Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!119!5.0!Laurie.Wilson
From: Laurie.Wilson@p0.f5.n119.z1.fidonet.org (Laurie Wilson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Hearing
Message-ID: <9957@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 90 20:29:36 GMT
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 >
 >    Why do you consider yourself as grouped with the hearing
 > people?
 > Sorry if I get mildly offensive, but there was someone
 
Oh not at all...I am not offended.  Well, I am not sure if I considered 
myself as 100% part of the hearing community because I do socialize 
with the deaf community, too.  So, I'll say I don't really belong 
to either group, but just in the middle.  I love both worlds. However, 
I communiicate even better with hearing poeple than I do with most 
deaf.  A reason for this is that those certain deaf persons are totally 
Deaf who only use ASL, so they are not comfortable with me.  But there 
are others who do well in both languages and accept me for what I 
am.
 
 > wanker, she
 > always emphasized how much better the hearing community
 > was. I am not
 > implying that you are a wanker, but would you be similar?
 
Ha, ha!  a wanker?  what an odd term!  U mean to say that if I spend 
more time with the hearing friends, through no fault of mine due to 
a very small deaf community and even only four of us deaf students 
at college, that makes me a wanker?  Well, well... maybe
 
 >
 >    It's even gotten so I am not even sure if you are deaf
 > or not! I
 > recall vaguely that you said that you were profoundly deaf..
 
Yep, I am totally deaf.  If I do sound like "hearie", that's because 
of my upbringing which is hard for me to get rid.  However, to the 
hearing people, I am "deafie", so what am I then??  To me, I am just 
Laurie in the middle world.
 
 >
 >    See? Why the hell cant you learn ASL and join in with
 > them?
 >
 
Yes, I have learned ASL, but still I have some ways to go.  For example, 
I am learning to think in ASL (conceptual) which isn't easy!  Right 
now, this deaf community I mentioned several times to you are what 
you would call the "jerks".  The deaf community in Bay Area is much 
more open mind and more friendly, so that is where I sometimes socialize 
with them but here in Chico? no, I feel out of place with them here.
 
Well, like I have said before, I have nothing against either hearing 
or deaf community but I am cynical sometimes for several reasons. 
In hearing world, they feel sorry for HI people. And in deaf world, 
they are wary and cynical about the hearing's motives concerning the 
deaf community.  I wonder if you have read "When the Mind Hears" by 
Harlan Lane?  It is an excellent book, a deaf history.
 
Laurie

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