View source for Deafness

'''Hearing loss''', '''[[w:deafness|deafness]]''', '''hard of hearing''', '''anacusis''', or '''hearing impairment''' (a term considered derogatory by many in the [[w:deaf community|deaf community]]), is a partial or total inability to [[hear]].
[[File:American_Sign_Language_ASL.svg|thumb|200px|[[w:American Sign Language|American Sign Language]] is naturally big and expressive. But some officers mistake it as wild or [[aggressive]]. ~ [[w:Nyle DiMarco|Nyle DiMarco]]]]
[[File:Bartholomeus_Breenbergh_003.JPG|thumb|200px|'''Father Mulcahy''': Dear [[God|Lord]] I know there must be a [[reason]] for this. But what is it? I answered the call to do your [[work]]. I've devoted my [[life]] to it, and now how am I supposed to do it? Lord, what [[good]] am I now? What good is a deaf [[priest]]? I've [[prayed]] to you to [[help]] me and every day I get worse. Are you deaf too? ~  [[w:Alan Alda|Alan Alda]], [[w:Burt Metcalfe|Burt Metcalfe]], [[w:John Rappaport|John Rappaport]], [[w:Dan Wilcox|Dan Wilcox]] & [[w:Thad Mumford|Thad Mumford]], [[w:Elias Davis|Elias Davis]] & [[w:David Pollock|David Pollock]], [[w:Karen Hall|Karen Hall]], [[w:Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen|Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen]]", [[M*A*S*H]]]]
==Quotes==
*'''Father Mulcahy''': Dear [[God|Lord]] I know there must be a [[reason]] for this. But what is it? I answered the call to do your [[work]]. I've devoted my [[life]] to it, and now how am I supposed to do it? Lord, what [[good]] am I now? What good is a deaf [[priest]]? I've [[prayed]] to you to [[help]] me and every day I get worse. Are you deaf too?
** [[w:Alan Alda|Alan Alda]], [[w:Burt Metcalfe|Burt Metcalfe]], [[w:John Rappaport|John Rappaport]], [[w:Dan Wilcox|Dan Wilcox]] & [[w:Thad Mumford|Thad Mumford]], [[w:Elias Davis|Elias Davis]] & [[w:David Pollock|David Pollock]], [[w:Karen Hall|Karen Hall]], "[[w:Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen|Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen]]", [[M*A*S*H]], (February 28, 1983).

*'''Pozzo''':&nbsp; [''suddenly furious'']&nbsp; Have you not done [[tormenting]] me with your [[accursed]] [[time]]!&nbsp; It's abominable!&nbsp; When!&nbsp; When!&nbsp; One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went [[mute|dumb]], one day I went [[blind]], one day we'll go '''deaf''', one day we were [[born]], one day we shall [[die]], the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you?&nbsp; [''calmer'']&nbsp; They give [[birth]] astride of a [[grave (burial)|grave]], the [[light]] gleams an instant, then it's [[night]] once more.
**[[Samuel Beckett]], ''[[Samuel Beckett#Waiting for Godot (1952)|Waiting for Godot]]'', [[Samuel Beckett#Act II|Act II]] (1952).

*Like the [[majority]] of '''deaf''' people, I don't like [[blind]] people much.
**[[Luis Buñuel]], [[Luis Buñuel#My Last Sigh|My Last Sigh]].

*When the [[imagination]] [[sleeps]], [[words]] are emptied of their [[meaning]]: a '''deaf''' population absent-mindedly registers the [[condemnation]] of a [[man]].&nbsp; … there is no other solution but to speak out and show the [[obscenity]] hidden under the verbal cloak.
**[[Albert Camus]], ''[[Albert Camus#Reflections on the Guillotine (1957)|Reflections on the Guillotine]]'' (1957); later included in  ''[[Albert Camus#Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (1960)|Resistance, Rebellion, and Death]]'' (1960).

*I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and [[oil]] in people's cars.&nbsp; I didn't care what kind of [[employment|job]] it was, though.&nbsp; Just so [[people]] didn't know me and I didn't know anybody.&nbsp; I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those '''deaf-mutes'''.&nbsp; That way I wouldn't have to have any goddamn [[stupid]] useless [[conversations]] with anybody.&nbsp; If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to [[write]] it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me.&nbsp; They'd get [[bored]] as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my [[life]].&nbsp; Everybody'd think I was just a poor '''deaf-mute''' bastard and they'd leave me alone.
**Holden Caufield]], in [[J.&nbsp;D. Salinger]], [[The Catcher in the Rye#Chapter 25|Chapter 25]] of ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]]'' (1951).

*''Il ne voit que la nuit, n'entend que le silence.''
**He [[sees]] only [[night]], and [[hears]] only [[silence]].
**[[Jacques Delille]], ''Imagination, IV''.

