I often see ridiculous claims made by people online making them sound uneducated and irrational. It concerns me when other people, who are most likely not educated or fully informed on the issue, believe these claims to be the truth without taking the time to research or find evidence backing up these claims. It concerns me when a group of people blindly follow what they think is the truth without stopping to think or learn more about what the person is claiming to be the truth.
For example, one writer wrote an article about ASL being offered as a foreign language class and how he thought that it really is not a language at all and that students who take them are taking the easy way out. This person offered no evidence or facts to back up his ideas or thoughts on this. He was merely stating his opinions about something he clearly had little knowledge of. He came off sounding uneducated and ridiculous. It was obvious that he did not know what he was talking about and that he never took an ASL class. Had he took the time to educate himself about ASL and deaf/hoh issues, he probably would not have written that article. I worry that other people reading the article will take it as the truth or factual without bothering to investigate the topic some more.
I often see ridiculous claims about cochlear implants. I have heard some people state that cochlear implant recipients will permanently have holes in their heads and that they will have to drain fluid from these holes every now and then. When I asked if they have actually seen this in a person who is implanted, none of them could say that they have.
Please, when you hear something or if someone tells you something that they claim is a fact, unless you have first hand experience or knowledge of it, don't just restate it as the absolute truth without first finding out whether it is really true or if it is something you actually believe in or agree with.
It is OK to ask questions, to form opinions of your own, or to be skeptical of everything told to you.
What if I listened to someone who told me that hearing aids, even digital ones, will cause me to lose more of my hearing and that I should never wear them? I looked into it, did my research, and I am still doing it. I have yet to find any concrete or reliable evidence convincing me that digital hearing aids will definitely cause hearing loss in those who wear them. I have been getting my hearing tested every year, and so far, my hearing has been exactly the same since I was first tested for my hearing (over twenty five years ago) and I have decided that I will continue to wear my hearing aid for the moment. I might also add that I wore analog hearing aids for over ten years.
Don't believe everything you hear. Ask questions, do some research, try to find reliable and concrete evidence backing up these claims.
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For example, one writer wrote an article about ASL being offered as a foreign language class and how he thought that it really is not a language at all and that students who take them are taking the easy way out. This person offered no evidence or facts to back up his ideas or thoughts on this. He was merely stating his opinions about something he clearly had little knowledge of. He came off sounding uneducated and ridiculous. It was obvious that he did not know what he was talking about and that he never took an ASL class. Had he took the time to educate himself about ASL and deaf/hoh issues, he probably would not have written that article. I worry that other people reading the article will take it as the truth or factual without bothering to investigate the topic some more.
I often see ridiculous claims about cochlear implants. I have heard some people state that cochlear implant recipients will permanently have holes in their heads and that they will have to drain fluid from these holes every now and then. When I asked if they have actually seen this in a person who is implanted, none of them could say that they have.
Please, when you hear something or if someone tells you something that they claim is a fact, unless you have first hand experience or knowledge of it, don't just restate it as the absolute truth without first finding out whether it is really true or if it is something you actually believe in or agree with.
It is OK to ask questions, to form opinions of your own, or to be skeptical of everything told to you.
What if I listened to someone who told me that hearing aids, even digital ones, will cause me to lose more of my hearing and that I should never wear them? I looked into it, did my research, and I am still doing it. I have yet to find any concrete or reliable evidence convincing me that digital hearing aids will definitely cause hearing loss in those who wear them. I have been getting my hearing tested every year, and so far, my hearing has been exactly the same since I was first tested for my hearing (over twenty five years ago) and I have decided that I will continue to wear my hearing aid for the moment. I might also add that I wore analog hearing aids for over ten years.
Don't believe everything you hear. Ask questions, do some research, try to find reliable and concrete evidence backing up these claims.
(e
BSL was mooted an 'hobby interest' in the UK, in some local education areas still is. There was a campaign recently for people to take BSL seriously as a language ! There is a dividing line, as most tuition of sign language is not for those with hearing loss, this seems a strange state of affairs to me too.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter if it is an viable 'language' or not, that's the cultural not the communication approach view of many with hearing loss, e.g. if those who might need the teaching of sign as an additional 'tool' for access, are the very sector that is excluded from learning it. They already have an established language.
It's finding a different way to convey that without hearing. Since sign language has been thrust to the forefront of 'deaf' communication, then it has to be taught differently to the way it is taught to born deaf, there seems an intransigent view on that. Trying not to be flippant, language or not, is less than the primary question. It's about access.
Well said, (e.
ReplyDeleteHow true! Not only about deafness and hoh issues but just think of all the scare emails we all get that the senders never bother to check on to see if they are urban legends or facts.
ReplyDeleteThanks, deafpundit.
ReplyDeleteSharon Marie- My favorite scare email was about how we need to wash the bras we buy from a store, before wearing them--because there could be larvae in the bra waiting to lay eggs in our chest. LOL.
I have heard that one too about losing more hearing if I wear hearing aids. Luckily for me I did not believe it, but it can worry the next one.
ReplyDeleteActually you CAN Lose more hearing with an aid, it comes about gradually and as one's hearing loss gets worse over time, there is a great tendency to turn the aids up to match the loss. Catch 22 the louder volume has a detrimental effect on hearing you have left, obviously louder is not better in loss terms. If it is, there has been a huge waste of campaigning time re warning of dire hearing loss via volume..
ReplyDelete