Posted by Phil Payne on 11/08/07 20:26

> Similarly the deaf; those born profoundly death may not have learned a
> spoken language (English, Spanish, German etc) to a high level, and as
> such may find pictures easier to comprehend than written words.

"Hey, she's deaf. Just give her some picture books."

That has to be the most ignorant, presumptive, prejudiced and
downright DUMB statement I've read on Usenet for many years.

My late and much lamented grandmother was born profoundly deaf as a
result of her mother catching Rubella during pregnancy.

Not only was reading one of her greatest pleasures in life, but she
was very adept on a piano even though she could hear absolutely
nothing. She had a metronome on top of the instrument and just
enjoyed using her fingers and the rhythm. Even as a seven-year-old I
enjoyed her playing of the classics.

She could lipread at thirty yards and had her eyes checked twice a
year to keep up this capability. Nobody had any secrets from her.

I've known her many times watch TV programmes for a few minutes and
then sort in disgust: "All stolen from Marlowe/Shakespeare/whoever".

She lived near Tamworth in Staffordshire. The Mobile Library used to
stop outside the house once a fortnight and the driver would walk down
the path and wave through the window - she would then go out and get
eight books. You were only allowed four, but she had a ticket in her
husband's name and got another four on that.

The scriptwriters on Starsky and Hutch once admitted they had four
basic plots and two variants, all from Shakespeare. My grandma
spotted every one - ten minutes into a programme she'd tell you which
one they were using and start predicting EVERY SINGLE scene. "He's
the Malvolio character this time."

Until the middle of the eighteenth century, deaf people in England
were unable to "inherit property, to marry, to receive education, to
have adequately challenging work-and were denied fundamental human
rights" (Sachs, Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices. Harper Perennial: New
York, 1990.)

Let's not go back there, huh?

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