8 years ago I went and got myself implanted, and never looked back. I had lost 100% of my hearing in my left ear and 90% of my hearing in my right ear at 8 years old, when I was hit by a car. Despite losing so much, the deaf culture never really accepted me, since I was never really considered truly deaf. I wasn't born into it, and spent a better part of 26 years kind of stuck in between the hearing and deaf world. I could sign, I could speak, and often I found myself interpreting for some deaf friends while I was growing up. But never, during that entire time, was I ever really accepted by the deaf culture.
These friends I lost, when I decided to go ahead and get myself implanted. They couldn't understand why I wanted to be a part of something I never could have been, and I reminded them that the deaf panthers (same vein as the black panthers) never really did accept me as a part of the deaf culture, and I was really sick of being neither "deaf" or "hearing".
They viewed their deafness as something to be proud about. I viewed it as something that was holding me back. They day I let them know I was going to get implanted, and hoped that they would understand, they looked at me as if I was something disgusting. Being called a traitor, could have been nicer than some of the things they called me then.
Deaf Pride? Deaf Culture? Pshaw. While I have nothing really to compare the quality of the sound that the implant has given me, I can compare them to the $1200 digital hearing aid I had purchased an year earlier. When I left the store, and fired up my car, the song I was listening to before sounded completely different. It sounded better, and I realized I was hearing things I never really could with the old crappy hearing aids I had before. Then when I got my implant turned on, there was no comparison. I've tried listening with both my hearing aid (right ear, 90% loss) and my implant (left ear, previously 100% loss), and found that I could not stand the hearing aid any more. It's been sitting in my desk drawer in the 8 year since I had my implantation.
If some people wants to fool themselves into thinking that Deafness is something to be proud of, then by all means, let them. I'm going to get my right ear implanted soon, and while I'll never truly be a hearing person, at least, I'll leave a major part of my deafness behind.
My brother in law was on the sprint network. Claimed he loved his unlimited data plan and didn't want to switch over from sprint to anyone else. Until we looked at his bill, saw what he used per month on average (260MB), and compared rates to what ting wanted for similar. I believe he saw something like an 80 a month savings, just switching from sprint to ting.
Because he already had a sprint android phone, moving over to ting wasn't an issue other than paying the ETF, and that he recovered within a few months after saving a lot of money on his services.
After that I've wondered how many people there are out there, that's on some kind of unlimited plan, who actually knows how much data they use on average per month? My wife, teenager and I generally don't use data outside the house, but it's nice knowing we have access to data when we need to. Why should one pay AT&T (or any other company) $20+ a month for data they may use? It boils down to what someone needs, data-wise. If someone's going to use a lot of data, then clearly, ting isn't for them. But if they're just checking email at the store, looking for some new place to eat at downtown, or getting directions from here to there, then ting fits the bill. At least, it does for us.
Then AT&T or any other provider should refuse to support these 2nd hand phones other than whats needed to connect to the service.
Wifi doesn't work? Google it.
Memory card isn't reading? Bing it.
SMS not going through, well, that's a little tricky. SMS settings might need to be changed, I imagine, if the phone was initially on another carrier. This should be up to the carrier/support.
If I was a carrier, and someone brought a phone from someone else other than me, and wouldn't put it on contract, it's reasonable to me to provide the minimum support needed to provide the basic service. For me, that would be voice services, SMS and data would cost some more. Want cheaper data and sms, then by all means, make a contract with me, and I'll provide.
Now that I think of it, I'm a corporate, I can make money off this 2nd hand phone market. I can $ell $upport for these phone$. Wifi doesn't work? $10 to fix! Memory card not reading? $5! Want a monthly $upport contract? $20 a month!
I'm using ting and I hardly ever pay more than 50 a month for 3 android phones. When we were with AT&T, we were paying 110 a month for 3 dumb phones and no data.
