From: Bill.Freeman@f24.n3602.z1.fidonet.org (Bill Freeman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Hatred
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:04:09 GMT
Reply-To: Bill.Freeman@f24.n3602.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:3602/24 - ADAnet One (tm) Net, Pinson AL
X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference

Index Number: 24109

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Hello Roberto,

 Thanks for writing back to me. In your message, you said

-> I understand that Deaf people are tired of people not accepting the
-> fact they don't being deaf and don't want to be "fixed." It's kind of
-> like Sammy Davis Jr.'s "I Gotta Be Me." That's what a Deaf guy I know
-> told me. Seems a lot of folks can't stomach this.

Deaf people should not have to be "fixed" to be acceptable to
anyone. Period. If a person is happy being who they are as they
are, then I'd think they have a right to be let alone - to enjoy
themselves without interruptions from the rest of the world.

If a person isn't happy being who they are and as they are, they
should try to change themselves to make themselves happy. I have no
idea if cochlear implants do this or not, but it seems to me to be
the choice of the INDIVIDUAL - not any deaf activist group.

I think deaf people may have a good understanding of how it feels
to be isolated due to a disability. Deafness isn't something
immediately obvious like a mobility impairment. I'd guess a lot of
folks assume deaf people don't have a disability, until they find
out that they do.

I have mild cerebral palsy, and I know that is the case for me. I
think I'm fairly normal (a bit fat, but hey!?) looking, and no one
would know I have a disability until I get up and walk. Sometimes I
think I'd almost rather have a wheelchair, but then I think about
how lucky I am to be able to get around as I do. Let me explain
what I mean:

People get to know you, and then find out about your disability,
and its like someone you've been dishonest with them. They feel
betrayed by their own senses, and embarrassed that they made plans
based on you without a disability.

Some people say that friends that are bothered by a disability
aren't really worth having as friends. My experience has been
different. Some of my friends are bothered by my disability, and
will say so in subtle ways. I let them know its Ok, and that it
bothers me too, in the same ways often, and we go on from there.
Kinda like friends that discover something that isn't perfect about
each other, but decide to continue being friends anyway, because
they like each other.

I just found the Deaf Mosaic story on Cochlear Implants curious -
because of the stark images the deaf activists were using. Geez,
I'd be scared to death if someone wanted to implant me with
something somehow similar to the Holocaust. I think that no one is
mandating that anyone be implanted with anything. Perhaps some
zealous doctors are strongly encouraging parents to implant their
children - but are they not grounding their opinion on good ground?
Maybe this is wrong, but the way to change it is not by calling
names and looking like fanatics - it is by developing educational
resources for parents faced with this decision. Give the parents
all the imformation available - and then let them decide, just as
you would on any other operation for a child.

I'm sorry I wrote so much to you, but I think the philosophy that
the Cochlear implant technology stirs up is not all that new, and
can be dealt with in a satisfactory way to everyone.

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