From: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Ann Stalnaker)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: On Signing....
Date: 10 Oct 92 04:58:06 GMT
Reply-To: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:124/2120 - Fingers Talk, Irving TX
X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference
Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com

Index Number: 24833

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

 KK> It's interesting that there's a Deaf Culture, but there seems to be no
 KK> Blind Culture---at least not in the same way.
 KK> Regardless of what the Deaf Community thinks, deafness
 KK> is definitely a handicap that can be potentially
 KK> dangerous.  Hearing is a sense that's necessary for our
 KK> safety as well as for communication.  For example, the
 KK> rattling of a poisonous rattlesnake is a danger signal
 KK> that's a slight sound, not a loud, vibrating sound.
 KK> I've had people pull me aside very roughly to avoid
 KK> dangers that I could not hear.

I've found out that the Deaf Culturists do not feel deafness is a
disability.  It really is, an invisible one.  But, it doesn't have
to be potentially dangerous because one can be trained to become
very alert.  I think this is also one reason why many of us are
under a great deal of stress and often become mentally exhausted
by the end of the week (such as on Friday...for example, I'm often
so exhausted that night I can't even lipread anymore!).  I sometimes
wonder if one of my eyes is spotted going one direction and the other
the opposite way!  (grin)  To be honest, I've always been very alert.
That brings to mind the first and only (knock on wood) time I've
been stopped by a police officer (actually, it was a police woman).
I've had my driver's license since I was 15 years old and had been
driving for 25 years when I was stopped just after going through
a double yellow light in a major intersection going home after work.
I was tired, suffering from a bad cold, and the sun was in my eyes.
Well, here comes the flashing red light of the police car...so I
pull over.  In OK, the cops don't get out of their cars, you have
to get out of yours and go to the police car.  She asked me if I
knew I went through a red light and I explained to her they were
yellow, not red.  She then asked me for my driver's license.  I
told her I was hearing impaired and this was the first time I had
ever been stopped in the 25 years I had been driving.  She then
wrote up a ticket on me (GRRRRRR!) and turned to look at me and
said, "I'd like to commend you for being very alert.  You pulled
over right after I turned the lights on."  I thanked her and got
out.  GRRRR!  Didn't feel too bad after I found out at the office
the next day that I was one of five she had stopped and given a
ticket to from our office.  It was a trap.

Anyway, to get back to deafness being a potentially dangerous
disability.  We can't avoid every day living because we can't
hear but I do believe we can avoid certain known hazards such
as heavy machinery work, etc.  I don't fear anything and I
do everything and have done everything but then I'm very
independent, perhaps too much so at times.  I don't let anyone
tell me I can't do this because I can't hear, there are always
other alternatives.

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