To Understand

“Why the hell do you live way out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do?” they usually ask and I usually respond with a soft chuckle and smile on my face, “That’s why.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Well alright, let me be clear here so I won’t have to go around this again. I live here in what you consider the middle of nowhere, because it is remote and isolated from a blind society.

“Are you calling me blind?”

That I cannot yet answer but what I can do is ask you this: “ Can you live way out here in the middle of ‘nowhere’ with ‘nothing to do’?”

“No.”

There you go, that is precisely why I live here and why you don’t understand.

-ahem-

Say, you know what is better than a deaf person who has some residual hearing and speaks well? It is a deaf person who can kick that deaf person’s ass without having to utter a word. Ha, Ha Ha! So much for your speech therapy and AVT eh? Whack! Whack! Whack!

I know I’m being brash here but hey, they can take it right? They’re all grown up and they love to play childish games, yeah. They are the people who love to feel good about them selves by threatening and putting down others.

You want names?

Lets try: Gina Alberti Sutton, Russell Errigo, Michael McConnell, Joshua Dawson, Barry Sewell, and Rachel Chaikof to name a few.

These sort of people are proud of their abilities and their accomplishments. They believe the fact that hearing people know what is best for deaf children. They resent the fact that they are associated with us in any way. Now, these people are not bad people and neither are they perfect. They’re just another group of folks with a certain ideology (results of brainwashing?) and system of political beliefs. That is their right.

What I want to point out to these people is that what they do, whether knowingly or not, is not cool. It’s not cool to walk around all snooty and snotty like those sneetches who had bellies with stars did upon those who had none upon thars.

You know, you all are a smart lot (???) and I can see that rather clearly but if you’re that smart, why do you have to go around pissing on people who might not be as privileged you have been. Is it that beneficial to your self esteem to go around telling people to learn to read, to do their homework, and holding hearing values to be superior to their own? I mean, seriously stating here, is it really worth it to do and say such things to these people when they go through the same kinds of struggles you do as a person with less than perfect hearing and THEIR struggles are likely to be greater than yours, is it really worth it?

You might call the terms audism and deafhood bogus and that is perfectly fine with me but you cannot deny that the meanings and experience of such proposed terms do exist. You can also see that our vocabulary continues to expand with our expansion of knowledge. Consider dictionaries from 1810, 1910, and 2010. Compare them.

I know you’re smart enough (???) to understand where I’m going with this.

Now allow me:

1. Have you experienced someone acting superior to you or discriminating you because you couldn’t hear perfectly or speak effectively?

2. Have you acquired more knowledge and experience about hearing loss than the average hearing person?

3. Have you experienced what it is like with life without a speaking voice or a hearing aid (including C.I.’s) on a daily basis?

If you’ve answered “no” to all questions, then I guess I was wrong about you. Maybe you’re not that smart and/or are brainwashed with some audist establishment propaganda.

If you’ve answered, “yes” to all questions, then surely you have an idea what we, collectively and wholly, as a people with less than perfect hearing are up against.

Okay, if you only said no to question three, then perhaps you might want to take back several things you have said and done towards certain people or at least review your comments. Understanding is to be had, eh?

If you think all three of these questions are stupid and pointless, then that defines you and your concern for the future of deaf children. Try to inquire more and dispute less. If you cannot do that, try, then, to get your head out of your ass. Just because you’re doing what is “normal and right” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing what is good for everyone. Besides, you’re not normal and you never will be, so get over it and move along with the rest of us.

If you can't understand any of this, let me just say, you’re no better than we are.

P.S. Those who have been named, find some courage to say something in response, eh?