Deafies: your opinions, please!

[Nika]

It's not so much a strobe light as it is a flashing light. Mine connects to a lamp that just goes on and off every second. The shaker looks somewhat like a big bar of soap and you put it under your bed/pillow.

Ooh I see what you mean. I've heard of those before then.

 

[Hear Again]

It's not so much a strobe light as it is a flashing light. Mine connects to a lamp that just goes on and off every second. The shaker looks somewhat like a big bar of soap and you put it under your bed/pillow.

Anyways, about the OP. It'll help you gain perspective on it, but I don't think it'll give you the "true" experience of being deaf.

this may eem like a stpid querstion, but what's tge dfferecen betweeen a straobe light and a flashing light?

 

[Tousi]

For some, strobe lights flash with such blazing frequency and light brightness to the point of causing a seizure at one extreme to discomfort in the least whereas a flashing light would be a lamp with a regular incandescent bulb that flashes at approximately two second intervals.

 

[shortmuffin]

I don't think its offensive to us deaf, however it may to some deafies,.. but for me, i think its a great idea. I teach asl and I do tell them to be deaf for a day and tell me how they felt, and what it was like. I wanted them to experience something that we do in everyday life.

 

[DeafDoc1]

I don't think its offensive to us deaf, however it may to some deafies,.. but for me, i think its a great idea. I teach asl and I do tell them to be deaf for a day and tell me how they felt, and what it was like. I wanted them to experience something that we do in everyday life.

I teach rehab medicine to students, residents, and fellows. I frequently require the students to make use of a disability awareness day, where I may provide them a wheelchair and have them perform all their day's tasks without standing or walking. I've used patches and special goggles to simulate blindness. Deafness is certainly more difficult to simulate, but with earplugs we have demonstrated what it's like to be HOH. I think taken in the context of increasing awareness, this is an incredibly valuable learning experience. Opening our minds and hearts to the experiences of others is a good thing. Feigning for the sake of attention, however, is an entirely separate matter.

 

[Hear Again]

For some, strobe lights flash with such blazing frequency and light brightness to the point of causing a seizure at one extreme to discomfort in the least whereas a flashing light would be a lamp with a regular incandescent bulb that flashes at approximately two second intervals.

for the explanation, tousi.

 

[Jiro]

I've heard of both vibrating alarm clocks (I think they're also known as "bed shakers") and also alarm clocks with blinking lights.

Strobe lights would kill my eyes. No thanks.

You can disable strobe lights. If not - you can simply put a black tape over it (electrical tape).

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

There is actually a group of people that feigns "disabilities" on a regular basis. They're known as pretenders. You can Google DPW's (which stands for Devotees, Pretenders, and Wannabes.) They do it because it gives them a sense of emotional/sexual fulfillment. They feign all sorts of "disabilities," including deafness, blindness, paraplegia, amputation, etc.

Some people actually want to get a limb cut off? Yikes *runs in the other direction*

Seriously...those people need help. The others...well...ugh...but going as far as to have a limb cut off? They need to be placed in a psychiatric facility.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

this is kind of off-topic, but on some of the bipolar forums i participate on, i've seen people who actually WANT to have a dx of bipolar. i just do not understand that. i wouldn't wish bipolar on my worst enemy. sorry for the off-topic post.

And there are people who WANT to have a dx of BPD as well (Borderline Personality Disorder). They even go as far as to actually cutting and other BPD behaviors.

WHY?

Ugh.

 

[naisho]

And there are people who WANT to have a dx of BPD as well (Borderline Personality Disorder). They even go as far as to actually cutting and other BPD behaviors.

WHY?

Ugh.

Asian theorists and physicians would call this a standard case of yinyang energy, for every positive side there's also a negative to it.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

I've heard of both vibrating alarm clocks (I think they're also known as "bed shakers") and also alarm clocks with blinking lights.

Strobe lights would kill my eyes. No thanks.

