[nfb-db] Greetings! and what's exactly deafBlindness?

[Wolsiefer, Heather Elizabeth]

Hello Gerardo!!

My name is Heather. It's nice to hear from you! I am not sure the exact accepted parameters for deafblindness either. I am completely deaf with a cochlear implant on the right side of my head and am going to get another, which provides my with artificial hearing. I am also currently legally blind and losing my vision due to a degenerative disease. I consider myself deafblind, but most people hear that and think of Hellen Keller and think I am lying or faking. I am very well adapted, so if you cannot see my processor or my cane, you wouldn't think I had any problem, so I often have to emphasize that I am deaf with a CI and legally blind. It can get very confusing for other people, but I am always happy to explain and hear others opinions. Have a nice day, and I hope this helps!

Heather
________________________________________
From: nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org [nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerardo Corripio [gera1027 at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 11:48 AM
To: nfb deafblind List
Subject: [nfb-db] Greetings! and what's exactly deafBlindness?

Hi listers: I'm Gerardo from Mexico, blind and with 70% hearing loss being
able to compensate with hearing aids, 32 years old and Psychology Major.
Looking through all the lists available, I found this one and my
expectations are very high that I'll learn lots of things from you guys and
vice versa, especially from the perspective of a country where there's no
NFB and one has to find ways of accomplishing tasks, thus bringing me to my
debut question.
I feel very uncomfortable using the word DeafBlind to describe myself, thus
having being used to describe myself as above. does my blindness and
percentage of hearing loss (though with hearing aids I'm able to compensate
fine but with some exceptions) embed with the general definition of
DeafBlindness? What profile does a DeafBlind person have in order to be
considered as such? I find that DeafBlindness are people (like Hellen
Keller) who can't hear or see nothing, thus my question. and lastly, is it
normal my discomfort in viewing myself as DeafBlind? because maybe my gut is
right and I'm not considered DeafBlind? If it's pears or apples, I'm happy
to have joined the list because I've always been curious as how totaly
deafBlind people perceive the world.
Thanks for my accepting me and hope to learn great things from all of you.
Gerardo


_______________________________________________
nfb-db mailing list
nfb-db at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org