how is being blind or deaf a developmental disability?

Question

how is being blind or deaf a developmental disability?

Answer 1

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RE:

how is being blind or deaf a developmental disability?

based on this definition from the US government



http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/add/Factsheet.html



What is Developmental Disability?

There are approximately 4.5 million individuals with developmental disabilities in the United States. Developmental disabilities (DD) are severe, life-long...

Answer 2

By the definition offered (a legal definition, not a clinical one), a developmental disability is a disability that occurs during development. One normally thinks of a developmental disability as a condition that limits one's ability to learn and develop intellectually; by this definition, blindness or deafness would qualify as we generally learn through reading and listening. This does NOT mean that blind or deaf people cannot learn, but it DOES make the process more difficult and requires accommodations.

Answer 3

First thing to keep in mind is that "developmental disability" is a legal term, not a clinical one. There are numerous definitions of developmental disability in federal and state law.



The federal definition, which you refer to, is a functional definition, not a categorical one. That means that whether someone has a developmental disability isn't a simple matter of what category of disability they have--e.g., deafness, blindness. It's a matter of whether they meet the criteria that you have set out. So, you are right: Someone with CP, for example, may or may not have a developmental disability under federal law, depending on whether they meet the functional criteria of the definition.

Answer 4

Blindness and deafness ARE NOT developmental disabilities... End of story.



Now, if the person who suggested your cousin was developmentally disabled was saying that she MIGHT have another undiscovered disability that IS developmental, that's different. But just being deaf does not make her developmentally disabled.

Answer 5

BLIND:

1) capacity for independent living (cannot read signs, cannot shop without assistance, cannot drive or ride a bike, cannot safely navigate many public roads)

2) economic self-sufficiency (cannot work at more than half of available jobs--anything that requires quick reading or visual assessment of a situation)

3) learning (Cannot learn through books available at most stores; cannot watch videos)

4) receptive and expressive language (cannot read facial expressions or body language, does not receive nonvocal feedback)

5) self-care (can't see bruises, rashes or other visible signs of health problems)



DEAF:

1) capacity for independent living (cannot hear warning shouts, beeps or screeches; often cannot drive, cannot hear intruders outside the house, cannot use normal phone for day-to-day tasks, like calling a landlord to rent an apartment)

2) economic self-sufficiency (cannot work many jobs, including anything involving listening to customers/clients)

3) learning (cannot learn through recordings or many videos, cannot learn from many speakers, even if can read lips, cannot learn from a speaker facing away from them)

4) receptive and expressive language (cannot hear what people say, often cannot speak quickly & coherently)



Note that the key issue is "substantial limitations," not "total inability" in the area. The fact that some blind people can find employment doesn't mean they don't have substantial limitations in that direction.

Answer 6

people believe this because it can be tougher for the child to develop. they need to learn things differently that most people are not prepared for so while the parents are trying to get help for their deaf child, the child is learning at a slower rate than a hearing child who parents are prepared for.



if the parents are ready before hand then the child would have little to no "developmental disabilities" there is nothing really holding them back from learning just as a regular child does they just do it differently



you also have to remember that deaf children also need to learn other things that hearing children understand better. like in the book im reading the girl saw her brother crying and laughed at him thinking he was making funny faces. when the girl got hurt and started to cry the mother rushed her in front of a mirror to show her the expression she was making and to have her understand that when someone is in pain thats the face they make.

Answer 7

It's a semantica argument.



Development-al, as in, it's a physical development issue that puts people at a disadvantage - I'm partially deaf in one ear and it does, indeed, put me at a disadvantage when I can't hear what the person next to me is saying, versus someone who can.



Not develop-mental. I don't think that anyone who really counts would argue that someone who is deaf is automatically mentally disabled. People lock onto the "mental" part of the word, and not the "develop" part of the word.



People may not want to hear it but yes, in some (most?) situations it can be considered a severe disability because you are living in a world where the vast bulk of people can hear and see normally.



To address the list you put up:



-if a person is born deaf and happens to grow up in an area whose school district doesn't have anyone who is ASL proficient and their family cannot afford it then yes, they are at a disadvantage for learining because they cannot hear what teachers are saying. They can read just fine, but they are most certainly at a disadvantage. If they weren't, then ASL wouldn't have been developed. This education deficiency directly effects their income capacity and thus their ability to live independently, self-care, self-direction, and, it could be argued, their self-care because it puts them at a higher risk of being at an inability to care for themselves.



-in terms of mobility, perhaps less so for the average deaf person, though our sense of balance is directly related to our sense of hearing, most deaf people do just fine.



So while the impact may not be as severe as someone who's parapeligic in some ways, in other ways, it is more severe - a parapeligic may still be able to communicate verbally without speech and pronunciation issues and thus be more successful in a career in the public sector, like law or politics. A person with severe autism may be unable to adequately survive on their own due to their inability to do some basic maintenance-related tasks (which a deaf person could do), however they would be able to work as an engineer on a construction site, whereas a deaf person could not, since they could not respond to audial warnings for their safety.



It's an ugly truth but it's a truth, and I think that people are better served when this is addressed head-on as part of their being as opposed to fought tooth-and-nail over semantics.



I'm tall and I have exceptionally large (size 15 double-wide) feet. I can't drive some cars, I can't find most shoes easily, people step on them on busses and at shows, and it sucks in many ways... but it'd be harder and thus suck more if I knowingly bought a pair of size 12's that looked cool and got a car whose pedals were too close together for me to operate.

Answer 8

Not everyone who has a developmental disability is extremely impaired some people just have mild issues that cause some challenges but are otherwise normal.

Answer 9

I am Deaf, a student at college. I dont read lips, I only use ASL. I graduated at deaf school.



lot of people are confused with the term, "Deaf"



lot of myths going on around for years...



There are various kind of Deaf depend on how much hearing loss they have.



Some born with deafness (that's me), some become deaf due to illness, some become deaf due to old age, some lost due to loud music or in the war.



For those who born with deafness, high percent of those cannot or dont want to read lips or wear hearing aid. some deaf such as your cousin's daughter, she can read lips and speaks.



With deafness, there is no such as "development" there is no cure to deafness, only technology that has not being perfect and alot of years pressured of practing read lips... poor those kids.

Answer 10

Any person whose disability begins prior to their 22nd birthday is developmentally disabled. In your cousin's case it is primarily receptive and expressive language, hearing, and learning. Seeing and hearing are both major life activities. Lots of people with developmental disabilities are entirely self-sufficient. Being disabled, developmentally or otherwise, severe or not, is not reason alone to be unable to care for your self without appropriate accommodations and support.



ETA: Part of the reason there is a redetermination of SSI when a person turns 18 is that the criteria changes. There is an assumption in a child that some disabilities - such as blindness and deafness - will result in substantial limitations in comparison to their peers as they have occurred during the developmental phase of their life.



These are the disabilities for which children are presumed to be eligible for SSI and require no further proof:

HIV infection

Total Blindness

Total Deafness (in some cases)

Cerebral Palsy (in some cases)

Muscular dystrophy (in some cases)

Down syndrome

Mental retardation

Diabetes with amputation of 1 foot

Amputation of 2 limbs or leg @ hip



There is a stigma attached to the words "developmental disability" that simply should not exist. All it means in the long run is that the development of the child with a developmental disability is demonstrably different than a child without a disability.



ETA2: What is considered severe by you and what is considered severe by me may very well differ than what SS considers severe. I have never considered my son severely impaired by his disability until I realized that it is not my perception that counts - it is the perception of society at large which made the law. Deafness (not hard of hearing) in children is considered a severe disability no matter how well they have adjusted to it.