File This under "THAT SUCKS!"
 

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

:(

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.