Change the future for a deaf child

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faire_jour said:
How so?
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Go back and read your posts. First you justify the actions in the OP, then you say you don't approve.

Let me ask you this: don't you see that by justifying, in any way, the act of requesting "pity" for a deaf child, you simply play into and perpetuate the stereotypes that the majority of the public holds. Your own child will be subjected to these same stereotypes and discriminations. You should be fighting against them, not supporting their continuance.
 
faire_jour said:
Why does the success, failure, CI, or anything of someone else hurt you? Why does one child going to a manistream school hurt all Deaf people? Why does childhood implantation affect Deaf culture? In my perspective, it doesn't. People are doing what they need to, for their children. For example, I have a good friend whose child grew up with ASL and is now refusing to sign because he is hearing so well with his CI. Should she force him to go to a signing school because "It is what's best for Deaf children" or should she let him go to the school that he prefers? Our responsibilty is to our children first, society second.
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You have claimed to be a Mensa member. Don't tell me that with an intelligence level great enough to achieve Mensa status, you can't see the interconnectedness.

And your child is a member of the society of which you speak. Work to change society, and unfair stereotypes and discrimination, and you make the future brighter for your child.
 
Hear Again said:
to be honest, sometimes i get tired of educating people and sometimes it isn't worth the effort to educate only one person -- especially since the majority will still believe what they want to believe.

don't get me wrong. i believe in educating the public (i educate them every day about my deafblindness and bipolar), but sometimes it does get emotionally exhausting.
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Trying to educate the public... IMPOSSIBLE.

Bob has assumptions that most deaf people could only sign.
Bob meets deaf person #1, learns that he can speak well.
Bob meets deaf person #2, learns that not every deaf person can speak.
Bob meets deaf person #3, learns that Deaf culture can be narrow minded.
Bob meets deaf person #4, learns that Deaf culture can be a stereotype.
Bob meets deaf person #5, learns that CI can help deaf people.
Bob meets deaf person #6, learns that not everyone can hear perfectly well with CI.

Bob's conclusions: He has no conclusion about deaf people, because they ALL ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!
 
faire_jour said:
Why does the success, failure, CI, or anything of someone else hurt you? Why does one child going to a manistream school hurt all Deaf people? Why does childhood implantation affect Deaf culture? In my perspective, it doesn't. People are doing what they need to, for their children. For example, I have a good friend whose child grew up with ASL and is now refusing to sign because he is hearing so well with his CI. Should she force him to go to a signing school because "It is what's best for Deaf children" or should she let him go to the school that he prefers? Our responsibilty is to our children first, society second.
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Huh? U totally missed the whole point.

Iam talking about the implication that this article made about deaf people not being fully functional without CIs and that deaf people r to be pitied.

I said nothing about Deaf schools so please do not twist my words.
 
no offense, but how someone who claims to be a mensa member deliberately chooses to accept negative stereotypes about their deaf child in order to receive a second ci (or anything else) is beyond me. i don't see that as a sign of intelligence. i see it as a sign of ignorance.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Trying to educate the public... IMPOSSIBLE.

Bob has assumptions that most deaf people could only sign.
Bob meets deaf person #1, learns that he can speak well.
Bob meets deaf person #2, learns that not every deaf person can speak.
Bob meets deaf person #3, learns that Deaf culture can be narrow minded.
Bob meets deaf person #4, learns that Deaf culture can be a stereotype.
Bob meets deaf person #5, learns that CI can help deaf people.
Bob meets deaf person #6, learns that not everyone can hear perfectly well with CI.

Bob's conclusions: He has no conclusion about deaf people, because they ALL ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!
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ALL ARE DIFFERENT would quite likely be the conclusion DareDevel7. If we were not ALL different, life would indeed be boring!
 
Hear Again said:
no offense, but how someone who claims to be a mensa member deliberately chooses to accept negative stereotypes about their deaf child in order to receive a second ci (or anything else) is beyond me. i don't see that as a sign of intelligence. i see it as a sign of ignorance.
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Wow, so now the personal attacks begin. Lovely.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Trying to educate the public... IMPOSSIBLE.

Bob has assumptions that most deaf people could only sign.
Bob meets deaf person #1, learns that he can speak well.
Bob meets deaf person #2, learns that not every deaf person can speak.
Bob meets deaf person #3, learns that Deaf culture can be narrow minded.
Bob meets deaf person #4, learns that Deaf culture can be a stereotype.
Bob meets deaf person #5, learns that CI can help deaf people.
Bob meets deaf person #6, learns that not everyone can hear perfectly well with CI.

Bob's conclusions: He has no conclusion about deaf people, because they ALL ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!
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i still believe in trying to educate the public.

for instance, there have been people i've met who have had severe misconceptions about what it means to have bipolar and believe it or not, whenever i've shared my experiences and told them how different it is from their stereotypical views, many of them walk away with a better misunderstanding of what the illness really is.
 
it's ironic how one person cares so much about being attacked when they could care less about reinforcing negative stereotypes that hurt the majority of d/Deaf people. what a shame.
 
jillio said:
You have claimed to be a Mensa member. Don't tell me that with an intelligence level great enough to achieve Mensa status, you can't see the interconnectedness.

