Dan Hale: Working with deaf people has made me realise deafness is not a disability

Over the years i have met many many people. Individuals all, each with their own story. Their own goals, their own hopes, their own dreams. Also each with their own fears and their own confusions. Their own barriers and their own difficulties. Some of these may be personal, some learned and in some cases a situation or condition which labels them as “disabled” “impared” or “different”.

For the life of me I have never really understood that last one. We are ALL different and that is what makes us special. How we perceive the world affects how we interpret it and so react to it. How we grow. How we are and so WHO we are.

No experience is any less valid than another and that is where I feel very often society as a while gets confused. It views disabilities as a problem or something to pity and often instills in us and those who perhaps work differently than I (everybody at that!) That there is something “wrong” or in need of fixing. To me nothing could be further from the truth.

I have spent over a decade working in different areas ranging from fitness instruction, lifestyle advice for coomorbidities, cardiac rehab. I have worked as a lecturer and assessor in accademia emphasising on employment, management and sports.

I am a qualified life coach working with people of a myriad of experiences and backgrounds. Looking at their goals, their wishes and their fears. Their barriers and their needs. Helping them figure out their own path through the chaos that is life on this charming little planet of ours. The methods vary from sit down chats to tarot cards, palmisty and a bevy of other esoteric or holistic techniques. Whatever they need to help them find themselves and make sense. Isnt that What we all want?

Sometimes we need a bit of help to find where we want to be and get where we are going. But something i have noticed when working with individuals with “disabilities” and that is that so many have it all wrong. I have worked with some amazing and wonderful people in the deaf community and the thing I have noticed most is that the wider world mistakenly sees them as individuals with limited to no capacity to hear.

Physiologically this may be the case, perhaps the auditory sensory systems in these individuals is less accute than others. But thats physiology and neurology. The mistake I have found is assuming the ability to listen to something and to hear it are the same thing! We all have senses we use to interact with the world and interpret it – tools available to us. But so often i find it is individuals who have “a full spread” that miss aspects that are important.

How many times do those of us who can hear listen to a song but not hear the message or feel the emotion? How many of us with 20/20 vision look at a sun set and just see a big orange splodge rather than the phenomenon before us.

The tools can only allow us to perceive but that does not necessarily lead to understanding. In my time working with people with deafness I have always been amazed and heartened by the sense of community this group of individuals share.

The way they combine so many aspects of communication be it sign language, gesture, body language, eye contact in order to communicate and how they work so hard to integrate into the “hearing” world yet so often that world does not afford them the same courtesy or understanding.

I see these people and I cannot help but think that while many perceive they have “lost” something where in fact they have evolved. The culture does not take things for granted. They live in the moment. They hear through sight and feeling. How many of us can really say the same?

I admit i lose this occasionally. When I look at these individuals I can never percieve a “disability”. Be it audial, visual or anything else. I see people who are or are becoming more in tune with what they have and what they are. I see these brothers and sisters and I think these are people that we can all learn from.

Dan Hale is an intuitive life coach, fitness and lifestyle trainer. He can be emailed at dh.trueself@gmail.com.