ZURFER: My Son Is Deaf, Finally! (Subtitled)

Oh, didn't think it was a war. Sometimes (often really) demeanor isn't expressed properly through written response.

I believe being deaf is a disability to myself or anyone that is afflicted by hearing loss, but at the same time, I would never let being deaf, being blind, losing a limb or any form of disability define who or even what I am.

Some can identify themselves by why they refuse to accept, but all will call me by my name, not a capitol 'D'.

go you! :)

i say it's about a denial of the innate truth that humans are formed with the intention of sound perception... and if you don't have that, you ARE disabled. Whether it's your identity or not, it's a disability. And who you are should never be what you can or can't do. It should be the intent of our presence and existence. Hearing or deaf has nothing to do with the identity of a person.

i agree that what we can and can't do shouldn't define us, but its not the inability to hear that makes them belong to that culture. A deaf person can be oral and have a hearing identity.. its all dependent on the deaf person. if a person is deaf and signs and involved with a strong group of deaf people it becomes a culture. they hold their own values and have folk tales and traditions.. do you sign?

I do sign. But you yourself stated the same point I was making. It's not the 'deaf' person or people that make it that culture. Tall people share similar tales, veterans the same. These are not their identities, these are their shared experiences, thus a hearing loss would not define a culture. The culture is the people and morals, truths, denials and ethics of that people, deaf or not. And why fight that it's a disability when a necessary culture occurs from it?

Hearing loss is a lifetime of experience. The hearing world has not isolated tall people or veterans, nor has a hearing person tried to make being tall illegal like AGB tried to do with ASL. When Abbe established schools for the deaf in france and laurent clerc here the deaf were fianlly given a place to be with people like them. They began to sign and develop a language. and with that came values and beliefs... being hearing impaired is a disability, being Deaf doesn't have to be....

You're taking creative license to the meaning of 'disability' and attributing even the idea to that similar to motivational office posters. Whether or not someone allows their life to suffer in quality due to a disability or not is entirely dependent upon the quality and measure of that person. This does not change the fact that being deaf is, very much, a disability. As for being 'D'eaf, that's a social term I refuse to discriminate with.

Curiosity... what makes you think I'm hearing?

I didn't think you were hearing or deaf.. Deaf.. it doesn't matter to me so i never assumed either war. I just hope if you are deaf you don't see yourself as disabled.

either way.. not war. sorry

It's not about identity or perception. The human body was formed with the sense of hearing. If one doesn't have that sense or a lessoned version there of, they are at a disability to what people with that aspect working are. If you are deaf, then you are, indeed, disabled.

If the majority of the population was deaf, then they'd be disabled. It's not a friggin clique, it's a fact.

My mind is completely open. In order for that to mean anything, acceptance is key. Accept your disability.