Wow. This is really nice. Both my parents are profoundly Deaf, so I grew up in Deaf culture. New Zealand Sign Language was my first language - I was fluent in that (as fluent as a young child can be) before I was in English. So often I come across articles and people talking about Deafness in a way that I completely wasn't used to - I had conversations with people in which they (having known zero Deaf people) insisted that the only ones who didn't get Cochlear implants either couldn't afford it or didn't know better, and kept insisting so when I attempted to explain my own experiences.

I've never seen it as a disability. Growing up, it was always this weird thing - to other people. I didn't even really recognise it as different. A bunch of friends and almost every teacher sort of made an exception for me, singled me out as "different" - all because my mother was Deaf and asked (very reasonably) for the school to hire an interpreter for events and the like.

I've got to dash, but I'll come back in a few and finish these thoughts.