Posted on 10/22/2010 11:32:44 PM PDT by Darkwolf377
http://www.mediaite.com/online/this-exists-video-of-deaf-baby-boy-hearing-for-the-first-time-goes-viral/
Ahhh, my posting stupidity defeats me again. If anyone can repost that to an active link, I’d appreciate it.
Wow, someday I hope I will be like this. Very cool. Thanks for posting.
Ha! You beat me to it! I finally engaged my brain. Thank you very much. I think it’s something people will enjoy.
My son Douglas, who recently passed, had a significant hearing loss. He was absolutely helped by Hearing Aids. It was an awakening for him to be able to hear. This Cochlear type implant for this boy is wonderful.
Thank you so much for posting this. It makes me smile.
It took me awhile, too. I know of two Chiropractors who adjusted patients and they were able to hear.
I attended Madonna University. It’s close to Windsor, Ontario and Detroit. It had a deaf education program, where it welcomed deaf students from anywhere. The school had professors that were deaf, or not, but it even if not they knew how to do American Sign Language. I got to know many, many students that were deaf.
The “deaf culture” is a distinct culture. Those that cannot hear stay with their own kind. Some of them embrace cochlear implants, others do not. A lot of it had to do with whether or not they were genetically deaf, or if both of their parents were deaf. If they were raised in a family where hearing was not valued, because they were fine and had adapted to what the hearing call a “disability”, then they tended to frown upon cochlear implants. Others didn’t care one way or the other. Cochlear implants changed the lives of many students.
What I found fascinating was the lip-reading that everyone did. They were perfect at it, and they would let the hearing students know that they understood perfectly what the hearing were saying.
It was an interesting opportunity to learn about a different culture. I’ve never looked at deaf people the same, since. And I think I value my hearing a little more.
That commentor was one of the “deaf culturists” who feel threatened that cochlear implants will cause the deafie ASL-based subculture to die out.
There’s been some documentaries made about the issue. The deaf-since-birth people consider themselves the cream of the deaf world and fear they’ll all die out if cochlear implants keep improving.
Perhaps you recall the grotesque strong-arming tactics they used in 2007 over the succession struggle at Galludet U. Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard wrote a great piece at the time.
When I was a little kid I saw my first lip reader at my mom’s prayer meeting, and it absolutely fascinated me. (Has nothing to do with the fact that the girl was beautiful and I had an instant boyhood crush. Nothing, I tell you!) I learned some sign language years ago, but fell out of practice and can’t remember any of it.
Lip-reading is an amazing skill. I’ve encountered a couple lip readers and I tried to talk slower, but I yammer away at a rapid speed and both times the people told me “Slow down!” (As did some non-Americans I lived with, who, when they were drunk, would seek me out and start conversations about Clinton, because I’d get so wild they couldn’t understand me, and they’d fall down laughing.)
The deaf culture has factions, as you’ve noted. It’s all fascinating to me.
I am so very sorry for your loss. My heart breaks for you.
Thanks for that, I was trying to recall where it was they made a fuss about the president or dean of a university somewhere who could hear.
Some of those deafies are such fanatics I wouldn’t be surprised if a careful medical examination of all “deaf-children-of-deaf-parents” would reveal a monstrous conspiracy on the part of deaf parents to make damn sure their children were “born” deaf.
They are an awful tribe. Recall the New York Times Magazine article a few years back about the two deaf lesbians who wanted to find a sperm donor who was genetically deaf so their child could be one of them.
I also recall the way actress Marlee Matlin and former Miss Deaf U.S.A. Heather Whitestone were persecuted and cast out for marrying hearing men.
Oh, yes. There were students that were a bit radical and “anti-hearing”. They would make me take a piece of paper and write out what I wanted to say to them, and then they would write back their answer. Even those who could partially hear me and lip read would try this if they were radical in their beliefs.
MOST of the students that I lived with in the dorms were friendly and accepting of the hearing. We got along well and there was no animosity.
I do remember learning the etiquette of using a TTY machine. That was interesting.
And I remember going on a long weekend trip with one deaf male student who just wanted the attention of the girls... we could all hear. He could partially hear, and lip-read everything we said. We got harassed at the Canadian border because the customs agent had never met a deaf person before. They thought he was drunk.
I don’t know if Madonna University is a “good” school or not anymore. But I do know that for the majority of the Canadian deaf students, it was their only chance to get a good education. There wasn’t a better option in Ontario.
Jim, I’m very sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing that. I don’t have kids myself but I work with kids who in some cases have been removed from homes for abuse, so it makes me feel good to read a note from a loving parent.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, interesting stuff. The deaf community is one those of us who hear don’t often learn much about. Years ago it surprised me to learn many of them want it that way.
As a deaf person myself, I agree with you that there are extremists in the deaf community. However, I take offense at your words for saying that we are an "awful tribe".
That's just plain ignorance. Have you ever heard of National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York? Do me a favor and look that up. Maybe you'll realize that there are deaf individuals who are actually productive and contribute to our society.
I found many of the anti-hearing to be angry little women with chips on their shoulder. I just shrugged them off at the time. All I do today is admit that I don’t understand it. But I have learned that recently they are compromising more... many are embracing the cochlear implant and ALS as a way to live. I think this is good for future generations.
Good to know. Oddly enough, the other day while on the train I did one of those time-wasters we sometimes do, and wondered if i had to give up sight or hearing, which would I give up? I figured hearing right off, but the more I thought about it, and my 35,000 songs on itunes, and my 5000 LPs and 2000 CDs, I came to a stalemate. So I find it astonishing that some folks wouldn’t want to hear, though of course I understand where they’re coming from as a matter of tribal pride. I want to tell them “You don’t know what you’re missing.” And in many cases, of course, they don’t, and don’t want to alter their identity as if something’s wrong with them. But...
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