Antoine Hunter's blessing to Share!

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Monday, May 19, 2008

I'm deaf/hard of Hearing and you're hearing, yet both human!!

I'm deaf/hard of Hearing and you're hearing, yet both human!!

Did you ever have people walk up to you and say " You're not supposed to do because you're a person who can't hear. You're not allow to do things like hearing people because you are deaf"????

I am so happy i never believe in that. I do remember time in the past where I almost believe that i was not suppose to reach my dream because it was so hard to understand what was going on around me. I couldn't understand why hearing people was putting deaf down as "retarded" or "Deaf and dumb". There so many wonderful things I see in the deaf world. Sadly enough as being deaf and hard of hearing in the hearing's world, I grew up with a lot of discrimination against deaf and hear of hearing people. Saying that deaf people were suppose to do thing like hearing were doing. Hearing people said deaf people were dumb and retarded. There were so many thing that was told to deaf people as they grew up they couldn’t do. Telling deaf people couldn’t reach their dreams. Like Malcolm X; after reading the autobiography of Malcolm X, I felt and he shown his attitude at black people. His attitude was black people will be successful in their struggle for equal rights only if they identify with oppressed peoples across the globe. Racism against blacks dehumanizes them. The white people around Malcolm often view him as something less than human, and Malcolm’s desire to correct this perception drives his fight for racial equality. “Reflected many, many times to myself upon how the American Negro has been entirely brainwashed from ever seeing or thinking of himself, as he should, as a part of the non-white peoples of the world. The American Negro has no conception of hundreds of millions of other non-whites concern for him: he had no conception of their feeling of brotherhood for and with him” (Pg 353, Par3). This book helps me to understand deaf people more. Of course I am deaf also, but I didn’t hang around deaf people, basically I was alone and had my own battle but I watched people and notice things. If deaf people were to asked for help; who would have helped them?

Deaf people are not dumb of course. My mother used to think deaf people wasn’t allow too drive a car and my mother is a very positive person, she believe each everyone to follow their heart but she thought there was some kind of law that said deaf people were not allow to drive. Let me just say that deaf people are the safest driver because they don’t talk on the cell phone while they drive, they don’t turn up radio up loud, deaf people are watchful and so when you drive you must watch the road not listen for the road. Who ever heard of listen for the road? Therefore I say to people deaf people are the safest driver. Not all hearing people believe deaf people are dumb but many hearing people don’t know how to communicate with deaf. Often you will see where hearing people get frustrated to help a deaf person and give up. You will often see hearing people talk behind a deaf person back, you will often see hearting cheat on deaf people. However again not all hearing is bad but deaf people struggle to have doctors that know A.S.L. Or go to the movies that had closed captions, having hard time in school without an interpreter. It s build a lot of angry for deaf people because there was so many discriminations against them.
I don’t think all deaf people thin al hearing people are evil but sometime I think deaf and hear of hearing people’s faith can be shook so hard its feel like no matter how are you try to show people you are equal as anyone else, hearing people can see look at you was lower human people or worst retarded. Its remind me how I read the book Elie Wiesel, how his faith was shook and no matter how hard he try to keep his faith in GOD, bad things keep on happening. I remember I wrote this about him “Elie Wiesel’s faith, however, is shaken when he sees the depth of the atrocities committed against his fellow Jews. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, he finds that he cannot even pray, questioning if God exists amongst such cruelty to mankind. ”Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because he kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy days? Because in His might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou Almighty; Master of the Universe, who chooses us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine Altar?” (Pg 67, Par2)”
Like a deaf Melcome X would say we should take care our people and forget the hearing people. People would be surprise to hear how deaf people were very mad with hearing people and say hearing people are DUMB. Hearing people sometime assumed that deaf people should understand clearly what hearing people say by reading lips. I heard a few deaf people in the past, saying hearing people are dumb they have no idea that reading lip is not always easy to understand. The shape of a person lips can be confusing like if you say “F” and “V” it look very the same then try “M” and “B” which also looks the same. I would often tell hearing people to look in mirror to understand. There was time I just felt that hearing people made the deaf people feel ugly like how I felt when I was in preschool because of kids that said “what that thing in your ear?” and the hearing folk didn’t mean to. If a deaf person can’t communicate with a hearing person there are going to be a lot of confusion. Sometime I was just mad at the world for deaf for being to ashamed to explain what it is to be deaf and hearing people for not putting enough effort to understand deaf people. Furthermore I realized it is not a deaf and hearing thing but everybody thing. It does go the same for my wishing for a black family to understand a white family and that white family understand a black family or any races or and different. Instead of trying to avoided anyone who are different from you at any forms and try to understand them. Maybe then there would be less killing in the world. In Jr.High school I realized that. I'm deaf/hard of Hearing and you're hearing, yet both human!!


What about you?? What you do think? Please feel free to share anything you think - good, bad, whatever- I'm open mind to anything. Grammar ha-ha anything!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Antoine, I am so very happy to learn of your successes. You have worked long and hard against so many obstacles. Those days long ago in Adolphe's gym probably helped your dancing, too. I have just turned 70, and it is good to see a younger person like yourself entering stardom !
Richard Goodman