Why on earth do some deaf people wear their deafness like a freaking badge of honor? I’m talking about those leaders of the “deaf community” who adamantly deny that being deaf is a disability and actively try to stop anyone who is deaf from using any means to better their lives. Just like when Rush Limbaugh announced that he had gone deaf and would soon be getting a Cochlear Implant. He got calls and letters from these so-called leaders asking him not to do it and to “embrace his deafness.” That’s horse shit. Being deaf is not natural. It is a disability and it is a handicap, and if there is a technology or procedure that can restore some degree of hearing, you should take advantage of it!!! Wake up people! If I ever lost my hearing or it happened to my wife or son, you can absolutely count on me to do whatever I could, using any technology available, to restore as much hearing as possible. You can make bank on that.
What got me on this is this CNN story about a man who has invented a glove that will convert American Sign Language into actual spoken words using a computer to translate. This has the potential to be an amazing thing for deaf people if only they will embrace it instead of this silly notion of deafness as a “culture.”
