A friend of mine told me that using the terms "blind" and "deaf" is offensive. She said that I should say, "visually impaired" and "hearing impaired
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Occasionally I get asked whether I'm 'permanently in a wheelchair' or whether I 'can walk really.' I suppose that's a little bit like the way you can't see much without your specs. I tend to take it as an opportunity to discuss what my disability's really like and to listen to how people really feel about it.
When I applied for disability, I was told I qualified for an additional $15 a month allowance for "special diet" due to diabetes. However, I had to reapply for that allowance every six months "In case you get better."
I told the case worker, "I've had diabetes for 30 years. It's not going to away."
"But it could better," she said.
"No, it will not get better. No matter what, I will still need a special diet for the rest of my life, or until they find a cure."
"But you could get better." Apparently that is what her handbook said, and she was sticking to it.
If I ever run into someone i haven't seen in a long time, they often ask me if I "still" have diabetes.
This reminds me of the way disability benefits here in Britain are to become time-limited. If the Govt manages to force that change through the House of Lords. It's such a waste of resources to force people to jump through this daft hoop.
Back when my current provincial government was first elected, they decided that all disability recipients had to re-qualify for disability. Then after that they proclaimed that everyone who had re-qualified would have to continue to re-qualify every X number of years. Their aim was to shift up to 30 percent of disability recipients on to welfare, which was time-limited and paid less than disability did.
They didn't back down completely, but now the 're-qualifying' process basically consists of showing up at the disability office once every two years with your identification, a rent receipt, copies of whatever bills the disability allowance is supposed to be covering for you, something with your current address on it, and maybe your most recent bank statement to prove that you don't have masses of money coming in from other sources. You don't have to actually keep proving that you're disabled.
In the US, as I understand it, the yardstick for disability benefits is "impairment is expected to last more than 12 months, and/or will result in death". I've been on disabilitiy since the summer of '08. I should have a review coming up in, I think, '15. I don't mind the thought of the review process, since I know I'm disabled and I'm not going to get better, and part of the point of the review process is to ensure people getting checks in the mail actually are disabled. But I can see where the "but you *could* get better" comments would get old in a hurry. I've heard people say their hydrocephalus has been "cured" because they've never needed additional surgery beyond their initial shunt placement. Well, just because you're lucky doesn't mean you've been "cured". I've known people younger than me who've had significantly more surgeries, I've known people older than me who've had significantly less. It's a complete crapshoot, and, like I said, just because the surgery worked doesn't mean I'm "cured".
Well, of the two people I know who fit the description, they both freely say "I am legally blind." (The definition of "legally blind" in Canada is vision of 20/200 with glasses, therefore people are not supposed to say "I'd be legally blind without my glasses.")
When I had severe cataracts, some people asked me if I were legally blind. I was not, because my vision was 20/50 with glasses (no idea what it was without; the ophthalmologist just asked, "Shall I test you with or without glasses?" and I shrugged and said "With.")
My mother would have fit the description of hard of hearing, but she always said, "I'm deaf." Basically, she could hear you if you looked directly at her and shouted, as long as she wore her hearing aid. My ASL teacher also used the word "deaf," though she could hear if you stood really close to her and spoke directly into her ear.
The reason you're not supposed to say "legally blind without glasses" is that the definition of "legally blind" includes glasses. I've seen people in other disability comms object to people saying "Oh, I'd be legally blind without my glasses" because in order to meet the definition, one has to be wearing glasses (although if a person doesn't wear glasses, I don't know how they define it.)
We have a definition for legally blind, but we don't seem to have one for "legally deaf!" I guess it's up to the deaf/HOH person in question to define it for themselves.
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I told the case worker, "I've had diabetes for 30 years. It's not going to away."
"But it could better," she said.
"No, it will not get better. No matter what, I will still need a special diet for the rest of my life, or until they find a cure."
"But you could get better." Apparently that is what her handbook said, and she was sticking to it.
If I ever run into someone i haven't seen in a long time, they often ask me if I "still" have diabetes.
Reply
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They didn't back down completely, but now the 're-qualifying' process basically consists of showing up at the disability office once every two years with your identification, a rent receipt, copies of whatever bills the disability allowance is supposed to be covering for you, something with your current address on it, and maybe your most recent bank statement to prove that you don't have masses of money coming in from other sources. You don't have to actually keep proving that you're disabled.
Reply
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When I had severe cataracts, some people asked me if I were legally blind. I was not, because my vision was 20/50 with glasses (no idea what it was without; the ophthalmologist just asked, "Shall I test you with or without glasses?" and I shrugged and said "With.")
My mother would have fit the description of hard of hearing, but she always said, "I'm deaf." Basically, she could hear you if you looked directly at her and shouted, as long as she wore her hearing aid. My ASL teacher also used the word "deaf," though she could hear if you stood really close to her and spoke directly into her ear.
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(The comment has been removed)
We have a definition for legally blind, but we don't seem to have one for "legally deaf!" I guess it's up to the deaf/HOH person in question to define it for themselves.
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