I am just as deaf as I am blind. The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus- the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man.
I've always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations.
Close to birth... I lost, like, 80 percent of my hearing, and I had difficulty speaking.
I think being deaf gave me an increased sense of sight.
You can knock on a deaf man's door forever.
Dumbness comes from the fact that a child is born deaf and that it consequently never learns how to articulate, for it is by the medium of hearing that such instruction is acquired.
I'm hard of hearing. I miss a lot. It's really tough.
I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I can't compare hearing aids to normal hearing.
The deaf community is nearly never portrayed accurately on television/film because most writers never took the time to immerse themselves in the deaf culture before portraying it on television. They also never got to know their deaf actors.
Deaf people can do anything, except hear.
The more words we are allowed to take, the freer we become. If our mouth is banned, then we attempt to assert ourselves through gestures, even objects. They are more difficult to interpret, and take time before they arouse suspicion.
Inequality within the deaf and hard of hearing community is something I feel really passionate about and always will do.
Rule number one is, make sure that you face the person with hearing loss when you are speaking to them.
You see, the deaf have an intimacy with silence. It’s there in their dreams.
If the deaf are to hear the sound has to be very loud
Let your deafness no longer be a secret - even in art.
Are you having performance issues?” I asked in surprise. “Bite your tongue,” Vlad said, with a snort. “I was seeing if Dermot understood sign language, but from the look on his face, it seems not.
Our people could not talk with these white-faced men, but they used signs which all people understand.
There is no relation to sound for deaf people. It is a totally different mental process.
I'm a first-time father, and it was amazing to me to learn that my son could actually use sign language before the spoken word. I could see this intelligence in his eyes before he could speak: how he could understand what was going on around him and was frustrated by that.
Deafness and sign language are extremely close to my heart.
I don't need sound to talk to me.
The whole world has gone back to something we are genetically engineered to do - communicating through symbols.
I don't know that hearing people have ever felt that experience of truly being left out. They have easy communication, while deaf people can't join in. It takes more time to communicate with us.
My method is to find a word with a gesture.
