicap me in many areas. Personally I don't have a problem with the terms as long as they are used in proper context.
 
What an interesting thread. I've never thought of myself as disabled, yet, every job I've had since losing my hearing, I've lost because of the communication problems. Mostly because I can't tolerate inconsiderate a**holes so I end up quitting.
After I regained my hearing temporarily thru stapectomy, I found a most excellent job that I loved very much doing accounting work in an office. After a bout with the flu - which killed my right ear and worsened my left - I ended up quitting that job because of communications issues.

Now I've been job hopping crappy factory jobs, which I hate. My last job I had a supervisor who said she completely understood hearing loss, that her husband was HOH. Well apparently his wasn't very bad because I had to constantly remind her that she had to look at me or get my attention in order for me to hear her, which she just couldn't seem to remember doing. I was constantly reprimanded for not hearing her instruction.
One day I overheard her telling a girl that was training me on a new machine, to "go really slow with me because I don't understand". Man I felt my blood boil. Of course I caught right on and proved her wrong, but in the end it didn't matter how much I proved myself.. I was deaf and therefore dumb in their eyes.

There is a HUGE difference in the way I'm treated since I've lost my hearing. Everywhere I go I cringe at the thought of dealing with the frustration and humiliation of it all.
 
I am hoh and have arthritis. I consider the arthritis a disability cuz its causes me so much pain. It makes it difficult to accomplish the most basic things like hygiene, driving a car. It even interferes with sleeping.

Like everyone else said, the difficulties of being hoh is from the difficulty of communicating with the rest of society. I dont think the deaf should be too proud not to accept disability. Deafness can have a serious impact on ones earning power. I think if a deaf person is struggling, they should accept the disability and financial aid to go to school so they can have a chance to make a decent living.

Minoirities regularly receive financial aid for school. The deaf experience as much if not more discrimination. Plus the deaf has the financial burden of purchasing hearing aids, batteries, and other things. The deaf should feel no shame accepting a little help.
 
you could look up the Social Model of Disability and the Medical model of disability.... it will give you two different perspectives.
 
I don't see anything wrong with being disabled. I think all disabled are limited by their none disabled environment to some degree. Would a wheelchair bound person be disabled in an environment where lifts and ramps were the norm? Would a blind person be disabled if everyone used braille and blind skills were taught as a norm?

In short Deafness is not the only disability that is caused by a failure to accomodate our needs. Of course there will always be a degree of disabilites where those who are severely affected, or have mental impairments would always be at a disadvantage. But that's only a small proportion of the disabled community. Most physically/sensory impaired people are only limited by attitudes and barriers that society puts on us.

RilianSharp said:
Maybe humans are disabled because they cannot fly like birds.
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In the book I am writing the dragon's definately see human's as limited that way. In Darthrilia where dragons and humans live the dragon's put a lot of money into research to make human's airborne.

Accommodations such as lifts and even stairs are also quite rare as flight is the norm.
 
blonde1 said:
Hi. I am a junior in high school and right now we are working on our junior paper. My topic is, "Are Deaf people disabiled." I would like to get some insight about the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and how Deaf people feel about being put under that act. Do Deaf people concider themselves disabled? Why or Why not? Thank you for your opinion and info. It will help me a lot with my paper.
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Eventhrought I don't think Amercians should not be label like "Are Deaf people disable?" It is a wrong way to put it like that.

I am also wondering too whether the hearing world is aware of deaf amercians in a hearing society. Is there any deaf amercians that are successful and a millionaire. If there is then they are not disable. They can showcase themself that they are capable.

isn't that right. Think on a positive side.

* The world will not be here without your thoughts.* (>O.0)>
 
Disable- cannot do.

we are disabled-cannot hear, thats what i think.
 
I have a mild to moderate hearing loss, which I think I've had since birth. I wear hearing aids. I didn't get diagnosed until 4, then have aids til 6, so for a few years I had nothing, but I don't remember anything before 6 so I can't compare. I wonder sometimes, if I had never been diagnosed, and didn't wear aids, I would think of my hearing level as 'normal', it's just that everybody else speaks unclearly...in my mind, I CAN hear, so I call myself hard of hearing. It's just more difficult for me than people without a hearing loss. In the same way that I can walk to the shop but I'm not running a marathon any time soon- sometimes I feel like fully hearing people are running marathons and I'm jogging, if that makes any sense.

For me, a disability means something which interferes with the way I wish to live my daily life. Eg, I have to constantly ask people to repeat things, and remind them to face me, and lipread. Even then, I have trouble understanding what is said. When I'm sat alone, listening to music, I don't sense that I'm missing anything, because I can have the music at a level where I can hear and enjoy it. It's more social interaction that's difficult.

