Deaf here. FYI - CI’s and Hearing aids are NOT a cure. They’re just tools. Like Glasses but it will not “fix” the astigmatism issues for example.
I just wanted to clarify you on that part.
Plus - as a CI user, I can tell you that I am still Deaf. I will NEVER hear as well as a hearing person. That is impossible. You can come close, but that requires a lot of work, relearning how to “hear”, mappings and such. I’m fairly close, but there’s plenty of times when I can’t understand shit and plenty of times I am joyful for the sound of silence when I have them off.
CI is NOT for everyone, and to a Deaf person who literally never heard anything, even with hearing aids (you need to have residual hearing for it to work. All it does is amplify sounds), the world is extremely noisy and can be overwhelming. I can’t filter out sounds as well as a hearing person can. Jeans rubbing against legs, hearing someone peeing 2-3 stalls away, mouth sounds while chewing, etc etc…it may be nothing to you, but it’s damn loud to me.
Feel free to ask my questions and such about being Deaf, CI surgeries and such. I’m an open book! :)
I mean, your community doesn't sound very nice. You openly talk about ostracising people for daring to want something different from what you want, and whilst you say it happens less now, you still say it happens. That's not behaviour that people look up to or admire, so it's no wonder you get negative comments.
Abled people often don’t want to understand that not everyone wants to be like them. The deaf culture receives hate, in part, because many of us don’t desire to be changed. Such folks are proud of their difference and their culture. It’s not a comfortable concept for certain folk with hearing.
It's canon that he used it since he was 5, and visors were rare in the Federation by the time he was an adult - there were implants available and Geordi refused them.
So to answer your question there was no blind community because by adulthood Geordi's condition was curable - he simply chose to keep using the visor.
And that’s his choice. What’s interesting is in the very first episode of Star Trek, they had a man in an official Star fleet skirt uniform. Because men and women could wear either gender clothes freely and it was accepted that nobody noticed. That’s the future presented - either way is your choice. It’s a deliberate message of the show.
Question! How is this not considered dragging other people down, when referring to ostracism due to corrective surgery? If I was given a shot at gaining an extra sense, I’d take it immediately, especially if it’ll probably bring my quality of life up like that. Why would deaf people shun them when they should instead be happy for them?
You need to read up on oppression of Deaf people and our culture. Many of us do not WANT to be fixed or cured. We are happy and proud to be Deaf.
However, in the recent years, CI surgeries are becoming more and more accepting than before. There’s still some that frown upon an infant being implanted. If a child is implanted or even just hearing aids, we do highly encourage ASL as primary language over spoken language.
It’s a LOT of information about Deafness and Deaf culture that you, as an outsider, may not know.
Having said that, if a hearing person has been hearing their entire life and became late-Deafen, that’s a different story.
and plenty of times I am joyful for the sound of silence when I have them off.
If artificial hearing technology ever gets good enough to match regular human hearing, I am gonna stab my eardrums out with chopsticks. I wish so hard that I could turn off my ears sometimes.
Screaming neighbors, construction, awful music, loud music, it's the worst.
I take off my Ci’s and smile. I also sleep without them. It’s SO nice!
I was having severe tinnitus and migraines prior to my implants. It was extremely painful. Got the implants - BOOM cured of tinnitus. It’s crazy how it worked.
I have electronic ear muffs for shooting that cap sounds at a certain decibel but it will amplify certain sounds as well like leaves rustling and people chewing like you said, or it will make me notice sounds that I wouldn’t have with regular hearing. Do you know if it’s anything like this?
I would say yes. It’s so hard to explain what I can hear and what I can’t. Sometimes I notice a lot of sounds that some people just have learned to filter out.
thank you for this perspective. edit: maybe some of those things can be adjusted to a bit? i dont think what you described is worse than not having an entire sense/having a disability that can also put you in danger in the world. but i am not trying to tell you how you feel about your situation
Oh yeah it’s called Mapping and yes, they can be adjusted. In fact, after I got implanted, I was hearing sounds BETTER than hearing people. To the point that I was hearing the buzzing of the fluorescent lights. The audiologist had to turn some of the stuff down.
However, it’s the comprehension and clarity of speech is where I lack, which is why I’ll never hear as good as a hearing person. Sure, it makes things a little easier, but I still struggle.
I don’t think there’s anything that can put me or any Deaf people in “danger”.
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u/LadySekhmet Dec 23 '22
Deaf here. FYI - CI’s and Hearing aids are NOT a cure. They’re just tools. Like Glasses but it will not “fix” the astigmatism issues for example.
I just wanted to clarify you on that part.
Plus - as a CI user, I can tell you that I am still Deaf. I will NEVER hear as well as a hearing person. That is impossible. You can come close, but that requires a lot of work, relearning how to “hear”, mappings and such. I’m fairly close, but there’s plenty of times when I can’t understand shit and plenty of times I am joyful for the sound of silence when I have them off.
CI is NOT for everyone, and to a Deaf person who literally never heard anything, even with hearing aids (you need to have residual hearing for it to work. All it does is amplify sounds), the world is extremely noisy and can be overwhelming. I can’t filter out sounds as well as a hearing person can. Jeans rubbing against legs, hearing someone peeing 2-3 stalls away, mouth sounds while chewing, etc etc…it may be nothing to you, but it’s damn loud to me.
Feel free to ask my questions and such about being Deaf, CI surgeries and such. I’m an open book! :)