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Deafness Quotes

Browse 112 quotes about Deafness.

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Deafness Quotes

“When we still our mind and stroll through the human landscapes around us, we can see astounding images sneaking from undisclosed places, and hear roaring sounds behind unsuspected walls. If we take the time to listen to the blistering flurry of the silence and look at the inconspicuous specks in our surroundings, our world can turn into an explosion of little wonders. We realize that we finally recognize the things we have overlooked, due to our deafness and blindness. ("Fish for silence.")”

SilenceBlindnessOverlookedDeafnessUnsuspectedInconspicuousLittle WondersStill The MindHuman LandscapeRoaring Sounds
Author:Erik Pevernagie
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“Art can blow us out of our pigeon hole. In deafness it may shout or scream, in blindness it may arrest our attention, in numbness it may shake up our mind. If we don’t sense anything at all and take everything for granted, art can kick us in the ass, give a conscience and make us aware. ("When is Art?")”

MindArtAttentionConscienceBlowAssScreamBlindnessSenseNumbnessAwareDeafnessArrestShoutKickTake For GrantedShake UpNothing At AllPigeon Hole
Author:Erik Pevernagie
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“Most Deaf kids have home signs; they develop their own ways to get what they need. I have my own, too. My colleagues in the science fiction world who sign can get my attention, can communicate with me if they really need to. A lot of the signs we use aren't "real," but they're the ones I use, and that's why we use them together. (Page 33)”

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Book:Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism
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“The English language is perniciously ableist. We speak in metaphor that constantly puts down disabled bodies, with phrases like "turning a blind eye" and "it fell on deaf ears" falling from our lips so easily. People often tell me it's not that big of a deal. But, of course, if you've been listening to your language make you sound stupid, ignorant, and useless for your entire life, when you've made a profession out of the craft of language, you cannot help but find pain in the ways that language cuts you to the quick. ASL has its own barbs. All languages do. But English is troublingly ableist. (Page 42)”

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Book:Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism
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“A snapshot memory, circa 1955: I'm draped over Dad's shoulder, bouncing along in time with his stride. It's a hot day and we're strolling through a fairground. Beside us, Verna clings to Mom's hand. A cob of corn has slipped from my sweaty clutches, and I'm shrieking at full lung capacity to have it retrieved. Bobbing over Dad's shoulder, I can see that tasty morsel - sticky with grit, no doubt - receding into the distance, and I'm furious. My parents, facing the other direction, are oblivious to my rising howls of protest. Big sister ignores me. Curious onlookers wander by, but I'm not at all self-conscious. I want that cob of corn, and I want it now! Nothing else matters... I learned soon enough that my parents would never react to my verbal outbursts unless they were facing me. If they couldn't see my face, it didn't count. I'm not sure when that realization dawned, but I know it was early. I recall, as a small child, running into another room to tug on Mom's arm. I knew instinctively that shouting would be useless. From my infancy, the deaf-hearing dynamic shaped every part of our mother-child communication. Specifics elude me; I only knew that I understood her, and she understood me. Most likely, we used a blend of speaking, signs, and gestures. If I had to describe it, I'd call it mother-talk, that intimate connection that happens between mothers and their offspring. You know how they just understand each other? Well, that's how it was, with us. Excerpt from Patricia Conrad's Gentle into the Darkness, p. 68”

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Book:Gentle into the Darkness: A Deaf Mother's Journey into Alzheimer's
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“How little we realize things till they come upon us personally. I believe I have been a perfect fiend of indifference, even intolerance, of deaf people, and now it's me. Well, I am determined to become the most Delightful Deaf Old Lady that ever existed and I am practicing to that end.”

PeopleBelieveWellsLittlesHas BeensEndsI BelieveRealizingPerfectDeterminedIndifferenceIntoleranceDelightfulDeafOld LadyDeafnessI Am DeterminedRealize Things
Book:Letters of Susan Hale
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“There are many deaf people who couldn't imagine living in a marriage without someone who doesn't speak their language. For me, I believe that hearing or deaf is fine as long as both parties are willing to communicate in each other's language. But if there's no communication, then the marriage, I believe, will be difficult if not doomed.”

PeopleIfsBelieveLongSpeakLanguageI BelieveDifficultPartyImagineWillingCommunicationFineCommunicateHearingDoomedDeafDeafnessNo Communication
Author:Marlee Matlin
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“There are two parts to the human dilemma. One is the belief that the end justifies the means. That push-button philosophy, that deliberate deafness to suffering, has become the monster in the war machine. The other is the betrayal of the human spirit: the assertion of dogma that closes the mind, and turns a nation, a civilization, into a regiment of ghosts--obedient ghosts or tortured ghosts.”

MindHumansMeanTwoWarEndsPhilosophySpiritSufferingTurnsBeliefNationsCivilizationMachinesBetrayalMonstersGhostJustifyDogmaButtonsHuman SpiritDeliberateDilemmaAssertionObedientDeafnessEnds Justify The Means
Book:The Ascent of Man
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