Prejudices
There is much prejudices on hearing-impaired people and hearing impairment. The following examples include some of the most common:
- Almost all hearing-impaired people are old people. Not true. About half of all hearing-impaired people are in their working age or are young people.
- Hearing-impaired people are less intelligent than people with normal hearing. Not true. There is no connection between hearing impairment and intelligence. Hearing-impaired people are just as intelligent as all other people.
- Hearing-impaired people are almost always mentally ill. Not true. You are not mentally ill if you suffer from hearing loss. But, psychologically, it is a hard job to be hard of hearing!
- Hard of hearing people hear what they want to hear. Not true. Hearing impairment is not equal to selective hearing. The ability to hear depends on the degree and kind of hearing loss and the conditions and surroundings for the hearing situation. Using hearing aids helps, but they do not restore the hearing to normal.
- If hearing-impaired people cannot hear, they just have to wear hearing aids or turn up the volume. Not true. It is not that simple and even though hearing aids do help, they do not make your hearing normal.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People in the UK, RNID, found in a survey that 59 per cent of deaf people and those who are hard of hearing think that people with normal hearing think they are stupid.
