Is deafness a disability?

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Foxrac said:
It is obviously that you are playing game with me.

There is nothing about agree or disagree.

When you apply for discount fare to ride the bus because you are disabled so deafness is part of disability, however you are disabled because you can't hear.
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No, I'm not playing games with you and I'm sorry you feel that way.
Being straight with you, being deaf does NOT make a person disable, it only means that person has a disability.
 
rolling7 said:
No, I'm not playing games with you and I'm sorry you feel that way.
Being straight with you, being deaf does NOT make a person disable, it only means that person has a disability.
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Well, that's your opinion.

Deafness is part of disabled, just family of disability, that's not bad thing.

Let me repeat - that's NOT bad thing but just can't hear.
 
Mimsy said:
I agree. I am disabled in one specific way. Doesn't disabled mean unable? My eyes are unable to do what eyes are meant to do, which is see clearly. It doesn't mean I'm useless and less than anyone with eyes that can see clearly. It means I'm disabled when it comes to seeing without aids.

I think when people hear the word disabled they get scared that it means they can't do anything, like work or enjoy life. Don't be afraid of the word. Let's not turn the word into some powerful negative that makes us feel like a lesser person. We're all valuable people even with our disabilities. I love you all and it makes me sad if you feel a disability/being disabled in some area makes you a lower class citizen. You're all fantastic!
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It's sort of the same idea with "hearing impaired."
 
in uk you get a disability allowence which made up of mobility and care components,the very sad thing is many people say they disabled just to get benifit money and get out of working.it makes me so angery they lie to dr's get crutch or stick and pretend.the genuine disable people mostly work so to be part of human community..to enable you to get benifit money you have say you disabled the extra money goes towards interperter case of deaf and any extra things you need to live normal life.it all grey area in uk
 
Suppose there is a person who lost a thumb finger, so that person is disabled?
 
authentic said:
Suppose there is a person who lost a thumb finger, so that person is disabled?
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Yup, permanent disabled but if you break the thumb so it will be temporarily disabled.
 
Disability is relative

I don't think that deafness is a disability, for myself. However, I do think it is more how an individual person looks at it. It can be a disability if you allow it to be, or you can accept the challenge of having to work a little harder to communicate and not let that stand in your way of doing what you want to do with yourself and your life. My parents raised me to appreciate the fact that I was deaf but also encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do and to not let my deafness stop me from doing things. I'm a lot more outspoken now than I used to be when I was younger because I figure that every person I show that my deafness isn't a disability is going to help another deafie somewhere down the road if that makes sense.
 
I'm starting to appreciate the same attitude as what you have described, pamc86. Although I was raised to appreciate being hard of hearing for my childhood, and that I would find it harder than most for some things, I still had to understand that I would get through things. Now, I realise that a lot of my time has been spent being reliant on someone being there to help me - my parents were always around to support and guide me when I was young, and if I had an issue, I could go to them. At university I don't have that opportunity, so I passed it on (somewhat unintentionally) to my boyfriend (who I had been dating for over 2 years when we first came here) and he's now collapsing underneath the stress of that - so now, I am learning how to be more self-reliant when I can through the support I have received here... so I guess in some ways I was disabled at times, but I'm going to do my best to remove how badly disabled I can be in certain situations on my own rather than always wanting/subconsciously needing another person there instead.

Fingers crossed it works though - I mean, there will be things I can't guarantee I'll do well with, but I'll just learn to work with it as best as I can. So I guess applying the term 'disabled' to deaf/HOH individuals is subjective to the individual, and situation.
 
In a legal sense, I do believe that is correct. In a moral sense, I don't think it should be used as a crutch.

Depending on the person and where they reside, it could inhibit the ability to support oneself. In such a case, it is a reasonable disability.

On the other hand, I don't think it should be used as an excuse to allow people to not better themselves.

On a physical level, at this point in time, it cannot be reversed.
 
caz12 said:
in uk you get a disability allowence which made up of mobility and care components,the very sad thing is many people say they disabled just to get benifit money and get out of working.it makes me so angery they lie to dr's get crutch or stick and pretend.the genuine disable people mostly work so to be part of human community..to enable you to get benifit money you have say you disabled the extra money goes towards interperter case of deaf and any extra things you need to live normal life.it all grey area in uk
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To repeat my post about that....

