Recent Suicides of Gay Teenagers and Speaking Out

[giblets]

I've never seen anyone hold up signs saying "God hates papists" outside of funerals or advocate laws that would prevent Catholic couples from getting married or adopting kids. I'm not aware of any Catholics being driven to suicide either. Mostly non-Catholics seem to think Catholics have some silly beliefs and non-Catholics tend to be offended by child molestation. Really whatever problems Catholics have in this country, they're pretty trivial compared to the problems faced by gay people.

[Al B. Sure!]

WASPy Catholic Canadians have it so bad

[Ben Kenobi]

Nope, that's not what I was talking about, which just reinforces my point. We are talking about kids in school. I didn't have that as a kid, because I wasn't Catholic back then. But I was something else and still am.

[giblets]

Nope, that's not what I was talking about, which just reinforces my point. We are talking about kids in school. I didn't have that as a kid, because I wasn't Catholic back then. But I was something else and still am.

Having a hearing impairment is a community now? OK.

I'm sure someone will stand outside your funeral holding up a sign saying "GOD HATES DEAF PEOPLE". Also I wouldn't be surprised if some states had laws saying deaf people can't get married or adopt kids. I bet MrFun hasn't taken the time to speak out against such laws. What a hypocrite.

[Ben Kenobi]

Deaf community?

I'm sure someone will stand outside your funeral holding up a sign saying "GOD HATES DEAF PEOPLE".

It's only quite recently that we've been integrated in classrooms rather then isolated in special ed.

[Al B. Sure!]

Ben, forgive me if I am wrong, but what you have isn't very life changing and to lump yourself in with people with total hearing loss is doing their struggles a disservice. You're like someone with myopia that isn't correctable to 20/20. That doesn't make someone blind.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben, forgive me if I am wrong, but what you have isn't very life changing and to lump yourself in with people with total hearing loss is doing their struggles a disservice. You're like someone with myopia that isn't correctable to 20/20. That doesn't make someone blind.

I have a blind friend, and he even says it is no different. We're both freaks but of different sorts so we get along.

My hearing loss is defined as profound, which is as severe as it gets without being actually deaf. The average person with my hearing loss, will have a reading level of about grade 3. So yes, it is game changing as far education goes for most. Even in the education climate of today. There just aren't that many of us around to have any appreciable impact on the education system.

For me, I was lucky. I had parents who were educated and understood. They also fought hard for me to stay in school. When I got in elementary school, the accepted understanding was that I would be placed into special education, and they fought that understanding for years. When I was in grade 10, one of my teachers said that she was shocked that I was in her class and attempted to sabotage my marks.

I've dealt with 20 years now of educating the educators, into the reality of a hidden disability. Some have caught on, others have not. Some have been a beacon of hope for better times. I can't complain about the ones that have truly understood, but they have not even been most of them. Mostly I'm getting bloody tired of always fighting the common perception. Lots of hurts and pains over the years. Some from those who have meant well. Some who haven't. Something as simple as notetaking in university was non-existant even in the big schools. They were supposed to get paid, but I never really fit in with the 'community' understanding. They used me as an ambassador to reach out to other deaf students, but they were never interested in listening to what we actually wanted. So much so, I realised I was on the wrong side of the line.

That was hard for me to grasp. They were used to making all the decisions for us, having students come from special ed, where they would make all the decisions as to who or what would be involved. Even at the college level. The perception there was that they knew better. They fought me over my selections, so much so, I had some of them quit on me after not getting paid for 4 months. So I paid them out of my pocket and the 'system' actually worked.

I was lucky. I found a purpose and an understanding in my life, but I came very close to being one of these statistics here. But I'm not the cause celebre, so I have to just keep on trucking.

[Asher]

Trust me, Ben, you were not lucky. You are just as stupid as you would've been had you not had the opportunities you did. But at least then you would know it.

Your profound stupidity is not in any way linked to your profound hearing loss.

[Ben Kenobi]

Trust me, Ben, you were not lucky. You are just as stupid as you would've been had you not had the opportunities you did. But at least then you would know it. giin

Really. Irony then that Mr. Fun regards you as actually giving a damn about other folks. We both know that's not true. You do this in every 'bullying' thread, try to push folks around. Enlightening really.

You seem to believe that I didn't earn any of my opportunities. Why is this?

Your profound stupidity is not in any way linked to your profound hearing loss.

I've dealt with folks like you all my life. What puzzles me is why you believe you are special. You seem to think I've not heard that crap before.

[Asher]

I'm the bully, and you're the one campaigning to force your viewpoints on the rest of the country.

I just don't tolerate bull****, and that's all you are.

[MrFun]

Thank you for turning a thread about suicides and need for outreach into a thread about your self-centered self, BK.

[Al B. Sure!]

Thank you for turning a thread about suicides and need for outreach into a thread about your self-centered self, BK.

You mean a thread about emotionally unstable homosexuals wasn't ultimately self-centered on you, MrFun?

[Imran Siddiqui]

You kinda had to know that Ben would try to **** all over this thread though, MrFun. He'd rather complain about you not caring about the hearing impaired in a thread about gay teenagers and depression and suicide than start his own thread on the issue of hearing impaired. And, as we all know, he did that on purpose.

[SlowwHand]

No one likes being bullied. It's not a gay phenomena, nor a hearing impaired. Not just gays that have been bullied commit suicide. Bullies suck.

[Al B. Sure!]

No one likes being bullied. It's not a gay phenomena, nor a hearing impaired. Not just gays that have been bullied commit suicide. Bullies suck.

But Sloww... how else will the kids learn that the world tries to beat them down and they need to develop a spine and fight back! They sure as hell won't learn that if we're all "I love you because we're all special!"