So, I know I have been all about the Olympics lately, my last blog and my final paper but I can't seem to let it go becasue it is such a great foundation. The Olympics have been around for many year and keep growing with popularity every year! I was searching google when I came across a site for the Deaflympics. Before this encounter I have never heard of them only the regular Olympics and Paralympics. But did you know that the Deaflympics are the second oldest Olympic games after the Summer Olympics? The Deaflympics have been around since 1924 and that year were held in Paris, France. Since then it has been trucking along with traditions for 80 years. The last Deaflympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. Those games attracted over 3,000 spectators. The cool part about he Deaflympics is that there is both summer and winter games just like the regular Olympics. You have to be pretty deaf to compete in the games. In your good ear the athlete has to hear 55 decibels.
In highschool, I took American Sign Language or ASL. In this class I learned about Deaf culture and what is considered right and wrong and how you could be excluded from the Deaf community. Well one thing that Deaf people do not like is being called a deaf-mute but hard of hearing and Deaf are allowed. Deaf families and the community also frown upon cochlear implants. Many of you might not know what this is but it is a device that is inserted into your cochlea a snail like organ in your body. A cochlear implant is supposed to help with hearing but all it really does is make it more fuzzy for the Deaf person. Other hearing helpers such as hearing aids are frowned upon in the Deaf community. Deaf people value their culture and do not like trying to be changed by science. By getting a cochlear implant makes you less deaf and also excludes you from competing in the Deaflympics. The Deaflympics makes this rule so everyone is on the same playing field. Because the Deaflympics are held in both Summer and Winter, many sports are offered a few from both games include:water polo, swimming, tennis and winter: ice hockey, snowboard, and curling.
Cool fact: The Deaflympics are run by all Deaf people for Deaf people, they are independent and do not like being looked at as a disability.
I hope you learned something new because I did!
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I really liked this post because i have honestly never heard of the Deaflympics before in my life! Its nice that you went searching and hey, you found something you never knew about and it was there the whole time! Very interesting article! Liked it a bunch.
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