My husband can't sew but he could learn to, that would be a challenge he could overcome. You can't learn to hear so it gets labled with a general term "disability". With so many people abusing the system with different claims of false disabilities, it becomes almost a shameful term. But it shouldn't be mixed up with the reason of being disabled. When you can't hear, you can't hear. And there is no shame whatsoever in that!!!!! I hope I said that where it made sense.

It's just not something that should hold people back, it shouldn't be put in the minds of our young that it is something that holds them back from being the best they can be, it shouldn't be a word or words that are used to stop anyone from trying to overcome what they can. If it did our lives would suck now, because the greats of the past would have let people define them with negative words and never overcame negative things that held people down as a whole..... can anyone guess I'm an optimist??? that's just like screw it, stop the b.s. and get on with it...someone tell me what i use this smilie for ---->:afro:
 
Even though I am not able to hear, I can still play percussion. I can drive, using my eyes as my ears of course. I can play music, using my feet as the vibrations to keep me in with the tempo and my eyes to see what is going on and what music i am playing. plus, i can talk, I can use both ASL and vocal.

I may not have the ability to hear, but I can do anything. And, the best part about it? -- turning off your ears whenever you want to, that peaceful silence is only a click away.

I've accepted the fact that I am deaf and i won't have that perfect hearing that everybody expects out of you, but you know, not everybody is perfect. I've learned that a long time ago. I mean, everybody has to judge one person to another about their appearance, or their disability or disorder or whatever problem they might have. They're just unique people, just like us.

So, do i consider myself as a disabled person? meaning not being able to hear? yes and no,

but mostly no.

Disabled-- not being able to hear..

BUT...

not disabled-- i can do anything. I just have to work hard at it. And, i'm not going to let anything, or anyone, not even deafness stop me. We all have to push through it.
 
deafdrummer said:
Disability is KNOWING that you can't fly planes by yourself because you can't man the radios by yourself. There's a reason they have voice recorders... You need to be able to focus on the flying, especially when you're in trouble. You don't have time to text back and forth in busy airports.

Disability is knowing that you are a danger to police SWAT teams because you can't hear people scuttling across walkways above you to either side on another floor or trying to angle for a line of sight shot at you in a staircase.

Disability is knowing that you are a danger to yourself in tornado country because you can't hear the dang things in the middle of the night where there are no lights.

Disability is knowing that you can't serve in the military because you have to be able to communicate in all situations, especially under fire.

Face it, people. There are a lot of jobs you can't have or do. You ARE disabled, period. It is very frustrating at times, because there have been a LOT of things I wanted to do, but was denied the opportunity to do them because of my deafness, even though I am able-bodied, otherwise.

You just have to suck it up and find something else equally exciting to do. That's what I've had to do. I've done a lot of things out of the ordinary. I have traveled western Europe as a high school orchestra percussionist twice. I'm now learning didgeridoo and want to go busking in the future. I have my masters degree behind me, and have for a long time. I have built and installed stereo systems, made plastic didgeridoos, reloaded ammunition, done underground financial research, started to learn a few languages (though slowly), built PCs and run linux/Unix on them. I've driven trucks and tractors. I have done a lot of things in my lifetime.

I accept that I have a disability, but I don't let it keep me from doing things I am able to do in the meantime.
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It is a disability because you can't hear or communicate with anyone that doesn't know sign language. You can't serve in the military because you can't hear the commands or follow orders. You can't hear a member of your team cry out for help. You wouldn't hear a distress call, and you wouldn't hear someone sneaking up from behind to attack. I agree with your statement that it doesn't keep you from doing what you want to do, but I can't say that 100% for myself. I wanted to be a Marine when I turned 18 years old; in fact, on the day I turned 18, I registered to vote and immediately signed my name to join the Marines - and I couldn't lie my way in and believe me I tried. I also couldn't be a cop, or a federal agent, so it has presented me from doing what I consider a life calling. However, my learning disability has stopped me from so much more. I earn a crappy salary because I couldn't follow in my mother's footsteps and become a nurse, nor could I find a career working with animals as a veterinarian. I can't earn any degrees that pay well because I can't be an accountant with my limited math skills, or a scientist, or damn near any job that requires math or science. I therefore consider my learning disability to be more a disadvantage than my hearing loss. The irony is while most people are sympathetic to hearing disabled, the learning disabled (LD) are considered to be just plain stupid - and that for me is what LD the more crippling disability of the two.


