Proud to be Disabled?

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deafdyke

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http://www.disabledandproud.com/...found this when I was messing around.
What do you think of this? I know on another board many members posted that they thought deaf pride was really stupid, and equalivant to being proud of being an amputee or being proud of being a wheelchair user, or being proud of wearing AFOs or what have you.
Yet there's a site out there with lots of people who are proud of those things and who are anti-cure!!!
Certainly there are plenty of people who would love to be cured, but on the other hand, most of those people aqurried their disabilties.
 
Type the URL in manually. She accidentally put the word "found" in the URL.
 
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that some disabled people would express pride in their uniqueness. I had always assumed that being proud of an intrinsic limitation in locomotion or sensory perception was a trait peculiar to Deaf people. I had always assumed that all blind people want to able to see, and that all amputees would want to regain full locomotion. Since I long ago discarded the notion of deafness as a disability and viewed it as a cultural affiliation, it’s easy to see how I would have made that assumption. But I suppose it’s kind of stupid of me to unblinkingly accept the concept of Deaf culture without considering the possibility that there might also be blind, paraplegic, or spastic people who also feel a sense of cultural affiliation with one another. I guess I’ve always said to myself "well, deafness is different…it’s not a disability—Deaf people just use an alternative form of communication". But I suppose the same argument could be made for any other group of people with a perceived "disability". They do all the same things we do within the boundaries of their limitations, and they use a variety of techniques to partially circumvent these limitations. I suppose that if you were to make the blanket assumption that all people with a "disability" would want to be cured of their particular affliction, then you should come to the reasonable conclusion that all men are "reproductively disabled" and we should be spending billions of dollars right now on the "race for the cure".
 
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I not see why it should be proud for one. I know deaf is disabled but you know everyone who are deaf CAN anything.... some are LAZY to do anything. :roll: @ people look at us like different think of views.
 
im proud to be me i agree with PDP's comment

MizzDeaf -- granted yes thats also true -- but there ARE deafies out there who do so much and makes the lazy ones look so small
 
AHHH! DISABLE?!?!?! I HATE THE TERM! I, for one, am extremely proud to be deaf. I do not consider it a disability, and it pisses me off when ppl refer to it as one. How is being deaf a disability? Does it prevent people from functioning? No. Does it stop us from walking, talking, communicating? No. Are all deaf people just people who sit around all day doing shit all coz since we're so "disabled" there mustn't be anything for us out there? NO! AHH! This has always irked me. I do not consider myself disabled. I can do everything that hearing people can. Sure, i don't hear, but that's nothing coz i never really heard in the first place, therefore i'm not missing out on anything.

I am proud of who i am. I believe that no one in this world is disabled. No matter how many arms, legs, fingers, toes, hearing, sight you have, or don't have. People are people. I just wish that the world would stop putting people into categories because someone is "different".
 
I am hearing, and sometimes not so proud when I consider the ignorance within my community towards the Deaf. I do not consider being deaf a disability. It is cultural boundries that create limitations. When a society creates things based on Sound, it is going to create a boundry for those who can't hear it, just as creating all street signs in english is going to create a boundry for those who only speak french or spanish, or any other language.
 
Well, I don't regard deafness as a disability at all. We are just like other people -- except HEAR. That's basically it. :roll:
To be honest, I hate being labelled as a disabled individual cos I do NOT consider myself disabled at all.
 
If you are not to be considered disabled, then do not:

- go to VR for assistance in job placement and education
- seek protection under the ADA Law
- be entitled to special discounts they have for the disabled, such as reduced bus fares or skiing admissions.
- request special accomodations for different situations such as education (interpreter) and so on.

But...
I do agree with some of you. I do not feel as though as Deafness is a disablity.

So, how do we deal with this? Expecting services when we don't consider ourselves disabled?
 
I am multipley disabled/severely disabled and I view hearing loss as a disabilty...disabilty isn't nessaely a bad thing or a negative thing. It just is. I know Disabilty Rights activists who say that they are disabled but not unabled. Someone who is disabled uses a wheelchair, reads Braille, uses ASL,hearing aids, CI, pees/poops via an ostomy or whatever and in doing so considers it equal to someone who does those activivities according to the norms of our society.
I am PROUD to be disabled....ain't nothing wrong with disabilty....I'm no less of a person just b/c I happen to wear hearing aids, or use a wheelchair occasionaly (when I get tired) ALL disabilty is, is a difference......
People who are unabled are either extreme profoundly disabled (eg in a coma) or view disabilty as something handicapping and cwippling. Did you guys know that there are Dis Rights activists who are against the Jerry Lewis Telethon? Did you guys know that there are Dis Rights folks who are against a cure or who think that people should accept their disabilty and learn to adapt to it?
 
Well I doubt there will be a cure for disability (any kind) in my lifetime. The FDA is another "Dis Righties" group. It takes years for the FDA to approve a drug. I have read about nanotechnology and stem cell research but we're still years before developing a drug or surgery technique.
 
I once took a workshop/seminar about disabled students at my work, and the instructor spoke very differently about that situation. He said he simply doesnt call them disabled students but emphasized on knowing what their limitations are and what the workplace or school can do to accomodate these limitations to be on the same level as the "non disabled" people. I thought it was interesting, not trying to focus on what one cannot do, but what one can do to help to accomodate the situation.
 
I am deaf and I believe I am disabled because I rely on

TTY phone,
Teletext (Ceefax) Tv
CC DVD and Video
Door Bell Flashing Light.
Order extra special Fire Alarm flashing light
Attend special school for the deaf
And received disabled pension in UK every month
Free tube and bus pass in London and Manchester
Hiring an Interpreter
Cochlear Implant Operation and/or hearing aid

No deaf people want to live without it ~ they are special tools we need to live comfortable unlike hearing people.

I dont feel disabled if I enter deaf club, but do feel different if I enter the local pub!!

It's nothing to be ashamed of disabled - of course I wish I was born hearing but I accept for who I am ~ why bother wishing! Life goes on
 
I don't rely on any of that (except for Hearing Aids). All i rely on is myself and waht i know. I get by just fine without those services. I don't know, i guess it's all what people are used to. I still don't consider myself "disabled' and i hate that word. It seems too offensive. We may as well put people who wear glasses and contacts in that category too then. And who can forget about fat people? They may as well be disabled too....it just sucks that society feels the need to place people in categories. I'm sorry for going on and on, but i feel so stronly about it.


I'll shut up.
 
deafdyke said:
Did you guys know that there are Dis Rights activists who are against the Jerry Lewis Telethon? Did you guys know that there are Dis Rights folks who are against a cure or who think that people should accept their disabilty and learn to adapt to it?
Click to expand...

OMG!!! Really?

 
I've been deaf ever since I was born and sometimes i hated being that way but I do believe that there is a reason for my deafness and sometimes I like being that way so that I wouldn't have to hear so much annoying noise or even listen to assholes talking shit to me and stuff like that lol you know hearing people don't feel virbrations as well as deafies do so I could feel some 10 feet away or less, so that's kinda cool I guess

most deafies can see and smell better than hearies so...when you lose an ablitiy, you have other ablities to make up from your disabled ablitiy.

so, why change your deafness when it's really part of you? i mean, if I was never deaf, then my life would be a whole LOT different...proably like I was never born or something lol
 
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