Look (heh), if you’re blind, you’ ll be reliant at least to a large degree on others for the rest of your life. Sure, you may settle into some form of routine where you have some semblance of independence, but it’ll be a very narrow life, and at some point you’ll have to have help.
But if you’re deaf, you can still act independently to an amazing degree. You can get around alone. You can find stuff you’ve misplaced. You can still function. You can still write on the Board. Sorry about the music, but I think that’s a more minor loss than what disappears along with sight. No, my eyes are much more precious to me than my ears.
I chose deaf, partly because I seem to be going there anyway. It’s hereditary (yeah, my family has loads of chuckles about people, including me, losing their hearing.) I’m also a painter and photographer. And I like to listen to music, but given the choice, I 'd go without my hearing before my vision.
I always believed the same as you until I experienced a hearing loss, and realised how vital it is for our sense of belonging to this world that we are able to share a common form of interaction.
The spoken word is how we communicate not only facts and observations, but also our feelings and our ‘thoughts’. It is through our language that we experience kinship with other human beings, and without a full sense of hearing, one tends to be excluded from that to a greater or lesser extent.
Losing music would suck, but I already have a greyboard (a tablet about the size of half a sheet of paper, where you write with a stick and erase it by wiping it); I bought it when I couldn’t speak for a couple of weeks, one of my grandmothers used to have a similar tablet to jot down “someone called” notes and it came in very handy when I’d had my tonsils out. It would allow me to communicate with people both while I learned LSE (and perhaps other Sign languages) and when I had to speak with someone else who didn’t speak Sign.
We used to have a deaf guildie in WoW and he used a voice recognition program to turn our conversations on TeamSpeak into text, I don’t know what was he using exactly but both ONCE and ASE (“National Association for the Blind of Spain” and “Association of the Deaf of Spain”) would be bound to be able to help me there. I’m perfectly happy going without a real-life conversation for days, having to take all my social interactions offline, no more computer games… ugh, that would be the suxxors and then some, specially if it was sudden. I’d need a cleaning lady, I’d probably need to move (my house is a 3rd floor with no lift and some seriously high steps). I could still do most of the work I do being deaf; I wouldn’t be able to do almost any part of it being blind.
Sudden deafness on my part would suck for my brothers: they’d get stuck with being Mom’s sounding board/armchair psychologist.
Not as practical as you might think. Having to wait on who you’re talking to to write out what they want to say can really slow a conversation down. Then there’s the strangers you don’t know who gets pissed when you ask them to write down what they’re saying since you’re deaf.
Getting an iphone/ipad with dragon naturally speaking loaded up could be a workaround, but not every deaf person is going to be able to afford that.
I’ve seen too many hard-of-hearing people get shunted to the side in conversation and interaction to think that deafness is something easy for the hearing world to accommodate. When it’s a pain in the ass to talk to someone, most people will find something better to do. And I’ve read a bit about language acquisition and reading for the deaf (and the Deaf) that makes me aware of just how complex language use is, and just how isolating deafness can be.
Both would suck, and we need to get better at integrating people (those who want to be integrated, of course) into our day-to-day lives.
Deaf. I just can’t imagine learning to navigate the world without sight. Like someone upthread said, how do you tell which box of cereal at the grocery store is the one you want, if you can’t see? And how can I careen down a country road on my bicycle if I’m blind?
Never hearing any new music would suck, but I’ve got fifty years worth of tunes rambling around my head. If Beethoven could deal with deafness, then I imagine I could get by.
As far as being cut off from people goes, it would be difficult at first. I’d have to learn sign language and lip reading, for sure, and I guess the Firebug would have to learn to sign, too. (My wife has some deaf relatives, so she can finger-spell and knows a few word signs even now, so she’d be able to deal.)
And I communicate with anyone at a distance overwhelmingly by email and social media, with only occasional phone calls, so I’d want to be able to see my computer screen. While there are ways that computers can be adapted for blind people, the reality is that the Internet has added immensely to the relative advantage of sight over hearing.