And your child is a member of the society of which you speak. Work to change society, and unfair stereotypes and discrimination, and you make the future brighter for your child.
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I absolutely spend everyday trying to change the system, but if the choice is: get what my child needs, or struggle and fight to change the world so every child can have what they need, while leaving my child without....sorry, I'm going to do the former.
An example, say I believe that my child needs to be in a bi-bi school. There is no bi-bi option in my area. My choices are, leave my child in an inappropriate enviroment while I fight for years and try to get the district to change and get a program started OR move and find a better school for my child. I'm going to move. I understand that I am being selfish but I need to help my child first. I am not going to leave her without what she needs. If that makes me a bad citizen, I'm still not going to lose sleep over it.
 
Hear Again said:
it's ironic how one person cares so much about being attacked when they could care less about reinforcing negative stereotypes that hurt the majority of d/Deaf people. what a shame.
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That was the point I was making...I expressed my feelings about this article and she says Geez Whiz at our personal reactions to the article...fine whatever..
 
Hear Again said:
it's ironic how one person cares so much about being attacked when they could care less about reinforcing negative stereotypes that hurt the majority of d/Deaf people. what a shame.
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Actually, I'm not sure that anyone knows what will hurt or help the majority of deaf people. I know that the majority of Deaf people believe that they do not have a handicap and that they need no help, but what about "little d" deaf people. Don't they view it as a medical issue that needs intervention? Isn't that the reason there is a difference between Deaf and deaf?
 
We are simply criticizing the how the article portrays deaf people, faire, even YOU said that you don't agree with the article's words. No need to somehow take our criticism into some sort of a personal attack on how you're raising your child. I think most of us are happy to hear about Ms. Kat's progress.
 
The problem with educating the public is.. on a mass scale effect.
Like it's been stated, informing one or a few people may be for the sake of the greater good, but there's a greater focus that the attention needs to be diverted to.

The problem is a majority of people out there, do not read message boards, do not read forums, much less log in to see their email everyday.

They rely on other factors getting the information to them, which is still the predominant TV News, Magazines, Newspapers, and especially word of mouth.

I don't have numbers on hand, but I'm very willing to state that data would show a great percentage of people NOT using a computer everyday for their personal activities.

Granted.. educational influences of the internet is growing at a rapid rate.

What I'm trying to state here is that trying to influence Alex here, or Jolie, Byrdie, is appreciated by others that you're doing this when they look at the overall picture, but its not the same as trying to convince every 50 year old man or woman living here in the states, who are computer-illiterate but reside on getting their information off the television. Even then, you have politically aligned stations whether that being FOX news, ABC news, or even local language broadcasts like C/J/K, Philippines, and so on.

Sad to say, but this is still the predominant current events "informant" of life currently in this age. But like I stated, internet activity is growing so this may all change in the upcoming future, possibly within our time of age around (up till the 30-50's).
 
faire_jour said:
I absolutely spend everyday trying to change the system, but if the choice is: get what my child needs, or struggle and fight to change the world so every child can have what they need, while leaving my child without....sorry, I'm going to do the former.
An example, say I believe that my child needs to be in a bi-bi school. There is no bi-bi option in my area. My choices are, leave my child in an inappropriate enviroment while I fight for years and try to get the district to change and get a program started OR move and find a better school for my child. I'm going to move. I understand that I am being selfish but I need to help my child first. I am not going to leave her without what she needs. If that makes me a bad citizen, I'm still not going to lose sleep over it.
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You can do both at the same time, fiare jour. sighs. It isn't an either/or proposition. Simply speak out against the stereotypes and the discrimination that you have chosen, in this thread, to support. And according to your claims, will continue to support. What could are 2 implants going to do for your child or any child when they are still seen as "less than" by the majority of society?
 
Daredevel7 said:
We are simply criticizing the how the article portrays deaf people, faire, even YOU said that you don't agree with the article's words. No need to somehow take our criticism into some sort of a personal attack on how you're raising your child. I think most of us are happy to hear about Ms. Kat's progress.
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No, I take calling my intellegence into question a personal attack. That's all. I agree that there are some serious issues with the article, but I hate when this place becomes a "Burn the hearing parents" forum.
 
faire_jour said:
Actually, I'm not sure that anyone knows what will hurt or help the majority of deaf people. I know that the majority of Deaf people believe that they do not have a handicap and that they need no help, but what about "little d" deaf people. Don't they view it as a medical issue that needs intervention? Isn't that the reason there is a difference between Deaf and deaf?
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Don't you think that the quote "the child needs TWO bilateral implants to be a fully functional adult" is mis-leading for those little d deaf people who view it as a medical issue?

There is a HUGE difference between the quote above and "bilateral implants have shown to improve listening skills." (I would add "some children" but I'm being realistic, the article would never say "some children" because that sort of would make people NOT write to the insurance company)
 
Daredevel7 said:
We are simply criticizing the how the article portrays deaf people, faire, even YOU said that you don't agree with the article's words. No need to somehow take our criticism into some sort of a personal attack on how you're raising your child. I think most of us are happy to hear about Ms. Kat's progress.
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Right and I am happy to hear about Miss Kat's progress too.

We, deaf and blind people, have a right to express criticism of this article.
 
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