THE DEAF and hard of hearing are practically ignored as compared with other types of cripples. Helen Keller has been heard to say that to be deaf is worse than to be blind. The handicap from blindness or from poliomyelitis is usually obvious; that from deafness is not. Because deafness is not obvious, the general public has no idea that the hard of hearing are being neglected. Few educators, welfare workers or doctors know how serious a handicap deafness can be. The deafened often do not realize how much they do not hear. They forget, or do not know what it is like, to carry on a normal life. They usually tend to retire into a shell, but occasionally they react the other way and dominate conversation so that nobody else can talk. Yet if they are discovered and their deafness is properly appraised, many can be helped and