southern, i dont mean to disect your post, but i see alot of things you said that i dont agree with, and i'll state why....
I have been exposed to oral Deaf, and they prefer to sign.
that is quite a broad sentence. I have expierenced children who grew up oral and have decided to sign later in life, my girlfriend is a good example. However, you completely missed my point, in which there are oral deaf who prefer NOT to sign. they have been exposed to sign language and for whatever reason, do not wish to use it in their daily life.
All Deaf that i have met have been gracious and kind. Although i know there are those out there, i have not met them. But that is true of every culture not exclusive to the Deaf community.
i did not mean to imply that deaf culture was anything opposite what you stated above. But there is a very real fact that Deaf culture can be very exclusive, and not very inclusive....and you are absolutly right, several other cultures are the same way, however, we are not talking about those cultures here. we are talking about someone who will be post-lingually deaf, who is not a native signer. he will never be accepted anymore than a hearing person would.
DO NOT SUPPORT IMPLANTING CHILDREN!! you are trying to make this baby into something you want them to be, ie hearing, rather than what they are, DEAF.
this is just simply not true. If i child is born and can't ever learn to walk, is it wrong to put them in a wheelchair, or are we just trying to make them like us? if a child is born without a limb, is it wrong to use a preostetic? afterall, wouldn't we be trying to make them something they are not? of course not, and implants are no different. your personal opinion is absolutly valid, i feel however you are very close minded on this subject.
If no more that environmental sounds..... What does that mean to a hearing person? All you can hear is the wind blow a bird chirp and a car.... a hearing person is used to far more than that. AND most environmental sounds i do not like, most hearies that live in any city of size is the same, you are reduced to the worst sounds, and you got your head cut open for that?? No thanks.
environmental sounds are much more than what you stated here. they are your child screming when he gets his fingers slammed in the car door, its an ambulance coming up behind your car when you not getting out of the way can mean life or death for someone else. Its when you change lanes and miss someone in the next lane, only because they honked to let you know that you were going to hit them. Its being able to hear your door knock when otherwise you might have missed the flashing light. Its hearing a train coming up behind you as your walking down the track texting on your mobile phone.
most environmental sound you do not like, but they save your life everyday. they enrich your life and make you more appreciative of the world around you, and more aware of it.
each one of these instances i stated happend to people ....a deaf man came and spoke at the deaf school i work at, he had bilateral CI's implanted because he slamemd his childs finger in the door of his car, and did not know that his child was screaming bloody murder until his neighbors came out and told him. Miss deaf texas was killed as she walked along side a railroad track texting on her phone and did not hear a train coming up behind her, honking his horn.
As far as being accepted, i have been accepted totally. Many Deaf have told me that i am more like a Deafie than a hearie. I do not have the fingers to count how many times Deafies have mistaken me for Deaf and this after hanging out with them for hours.
you've been totally accepted as a hearing person. You have not been accepted as a deaf person, and you never will be...your not. i guess the only way i can explain this, is possibly using a gay reference. You have straight friends, and they get along with your gay friends, your gay friends may accept them totally and be cool with them, love hanging out with them etc...however, your straight friends dont know what its like to have to come out to thier parents, or deal with the social stigmas of being gay, or the discrimination, or the taunting in school perhaps, or even abuse recieved.....all the shared expierences that bonds the gay community together, straight people will never and can never understand? would you agree?
i would even dare to say that the gay community's views on closet homosexuality would be comparable to Deaf community's views on deaf who prefer hearing world.
i have had bad expierences, but i have had good ones too. Deaf community is one that i have chosen, despite how it may look here, i simply present the flip side of the coin. its not all shiny happyness with puppy dogs and rainbows, but nothing is that way.
Socializing, working, living with Deaf is where i belong, they are my people. I dont fit well in hearing culture, i can navigate it fine, as it's how i was born. but thats not where i feel comfortable, and not where i want to be.
