Opinion ID: 77631
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bircoll's Disability

Text: 3 Bircoll is a profoundly deaf individual with no hearing in his left ear and ten percent hearing in his right ear. When wearing his hearing aid, Bircoll has a twenty percent hearing capacity. 4 Bircoll, who has been deaf for most of his life, was raised in the hearing world. Bircoll graduated from a mainstream high school and attended two years of community college. Bircoll reads, writes, and speaks English. Although Bircoll sometimes relies on other people to speak for him and uses his friends and relatives for help, Bircoll's primary form of communication is lipreading. Bircoll has been lipreading for over thirty years. Bircoll does not know or use sign language. 5 Bircoll is more effective in reading lips if he is facing the speaker with good light and little background noise. Bircoll has greater success in communicating with speakers who do not have facial hair, make few facial expressions, and keep their hands away from their faces. When reading lips, Bircoll usually understands about fifty percent of what is said. Bircoll speaks with a speech impediment. 6 As for telephone communication, Bircoll usually communicates with an amplified telephone (one that is louder than a normal phone) and a teletypewriter, a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD phone). Bircoll also has a cell phone that he uses primarily for emergencies, such as calling someone to say he will be late. Bircoll cannot hear on the cell phone, but he will make the phone call, do the talking, and hang up. 2