Now, we have access to data if we need to, otherwise, we use our wifi connected to our 40/20 centurylink dsl service for data consumption
When we do use data, it's usually to look up an address or find the local papa murphy's pizza place to grab some pies on the way home. Clearly, the OPs needs are more aligned to mine than to "$35 unlimited data is working out pretty well. How's your $70 very-limited data working out for you?" I don't need unlimited data. I don't watch netflix on my 4" screen away from home, that can wait until I get home.
I guess my counter to "$35 unlimited data is working out pretty well. How's your $70 very-limited data working out for you?" would be, "If you need more than 2GB of data while away from home, seek help!"
6 dollars is it. Assuming you do not use any minutes, texts or data.
I'm on ting as well, and have been pushing people I know to use ting. We dropped our $110 a month bill from ATT using dumb phones and no internet/data plan to 52 a month with 3 android phones and data.
I seem to recall my wife's photon having a sims card slot in it.. though I'd have to wait for her to get home and rip the battery cover off to see =) Then again it could be my daughter's transform ultra.
The local theaters are starting to stop with the limited run open-captions and actually going to closed-captioned for people like me.
For some of you who may not know, open-caption is hard subtitles (hence the limited runs. The local chains would run just 1 or 2 open captioned movies per area, usually the same movie. My choices for movies were limited to whatever was being offered at the time)
Closed caption is, well, they can be turned off or not viewed by the user if they chose to do so.
I'm not entirely sure but I'm almost positive that theaters are required to offer captions/subtitles, since some deaf people in Oregon and Washington DC has sued some of these chains for not providing so, under the ADA. If anything, theaters are required to offer such services not because of an ADA mandate, but rather from a settlement agreement that the deaf plaintiffs and several theater chains came to an agreement with.
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that the ADA prohibits employers from requiring disabled workers to use or maintain "medical treatment" as a condition for employment. (Unless the treatment is for work-related injuries, which is a different matter, of course)
If your hearing aid broke, then they're required to provide reasonable accommodation unless doing so would incur them undue hardship, unless, of course, having you around would put yourself or anyone else working with you at risk of serious injury. Don't be afraid to drag the EEOC into any issues with your employer (Assuming you're in the US, that is). I certainly didn't.
For myself, my insurance company wouldn't pay a dime for a hearing aid. I had to scrounge and save money for a year and a half to same up for a digital hearing aid I got from Costco, and less than a year later, with a $3k loan from my parents, I ended up getting a cochlear implant, which, oddly enough, was my copay my insurance company required before they'd pay for the rest.
Go figure. They'd rather spend $35K for an implantation and not $2k for a hearing aid.
And for what it's worth, the implant was worth every penny. I thought the digital hearing aid I got from costco was the shit, it certainly made things clearer, but once I was on the cochlear implant, I couldn't stand the crappy sound I was hearing in my other ear.
Would be nice if the prices for text messaging is reduced.
I'm deaf, and therefore, have absolutely no need for voice minutes. ATT, Sprint, and verizon all offers a deaf access plan, but they're all over 30 (40 if i wanted 4G) a month, which is more than i'm currently paying for ATT's family plan = $10 a month access + $20 a month unlimited texting (10 for me and 10 for the wife), which brings my cost per month to just $20. I didn't include t-mobile because 1) I'm not sure if they offer such a plan. 2) their pre-paid 100 minutes/unlimited text/data for 30 a month doesn't have documentary requirements (ATT, sprint and verizon requires me to prove I'm deaf before they'd even consider adding me to those special plans). So obviously, paying $20+ a month just to send and receive text messages is.. well, enough said.
Reading comments about imessaging, i was lead to believe that the ipod touch 4g (damn you!) was a cellular capable music player but turns out it isn't. If i wanted a cellular capable non voicing device, I'd have to get an ipad, but honestly, I don't want to walk around town with a big tablet just in case my wife needs to text me to pick up bread and milk. Would be nice if the ipod did this though.
