Paul's Comments

Someone on You Tube sent me a message about my comments in which I have recommended people consider putting captions on their videos. I do so, because I think it is the right thing to do, and because it will not only help those who are unable to hear, but those who might not be fluent in English.

They mentioned how when it's been suggested that it might be a good idea if deaf people consider captioning their videos in order to allow those of us in the hearing community to be able to understand what they have to say, a common response is that we should learn to read sign language. I have also gotten the same response from some people. Hello? When you want to communicate, you communicate to your audience, you don't insult the audience by telling them to learn how you communicate, especially when what you're talking about is potentially several years of training to do so.

Anyway, the remarks of the nice lady who wrote me caused me to make the following comment:

I don't really understand the Deaf Community in general. I mean, if I were to go deaf I might choose to learn sign language but since I don't go out much, maybe I wouldn't. I don't know.

What you mentioned to me seems to correlate with something I suspected, that for whatever reason the Deaf Community has an "us vs. them" mentality and see the (vast majority of) hearing as evil, or something of that nature.

I saw an episode of the TV show CSI (which is a crime drama shown here in the United States) in which the lead character, Grissom, is head of the Crime Scene Investigation branch of the Las Vegas Police Department. His team has to investigate a homicide where a deaf person was murdered. So a couple of his people go out to the college the young man went to, and try to interview the Dean. Who, as it turns out, is deaf, and then basically is mad at them (because apparently they don't understand her culture) and throws them out of her office.

They come back and tell Grissom, who is not happy about it, and angrily drags them back to the Dean's office. He walks into her office to ask her about what is going on, and her interpreter is telling him how upset she was, Grissom interrupts her, turns to the Dean, and signs to her, "Don't tell her, tell me."

Well, because he's a hearing person who can sign, this calms her down and she becomes a lot less hostile.

What really got me was, later there is a part of the story where a deaf couple is celebrating the birth of their child, who they proudly announce is "Perfect." I will be damned if Grissom doesn't sign to them, asking if the baby was born deaf, and they happily agree.

I thought this was one of the ugliest scenes in human history. I can understand and accept choosing to live with a disability or even refusing to face reality and deny it. But to believe that being born with less than all of the capacity of a normal human being is a great idea, or that a baby born that way is perfect, just basically wants to make me puke.

I cannot understand that sort of mentality that believes having a disability which reduces one's ability to interact with the vast majority of other people is good news. I was born blind in one eye [if you look at the video you can probably guess which one] to the extent that I have perhaps 5% sight in the bad one; I have never had depth perception but I do manage without it, well enough that I have a drivers license without restrictions. But I would not choose to be this way. Nor would I think that someone else being blind in one eye was a good idea. Despite the fact I have never had binocular sight and cannot miss what I have never had, I cannot accept, and must reject, the concept that having a difference that reduces one's capacity is a good idea.