Being deaf and being hard of hearing - different situation?

[vicars]

Hi, I was reading an article on a guy who got a job but had to use hearing aids - this enabled him to get the job and thus overcme his 'disability'. What surprised me was the number of comments from totally deaf people saying he was not deaf if he used hearing aids (fair enough) but they came across as though the deaf people had an attitude to people who could hear with help (hearing aids). I have come across other articles where the deaf are very protective of thir status to the extent they would rather be deaf. If you hold a view about your own perception of this please post as being hard of hearing myself I get the feeling I would be a bit of an outsider in the deaf 'scene'. Look forward to your replies.

[rugeleyboy]

my father in law had less than 6% of his hearing left. this was in one ear as he was stone deaf in the other........... he didnt once complain nor did he join a deaf appreciation society.

he has since had an operation and they have given him an implant onto his head and he now can hear fine.

also..there was case on the news last week about a girl who worked for the deaf awarness or something like it who got hounded out of her job because they bulled her and refused hearing help?

[Meg888]

I wear 2 behind the ear hearing aids and hear quite well, without them, i dont hear anything at all.

A few years ago i joined a sort of club in order to improve on my lip reading & all the folks there were in a similar situ. It was quite sociable, and i once took my sister who had a minor hearing problem, but didn't need help - and they completely ignored her! When she spoke they wouldn't listen to her & when she tried to get involved in a conversation they talked over the top of her. I couldn't believe it they treat her like she was was a piece of ****! I never went back after that.

[spanner7853]

there is a thing called deaf power. my husband is deaf and had a cochlear implant. Other deaf people who choose not to wear hearing aids etc are dead against implants and hearing aids. See below link thins will give you more information about it.

http://www.deafpowernow.org/

[Angiepandy]

I am a hearing person, but teach Deaf Awareness as part of my job role. There are two different types of deafness. There is Deaf and deaf.

Deaf people (identified by the use of the upper case �D�) are those people that identify themselves as a cultural and linguistic minority, as opposed to having a medical disadvantage. Those people that describe themselves in this way, will have a positive view of their deafness. Deaf people who share this culture are proud to be part of the Deaf Community, have a strong Deaf identity and use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first or preferred means of communication. Allegiance to the Deaf Community is considered more important than the level of hearing loss.


deaf people (identified by the use of the lower case �d�) is the general term used to describe a deaf person outside of the Deaf community. They will probably be severely or profoundly deaf, and do not usually use BSL as their preferred means of communication. They choose to remain outside of the Deaf Community and usually identify more with the hearing world.

What you may be experiencing is a Deaf person's attitude to a deaf person, i.e. a deaf person trying to identify more with the hearing world by using a hearing aid/cochlear implant or whatever.

The usual school of thought, is that if you are deaf, regardless of any amplification/hearing device that you may use, you are still deaf.

Just for the record, the usual 'P.C.' term for someone who has lost all, or virtually all of their hearing is profoundly deaf. If they also have no speech, they are literally that, Deaf without speech (don't ever use the term Deaf and Dumb or Stone Deaf)

Hope that helps.