To enjoy good health is a blessing that many of us merely take for granted, while others work at maintaining it despite a disability such as deafness. Yet it is something that can be enjoyed by anyone who is determined to have it despite certain physical difficulties they may suffer from.
There seems to be a far too commonly held opinion by many of those with normal hearing that those without it must be incapable of staying fit and healthy. This is absurd of course, but it must be part of human nature that mimics the animal kingdom that compartmentalizes those seen as weak by those that are strong.
However, there is one major aspect that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and that is our higher mental faculties. It means we don’t have to accede to base animal instincts where our intelligence allows us to rise above it.
When we stop and use that intelligence to reason things through, it becomes obvious that deafness doesn’t make a person weak unless they choose not to keep fit through physical exercise or do anything to keep themselves healthy. In other words, a deaf person can be every bit as fit, healthy and physically strong as anyone else!
Health in terms of physical fitness as well as internal bodily health is a fact of life that humankind is blessed with and given the tools with which to maintain it when we choose to do so (see cirv.org for more details). We can choose what we eat and drink and thereby either maintain a healthful diet that promotes our well being or we can choose to eat a bad diet which eventually leads to unhealthy conditions and illnesses that doctors then have to take over and treat.
Taking deafness as an example of the kind of disability that should not prevent a person from eating healthily and exercising regularly, we can see how a lack of hearing would not stop a person from engaging in those practices. After all, there is no need to be able to hear in order to run around a track, work out at a gym or eat a meal that is made up of wholesome food any more than it would prevent a person from reading a book and learning all about healthy ways.
So there are many ways in which a person can enjoy a full and healthful lifestyle despite a lack of hearing function. Indeed, many people with such a disability tend to be more highly motivated to compensate for one lack by excelling in other areas of life.
Further reading: Hearing Disorders and Deafness
