I have to wonder: How do the congenitally deaf react to people such as Limbaugh who were part of the hearing world until they lost the ability to hear? Does the deaf community accept them, or is there discrimination? Does the deaf community experience segregation between the congenitally deaf and the former-hearers?

When I was in college, I dated a young man whose brother-in-law had lost his hearing as an adult. This deaf man refused to learn sign language, and communicated by lip-reading and by writing what he wanted to say. He wished to remain as much a part of the hearing community as possible, and seemed to have no interest in communing with the deaf. Was he in denial? Refusing to "give in" to his "disability"? Or just choosing the group he wanted to hang with?