Whether it be Bobby “bitching” about trying to get a damn pizza, or Allison “venting” about her family members and their hearingnisms, there is a certain catharsis to be found in the writing and posting of such blogs. When we can express those frustrations with other members of our community, we not only find validation for what we feel, but for who we are as well.

And I feel validated too. I can read such posts and take comfort in knowing that I’m not alone - that others get tired of the educating and the advocating and the adapting and ignoring and the belittling and all the other umpteen headaches that go along with being a deaf person living in a hearing world.

And yes, there are times when I too need to have my own rant, or I would just “friggin’ explode.”

Sometimes…people just want to be “heard.”

Great comment. We definitely should stretch our borders so we understand each other and get along. DeafDC intends to bring issues from all sides to our readers and promote respectful dialogue on them.

The hard of hearing community has been very vocal. One only has to look at the fast-growing HLAA and its increasing clout as a sign of things to come in the future.

One thing that I am disturbed by, which is probably better for a future Blog, is that many hard of hearing people argue that they have larger numbers, which implicitly diminishes the signing community’s importance, presence, or significance. It should not be that way, we should not measure groups by the size of their numbers or even who “suffers” more (which the signing community could argue).

Both groups have a common concern, and that is “communication access”. Some solutions address both needs, like captioning, while other situations require a combination of a loop system and a sign language interpreter.

You have contributed many insightful comments to DeafDC, so I am happy that you will continue to do that. I think that it is important to realize that making comments such as the one you did has an impact on how members of the deaf community view each other, whether intended or unintended.

Yes, I wouldn’t want it any other way, I enjoy being a part of the community. It makes the deaf community more interesting. I think this dialogue is productive and may do more to contribute to the “healing process” than celebrating a traumatic experience.

Thanks for your kind words. I find your website just as valuable. Keep up the good work.

Shane

Do you realize what this makes you sound like?

Grow up; divisions between the D/deaf community does not constitute a war.

Yes, I understand and agree, the point is adaption. But it’s not a question of my counter-argument not being intelligent… people already do things like that. Haven’t you heard people saying to black people, “Come on, get over slavery already, will you? It hasn’t existed in America for for over a hundred years!”

The point I’m trying to make is that people automatically jump to the “stop bitching” thing (and no, I’m not saying that you said precisely these words, but in spirit what you said comes pretty close). Why is it bitching? Why does a guy who is angry about not being able to get decent service deserve to be… well, not exactly ‘mocked’ with things like “I can’t order a pizza, darn it, *sob!*”… but … ‘met’ with statements like that? Responded to with statements like that? As if his frustration, his irritation, his anger are in and of themselves the real problem, and not the things that caused his frustration in the first place?

Why is it ‘venting’ instead of ‘expressing?’

I mean, what’s a legitimate problem? What level of severity does an issue have to reach before it’s time to NOT adapt, before it’s time not to grow up anymore, before anger is a justified reaction? Because wow, I notice that some people REALLY have a problem with people who talk about their problems. Tell you what, let’s take what Shane wrote above, the article that spawned all of these posts. His last sentence reads: “And if anyone did not wholeheartedly agree with the protesters, they are “not deaf enough.”

Yeah, well, there’s a counter-side to that, and if I were to write my own article on that counter-side, my last sentence would read “And if anyone did not wholeheartedly agree with ___________ (insert issue here… ‘those who hired JKF, the pizza parlor that won’t take Relay calls, the cops who maced Doug Bahl, etc’), then they’re a bunch of whining crybabies who need to grow up and accept once and for all that misfortune strikes us all, even hearing people, and complaining about it isn’t going to make it better.”

GG, your point was adaption. My point is… you’re worth more than the job of being everybody’s official afterthought. Yes, I believe in educating people. It’s just that I don’t believe in educating them and educating them and educating them. There are limits. There SHOULD be limits. Why do you think that organizations such as the Better Business Bureau even exist, if we’re all supposed to be so super-patient and understanding at all times?

Could it be that maybe we’re not supposed to be? Could it be that, I don’t know, if our schools completely suck, if we can’t get good jobs without facing levels and layers of prejudice and discrimination, if our institutions are rotted through with favoritism and colonialism, if Hearing America remains largely as ignorant and arrogant today concerning deafness is it was a hundred years ago… we’re supposed to get just a tad upset about this?

Meet me halfway, here. I’ll concede the points, yes, we should adapt, yes, we should keep our cool long enough to educate people, yes, we should fight the good fight.

But there are limits. And all of us deserve the right to discuss the situtions that bug us, that make us feel belittled and ignored and invisible without our own people adding insult to injury with this “grow up” or “sob!” or “the world isn’t fair” bullshit. God, what’s the big threat? What’s the big crime? Shane made the point that we should let people have their opinions. Well, I’ll do ya one better. Let them have their damn emotions, too! Even if something seems stupid and trivial and small to you… I’ll bet you a buck that a lot of people have been adding these isolated stupid and trivial incidents to an endless, unexpressed list of *other* stupid and trivial incidents, to the point where a) they’re ready to friggin’ explode, and b) the rest of the world has no idea it was ever doing anything wrong.

Tell me how either result helps any of us out.

Am I making sense here?

This kind of media (vlog and blog) in our own very community is revolutionary. It is going to push us further on issues and doing something proactive about them that many generations before us have struggled to let be heard other than discussing amongst themselves. Many same issues have gone on for too long with little or no resolutions.

Your point being…?