Slashdot Mirror
8 years ago I went and got myself implanted, and never looked back. I had lost 100% of my hearing in my left ear and 90% of my hearing in my right ear at 8 years old, when I was hit by a car. Despite losing so much, the deaf culture never really accepted me, since I was never really considered truly deaf. I wasn't born into it, and spent a better part of 26 years kind of stuck in between the hearing and deaf world. I could sign, I could speak, and often I found myself interpreting for some deaf friends while I was growing up. But never, during that entire time, was I ever really accepted by the deaf culture.
These friends I lost, when I decided to go ahead and get myself implanted. They couldn't understand why I wanted to be a part of something I never could have been, and I reminded them that the deaf panthers (same vein as the black panthers) never really did accept me as a part of the deaf culture, and I was really sick of being neither "deaf" or "hearing".
They viewed their deafness as something to be proud about. I viewed it as something that was holding me back. They day I let them know I was going to get implanted, and hoped that they would understand, they looked at me as if I was something disgusting. Being called a traitor, could have been nicer than some of the things they called me then.
Deaf Pride? Deaf Culture? Pshaw. While I have nothing really to compare the quality of the sound that the implant has given me, I can compare them to the $1200 digital hearing aid I had purchased an year earlier. When I left the store, and fired up my car, the song I was listening to before sounded completely different. It sounded better, and I realized I was hearing things I never really could with the old crappy hearing aids I had before. Then when I got my implant turned on, there was no comparison. I've tried listening with both my hearing aid (right ear, 90% loss) and my implant (left ear, previously 100% loss), and found that I could not stand the hearing aid any more. It's been sitting in my desk drawer in the 8 year since I had my implantation.
If some people wants to fool themselves into thinking that Deafness is something to be proud of, then by all means, let them. I'm going to get my right ear implanted soon, and while I'll never truly be a hearing person, at least, I'll leave a major part of my deafness behind.
My brother in law was on the sprint network. Claimed he loved his unlimited data plan and didn't want to switch over from sprint to anyone else. Until we looked at his bill, saw what he used per month on average (260MB), and compared rates to what ting wanted for similar. I believe he saw something like an 80 a month savings, just switching from sprint to ting.
Because he already had a sprint android phone, moving over to ting wasn't an issue other than paying the ETF, and that he recovered within a few months after saving a lot of money on his services.
After that I've wondered how many people there are out there, that's on some kind of unlimited plan, who actually knows how much data they use on average per month? My wife, teenager and I generally don't use data outside the house, but it's nice knowing we have access to data when we need to. Why should one pay AT&T (or any other company) $20+ a month for data they may use? It boils down to what someone needs, data-wise. If someone's going to use a lot of data, then clearly, ting isn't for them. But if they're just checking email at the store, looking for some new place to eat at downtown, or getting directions from here to there, then ting fits the bill. At least, it does for us.
Then AT&T or any other provider should refuse to support these 2nd hand phones other than whats needed to connect to the service.
Wifi doesn't work? Google it.
Memory card isn't reading? Bing it.
SMS not going through, well, that's a little tricky. SMS settings might need to be changed, I imagine, if the phone was initially on another carrier. This should be up to the carrier/support.
If I was a carrier, and someone brought a phone from someone else other than me, and wouldn't put it on contract, it's reasonable to me to provide the minimum support needed to provide the basic service. For me, that would be voice services, SMS and data would cost some more. Want cheaper data and sms, then by all means, make a contract with me, and I'll provide.
Now that I think of it, I'm a corporate, I can make money off this 2nd hand phone market. I can $ell $upport for these phone$. Wifi doesn't work? $10 to fix! Memory card not reading? $5! Want a monthly $upport contract? $20 a month!
I'm using ting and I hardly ever pay more than 50 a month for 3 android phones. When we were with AT&T, we were paying 110 a month for 3 dumb phones and no data.
