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> I actually don't think my life would be seriously negatively impacted by being deaf You couldn't be more wrong! Deafness is far worse a disability than blind

> I actually don't think my life would be seriously negatively impacted by being deaf You couldn't be more wrong! Deafness is far worse a disability than blindness for most people in terms of integrating into and succeeding in society. The reason for this is that human beings are social creatures and deafness isolates people, while blindness doesn't. This is the reason that there is a whole unique deaf culture that tends to stay separate from mainstream culture. Within deaf culture, deaf people are not isolated. This is the reason that many deaf people are morally opposed to cochlear implants. They feel that it is an attack on their culture--the culture that allows them to belong somewhere and thrive.

rdl 14y ago
Maybe for normal people being deaf would be a huge disability, but as a nerd, I would rather be deaf than even just have really bad (uncorrectable) eyesight. Professionally, you could absolutely live a full life as an individual contributor while deaf with minimal accomodation. It might be hard to be an entrepreneur or senior manager, just due to the large number of in-person meetings required, but even that could be worked around (missing out on the informal communications would be a problem in some places). I would have zero problem working with a deaf engineer where all communication had to be by IM/irc/email/commit, vs. verbal; it would be just like a remote worker, which we have huge experience with as a profession now. I mean, I IRC with people in the same room to avoid distracting other people, to be more clear, and to produce a record. A deaf coworker would basically mean I could wear my HD600 open headphones instead of my DT770 closed headphones, that we'd need a visual paging system and alarm, and not a whole lot more. I've worked with people who spoke such horrible English that it was far preferable to have them write vs. speak, too. I agree the "growing up deaf" part might be a lot different (and probably worse), but as an adult, if you suddenly went deaf (as has happened to me on several occasions), not a huge problem. Looking for a workplace with a lot of remote workers is probably the best way to be a first-class team member while deaf.

rdl 14y ago

Maybe for normal people being deaf would be a huge disability, but as a nerd, I would rather be deaf than even just have really bad (uncorrectable) eyesight. Professionally, you could absolutely live a full life as an individual contributor while deaf with minimal accomodation. It might be hard to be an entrepreneur or senior manager, just due to the large number of in-person meetings required, but even that could be worked around (missing out on the informal communications would be a problem in some places). I would have zero problem working with a deaf engineer where all communication had to be by IM/irc/email/commit, vs. verbal; it would be just like a remote worker, which we have huge experience with as a profession now. I mean, I IRC with people in the same room to avoid distracting other people, to be more clear, and to produce a record. A deaf coworker would basically mean I could wear my HD600 open headphones instead of my DT770 closed headphones, that we'd need a visual paging system and alarm, and not a whole lot more. I've worked with people who spoke such horrible English that it was far preferable to have them write vs. speak, too. I agree the "growing up deaf" part might be a lot different (and probably worse), but as an adult, if you suddenly went deaf (as has happened to me on several occasions), not a huge problem. Looking for a workplace with a lot of remote workers is probably the best way to be a first-class team member while deaf.