* Now, as a cadet, your training barely covered the importance of how to interact with [[America]]'s one million Deaf [[citizens]].
* [[w:American Sign Language|American Sign Language]] is naturally big and expressive. But some officers mistake it as wild or [[aggressive]].
* Many Deaf people can't read or write English fluently because of 'language deprivation.
** [[w:Nyle DiMarco|Nyle DiMarco]], ''[[w:Full Frontal with Samantha Bee|Full Frontal with Samantha Bee]]'', ([https://www.tbs.com/shows/full-frontal-with-samantha-bee/clips/stop-doing-that-with-nyle-dimarco (January 30, 2019)]; qtd. in Monica Hunter-Hart, [https://www.bustle.com/p/samantha-bees-deaf-lives-matter-segment-addresses-a-problem-thats-often-overlooked-15913365 “Samantha Bee's "Deaf Lives Matter" Segment Addresses A Problem That’s Often Overlooked”]

* Deaf people [[w:Lip reading|reading lips]] is an [[impossibility]]. There's no way. It's something hearing people [[dreams|dreamt]] up. It's too easily [[misunderstood]].
** Opal Gordon, ''[[Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'', ([https://www.tbs.com/shows/full-frontal-with-samantha-bee/clips/stop-doing-that-with-nyle-dimarco (January 30, 2019)],qtd. in Monica Hunter-Hart, [https://www.bustle.com/p/samantha-bees-deaf-lives-matter-segment-addresses-a-problem-thats-often-overlooked-15913365 “Samantha Bee's "Deaf Lives Matter" Segment Addresses A Problem That’s Often Overlooked”]

*None so '''deaf''' as those that will not [[hear]].
**[[Matthew Henry]], ''Commentaries'', Psalm LVIII.

*Who is so '''deaf''' as he that will not [[hear]]?
**[[George Herbert]], ''Jacula Prudentum'' (1651).

*'''[[God]]''':&nbsp; Moses, this is the Lord, thy God, commanding you to obey my [[law]].&nbsp; Do you [[hear]] me?<br>'''[[Moses]]''':&nbsp; Yes, I hear you, I hear you...a '''deaf''' man could hear you!<br>'''God''':&nbsp; What?!<br>'''Moses''':&nbsp; Nothing, [[forget]] about it, Oh Lord!&nbsp; Why have you [[chosen]] me?&nbsp; What would you have me do for you?
**''[[History of the World: Part I]]'' (1981).

*Then the [[eyes]] of the [[blind]] shall be opened, and the [[ears]] of the '''deaf''' shall be unstopped.&nbsp; Then shall the [[lame]] man leap as an hart, and the [[tongue]] of the [[mute|dumb]] [[sing]]: for in the [[wilderness]] shall [[waters]] break out, and streams in the [[desert]].
**[[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 35:5.

*'''The [[problems]] of [[deafness]] are deeper and more [[complex]], if not more [[important]], than those of [[blindness]].'''&nbsp; Deafness is a much worse [[misfortune]].&nbsp; For it means the [[loss]] of the most vital stimulus — the [[sound]] of the [[voice]] that brings [[language]], sets [[thoughts]] astir and keeps us in the [[intellectual]] company of man.
**[[Helen Keller]], letter to Dr. James Kerr Love (1910), published in ''Helen Keller in Scotland: a personal record written by herself'' (1933), edited by James Kerr Love.&nbsp; Paraphrasing of this statement may have been the origin of a similar one which has become attributed to her: 
::'''[[Blindness]] cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.'''
::*See also [http://www.gallaudet.edu/library/research_help/research_help/frequently_asked_questions/people/helen_keller_quotes.html FAQ at Gallaudet University]

* He cannot hear the skylark sing,<br>The music of the wild bee’s wing;<br>The murmur of the plaining bough ;<br>A gentle whisper fairy low;<br>The noise of falling waters near—<br>All these have left his mournful ear.
** [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]], ''Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832'' (1831), 'The Deaf Schoolmaster'

* After he took him aside, away from the crowd, [[Jesus]] put his fingers into the man's [[ears]]. Then he spit and touched the man's [[tongue]]. He looked up to [[heaven]] and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to [[speak]] plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with [[amazement]]. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the [[mute]] speak."
** [[Book of Mark]], 7:24-30 (NIV).

*''Cha vel fer erbee cha bouyr, as eshyn nagh jean clashtyn.''
**[[Manx proverb]]
**Translation: None is so '''deaf''' as the one who will not [[hear]].
**{{cite book | last1 = Moore | year = 1971 | title = The Folk-lore of the Isle of Man | publisher = S. R. Publishers | page = 259}}

*In [[rage]], '''deaf''' as the [[sea]], [[hasty]] as [[fire]].
**[[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', Act I, Scene I

*[[Pleasure]] and [[revenge]]<br>Have [[ears]] more '''deaf''' than adders to the [[voice]]<br>Of any [[true]] [[decision]].
**[[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' (c. 1602), Act II, scene 2, line 171.

*O, that men's [[ears]] should be<br>To counsel '''deaf''', but not to [[flattery]]!
**[[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Timon of Athens]]'' (date uncertain, published 1623), Act I, scene 2, line 256.

*They never would [[hear]],<br>But turn the '''deaf ear''',<br>As a matter they had no concern in.
**[[Jonathan Swift]], ''Dingley and Brent''.

*'''Deaf''' and [[blind]] and [[mute|dumb]] and [[born]] to follow<br>What you need is someone [[strong]] to guide you
**[[Tool (band)|Tool]], "[[Opiate (song)|Opiate]]," ''[[Opiate (EP)|Opiate]]'' (1992).

*It's important to abolish the unconscious [[dogmatism]] that makes people think their way of looking at [[reality]] is the only [[sane]] way of viewing the [[world]].&nbsp; My [[goal]] is to try to get people into a state of generalized [[agnosticism]], not agnosticism about [[God]] alone, but agnosticism about [[everything]].&nbsp; If one can only see things according to one's own [[belief]] system, one is destined to become virtually '''deaf''', [[mute|dumb]], and [[blind]].
**[[Robert Anton Wilson]], in [http://www.rawilsonfans.com/articles/Starship.htm "Robert Anton Wilson : Searching For Cosmic Intelligence" - interview by Jeffrey Elliot] (1980).

==See also==
*[[Hearing]]
*[[Silence]]
[[Category:Deafness| ]]