I can't use strobe lights either. They blind me. I did not used to have this problem before the dorms at my school for the deaf replaced their old strobe fire alarms from the 70s with the newer ones in around 1995 and I left in 1992 and then I came back to the school in 1996 or 1997 and that was when I discovered the problem. The alarm went off at 4 am and it took me about 5 to 10 minutes for me to find the door to get out of my room! And I am not even blind to begin with. The older ones from the 70s were weak enough that my eyes could handle it, but the newer ones are too strong. Now I avoid strobe lights at all costs except for the weak strobe light on my VP (it has 10 different patterns and I fiddled with the VP until I found a pattern that was the least irritating to my eyes and was weak enough). It's why I don't have any any fire alarms that use strobes at all. I need something tactile. Like one that uses a bed shaker.

 

[Jiro]

Some people actually want to get a limb cut off? Yikes *runs in the other direction*

Seriously...those people need help. The others...well...ugh...but going as far as to have a limb cut off? They need to be placed in a psychiatric facility.

you're an Amateur Psychiatrist. you should know about this. it's a mental disorder who are obsessed with amputation.

 

[Hear Again]

And there are people who WANT to have a dx of BPD as well (Borderline Personality Disorder). They even go as far as to actually cutting and other BPD behaviors.

WHY?

Ugh.

are you kidding me, lucia?! that's sick. <disgusted>

i would do *anything* to get rid of my bipolar. if anyone wants it, they're more than welcome to have it.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

you're an Amateur Psychiatrist. you should know about this. it's a mental disorder who are obsessed with amputation.

I know. I was being sarcastic...and showing annoyance at those people who want a limb cut off and people who want disabilities and such dx's.

I am pretty sure that if I showed this thread to my neighbor across the breezeway who is an amputee, he would be disgusted, too.

 

[Hear Again]

Some people actually want to get a limb cut off? Yikes *runs in the other direction*

Seriously...those people need help. The others...well...ugh...but going as far as to have a limb cut off? They need to be placed in a psychiatric facility.

i agree. i understand alot of mental illnesses, but malingerers and feigners i do not.

 

[Jiro]

I was being sarcastic...and showing annoyance at those people who want a limb cut off and people who want disabilities and such dx's.

ooo ok. Mind you - i'm talking about those who ACTUALLY did it.. not the wannabe. it is twisted.....

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

are you kidding me, lucia?! that's sick. <disgusted>

i would do *anything* to get rid of my bipolar. if anyone wants it, they're more than welcome to have it.

I had this 20 year old girl who I had in my care who (her social worker placed her in my home for several days until she was able to find another group home that was willing to take her in) has Borderline Personality Disorder. And believe me...I have seen her and her symptoms, and it is NO picnic. And she actually has the dx for real, it is her true dx. I spent the whole fucking weekend trying to keep her safe. Her social worker was WRONG to place her with ME (I was NOT equipped to keep such people safe). She would go into my bathroom and cut herself. I had to call the crisis center on her and have them come pick her up cause I could NOT keep her safe. But as soon as she got to the crisis center, 5 minutes later she would change her mind and sign herself out and come back to my apartment. (The crisis center can't force anyone to stay unless they are drunk or high - the center is a crisis/detox center), they just provide a safe place for people like her to stay if they are "not feeling safe"). I had no choice but to take her back in since she was homeless and had no group home to stay in. The entire weekend, I tried to convince her to check herself into the hospital because she really needed it. She kept saying that they would not help her. I told her that I would make them help her, make them take her. It was back and forth the whole fucking weekend, and I got almost no sleep that whole fucking weekend because every time she fell asleep, I thought it was safe to go to sleep too since she was sleeping. Nope...a couple hours later, I would wake up to go to pee, and she would already be up again, and there would be more cuts on her body. Press replay the whole fucking weekend. My bathroom was a fucking mess, too, and I had to throw out my wash cloths that she used to tend to her cuts, since they were too bloody to wash, and I think you can't wash out blood anyway. Then come Sunday night she started threatening suicide, and I kept telling her that she needed to go to the hospital. She refused, I told her I would call 911, and she said she didn't care, and she went ahead and overdosed on her Ambien, so I dragged her ass to the ER (only 4 blocks away anyway). They put her on a psychiatric hold, and I stayed with her to make sure they would keep her and to make sure they would admit her to the psych ward. I stayed with her all night in the ER to make sure that they kept her and did not let her out of the hospital, and come Monday morning, the psychologist on call came to see her, and I told him EVERYTHING, and I told him that this girl needs help, and that she needs to be in the psych ward, and that she needs long term treatment. She stayed in the local psych ward for a week, and then they committed her, with a court order, to the state hospital about three hours away, for about 6 months. I refused to take her back in after that weekend, and ever since then, I refused to take anyone in. I was younger then, so I didn't know all that much about certification and whatnot, and therefore did not really know that much better. Had I known better, I would have said NO and not allowed the social worker to place her with me, and I would have reported the social worker as well.

