Jack.O'keeffe@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Jack O'keeffe) (04/11/91)
Index Number: 14746
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Henry Kisor wrote:
"I am a member of a minority within a minority: I am what is
called an `oralist'. That is, I depend wholly on spoken language
and lipreading, however imperfect they might be, to help me live
and work in the hearing world. I do not know sign language at all. . .
Though I was reared in the oral method [I do not] attempt to discredit
one side of the issue and advocate another. . . .to ignore the
advantages of speech and lipreading for the few is as foolish
as belittling the benefits of sign language for the many . . .
"[When I was growing up] I thought everybody read lips. When I talked
to people, I'd grasp their faces and turn them toward me so they could
see mine. Evidently I assumed everyone was deaf like me. Eventually
I did learn that they weren't . . ."
Henry Kisor is a columnist and Book Editor for the Chicago "Sun-Times".
You can exchange E-Mail with him on (-if you'll pardon the expression-)
Prodigy. I've tried - unsuccessfully thus far - to encourage him to
participate in FidoNet and SilentTalk.
But there is a lesson in the writings of this very successful deaf
person that every SilentTalker should seriously consider. Do not
advocate one side of an issue by belittling another another! When
I see that happen, I sense a flawed thesis. If a position cannot
stand on its merits - by emphasizing it's own positives instead of
the other's negatives - then it will fail. Every advocate needs
to understand that.
What works for one may or may not work for another. But goodness
knows we need all the tools and technologies we can assemble to cope
with our deafness.
Thankfully, all my children are hearing. If one were deaf, I honestly
do not know whether I would want a cochlear implant for them. But
this I do know - I would want to keep that option open. And I would
also want them educated in a setting that would not place capricious
or arbitrary limits on the communication options available.
... :-)
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