The "Hearing World" - A Reality or a State of Mind?

The most common refrain parents hear from professionals when their child's deafness is diagnosed, and they are considering different options is: "Your child will have to learn how to live in a hearing world." It carries the implication that their child is somehow not equipped to live in one and that they had better do something in order to make it happen.

Interwoven through it is a powerful, yet subtle, message that somehow hearing and speech are essential to this process and that the deaf child without these functions would be less than capable. This is the audist view (the term, "audist" is derived from "audism," a belief system which subscribes to the view that the hearing/speech function is superior to other communication functions).

Exactly what is the "Hearing World"? Is it all hearing and speech? Do all of its inhabitants have normal hearing and speech? Let us look at an analogy. Americans had for a long time considered themselves a "white" society, never mind the fact they already had a large "coloured" population living among themselves all along - black, Hispanic, Asiatic and native.

The colour of skin usually determined one ignored. Are we to assume that the same concept applies to deaf and hard of hearing persons - the more speech and hearing they possess, the better they fit in our society? The colour of skin usually determined one's status - the lighter the colour, the better one "fits in". Darker skin tones usually relegated one to the margins of the society, either to be forgotten or ignored.

It is true that this world is populated largely by persons with normal hearing who communicate largely by speech. However, it does not necessarily mean that everyone must conform to this standard of communication. It is a world that can and does allow for different communication styles - print language, sign language, Braille, to name a few. This is not only a hearing world, but it is also a very noisy one. It is very difficult for deaf and hard of hearing persons to understand what others are saying through artificial amplification on a background of ambient noise: traffic sounds; blaring TVs, radios and stereos; the incessant chatter of dozens of conversations; furniture scraping along the floor; bells, whistles, horns, and buzzers; whirring and humming of machinery; structures creaking and groaning; footfalls shuffling and thudding; doors and drawers slamming; paper crinkling and snapping; water running and gurgling; and many, many others.

Persons with normal hearing are able to filter out these noises in the background and focus on what they want to hear, but, due to the nature of their artificial amplification aids, most deaf and hard of hearing persons don't have this ability, becoming almost completely lost and frustrated in trying to communicate in such an environment. The ideal place for them to communicate is in a quiet, secluded place with only a few persons present. THAT is not typically the hearing world. The use of technology to help deaf and hard of hearing persons function better in this world.

In the eyes of some of the hearing, artificial amplification aids would "solve" our problems, but, in truth, it happens only to a very small minority, and this assumption often has been reached without consulting with deaf and hard of hearing consumers what their REAL needs were. It is a fact that most deaf and hard of hearing persons have opted for technological aids that that are designed for other senses than hearing in order to help them function better in this world, such as TTYs, captioning, fax machines, and vibrating or flashing alarms. This kind of technology is being developed and refined at a faster clip and is much cheaper than the technology for artificial amplification simply because the demand for it is greater than for the other. In a few years, we may have technology that could render artificial amplification and interpreters obsolete - the microcomputer has revolutionized the way we live in this world and, for the first time in history, is truly levelling the playing field between the hearing and the deaf.

Computers will be able to teach the deaf speech without the need for speech therapy and artificial amplification and to convert voice into text and vice versa. Home-based employment is the wave of the future, showing that one can do business via microcomputers without needing hearing and speech. The Internet has opened up the entire world of knowledge and commerce to deaf and hard of hearing people on a scale unprecedented in history. Best of all, the Internet does not differentiate between persons: deaf or hearing, black or white, tall or short, able-bodied or disabled, male or female, and so on. It is truly a great equalizer.

There is a Catch-22 situation inherent in the position taken by people who insist that deaf and hard of hearing persons must learn how to live in a hearing world by learning hearing and speech. This focus on oralism can and does render deafness more invisible. The greater this invisibility, the less accommodating and sensitized the hearing world becomes towards deaf and hard of hearing persons. As history shows over the past twenty-five years, oralism has been in general decline, while, at the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the acceptance and use of American Sign Language and its derivatives throughout North America.

Not surprisingly, this trend coincided with a tremendous rise in the hearing society's sensitivity towards and accommodation of deaf and hard of hearing persons. The reason for this is simple: signing made deafness much more visible to others. The conclusion is inescapable: the assimilationist concept of "living in a hearing world" actually promotes less sensitivity and accommodation towards deaf and hard of hearing persons and, consequently, services for them decline in number and quality, which can actually make life harder and more isolating for these persons. This may be a hearing world, but it is also a SEEING world, and seeing is a function that deaf and hard of hearing persons DO share with hearing persons.

Countless numbers of Deaf and hard of hearing persons have already demonstrated that they can function well on their own in this world without relying solely on the hearing and speech function. This world belongs not only to hearing persons but also to deaf and hard of hearing persons, and they do not need to be told that they need hearing and speech in order to belong or how to live in a hearing world. There is plenty of room for all kinds of communication. It is not the sense of hearing (or the lack of it) that creates barriers between deaf and hearing persons; it is attitudes that create them. If anyone asks, the "hearing world" is overrated as a reality.

Courtesy: The Deaf Way, New Delhi.