I have depression (I don't like to say 'suffer from' because that implies some sort of pity party) which I've had since I was 18- I'm now 24. I class it as a disability, because it greatly interferes with the way I wish to live my daily life, and I am aware that there are things I can't do because of it. Eg, sometimes I just can't get out of bed, when I'm really bad, so I can't do the things I want to do. However, I have had 18 years prior to that of not having it, to compare to.

As someone said, if everyone else in the entire world was also deaf or hoh and lived their daily lives in such a way that what people call 'assistive devices' (in my case note takers, hearing aids, people looking at me while talking) were used by the majority, it would not be a disability. It would just be the way things are. And for me, it IS the way things are, until other, fully hearing people, communicate with me and I know I'm not understanding what's being said.

When I tell people I wear hearing aids, they often compare it to glasses, which I also wear. I'm not entirely sure if there's a difference in principle, except that I think more people wear glasses than use hearing aids. I have heard that both glasses and aids don't restore sight/hearing to the standards of someone who does not need either; I'm not sure of the accuracy of that (about glasses).
 
Not disabled, but different. The choices I've had to make in life (or those that my parents made for me as a child) doesn't necessarily limit or disable my life. I just have to go about things a different way.
 
Thru the years, many, many hearing people always assumed that the deaf were retarded as well.....Some hearies still assume that.

My family considers me to be "disabled", I do not. They've come short in saying I was retarded as well!. Just saying that "most" deaf people were retarded.

Many, many arguments we have had on this subject. And I finally came to the conclusion that they were ashamed of their own intelligence, and God forbid any deafie knows more than they do! I can't change their minds.

I'm not disabled. And if I'm called that, I'm quick to say "ur mistaken there". I can do anything you can do, except hear....
 
We are only disbled in the hearing world, but we are not disabled from each other -- only if we can communicate (ASL/TTY/etc.) with each other and work together.
 
jamielee said:
you could look up the Social Model of Disability and the Medical model of disability.... it will give you two different perspectives.
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True. There are many different models that can be applied, including the social model, which tends to make the most sense to me as it is all encompassing.
 
AlleyCat said:
Not disabled, but different. The choices I've had to make in life (or those that my parents made for me as a child) doesn't necessarily limit or disable my life. I just have to go about things a different way.
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Same here. At my job, I am most definitely not disabled. It is all about the attitudes from society in general.
 
I think deaf/hoh people are only disabled in terms of language access and employment opportunities. Basically what everyone else has already said. Ditto with blindness. Some other conditions I consider to be more inherently disabling, like chronic pain, some mobility issues, and emotional disabilities.
 
We're culturally deaf, not medically deaf.
Doctors cannot prove if a person is deaf or not since they can't operate an audiograph. IIRC, Dr. Epstein in MD can in the past.
 
Joining AD has been very educational for me. I have always been isolated with my hoh situation and have been the most hoh in my work environments. I have struggled with all of the things that I read about in here. I used no framework of social understanding to get through my life. When things were difficult I worked harder, when things went bad and no better in sight I left. Whenever I got home I was ready for just simply being alone and no struggles. I was not in any kind of denial about my situation. So to come here and read about community and disability, and how others live with their varied circumstances has been a real help to me. One thing I am learning is that the whole concept of disability is not for the disabled. It is for the people who are not. This to me is a huge piece of understanding for me. If my employers simply see me as a struggling employee who cannot hear then they are focussed on the problems they think I am causing. They are thinking about me in a negative manner and it is destructive to the social framework of my employment. Disability on the other hand gives them a more nuts and bolts mental framework to work with. They also know there is a whole bunch of laws about disability. They do not necessarily know what they are but they know they exist. This simple one word carries some weight. Ultimately it comes to one thing- I get treated better.
 
Doug5 said:
I am hoh and have arthritis. I consider the arthritis a disability cuz its causes me so much pain. It makes it difficult to accomplish the most basic things like hygiene, driving a car. It even interferes with sleeping.
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Same here with my arthritis versus my deafblind status.

Like everyone else said, the difficulties of being hoh is from the difficulty of communicating with the rest of society. I dont think the deaf should be too proud not to accept disability. Deafness can have a serious impact on ones earning power. I think if a deaf person is struggling, they should accept the disability and financial aid to go to school so they can have a chance to make a decent living.
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:gpost:
I agree that it should be a deaf AND poor thing. So that if you are deaf AND struggling financially, the combination may require you to need SSI. Otherwise you don't need it just as a bit of extra cash on the side if you're doing fine as is.
 
How are you doing today..williams here i would love to chat with you..you can add me to williams_David63 am online now and let us get to know each others affairs am online now
 
I don't think we are "disabled."

However it does tick me off that it's expensive being deaf. Like a smoke alarm is ten times more for deaf people than hearing people.

Or that I need to pay $100 a month for a data plan AND voice plan, when the average hearing person can just opt for a voice plan at $40-$60 a month.
 
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