Two weekends ago, I was at a knitting group and was "awwing" over someone's baby. I mentioned that my godson was a very, very quiet baby, and that was because later they discovered he was deaf. Her reply was, "Oh, that's terrible."
Why is that terrible? He happens to be deaf. (He's not culturally deaf, because both of his parents are hearing, and he's mainstreamed as much as possible, with him also being autistic.) I realize that this is wrapped up in the audism that is omnipresent in our culture, but, really, what's so bad about not hearing? He's well-adjusted, happy, and seems to be pretty much ok.
