And then I see sims wandering about with hearing aids, and they're not having to ask people to face them when they're trying to have a conversation, or dealing with people getting annoyed because they've had to ask another sim to repeat themselves, or having other sims shout at them because they think that yelling somehow makes it easier to lip read - and all of that's not even including the fact that I don't see any hearing aid wearing Sims actually signing, which is a language of its own and a huge part of deaf culture, plus they can all talk and be understood perfectly well which is not always the case with people born deaf. Like, I'm sorry but the hearing aid fairy isn't just going to wave a magic wand and give someone perfect hearing.
I feel similarly even though I'm not deaf. If I were to have deaf Sims, I wouldn't want
all of them to be in families that only speak, but there's no other option in the Sims. Sign language is important and it feels a little icky to me to include hearing aids while not including anything else because IRL deaf people are constantly ignored or forced to speak and it is such a huge problem. Parents of deaf children who refuse to learn sign language annoy me, but they're also not at all uncommon. Hearing aids aren't magic. They can be annoying and require a lot of concentration. Sometimes people just want to relax and speak a language that's less effort. Representation is great, but it can be hard to get right, and here the Sims may be perpetuating the idea that deafness can be completely eliminated with hearing aids/implants and that sign language is irrelevant because it is no problem for deaf people to speak -- when speaking and listening with a hearing aid can require a ton of effort and constant concentration. But I still think this is a step in the right direction.
