I WOULD LIKE TO COMment on the letters (The Mail,4/28) written in response to the “News of the Weird” piece concerning deaf people (4/21).

I can’t remember when I’ve read such arrogant and idiotic remarks concerning a handicap matter. Yes, “handicap,” not “glorious culture,” as Trudy Suggs suggests. Our ears are not on our head for display purposes. To not have one’s hearing is a major setback and precludes one from many careers and activities.

Obviously, being deaf does not condemn one to a life of misery and deprivation. The remarks of the three authors are indicative of that. Yet it is absolutely ridiculous to suggest there is something glorious about being deaf. It is not something a hearing person would seek out voluntarily, I assure you.

The bottom line is that for most people, someone trying to produce a handicapped baby on purpose is, indeed, weird and no one need offer an apology for saying so.

Burke, Va., via the Internet