thatdeafdude:

It’s hard to believe that I am the only person to hold BA and MA degrees. It’s also hard to believe that most of my Deaf and HOH friends in my Class don’t have at least AA or AS degrees. 

It pains me to see them live with benefits from the Government. It just…breaks my heart.

I really appreciate all the hard work you do on tumblr for everything Deaf-related. You’re quite inspirational in that way. So I find myself a little bit hesitant to bring this up as I definitely don’t want to offend at all, but reading this post by you left a bad taste in my mouth. Saying it breaks your heart… how is it any different from hearing people saying seeing people be deaf breaks their heart. Pity sucks, no matter what form.

I’m a Deaf high school drop-out and the last thing I want someone to feel when they find out about that is to think how it breaks their heart to hear that. Or for people to judge me based on that one thing and/or think it’s sad that I don’t even at least have my high school graduation diploma. School isn’t everything. It doesn’t define how successful, or happy, or content you are. I’ve worked extremely hard to get where I am, and I’m proud.

I definitely recognize the issue how a lot of d/Deaf people are raised in a way where they are not encouraged, stimulated, and motivated in school (and outside of school even) and that can lead to many problems later on in life. That’s definitely something that needs to be addressed for sure… and I imagine that’s probably what you’re thinking about while you wrote the post.

There are just so many circumstances to everything though. It’s best to not judge and understand that everyone has very different experiences and something that might work really well for you, might not work for them. I’ve even been on disability welfare at one point in my life and it was 100% necessary. I’m thankful I had access to that when I needed it… and I know people who depend on welfare and the last thing I’m going to do is feel bad for them. Seriously, who wants or needs that?

Again, I am grateful for all your hard work and am so glad you’re on tumblr! Hopefully you can understand where I’m coming from with my response.