Dear editor,<\/p>\n
\tI want to address what, in my mind at least, the difference between a disability and a handicap is. They are not the same thing. It doesn’t matter what the dictionary says a word means. What is important is what people think a word means when they use it. I would dare say that most people think a handicap is a disability that keeps you from doing something. And I might add “a disability that keeps you from doing something you want to do.”<\/p>\n
\tThe authors of the two letters stating that the deaf are handicapped (April 6 and 13) seem to think – as most hearing people do – that deaf people go through life wishing they could hear and, therefore, are handicapped because they can’t. Most of the deaf people I know couldn’t care less about being able to hear. They have a language. They have family and friends they can communicate with. (And, by the way, simply using a different language does NOT make a person handicapped.) They have other abilities and skills. Being able to hear perfectly is not at the top of their list of priorities; it’s likely not even on the list. Sure, it might make classes easier, but it is not the main focus of their lives. They lead full, productive lives, centered on those things that are important to them.<\/p>\n
\tEveryone has a disability or an inability in some area and everyone has the potential to be handicapped if they let their disabilities or inabilities keep them from trying to do the things they, themselves, want to do. It doesn’t matter if I can’t do something that is important to you. It only matters if I don’t try to do something that is important to me. Then I become handicapped.<\/p>\n
\tI have had associations with many deaf people over the past few years. I see deaf people accomplishing great things, despite the attitudes of doctors, teachers and other people who think they can’t. They are not necessarily any more “handicapped” than the rest of us.<\/p>\n
Michelle Nieves<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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