From: Felix.Game@f125.n163.z1.fidonet.org (Felix Game)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Purpose of this Echo
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:23:40 GMT
Reply-To: Felix.Game@f125.n163.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:163/125 - FedNet Public Acces, Ottawa ON
X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference

Index Number: 24267

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Hi All,
        I have just requested my sysop to obtain this Echo, because I
        wanted to see what it contains. I am HoH. I find it not a big
        hardship. Very peaceful, quiet world; car's engine sounds
        terrific (when I put my aid on, I want to trade it quick).
        When in company, I wear a hearing aid. Them's the basics.

        I don't see anything on this echo I can identify with. I don't
        want to learn how to sign. I hoped that I would find some
        discussion about why hearing-impaired and deaf people do not
        have a better lobby with politicians and manufacturers. Since
        we are all conversing via computer, we must be
        computer-literate. As such we must suspect that the leading
        edge of technology is capable of MORE  than it has produced in
        gadgets for the hearing-impaired. Hearing aids should be
        capable of being customized so that they compensate for the
        frequencies YOU need to have amplified, not what the labratory
        flunky thought "you need".

        I don't see anything here which deals with the organized crime
        of forcing me to go through three different levels of
        professionals and make-believe professionals to obtain a
        hearing aid, as if I were some moron who is incapable of
        knowing what he wants. That is the only reason I have to pay
        $550 for an aid; because three people up the line want to make
        a living off me. It is like not being able to buy dentures
        from the lab that makes them without going through a dentist,
        who calls himself "Doctor".

        I don't see anything here about the lack of attempt on the
        part of the medical profession to more thoroughly diagnose a
        hearing problem. I have gray hair, so these "professionals"
        automatically assume that my hearing loss is due to  old age.
        Some try to be "kind" and say it is due to "premature aging".
        Then I tell them that I pick up an additional 40 decibels when
        I yawn in the car and it starts sounding like it will fall
        apart any minute. I say to the professionals that something
        opened up, indicating a mechanical (i.e. physical) gateway
        which perhaps could be kept open all the time and gain me the
        40 decibels all the time. Nah, they don't want to get bogged
        down with that, I just have to face the fact that I am "nerve
        deaf".  Well, I wouldn't mind getting bogged down. Am
        I alone in this?

        This is an awful way to start off in an echo one has just
        joined. I hope that I have not stepped on any toes. I just
        thought that these would be some of the issues discussed here.
        If I am out to lunch than someone please tell me (nicely if
        possible) and I will fade away the way I came.

... OFFLINE 1.32
 * SLQWiK 1.02.d #UNREGISTERED

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