How do Deaf people talk on the telephone?
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Some Hard of Hearing people who are aided can communicate on a regular telephone, and hear enough to have a basic conversation. Most Deaf and Hard of Hearing people use a TTY (Teletypewriter) (also known as a TDD - Telecommunication Device for the Deaf and/or TT - Text Telephone). This is a device which has cups on the top to place a handset of a telephone, and a keyboard for written communication. Many Deaf individuals now are freed up even from using TTYs by having 2 way pagers for regular communication. These have become the first devices which have given the Deaf a sense of freedom and an ability to easily communicate amongst themselves. |
| Why don't all Deaf people have Cochlear Implants if they cure deafness? |
Cochlear Implants are not a cure. They are also extremely invasive. There is an increased risk of illnesses such as Meningitis when someone has received an implant and of course there are lifestyle changes such as a prohibition from scuba diving past significant depths, etc, which require the recipient to make relevant life choices. Implants have blessed many people, especially individuals without hearing or sight. They don't restore sound as we know it to a deaf person, but rather give someone a mechanical sound which they have to learn to re-interpret. Some deaf individuals love CI's and others have no desire to have them. Not unlike Hearing people "it depends on the person." |
| How has the United States been impacted by Deafness? |
There are of course a number of things we cannot ignore. The presence of Deaf people in the country has made a significant impact on EVERY person in the U.S. How you might ask? Well, the Deaf developed the "huddle" because students at Gallaudet College were all watching each other's plays. Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial actually has his hands in the shape of an "A" and an "L" obviously his initials. The sculptor's daughter was deaf. The most relevant contribution deafness has had in all of our lives is undeniably the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell was married to a deaf woman, and had a deaf mother. In his experiments to find a way for them to hear, he invented the telephone. Without the deaf, our world would be a much different place. |
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