Handicaps: Wanted

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by SilentLi89, Oct 25, 2010.

  1. SilentLi89 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    263
    People who do not have any or at least any noticeable handicaps have a hard time understanding why so many people who do have handicaps (non life threatening) wouldn't fix them even they could. For example many deaf people (especially those who are congenitally deaf) like being deaf and even if there were some magic surgery that could restore their hearing to 100% they wouldn't want it.
    Of course it isn't just the deaf, I've heard this from many people from physical handicaps to developmental and psychological handicaps. I myself have a developmental handicap and probably wouldn't be all that interested in fixing it if I could. What is the psychology behind this? Is it because people consider their identity more important than "normal" even when their handicap is inconvenient or annoying?
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Cifo Day destroys the night, Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    685

    Beats me, I have a couple of handicaps and I know various people with different handicaps, and we would all give them up in a heartbeat.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    Fear of the unknown, since they have been deaf since birth many people are fearful of learning just how to adjust to the normal world since they have gotten use to being deaf for many years. Then there are those who are just foolish and don't want to change themselves because they won't "fit in" to the hearing world.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. John99 Banned Banned

    Messages:
    22,046
    Could be many things but the overwhelming majority would correct the problem. But if someone is told "there can be complications" etc. they would think about it harder as opposed to "its an easy process and 100% chance of success".

    Edit: Also if you had the handicap (in this case hearing) you may develop a camaraderie with other hearing impaired people...which is not really a good reason to not "fix" the problem.
     
  8. SilentLi89 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    263
    But that isn't the case, at least not in the places that were surveyed. An overwhelming majority with developmental disorders said they were fine the way they were. Which surprised me, I knew about the deaf and hard of hearing, they have a whole culture surrounding their handicap and to become hearing would greatly effect their lifestyle. That I can understand. But to have comprehension, hyperactivity, recognition, or spatial/orientation problems and not be all that interested in "fixing" them. I found that strange and I was even more shocked to find that I feel the same way and I have no idea why. :shrug:
     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    Deaf people are a special case because they have their own community. Their own schools, clubs, everything. To not be deaf anymore would be to abandon their homies and start their lives over. Besides, they have absolutely no idea what "hearing" is so it's hard to make it seem attractive to them.

    Gallaudet University here in Washington had a huge protest a few years ago when they hired a president who is only partially deaf (and would probably have qualified for admission as a student). They ended up having to dump her.

    I can't imagine living without music. I'd much rather be blind.
     
  10. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,913
    Because for them, being deaf or blind or whatever IS normal. Gaining an extra sense would be like a non-blind gaining the ability to see in infrared, or a non-deaf gaining the ability to hear in the same range as canines.

    Plus unless you regain that sense as a young child, having it 'fixed' has its own set of problems. I heard of a blind person who got sight late in life and found it more of a hindrance than a help because he had to learn to process all that visual data, whereas his other senses gave him solid information about the world.
     
  11. SilentLi89 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    263
    So is it because they would have to orient to a whole new way of life and they prefer the life they have? I guess I shouldn't have mentioned abnormalities like deafness or blindness their responses didn't really surprise me. But people who would live pretty much the same life (same friends, same social status, same culture...etc) if they didn't have their handicap or disability.

    A woman who was interviewed has antisocial type ADHD and she gets angry easily. She told the interviewer that she wished that she didn't yell at people all of the time. Her behavior has caused a lot of distress in her life. So the interviewer asked her if she could get rid of her ADHD would she? The woman said no, she didn't want to yell so much. My younger brother who has a different type of ADHD same the same thing.

    I have a spatial/orientation disorder and while it would be nice to not get lost all of the time even in familiar places, follow directions to a location, or know when an object is too small to fit into a space like a normal person can. I've been this way my whole life and if I had the opportunity to fix my problem I probably would not jump at the chance to do so.
     
  12. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    Extending the spectrum of sensitivity is something that we can imagine. I have no idea what the color of an ultraviolet or infrared tinted object would be, but at least I can easily imagine being able to see in more detail and/or less light. Extended hearing is even easier to imagine, because unlike vision, for which we have multiple receptors, all sounds are processed the same way.

    For a blind or deaf person to suddenly be able to see or hear would be more like us suddenly being able to feel magnetism.
     
  13. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,913
    Maybe what she meant was that she doesn't want to be fixed and become 'normal' but she does want to get rid of the negative symptoms.
     
  14. SilentLi89 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    263
    Aren't all symptoms of ADHD negative? I do admit that I enjoy my brother's company more without his medication, sometimes, other times he is just plain annoying. But apparently to him being annoying is part of his identity. I don't think I believe my disorder to be part of my identity, but maybe I do why else would I be resistant to getting rid of it.
     
  15. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    People with short attention spans do very well in certain types of work. They're not going to drag a project out so you have trouble meeting the deadline. I would imagine that they couldn't tolerate a government job, where it takes a month to make the decision to postpone a meeting for two weeks.
     

Share This Page