[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 30, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H7360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING THE PHYSICALLY IMPAIRED AND THOSE THAT WORK WITH THEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, recently the distinguished gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Kingston) took a Special Order honoring Rush Limbaugh, who 
is undergoing a hearing loss. Many people are unaware and/or 
indifferent to those who experience physical infirmities, including 
deafness and blindness. When celebrities become affected, however, 
attention is focused on the celebrity, as well as the infirmity or 
disability. Fanny Crosby, the beloved hymn composer, was visually 
impaired, as are entertainers Doc Watson and Ray Charles. Helen Keller 
overcame blindness as well as deafness.
  Many are prone to dismiss deafness as a mere inconvenience when 
compared to other infirmities. I have a personal familiarity with the 
hearing impaired, Mr. Speaker. My mom has been legally deaf most of her 
adult life. My first cousin at the time of her retirement served as 
superintendent of the North Carolina School for the Deaf.
  Several years ago, while motoring in North Carolina on a Sunday 
morning, I was listening to the Lutheran Hour on the automobile radio. 
The host, Dr. Ozzie Hoffmann, was discussing physical infirmities. He 
said if offered a choice of losing the sense of sight or the sense of 
hearing, most people would opt to retain their vision. The host of the 
program then presented an interesting aside. Blindness, he noted, 
removes the visually impaired from objects and things; deafness, he 
declared, removes the hearing impaired from people.
  Oftentimes persons who have impaired hearing are mistakenly accused 
of being unfriendly or aloof, when the truth of the matter is their 
deafness, as Dr. Hoffmann indicated years ago, has removed them from 
people. Their skills for communication, Mr. Speaker, have been 
adversely affected.
  My mom was an outstanding parent and wife, despite having been 
deprived of normal hearing. Rush Limbaugh, hopefully, will not be 
removed from contact with his vast listening audience.
  Finally, permit me to urge my colleagues in this House and in the 
other body as well to be consciously aware of difficulties encountered 
by those who are visually and hearing impaired. We who enjoy normal 
vision and hearing oftentimes take these luxuries for granted.
  These are indeed luxuries which we should not embrace casually, and 
those who do not enjoy these luxuries deserve a tip of our hats for the 
extra effort they are required to expend to make it through life. Most 
of the blind and deaf people I know are upbeat, optimistic and rarely 
bitter as a result of their infirmities. They are indeed unsung heroes 
and thoroughly deserve our admiration and respect, as do the men and 
women who work with the visually and hearing impaired to make their 
lives more complete and more fulfilled.

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