Tuesday, May 6, 2008

May is "Better Speech and Hearing Month"

I have been thinking of the comments regarding my post Disability Harassment
Some of the comments were:
When I was a kid, only the deaf kids at Mark Keppel school (ASL) bullied me while Field (oral) school deafies didn't.
Students never bullied a hearing aid user at Maryland School. It was at Gallaudet when the user experienced the first ridicule and was asked, "Why hearing aids? You from St. Mary's at Buffalo?" To which the user replied, "You have a single-track mind!" and walked out.
When growing up with my old hearing-aids that were very visible, I have faced my own bullies, mostly from fellow deaf students. I was being bullied by those who didn't considered me deaf enough. By nature, all of us are bias therefore it is very easy for us to be bias. Its a struggle in this world for hearing-impaired people who is trying to live our lives 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".

Now that I have Multiple Sclerosis, I am trying to live my life against the barriers of many "able" mindless people.

I am focusing on "better living" more than better hearing, better speech and better body. I know my hearing, speech and body are not going to get better. However, my "life" CAN get better. I am doing what is BEST for me because this is my life. 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.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

That's really a shame for you to have this experience. I wear hearing aids like many back at Gallaudet and I didn't get bullied for that, so...funny cuz I got bullied mostly from hearing children.

Diane J Standiford said...

Absolutely! Quality of LIFE. It is a shame how people with disabilities sometimes discriminate against one another. What a waste.