Laura
 
Lau2046 said:
It is a disability because you can't hear or communicate with anyone that doesn't know sign language. You can't serve in the military because you can't hear the commands or follow orders. You can't hear a member of your team cry out for help. You wouldn't hear a distress call, and you wouldn't hear someone sneaking up from behind to attack. I agree with your statement that it doesn't keep you from doing what you want to do, but I can't say that 100% for myself. I wanted to be a Marine when I turned 18 years old; in fact, on the day I turned 18, I registered to vote and immediately signed my name to join the Marines - and I couldn't lie my way in and believe me I tried. I also couldn't be a cop, or a federal agent, so it has presented me from doing what I consider a life calling. However, my learning disability has stopped me from so much more. I earn a crappy salary because I couldn't follow in my mother's footsteps and become a nurse, nor could I find a career working with animals as a veterinarian. I can't earn any degrees that pay well because I can't be an accountant with my limited math skills, or a scientist, or damn near any job that requires math or science. I therefore consider my learning disability to be more a disadvantage than my hearing loss. The irony is while most people are sympathetic to hearing disabled, the learning disabled (LD) are considered to be just plain stupid - and that for me is what LD the more crippling disability of the two.


Laura
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I know deaf people that can communicate with people who don't know sign language. Yes, they are oral deaf (even though they know and use sign language as well) but even those who are not oral can communicate through writing things down, texting, etc. It is not impossible. I believe it is wrong that you were unable to be a Marine, a cop, or a federal agent. This is not because of your deafness, but because of people's ignorance regarding deafness, and I'm sorry that that ignorance affected you. I know my opinion doesn't change the "rules" that some ignorant hearing people created, but ignorance should be blamed for those things, not deafness itself.
 
Mimsy said:
I agree. I am disabled in one specific way. Doesn't disabled mean unable?
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No, not quite the same.
Because even if your eyes are unable to see clearly it still doesn't mean
you are unable to 'see' in other ways - you obviously see to some degree,
even if images are blurry, you see thru touch for example,

and thus you do can live as otherwise a seeing person does.

So, in other words, disability is simply a lack of a sense or body part.
UN-ability to live with disability - is an entirely different matter....

Fuzzy
 
naisho said:
The real answer to this question is it depends on what you define as a disability.
Whether you subscribe to the medical definition, the dictionary definition, your own definition, or the "mental issues" definition.

No one can tell another what is the correct definition of a disability unless the argument is specific.
So, if there is no case in point, everyone should be entitled to their own opinion. There is no right one in this topic's case.
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BULLSHIT

i , for one KNOW the real definition of Disability, because i STUDY it.

there is no such thing as a medical definition, rather it is a medical impairment which describes the malfunctioning , or missing function of bodily part(s), be it neurological, physical or sensory.
Disability comes from Society, that is; an oppression.

Big Big difference between disability and impairment.

Deaf people struggle in the hearing world, or to make a stand for what we believe in- has been stunted by the hearing ways of shit, it has nothing to do with BEING d/Deaf, it has a thousands times more to do with the way society, people makes (intentionally, or unintentionally, or flatly indirectly) imposes barriers on us.
I'm not going to bother show off with slapping on real definitions from rreal scholars because 1) its a waste of time here, 2) even if i did, its still a waste of time because even thought you 'could' read but you'd still never grasp it, because ideologically you're still too fucked up to see it properly, for it is only the few handful of the world can actually understand it, you HAVE to be trained to understand it right.
 
stephaniep21 said:
I know deaf people that can communicate with people who don't know sign language. Yes, they are oral deaf (even though they know and use sign language as well) but even those who are not oral can communicate through writing things down, texting, etc. It is not impossible. I believe it is wrong that you were unable to be a Marine, a cop, or a federal agent. This is not because of your deafness, but because of people's ignorance regarding deafness, and I'm sorry that that ignorance affected you. I know my opinion doesn't change the "rules" that some ignorant hearing people created, but ignorance should be blamed for those things, not deafness itself.
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..on the right track...
 
Audiofuzzy said:
No, not quite the same.
Because even if your eyes are unable to see clearly it still doesn't mean
you are unable to 'see' in other ways - you obviously see to some degree,
even if images are blurry, you see thru touch for example,

and thus you do can live as otherwise a seeing person does.

So, in other words, disability is simply a lack of a sense or body part.
UN-ability to live with disability - is an entirely different matter....

Fuzzy
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bit too vague....
 
rolling7 said:
As you quoted it, disability is a "condition" of disable. One has to have much more than just a disability to be disable.
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wrong, disabilty is the condition brought on by society, not disable as in body, that's impairment!!
 
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