Story

I'll never forget a really sad story. My older son went to Chicago to visit Museum of Science and Industry for a school field trip. After the visit, he was walking back and overheard a conversation between two hearing men. This is what one man said to another:

"Deafness does not exists. It is like Polio. It has been wiped out."

Ok, that was a shocker coming from my son. I told him that he could've turned to the man and say:

"Hahahahahaha... Deafness does not exists? Oh PUH-LEAZ! My mom and dad are DEAF!"

That comment would've thrown that man off kilter.

I am sad to hear that so many Hearing people actually believed that there is no such thing as "Deafness". As long as there are high fever, childhood illness, hereditary traits, medication overdose (in order to save a young child's life - it can happen), etc. - there will always be "Deafness" coming up in every child's life.

Deafness is NOT a disease. It NOT like Polio. That man is dreaming.

Even my son has encountered so many problems with other children his age. Deaf children, even CODA childrens seem to "hate" him for reasons still a mystery. He would approach them to say "hi" in sign language and they would cut them off, flip a finger at him, or even worse - yell at him for the fact that he is hearing. They treated him cruelly. Had I known about this situations, I would've gone up to them and get this circumstances under control.

This is something I do not want for my son to experience - EXCLUSIONS. Come on, Deaf and CODA! Be kind for he was trying to be kind to you! Remember, we were left out in the Hearing world, let's not do this to the hearing children who wants to be friends with us!

I talked to him and learned that he is okay with Deaf adults.. but NOT okay with Deaf children and CODAs. Thanks to their negative attitudes to him, the relationship is damaged. He does not trust any one of them anymore. And he may not trust any Deaf / CODA children in the future.

I asked him, "Suppose, you became a leader of this youth group. And suddenly, one of the hearing teen brought a Deaf teen with him/her. What would you do?"

He said that he would make sure that this Deaf teen would be included in the activity and when he speaks, he would use ASL at the same time so that both the Hearing and Deaf teens would get the message simultaneously.

Now, that's what I call a PERFECT world. A world where more than one opposite Cultures combine together in harmony. And I do mean "working together"!