File This under "THAT SUCKS!"

[CoasterMatt]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11822960/?GT1=7850

AUSTIN - The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died Monday afternoon after being struck by a train, officials said.

Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, was walking near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train, authorities said. A witness told Austin television station KTBC the train sounded its horn right up until the accident occurred.

:(

[Not Afraid]

Moral: don't stand on train tracks if you're deaf.

[BarTopDancer]

I'm suprised she couldn't feel the train coming :(

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm guessing she didn't win for her brains...

[wendybeth]

There is a big controversy over cochlear implants in the Deaf community- the opponents say there is nothing wrong with being Deaf, and I agree, but there is no denying the safety aspect of being able to hear. Former Miss America Heather Whitestone got nailed by the Deaf for 'selling out' when she got implanted, but she did it so she would be able to hear if her children needed her in an emergency. This is just sad- I'd be curious to know why she was walking along the tracks, and if she was even aware of the risk. You'd be surprised at what you don't learn when you can't hear.

[tracilicious]

There is a big controversy over cochlear implants in the Deaf community- the opponents say there is nothing wrong with being Deaf, and I agree, but there is no denying the safety aspect of being able to hear. Former Miss America Heather Whitestone got nailed by the Deaf for 'selling out' when she got implanted, but she did it so she would be able to hear if her children needed her in an emergency. This is just sad- I'd be curious to know why she was walking along the tracks, and if she was even aware of the risk. You'd be surprised at what you don't learn when you can't hear.


I've always been a bit confused by opponents of implants. I know that the deaf have a community unto themselves, and many don't feel that being deaf is a disability. I don't see how being deaf isn't a disadvantage though. I don't think you'd have the same reaction to blind people have corrective surgery if it was available to them.

I understand if some don't want to do it for themselves (or, of course, aren't able to), but to get mad at Miss America for wanting to hear her children is ludicrous. Or for wanting to hear at all. Being able to hear is a good thing.

I too am puzzled by her being on the tracks at all. I wonder why she didn't feel the train coming.

[Prudence]

What's been explained to me is that it's considered, by some, to be turning your back on the community. Not just that, but having one's self surgically altered to be part of the majority group -- like having surgery to make one's self look more caucasian.

I think the reason there's such a reaction to cochlear implants and not, for example, to surgery to correct vision is that deafness impacts communication. Yes, I know that deaf people read, but the easiest way to communicate with others is through sign language. Sign language isn't a word-for-word translation; it's a different language structure. (Is Braille a letter-for-letter translation? If so, that makes this argument even stronger.) Communication is so central to cultural identity that this makes some sense. And in the deaf community, where mode of communication *is* the distinctive cultural feature, it's perceived by some as an insulting dismissal.

I guess it's sort of like "passing for white." (Yes, this is a crappy out-of-scale analogy, but it's the only thing I could think of that came close to the ire cochlear implants raise with some. Please give me a better example.) There are definite social, economic, political, etc... benefits to fitting in with the dominant culture, but fitting in is a rejection of the minority culture.

[wendybeth]

You're right for the most part, Prudence, but there are so many other factors at play here. The Deaf community doesn't think their hearing loss needs to be 'fixed' by technology and many of them are extremely nasty about implants- the sign for 'implant' is a negative one in itself. Their argument fall flat when one realises all the many tech adaptations that exist in order to help them get along in a hearing world- vibrating sleep alarms, lights that indicate when someone is at the door, the telephone relay, computers, etc. While the world is getting better at understanding Deaf culture and people are learning more about ASL and other forms of sign, it's very doubtful that the world is going to adjust to accomodate the Deaf.

Even though you thought it an out of scale analogy, you weren't far off with your 'passing for white' comment. I often describe kids with Tori's level of hearing loss as sort of 'bi-racial'- neither side wants to claim them, and they are often left out of social groups, etc, simply because they cannot hear well, or aren't deaf enough.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I suppose we should do away with prosthetics for people born without limbs? Surgeries that correct things like club foot?

It seems to me it's a matter of people unable to see the forest for the trees. Unable to see the hypocracy of "Don't you dare alter yourself to fit in with the group...you must fit in with OUR group!" I can see how the mentality can come to be, but I think it's one that's coming from a distorted perspective.

[BarTopDancer]

My HoH roommate wore hearing aids at home and when out with her family and hearing friends, but when she was out with her Deaf friends she wouldn't because they gave her so much crap about them. Without them she couldn't hear.

I was amazed at the lack of life-skills she and her friends had. It seemed their education at home and in school skipped right over it.

It's just so odd that she didn't feel the train comming. Even if she wasn't aware of the risks of walking on train tracks feeling the train comming should have caused her to turn around and see it.

[Prudence]

You're right for the most part, Prudence, but there are so many other factors at play here. The Deaf community doesn't think their hearing loss needs to be 'fixed' by technology and many of them are extremely nasty about implants- the sign for 'implant' is a negative one in itself.

