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I thought I'd use this computer on which the mouse is not working so my 3 year old can play on the mac and probably break it, too. Or maybe it was that Hatrack baby...
Anyway, I encourage you all to try it sometime and consider how computer technology is moving away from being accessible to the blind. Just something I sometimes wonder. I used to work with a blind woman, and in the old grade school conversational opener, I have to say I'd rather be blind than deaf.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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A lot of people say they'd rather be deaf. But having lived with someone deaf, and been half blind my whole life, I would definately have to say I agree with you.
Deafness takes away most of your social contacts. There is so much socialization that is not actually face to face but absorbed from hearing conversations around you. Deaf people don't have this.
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Considering music is pretty much my life at the moment, and I spend every waking moment singing... I think I'd have to agree. But still, being blind would be absolutely awful. There are too many wonderful things to see.
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If I was deaf there would be no music and no speech and no laughing. If I was blind, there would be no landscapes, no colours, no lights and no nights.
I cannot chose. I cannot even begin to chose. Silence would be lonely and disconnected, night would be terrifying and uncertain. I cannot and couldn't chose.
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I see better with my ears, So I'd rather be blind than deaf. If I was blind I could still listen to sweet, lovely music.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Of course it's a silly question. When you were in grade school did you used to debated the different methods of death, and everyone wanted to die in their sleep?
I thought this was funny because it was in the segment of "Crystal City" that OSC read aloud on the sci fi radio show. No mouse is definitely making effective links feel like a drag to do. NPI. His female french accent is fairly funny. But as I was saying, that someone would die in their sleep was presented along with a bundle of other apparently attractive predictions.
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If you were blind then you could either learn braille or listen to audio books. A seeing eye dog can lead you, or you get proficient with your other sense to guide you so it is not dangerous. Indeed, after you've gotten the hang of it you are actually at an advantage over seeing people in the dark. You can see by touch (and that can be a very sexy thing to your partner).
If you were deaf, it would be like always living in a foreign country where not only do you not understand the language, you could have someone talking about you, loudly, right behind your back and not know it. Not that this would ever happen, and you rationally know that it doesn't but... it is still unsettling. There would be so much talking going on around you that would never be translated for you, even in conversations where people are actively trying to include you. Spoken conversations among hearing and deaf always move faster than the signed translation/conversation and things always get left untranslated. Or, people have laughed and had the joke, then everyone waits and stares at you while the joke is translated.
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This is why the deaf culture is... I guess I can say more of a culture than the blind. I remember there being a contraversy over whether a deaf child should be fitted with a cochlear implant. The deaf community view, as it was presented at least, was that with the implant he would be a handicapped hearing person, whereas he could be a full member of the deaf community.
I guess if I'm suddenly going to wax sensitive on the matter, I should apologize for comparing being blind or deaf to dying, as my earlier post about grade school conversations might be construed.
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I'm going to buck the current trend and say I'd much rather be deaf than blind. Having lived with deaf individuals before, knowing ASL and having a bit of a glimpse into the deaf culture, being blind has very little to offer in the way of social benefits. When your deaf you still have many means of communication and a great deal more independence. It is much easier for a deaf person to get around alone in a hearing world than vice versa.
Posts: 995 | Registered: May 2003
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I'm not much of a social person, Amka. I don't get into a lot of conversations anyway, and (as a former nerd) I always expect people to talk behind my back. Still, you may be right. Hopefully, I will never have to find out.
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