Woman says deafness can be "nearly eradicated": is accused of "cultural genocide".

A prominent educator on disabled children is under attack from the deaf community after she described deafness ''as a scourge in our world'' during an awards ceremony.

Yes I'm aware that deaf people have their own "culture". But to call this "genocide" is ridiculous. Will we get this kind of reaction from blind/disabled people next?

 

Probably, yes. I can understand the impulse of the vocal minority (joke not intended in the least) here. It is a developed and complex subculture, and the members of that subculture will feel under attack by attempts to eliminate it.

This'll apply especially as they won't see deafness as a disability or drawback, simply as a part of their lives. I'd be very surprised if anyone who was born with hearing and lost it during their adult lives would be as defensive.

 

It was an unfortunate choice of words. I doubt very many people (including deaf people) would want their children to be born deaf, but that is different to suggesting that all deaf people must be cured regardless of their opinion on the matter.

 

I've got partial deafness in my left ear and would opt for fully functional hearing in a heartbeat.

 

Is similar to a victim desperate to keep the power the victim status brings, thus refusing to move on? Maybe being deaf is such a big part of who they are?

I don't know...


Osu!

 

Probably not so much this.

Sounds much more like it. Their interaction with the world, culture, even language are all developed around this one defining characteristic. To some it must seem as if that's all under threat.

 

I think their outrage was because they don't see themselves as victims and were offended that someone else does.

 

Yes, I understand that. But there's no reason a person with a hearing aid can't continue to use sign language if they prefer. Hearing expands your options, not limits them.

I agree with both those statements.

Agreed - unfortunate choice of words. Agreed - no-one should have hearing "forced upon them" if they choose otherwise. But re: "I doubt very many people (including deaf people) would want their children to be born deaf," some actually do.

How kind of them.

 

I agree, but that's a rational response rather than an emotive one - much easier to produce when you're distanced from the situation.

I'm trying very hard to decide if I have a problem with this or not, and I honestly don't know. On the one hand there is the issue that I definitely see it as making that child's life harder - but then again having not been through it I don't think I'm empathetic enough to make a decision like that on behalf of someone else.

If it were a more severe, life-impacting disability then I'd be completely against it, but in this case I'm conflicted.

 

I'm not.

 

While it's not quite comparable there are similarities - how would you feel about parents who don't know the language of the country they're in, choosing not to expose their child to that language?

 

I'd consider them to be morons who weren't acting in the best interests of their child.

I spent a couple of days in Japan once. Could barely communicate with anyone, and I felt like a complete idiot.

 

Hearing is one sense that cannot be shut down...
Maybe there are some advantages in being deaf that people that are not cannot understand?

(There is of course a lot of the BS that is always going on that I could really do without, but that was not my point! )


Osu!

 

Great, what did you learn?


Osu!

 

I learned how to say "arigato" (thank you) and "kampai!" (cheers). It would have been prudent to learn how to say "toilet" but fortunately that wasn't an issue.

BTW, I never make fun of people with poor english - it means they speak another language very well. I only speak one.

 

Yeah, someone who can speak my language I feel must have tried very hard, because chances are I've tried theirs and failed.

 

But, having not been deaf, you can't judge how much impact it has, and whether or not it impacts quality of life. They might be arguing that it's a better life even.

 

I don't think she's being genocidal at all. I know what she meant.

 

If you gave someone that had been born deaf one day of full hearing I think (or wouild like to think) they would NEVER opt to have a child that is deaf.
Music, birdsong, the laughter of a child, a Jimi Hendrix solo etc.
Opting for a deaf child is UTTERLY, UTTERLY selfish.

 

I know it's going to be a significant impediment to communicating with others - which will affect many areas of life. I fail to see how it could possibly be a "better" life at all. Nor do I see how selecting sperm to create a deaf child is doing said child any favours.

If deafness isn't a disability then why do they need "Deaf Institutes"? No-one gave my mother any assistance in teaching me english (verbal or written), and I learned far more from her than from my teachers.