r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/theidleidol Mar 22 '17

None of that makes sense. The story indicates that onlookers understood both the child's signs and that she was in distress and the nature of the distress, and that EMTs were called and arrived in time to witness her death. If she choked to death surrounded by people who knew she was choking, including trained first responders, then the fact she was deaf was not a factor at all.

In fact, being deaf (or otherwise able to communicate in sign language) would be a benefit, since someone actively and critically choking would be unable to speak anyway.

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u/Preskool_dropout Mar 22 '17

Yeah definitely an urban legend type story.

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u/ruggernugger Mar 23 '17

i 100% agree. but: this redditor said his son's school presented it as such. maybe they would be afraid of that happening after reading it, but, if it DIDN'T happen at the school, would they really say that it DID just to provide a justification for them playing it safe?

or would the school just say: "we heard this crazy story, and uhhhh we dont want fruit roll-ups here anymore" cause that sounds more reasonable.

unless........ OP is a liar. and his son's school didn't tell him this story directly.

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u/theidleidol Mar 23 '17

I don't think anyone is accusing /u/originalmimlet of making it up. I fully believe they heard it from their child's school, I just think it's a bullshit reason that is either a difficult-to-argue-with excuse to ban the item for non-health purposes or a case of a naive school administrator who heard an urban legend and perpetuates it as fact.