Deafness and Disability

Many obstacles such as discrimination, attitudes, ignorance, stereotyping, or alienation are still around me whether I realized them or not. They are not going to effect or control my life. For me to really understand "quality of life" is to effectively use knowledge and technology to improve my own quality of life.

Often when we think of the disabled, we often thinks only of those who are in wheelchairs or are otherwise, visible physically impaired. However, the word can also refer to the deaf community, though many deaf persons do not consider themselves to be disabled. I am deaf as a result of having German measles at birth, a comon cause of deafness during the 40's, 50's and 60's.

When I am around with other deaf individuals, I may be different than they are because of their deaf cultural background. I know many deaf individuals are just as diverse in skills and personalities. Its a struggle in this world for me as a hearing-impaired individual who is trying to live my life in both deaf and hearing worlds. There's nothing wrong to live in a Deaf culture and there's nothing wrong to live in a Hearing culture life so I don't have to choose one but rather "both".

Just my thoughts for today.