I’d miss music and the melodious sound of my husband’s voice (baritone, purrrr). but I would still be able to see his beautiful eyes and heart-warming smile; I’d still see the dogs (and as a bonus, miss out on the annoying barking!); I’d still be able to garden and bake, and so many other crafts and hobbies.
I definitely would lose hearing over sight if it came to that crappy choice.
There are many deaf street vendors in Bangkok. Try that if you’re blind.
The food court in Bangkok’s MBK shopping center is popular with the deaf crowd. At certain times, especially on weekends, they all sit together in a large area, signing to each other. It’s a party!
But the “pen and paper” remarks in this thread remind me of the deaf hookers. Yes, we have them, and in the after-hours Thermae Coffee Shop, you can sometimes see them negotiating a price with a potential customer using pen and paper.
Well, I could still play squash and baseball and go kayaking and cycling if I was deaf, granted there would be some challenges, so I’d have to pick hearing loss. But a guy I knew in highschool had something really bad happen to his ears and had major hearing loss temporarily. I don’t remember what caused it. But anyway, it freaked him right the hell out.
When we did the blind/deaf hypothetical, he said he’d rather be blind because his hearing loss had affected his communication so much that he felt really isolated. He was a really chatty social guy, and there was no internet or texting then, so not being able to call people or follow a conversation that was taking place right in front of him was “distressing”.
When I voted I was really surprised to discover how many people would choose to be deaf!
Blindness would suck, for all of the reasons mentioned above. Especially the “always dependent on others” part…that would bother me a lot. And I’m sure I’d need to find a new career, because I can’t imagine it being feasible to be a tech writer/editor who can’t see what’s on the screen. But I am a pianist and a singer, and music is essential to who I am. A me without the ability to make or hear music wouldn’t be me, while a me who needed help getting around would still be me. Mostly I need to be able to sing, and perform. Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Andrea Bocelli have already proven that it can be done…I can’t think of a single famous deaf singer (completely deaf; Michael Bolton doesn’t count).
I also think the communication thing is a pretty big deal. Maybe even worth the “independence” trade-off.
Plus, being blind would give me an excuse to get another dog (unless my 2-year-old hound mix miraculously trained herself).
Why/how would my need for music “impress” anyone, especially when in so many other respects being deaf would be easier? I really “don’t get” people who say they’d rather be deaf, but I don’t judge them for it. What’s important to me doesn’t have to be important to everyone else.
So I have to choose between things and people? OK. Things.
People are less likely to punch me in the face than telephone poles. People don’t help me get from the bed to the fridge in the morning. People don’t tell me if there’s a sharp knife sitting in the sink. People don’t read signs to me.
Do these results make you feel happier about your lot in life? I mean, if I had condition X and people came along and went “Obviously I’d rather have X than Y”, I think that’d be kinda comforting.
Yeah, as I was writing that post I knew I hadn’t chosen my words very wisely. I meant “impress” in the sense of “to intend to give the impression,” which I realize is an uncommon usage.
Don’t worry about losing contact with the world going deaf. Think of it as a way to open up yourself to a new world.
There are some seriously hot chicks at Gallaudet University (for the deaf) in Washington, D.C. Jo Kerrwoman was one of 'em (still hot, no longer at Gally). Johanna Kerrkid is now, but you just try and hit on her! Go ahead, I dare ya! I’m sure the National Technical institute for the Deaf at RIT in Rochester is the same.
I have another deaf friend who was in the Peace Corps – and I’m talking Capital D no CI, sign language-using deaf woman. She travels the world and has places to stay everywhere she goes – deaf people tend to find each other and congregate.
And all that sign language helps keep the muscles toned.
Now back to your regularly scheduled morbid thread.
I’m sure the National Technical institute for the Deaf at RIT in Rochester is the same.