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Thanks for this. All you have to do is look at the "Deaf Culture" folks to see where attempts to normalize a disease state leads. The lack of ability to hear i

Thanks for this. All you have to do is look at the "Deaf Culture" folks to see where attempts to normalize a disease state leads. The lack of ability to hear is not a difference to be celebrated, and anyone who does celebrate it is a sad, pathetic individual spreading harm and--very often--hate. It is possible to gracefully accept who we are and the things about us that can't yet be fixed, while at the same time striving to fix them. Our diseases are not our identities. Deaf Culture and other similar movements start off by accepting the lie that collectivist bigots have imposed on them--that our diseases are our identities--and then simply declare that that identity is good. Accepting the identity that hostile collectivists want to impose on you is rarely a good thing. In the case of disease states it really does end in opposing any attempt to cure the disease, and if there's a purer kind of evil than that--cloaked in the brightly shining garb of rights and defense of the oppressed--I'm not sure what it is.

pavedwalden 11y ago
Although I'm sure there are examples of inappropriate dogmatism in the Deaf Culture conversation, I think you're painting the whole situation with too broad a brush. Unlike autism or OCD, deafness inducts you into a culture that exists parallel to the hearing world. It has its own schools, its own norms, and even its own bars. I'd say it's more similar to an isolated small town than a pathological "disease community" like a pro-anna message board. So for adults considering surgical intervention, there are very reasonable questions about what it means to be reaching beyond their language community. As for deciding when surgical intervention is appropriate for children, that's an ethical shitshow I'm glad I don't have to sort out.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
On the topic of deaf culture, to me the biggest issue there is genetically engineering babies to be deaf, which from my understanding does happen in rare cases.

pavedwalden 11y ago

Although I'm sure there are examples of inappropriate dogmatism in the Deaf Culture conversation, I think you're painting the whole situation with too broad a brush. Unlike autism or OCD, deafness inducts you into a culture that exists parallel to the hearing world. It has its own schools, its own norms, and even its own bars. I'd say it's more similar to an isolated small town than a pathological "disease community" like a pro-anna message board. So for adults considering surgical intervention, there are very reasonable questions about what it means to be reaching beyond their language community. As for deciding when surgical intervention is appropriate for children, that's an ethical shitshow I'm glad I don't have to sort out.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

On the topic of deaf culture, to me the biggest issue there is genetically engineering babies to be deaf, which from my understanding does happen in rare cases.