Actually, I think I understand some of the points some are trying to make here. This is along the lines of what I was saying earlier (whether in this thread or another, I don't recall.) I remember reading somewhere that Minnesota has a population of 100,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people, but I am certain a HUGE majority of those consist of the elderly who have become hard-of-hearing due to age. I think that stands true for all states. Having said that, I'm aware there are thousands who are truly deaf, and with the metro area as large as it is here, there are many, many hundreds of us here in the metro area. It isn't possible that I know all of them. But, over the years, by interaction via school, other school friends, deaf clubs, deaf events, deaf sports, and so on, I've met quite a few. In the hundreds, literally. And I don't see the low literacy rates that have been mentioned. Too many people are just like me, where we attended special preschools to learn sign and speech, then went on to our local schools in a mainstreamed program, and the huge majority of us have turned out just fine, just like me. In contrast, in any given year, there's only some 50 deaf students at MSD (the school for the deaf). So that's all I've been saying -- I don't understand where the statistics are coming from, because I do not see it here in Minnesota. (And again, I'm acknowledging there's MANY deaf people I have yet to meet, so maybe some of those are what comprises the low literacy rates, but ... ) It does make me wonder if the sampling of a deaf population in education for statistical purposes is flawed and thereby creating lower statistical rates than is realistic.
But thanks, anyway.