Now, we have access to data if we need to, otherwise, we use our wifi connected to our 40/20 centurylink dsl service for data consumption
When we do use data, it's usually to look up an address or find the local papa murphy's pizza place to grab some pies on the way home. Clearly, the OPs needs are more aligned to mine than to "$35 unlimited data is working out pretty well. How's your $70 very-limited data working out for you?" I don't need unlimited data. I don't watch netflix on my 4" screen away from home, that can wait until I get home.
I guess my counter to "$35 unlimited data is working out pretty well. How's your $70 very-limited data working out for you?" would be, "If you need more than 2GB of data while away from home, seek help!"
6 dollars is it. Assuming you do not use any minutes, texts or data. I'm on ting as well, and have been pushing people I know to use ting. We dropped our $110 a month bill from ATT using dumb phones and no internet/data plan to 52 a month with 3 android phones and data. I seem to recall my wife's photon having a sims card slot in it.. though I'd have to wait for her to get home and rip the battery cover off to see =) Then again it could be my daughter's transform ultra.
The local theaters are starting to stop with the limited run open-captions and actually going to closed-captioned for people like me.
For some of you who may not know, open-caption is hard subtitles (hence the limited runs. The local chains would run just 1 or 2 open captioned movies per area, usually the same movie. My choices for movies were limited to whatever was being offered at the time)
Closed caption is, well, they can be turned off or not viewed by the user if they chose to do so.
I'm not entirely sure but I'm almost positive that theaters are required to offer captions/subtitles, since some deaf people in Oregon and Washington DC has sued some of these chains for not providing so, under the ADA. If anything, theaters are required to offer such services not because of an ADA mandate, but rather from a settlement agreement that the deaf plaintiffs and several theater chains came to an agreement with.
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that the ADA prohibits employers from requiring disabled workers to use or maintain "medical treatment" as a condition for employment. (Unless the treatment is for work-related injuries, which is a different matter, of course)
If your hearing aid broke, then they're required to provide reasonable accommodation unless doing so would incur them undue hardship, unless, of course, having you around would put yourself or anyone else working with you at risk of serious injury. Don't be afraid to drag the EEOC into any issues with your employer (Assuming you're in the US, that is). I certainly didn't.
For myself, my insurance company wouldn't pay a dime for a hearing aid. I had to scrounge and save money for a year and a half to same up for a digital hearing aid I got from Costco, and less than a year later, with a $3k loan from my parents, I ended up getting a cochlear implant, which, oddly enough, was my copay my insurance company required before they'd pay for the rest.
Go figure. They'd rather spend $35K for an implantation and not $2k for a hearing aid.
And for what it's worth, the implant was worth every penny. I thought the digital hearing aid I got from costco was the shit, it certainly made things clearer, but once I was on the cochlear implant, I couldn't stand the crappy sound I was hearing in my other ear.
Would be nice if the prices for text messaging is reduced. I'm deaf, and therefore, have absolutely no need for voice minutes. ATT, Sprint, and verizon all offers a deaf access plan, but they're all over 30 (40 if i wanted 4G) a month, which is more than i'm currently paying for ATT's family plan = $10 a month access + $20 a month unlimited texting (10 for me and 10 for the wife), which brings my cost per month to just $20. I didn't include t-mobile because 1) I'm not sure if they offer such a plan. 2) their pre-paid 100 minutes/unlimited text/data for 30 a month doesn't have documentary requirements (ATT, sprint and verizon requires me to prove I'm deaf before they'd even consider adding me to those special plans). So obviously, paying $20+ a month just to send and receive text messages is.. well, enough said. Reading comments about imessaging, i was lead to believe that the ipod touch 4g (damn you!) was a cellular capable music player but turns out it isn't. If i wanted a cellular capable non voicing device, I'd have to get an ipad, but honestly, I don't want to walk around town with a big tablet just in case my wife needs to text me to pick up bread and milk. Would be nice if the ipod did this though.