This is part of where I was trying to go with the "passing" comment. It seems like the Deaf community thinks getting implants to hear better is like bleaching black skin to get ahead or getting eyelid surgery or other cosmetic "fixes" to non-caucasian appearance. I personally think that argument is flawed because ethnic disadvantages are largely, if not entirely, social; there's very little inherent disadvantage due to ethnicity. I don't find extreme nearsightedness to be particularly advantageous, so I wear glasses. If the reliability of corrective surgery improves (it's not so good for people with vision as bad as mine), I'll probably get that.

[blueerica]

It seems odd that anyone would be on the tracks. They don't really mention in the article whether she was with anyone, or alone... If she was with someone else, what were they thinking not saying anything? And if she was alone, how do we know that she didn't mean to get hit?

I know we all assume it must be an accident, but we must consider all possibilities...

[tracilicious]

I suppose we should do away with prosthetics for people born without limbs? Surgeries that correct things like club foot?

It seems to me it's a matter of people unable to see the forest for the trees. Unable to see the hypocracy of "Don't you dare alter yourself to fit in with the group...you must fit in with OUR group!" I can see how the mentality can come to be, but I think it's one that's coming from a distorted perspective.

I agree. And I grew up with a foot firmly planted in the deaf community. (My mom was an interpreter and I had several deaf friends.)

I think the biracial comment is an interesting one, Wendy. From school, I remember being weirded out by kids with hearing aids (kids tend to assume retarded, I think), but I don't recall ever seeing a hard of hearing person at any deaf functions.

[Prudence]

Oh, and I'm also surprised she didn't sense the train coming. I'm not even actually blind and I have a much better "radar" than most people. I would have expected her to take more care about her surroundings. And, of course, there's the part where walking along active train tracks is inherently dangerous.

I think I've officially hit my quota for uses of the word "inherently" for the day.

[wendybeth]

BTD addressed the crux of this particular issue dead center: they do not learn life skills. Not like hearing people do, anyway. I could totally see the girl not even knowing that the train might not be able to stop, or something along those lines. People have no idea just how of human knowledge is acquired auditorily, and it's very difficult to ascertain any deficit areas unless the child is specifically tested for that. It could be that this person did not drive, and therefore didn't even receive the Driver's Ed version of 'watch out for trains!' Deaf/HOH kids are largely so very, very unworldy and ill-prepared for life, and it's not really anyone's fault- it just is. We scramble about, trying to fill the holes in Tori's auditory memory, but it's very discouraging at times.

Traci- what you said about HOH kids is true- they are shunned by both sides. I don't blame the hearing kids so much, but the Deaf community can go to hell as far as I am concerned- they should know better. Sorry, sore subject.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Is there the same sort of anger in the blind community for those that regain sight?

How could anyone begrudge anyone else the ability to hear? It's as if I'd kick someone out of my life for traveling someplace I haven't been or experiencing things that I can't. It just seems like jealousy to me.

[BarTopDancer]

Is there the same sort of anger in the blind community for those that regain sight?

How could anyone begrudge anyone else the ability to hear? It's as if I'd kick someone out of my life for traveling someplace I haven't been or experiencing things that I can't. It just seems like jealousy to me.

From my fairly limited experience* with this issue it seems that the Deaf community does not view being Deaf as a disability. And for the most part it's *not*. People who are Deaf can drive, shop, live their lives without much, if any dependance on another person. Where as a blind person needs someone to drive them places, help with certain tasks; are generally much more dependent on people. So the Deaf community doesn't see it as "let's fix this problem" because there is no problem.

*2 years of ASL and integration with the Deaf community through school and roommate. Also had a friend who was blind. Of course I defer to WB for everything. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[tracilicious]

Is there the same sort of anger in the blind community for those that regain sight?

How could anyone begrudge anyone else the ability to hear? It's as if I'd kick someone out of my life for traveling someplace I haven't been or experiencing things that I can't. It just seems like jealousy to me.

I don't know that there is a blind community in the same sense that there is a deaf community.

I think it goes beyond jealousy. It's that many deaf don't feel that being deaf is a disability that needs to be overcome. They look at it in the same way that say a person would about speaking another language. It isn't a disability to them not to know English, it's just a difference. Perhaps race would be a better analogy. Blac, white, deaf, is how they see it. It certainly is its own culture.

[Gemini Cricket]

Poor girl. She was text-messaging at the time. She wasn't looking around. Ugh. :(
Deaf beauty contest winner Tara McAvoy was walking along the railroad tracks from her Austin, Texas, home to her mother's workplace, text-messaging family and friends, when a train struck her, according to the Austin Police Department.

Source (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/15/miss.deaf.texas/index.html)

[wendybeth]

Well, that pretty much backs up what I thought. Poor kid.