Is Industrial deafness a disability?
Many people who are not deaf consider somebody who is congenitally deaf or slightly deaf to have a disability. They think this is common sense. Whether or not somebody has a disability when they have developed industrial deafness is often considered to be less certain. These people are more likely to be considered to have “hearing loss”. So what is the definition of a disability and how does this impact somebody who has industrial deafness? A disability is defined as a limitation of function because of an impairment. Deaf people are limited in some functions because of an impairment of hearing. French philosopher Michael Foucault (1980) showed that “bodies are the battlefield” and that political and economic forces in the history of the Western world have fought for control of the human body and its functions. Nearly 70,000 people in the UK say they have a hearing problem Despite the fact that many people whose hearing is impaired through industrial deafness are considered to be disabl
