Thread by @AShettle

#HowToPissOffDisabledPeople

Me: I tried to see this movie, but the captioning device didn't work for me

Them (after I explain how captioning devices at movie theaters can help me understand movies--when they work!): Oh, so you couldn't see the movie because you're deaf. -->

#HowToPissOffDisabledPeople

Me: (Tries again to explain relevance of the captioning device NOT WORKING to the fact that I couldn't see the movie)

Them: So you're basically saying that you couldn't see the movie because you're deaf.

Me: (silently screaming inside)

#HowToPissOffDisabledPeople

Then there are ppl who not only disregard the CAPTION DEVICE NOT WORKING but act as if I have somehow, silly me, forgotten I am deaf. And need to be reminded. And need to have it tactfully explained that this is why I can't understand movies.

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So let's see if I can explain this so that hearing, non-disabled people unversed in the social model perspective on disability can grasp the concept.

1. No, I have not become silly enough to forget that I'm deaf
2. I remember being deaf, thanks -->

3. I remember being deaf because, guess what? I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DEAF.
4. I have now been deaf for, let's see, (48 X 365, plus leap years and a couple of months), 17,583 days.
5. It's been a constant factor in my life, all 17,583 days of it -->

6. And THAT, in fact, is exactly why I don't mention deafness as a factor. Because my deafness DOES NOT VARY.
7. BUT, my ability to understand movies DOES vary greatly. It doesn't stay the same.
-->

8. See, let me tell you a true story. I go to see a movie and & understand every word. I see a movie again--maybe the same movie maybe different, maybe the same theater or a different one. But this time I understand nothing. I again go to see a movie and this time understand all.

9. You insist on using ONLY my deafness to explain my inability to understand the movie ON THE SPECIFIC OCCASIONS WHEN I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. To the point where you completely wave aside or override my attempt to explain any other factor. As if nothing else is relevant.

10. But if you insist on using my deafness as the ONLY factor that needs be mentioned in explaining why I SOMETIMES cannot understand a movie, then you fail to explain why there are other occasions when I DO understand a movie. Sometimes the same movie at the same theater!

11. Except, no wait, you DO explain! Or more precisely, you don't explain, but you leave only one possible logical conclusion that can possibly be derived from your insistence on my deafness as the only factor that matters!
12. Clearly, I must have magically become hearing!

13. Clearly, something I ate in the popcorn must have magically cured my deafness so that it no longer stops me from understanding the movie! Or, no, maybe it's the theater seat that is magical! They have reclining chairs at Regal now, that must be it, they've added new magic!

14. Except, no. I cannot have magically become hearing BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DEAF.
15. This means that there are times when I understand movies WHILE STILL BEING A DEAF PERSON.

16. Wouldn't it be a far more logical conclusion to realize that my deafness is only ONE factor in why I SOMETIMES don't understand movies?
17. When I neglect to mention my deafness as a factor? It's not because I'm in denial about its role in my understanding movies.

18. It's simply because my deafness? ALWAYS REMAINS THE SAME. And therefore cannot explain why my ability to understand/not understand a movie? Does NOT remain the same each time I visit a theater.

19. When the results of your action? Are different each time? Then it makes no sense to look at the constants in my life to explain the VARIANCE in the results.
20. What you want to look at are the VARIABLES in your life to explain the variance in the results.

21. My deafness does not vary, and therefore cannot explain why my ability to understand movies can vary from one visit to the next.
22. What DOES vary is whether the captioning equipment functions well during a given visit.

23. Occasionally (maybe 10% of the time) it is perfect. I can lose myself in the movie. Occasionally (maybe 10%) it fails completely and I need to ask for a refund. Most of the time, most of the captions are there, but a few lines are lost creating frustration and stress.

24. The point is, because my deafness does not vary, my deafness in isolation from other factors is simply not adequate in explaining why I can sometimes understand movies but sometimes cannot.

25. This is one part of why it bothers me when people twist around my attempt to explain the role of accessibility barriers in my life into a statement that I couldn't do a thing simply because, and only because, of my deafness.

26a. When you insist on overriding my narrative about my own lived experience, and scolding me as if I'm a silly little thing for "forgetting" that I'm deaf, and completely erase the importance of accessibility barriers in my life (malfunctioning captioning equipment) -->

26b. Then you essentially absolve theaters from the responsibility of fixing these accessibility barriers. Please don't do that. Don't shift the narrative from accessibility barriers in the environment (which does vary a lot) to my deafness (which never varies).

27. In summary, It annoys the heck out of me when non-disabled people try to erase the role of accessibility barriers in my life and instead point to my deafness as the only factor that matters in what I can and can't do.
#HowToPissOffDisabledPeople