Again, Drolsbaugh asks the reader to swim a mile in his scuba gear. With the help of technology, though, you could put on scuba gear and swim with the fish. However, the gear was heavy and uncomfortable, and as much as it helped you interact with the fish, you never were able to swim like them. You were different, and you knew it.
Air is too thin, land is too hard.
This is not just another deaf person's autobiography. We've heard plenty from the disability-oriented perspective which promotes synthesis into the hearing world as the pinnacle of success for deaf persons. Born hearing to deaf, signing parents, Mark gradually lost his hearing. Despite the fact that his deaf parents preferred sign communication, Mark was raised and educated without the use of sign language. His parents and grandparents were concerned that sign might interfere with speech and restrict his educational achievement.