The big problem the Deaf have with hearing society at large

Posted on December 23, 2007

Sarah-Kate Templeton, the reporter behind the TimesOnline article “Deaf demand right to designer deaf children” woefully falls short of explaining why the Deaf have a big problem with the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill (AKA Eugenics Bill).  There is an exclusive and incorrect focus on the myth that the Deaf are trying to genetically design their babies to have the Deaf gene.  What the protesting Deaf are trying to do is to protect an embryo from being tossed aside once it is found to have the Deaf gene.  The parents-to-be should retain the choice to legally continue growing the embryo, despite the screening discovery of a Deaf gene.

There is insufficient space in the article dedicated to explaining the wider implications of the bill for groups other than the Deaf and how the Deaf who have embraced their culture are able to have a full and normal lives in all kinds of senses. The article paints the Deaf people who are protesting this bill as bad guys who want to hold back the so-called “miracle” of  embryo screening to filter out undesired genetic flaws.

This is a problem that I’ve seen happen in the media too many times regarding the Deaf and its culture.  The information put out is almost always insufficient and ends up making the Deaf look lame in comparison.

Moreover, I’ve discovered that this article was commented upon on by Fark visitors.  Fark.com is a website that seeks out and links to articles that are easily considered flamebaits.  The site also has many juvenile commenters who can be extremely crude.

You can view the true color of how many unenlightened hearing people perceive the Deaf.   As of this time, there are 249 comments, many of which are particularly vitriolic.  I would like to put out a caution to readers who may be sensitive and easily get upset at tasteless comments.  You may want to skip the link below.

Deaf parents demand right to designer deaf children. WAIT, WHAT? WHAT?

This is the kind of attitude that Deaf have to put up with (directly or indirectly) on a daily basis and is one that we are seeking to overturn.

Black people have made significant progress to the point where it is so politically incorrect to utter racial slurs. The Deaf need to make the similar progress in changing the collective consciousness of hearing people.

More can be seen over at http://stopeugenics.org/

including their response to the article.

_____

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  • Mishkazena

    Even if the writer does take the time to explain the cultural aspects of deafness, the majority of the readers still don’t get it. These ugly remarks were also seen after Washington Post covered the story of deaf designer baby some years ago.

    To them, the comparison to African Americans isn’t same as this involves the loss of a major sensory organ, not the loss of pigment. They don’t see the richness of the Deaf Culture as a linguistic minority where its members don’t feel handicapped at all.

  • Jean Boutcher

    Substantiated by their ugly remarks, they demonstrated not only massive ignorance but also full of hate of a people as members of an ethnic group (Deafnicity). Deaf people need to educate them that we are faithful taxpayers every year as well as vote for a president every four years! Deaf people are not veggies. Deaf people have a plethora of attributes that some hearing people lack thereof.

    Jean

  • deafk

    Hi, Jared,

    Thank you so much for getting our attention to this. Actually, what can we do about this? What is the procedure we ought to do so? This is so unnecessary, even though they think they have a right to talk behind our backs. Even one commentor wondered why we did not say anything there.

    umm, what bad temper are they talking about? I have no idea what they are referring to. I am concerned that they are labelling me, too.

    thanks, deafk

  • http://profile.typekey.com/jarednevans/ Jared Evans

    If you want to see what you can do to help, I would suggest that you visit stopeugenics.org and ask them. There are people in the UK who are spending many hours developing strategies and taking the action to fight against this bill.

  • http://www.xanga.com/dianrez Dianrez

    I am a deaf parent with two hearing children and one deaf child. We would not exchange any of them for any reason and definitely not on their hearing status.

    The commenters at Fark.com are unbelievably bigoted and misinformed. They are also missing one glaring fact:

    These embryos are ALREADY CONCEIVED.

    Here is where the paradox lies. To select only hearing embryos means deaf embryos must die. Given a few more months, we end up with the Nazi insanity.

    Selecting an embryo is no guarantee of health or future contribution to humanity. An embryo could possibly grow to be a healthy, hearing but dangerous sociopath. Likewise, a deaf embryo could be just as healthy and be a valuable person.

    Just as with natural parents, in vitro parents should take what God gives them.

  • http://alltheyoungdudes.radio666fm.com Tony Nicholas
  • Ken Rose

    The first paragraph and title of this article are flat out incorrect.

    The RNID and its Chief Executive, Jackie Ballard, the only person (mis)quoted to support the headline, have made a release directly contradicting the headline.

    http://www.rnid.org.uk/mediacentre/press/2007/human_fertilisation_embryology_bill.htm

    This is completely irresponsible journalism ad Ms. Ballard and the NRID said nothing to warrant such a headline or even such a conclusion. The NRID should demand a RETRACTION.

    I would expect such muck-raising ill-supported garbage from the Times’s tabloid counterparts.

  • Ken Rose

    “The commenters at Fark.com are unbelievably bigoted and misinformed. They are also missing one glaring fact: These embryos are ALREADY CONCEIVED.”

    They’re not missing a fact. They were deliberately misinformed! No wonder they are angry.

    How Ms Templeton could take a statement like some Deaf parents would prefer to have a Deaf children and twist it into “Deaf demand right to designer deaf children” is absolutely beyond me.

    Deaf people haven’t even reacted to the inevitable sorry fact that Hearing parents will be destroying embryos with deaf genes, even testing for these genes before implantation.

  • MM

    Ms Ballard seems to be trying to score points in the ‘Deaf’ community, after a very heavy first few months in her new job, where she has been told in no uncertain terms the RNID has no support within the deaf community and is a hearing-based organisation that patronises and pimps off deaf people in the UK. I have said this to her face 3 weeks ago. She is a person that has no deaf awareness, doesn’t sign, and comes is a failed politician from a cat/dog charity who likes Iranian men !

    As the last comment clarified, the OFFICIAL stance of the RNID is in direct contradiction to Ms Ballard’s (The RNID CEO). Any wonder the UK deaf community has no faith at all in this organisation that is totally ambiguous.

    How can you support ‘Deaf’ choice, and the say they support the legal right to overule it too ? The RNID treats us as stupid..