Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.org (Linda Iverson) (11/28/90)
Index Number: 12004
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Hi, James!
I know you have said, but aren't you a principal or teacher? What
school do you work at? How many students are in the school? I always
attended public school, so don't know much about residential schools,
but I've heard some people say that when a state combines the schools
for the deaf and blind sometimes one group gets the short end of the
stick. What do you think? You know, I have learned so much from this
board, and as I said becauze both blindness and deafness are sensory
disabilities, I believe there are similarities as how people see us.
I met a girl in college whose husband had worked at a school for the
deaf, and she was telling me that often deaf people are afraid of blind
people--perhaps because, like the sighted in general, that sight is
so important and the main link to the world. I don't believe that
because I went to junior high with a couple of deaf girls, and I got
to be fairly good friends with one of them. I don't believe blindness
gives you better hearing, but I think you know how to listen. Anyway,
one day this girl came to the teacher's desk and asked her a question
and she couldn't understand her. My desk was next to the teacher's
and I just told her what the girl had asked. Our teacher was really
surprised. Well, since this girl had speech-reading skills we started
to talk to each other. Our English class was broken into a gifted
group and we were part of that. Every day we went to another room
with a student teacher, and this girl used to walk with me to the other
class and help carry all my paraphernalia--braille books, typewriter,
braille writer, etc. That's why I brought up some of the parental
attitudes that I mentioned to Karen because we'd talked about it.
Occasionally we couldn't understand each other, but we both wanted
to cultivaate the friendship, so I'd either write her a note and she'd
repeat something until we got it together. Anyway, the nice thing
about this board is that we can get to know each other, and should
the occasion arise where we might meet we'd already have something
to base a friendship on.
Take care!
Linda
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!130!10!Linda.Iverson
Internet: Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.orgKaren.Keil@f809.n104.z1.fidonet.org (Karen Keil) (12/04/90)
Index Number: 12163
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
You are right about having a disability to really appreciate
something (like reading books) that other people take for granted. I
realize how fortunate I am to be able to pick up anything I choose to
read without having to have any special helps or procedures to do so.
One of my friends (also hearing impaired herself) says that
whenever people ask her what it's like to be deaf, she asks, "What have
you lost? It can be comparable to that."
My friend is losing her hearing, too, but not as fast as in my
case, but as one of the other people remarked previously, hearing aids
are basically amplifiers, bombarding the ears with sounds. I used to
be able to hear some environmental sounds WITHOUT my hearing aids
although they were very muffled--e.g. a low-flying jet flying overhead,
a lawnmower running, but that's not true anymore.
I used to listen to music, but it's not the same anymore--it
sounds like noise with much of the tones missing.
Undoubtedly, your hearing is sharper because you are using it
to compensate for your lack of eyesight. I use my eyes a lot and
believe it or not, also kinetic senses (to sense vibrations.)
More later....
Karen
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!104!809!Karen.Keil
Internet: Karen.Keil@f809.n104.z1.fidonet.orgLinda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.org (Linda Iverson) (12/21/90)
Index Number: 12536
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Hi, Karen!
Tell your friend I like what she said about describing her loss. Everyone
can relate to having lost something. You know, I still think people
like us are luckier than people with multiple disabilities, or people
with autism or mental retardation. At least with proper training we
can make our own decisions and control our lives. I guess my parents
were protective in some ways, but I've known other kids whose parents
were worse, so I feel fortunate.
You are lucky to be able to read anything you want, and as I told you,
I love books and miss that, but it's getting better with reading machines
and computers. Karen, you wouldn't believe how many bulletin boards
there are here! I have found so much information. We are really living
in an exciting age.
Take care, and keep those thoughts coming. By the way, I attended
the National Federation of the Blind convention this summer and met
a deaf-blind lady who had recently had a cochlear impoant. She couldn't
hear conversation, but she could hear a faucet dripping if she were
close to the sink, leaves and paper rustling, and those kinds of things.
I guess it's as much the frequency of the noise as the loudness.
I'm not surprised about your use of kinetic senses. I do that to some
degree, but probably not as much as you. I have, and many blind people
do, what is called "object perception" or "facial vision". I can tell
before my cane touches it when I'm approaching a large object--tree,
truck, those kinds of things--walls and other objects that often block
a path. I've tried to cultivate that ability, and of course it is
caused by the air current being different around those kinds of objects
which makes the outdoors sound different. One final thought. I wouldn't
worry about music--you're right, some of it does sound like noise!
Linda
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!130!10!Linda.Iverson
Internet: Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.orgMitch.Turbin@f71.n343.z1.fidonet.org (Mitch Turbin) (01/17/91)
Index Number: 13020
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Hi Karen,
I was interested to read your note. Nice to see a person opening up to
different disabilities. So here's a new one for you to consider--deaf-
blindness. Of course, like all sensory impairments, this one runs along a long
continuum of "severity". I for instance, have usable hearing and vision, tho
significant problems in both (as well as significant coping strategies for
each, and both!) And the interesting thing, that is, the most interesting
thing for me about this disability, is the way that the two impairments
interract. It's often said that here is not a case where hearing loss is added
to vision loss--it's more multiplicative in it's increase in problems. Well,
I'm not sure about the specific quantification, but one thing is sure--it can
drive you crazy to realize that the coping strategies that help other HI
people won't work for me any more, cuz I don't have the vision. And vice versa-
-the ways in which hearing helps most blind people don't work for those of us
who also have hearing impairments.
Quite a challenge. I thank God I wasn't born a few hundred years ago, before
hearing aids, flexible canes and infrared/ultraviolet blocking lenses, and
computers! Wow, I'd probably been in some kind of institution, if not just
plain dead!!!
'nuff said
Mitch
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!343!71!Mitch.Turbin
Internet: Mitch.Turbin@f71.n343.z1.fidonet.orgrudy@mtqua.att.com (Rudy Vener) (01/23/91)
Index Number: 13095 Hi Mitch, Nice to see you here! It's been ages. How've you been? > [ some stuff deleted ] >drive you crazy to realize that the coping strategies that help other HI >people won't work for me any more, cuz I don't have the vision. And vice versa- >-the ways in which hearing helps most blind people don't work for those of us >who also have hearing impairments. > And how! Such as crossing busy streets. I still have SOME useful vision and SOME hearing. Problem is the hearing is not directional, the vision is (let us say) unreliable. I really hate those nasty little cards with the quiet engines that can make snappy right hand turns faster than you can say 'run over the blink'. One interesting thing I found out is that I feel much more secure crossing in the MIDDLE of the block because a) I usually cannot spot the traffic light anyway and b) I only have to check two directions instead of four. >Quite a challenge. I thank God I wasn't born a few hundred years ago, before >hearing aids, flexible canes and infrared/ultraviolet blocking lenses, and >computers! Wow, I'd probably been in some kind of institution, if not just >plain dead!!! >'nuff said Same here. The recent events in the Persian Gulf have given me some cause for reflection and I have come to the (rather obvious) conclusion that handicapped people can only thrive during times of great peace and prosperity. Let's face it, accomodating handicapped individuals is a LUXURY that only a fairly wealthy society can afford. Let's not kid ourselves that we have some sort of inalienable RiGHT to equal access and special accomodations. We may have these rights NOW but they are far from inalienable and they could disappear at the first major, world threatening catastrophe. How did I get off on this subject anyway? I better stop before everyone falls asleep. Rudy Vener AT&T BTL ...!att!mtqua!rudy