Blind v Deaf

I have often been asked the question “Which do you think is the worse – to be deaf or to be blind?” I find, however that comparing the effect of my handicaps to be rather futile. If one answers, “It is worse to be deaf,” blind people tend to become offended, and if one answers blindness, then deaf people become very defensive. I have found that over the years the sum of my two handicaps creates a greater handicap than either the problem of partial sight or partial hearing does alone.

It must be hard for hearing people to imagine what it is like to be deaf or blind but when hearing and sighted people consider their friends and relatives with these two handicaps, they should try to understand what that person might have done if they had not been so handicapped. For instance, the friend might have been a good pilot or a professional footballer or cricketer.  On the other hand, they have to appreciate that the individual may well have gained tremendous practical skills or insights because of their handicaps. 

Helen Keller, the well-known American deaf/blind graduate, authoress and legend was asked which of her two disabilities was the worse and this was her reply;

"I am just as deaf as I am blind. The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important, than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus – the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man. "

  Here is another quote;

"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."

Helen Keller