I think that social worker was wrong to place her with me, because I did not have any certification nor any degree nor any training to take care of such people. I did have some college classes in psychology and psychiatry, but no degree, no training, and no certification. Psychiatry and psychology is just a hobby/interest of mine, but I do not wish to major in it anymore. I am NOT qualified. I did not know what I was in for when she placed her with me (this was in 2002 or 2003, I believe). Had I known what I was in for, I would have said a big fat "NO" and have told the social worker to place her in the state hospital until a group home was found for that girl. I was still in college at the time, but this occurred during the summer time, I think. I knew she had some depression issues, that she was a cutter, but I didn't know that she was that HARDCORE, (I didn't see her that often to really see all of it) and I had just met her about two or three months earlier, so I did not know her that well enough to know the depth of all her issues, and the social worker did NOT tell me about her issues, did not inform me, anything. She should have informed me. Had she informed me of all of this girl's issues, I would have said NO. She was an adult, so I guess the social worker didn't have any qualms about placing her with me, and I guess to the social worker, certification didn't matter. It should have mattered. I know that with children, you HAVE to be licensed or certified to take them in, but with adults? Not really. Not in Minnesota, anyway, I think (I was living in Minnesota at the time).

Anyway...I saw all of those issues with this girl, and with many other mentally ill people, and then I see people who WANT to have a dx of BPD and WANTS to cut? They think it is nothing, they don't have any idea how serious a true BPD dx really is, and how much someone with a true BPD dx truly suffers. That makes me mad, pisses me off, and annoys me. BPD is not something to be taken lightly, and neither is Bipolar disorder, and many other mental illnesses as I have seen in many other people. Maybe those people who WANT such a dx of a specific mental illness should be made to volunteer in a STATE HOSPITAL for a MONTH, and be MADE to see how OTHER PATIENTS in the hospital function and how they suffer. Maybe that will make them realize how lucky they are not to have a mental illness or mental disorder.

I feel truly sorry for those people that have a true dx of a mental illness or mental disorder. It is not fair for them to have to live with it. It is not something that they can get rid of, can be cured of, etc. They are STUCK with it.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

ooo ok. Mind you - i'm talking about those who ACTUALLY did it.. not the wannabe. it is twisted.....

Ah okay. Yeah, twisted.

I cannot imagine actually wanting to cut off an arm or a leg. HELL NO! And then there are the poor soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan who come back missing a limb or two...if they saw those groups of wannabes, they would be deeply offended and insulted.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

i agree. i understand alot of mental illnesses, but malingerers and feigners i do not.

I'd have to ask Jillio about it (but she's been banned), but I think those people may have undiagnosed Munchausen Syndrome. The Wiki doesn't list all of the illnesses, conditions, and also doesn't list disabilities that are feigned by Munchausen sufferers. It seems that on the Wiki, disabilities aren't counted for those with Munchausen Syndrome. So, I don't really know. I don't know all that much about Munchausen.

Munchausen syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[naisho]

I'm sure Jillio will be back. Not sure of the duration, but it shouldn't be too long.