It's no surprise that a lot of the people from the outside view the Deaf community as a community that wants to isolate themselves from the "outside world aka hearing world". Also some believe that the Deaf community in general are anti hearing aids and anti cochlear implants. They believe that Deaf culture promotes that type of thinking.
I really disagreed with that opinion. One, no matter how culturally Deaf you may be, you can never "escape" the hearing world. It is everywhere we look. The grocery store. The bus driver. The workplace. Our families. Our friends. I do not support the idea of rejecting hearing people from my circle. Some may prefer to hang out with Deaf people more, and that is simply because it requires much less effort and i can't blame them. With a non-signing hearing person, we have to stop and write [unless we're oral of course], while that is fun and all, it's not the same as to just turn to a signing person and sign away, laugh at the same time and so on. Imagine, if you were surrounded by people who could not speak and you had to write to them all the time, you would feel a sense of comfort and relief when you find someone that can speak and hear just like you because you can just relax and converse effortlessly.
The concept that we are trying to isolate ourselves from the hearing world is just downright ludicrous, because it is impossible. Period. A deaf community is a community where D/deaf people seek others who can communicate the way they do. It's natural to have an urge to find someone who talks in the language that you do. If we are isolating ourselves from the "outside world" simply because we seek others who sign. Then according to that theory, every single other community out there is rejecting the outside community. The GLBT community rejects the straight community and so on. Is that true? No. But yes some GLBT people do prefer to only hang out with other GLBT people because there's a mutual understanding, just like how some D/deaf people prefer to only hang out with other D/deaf people. But is that how the majority acts and thinks? No.
The concept that the majority of the D/deaf community are anti-hearing aids and anti-cochlear implants is also incorrect if you ask me. Most of the deaf people [deaf and Deaf] I have know through-out my life have worn hearing aids. The Deaf girl who taught me ASL and was one of the most culturally Deaf person I have known as a child, wore her hearing aids ALL the time, she adored her aids while I barely wore mine. The Deaf woman who re-introduced me to the deaf world and opened my path toward Deaf culture and the Deaf identity, has a cochlear implant. When i went to Burnaby South, which is a public school with a program for the deaf, where you have the choice of studying some subjects in a hearing class or in a deaf class. There was about 50 deaf students, and most of them wore hearing aids. Then back at the dorm where there were kids from kindergarten up to last year of high school, most wore hearing aids. There were a few who had implants but back then it was not that common yet. Now there's MUCH more D/deaf people who have cochlear implants.
YES there are indeed some people who are anti-aids or anti-cochlear implants. But the reality is that the ones who wear them or are at least accepting of others who wear them, outnumbers the ones who don't. Just like how in pretty much every other culture or community out there. Also the good thing is that a lot of people have been trying to open the elitists eyes up by using the term Deafhood. To show them that by pointing at each other and saying you're not culturally Deaf, or you are a traitor to the community by wearing aids, we are just dragging each other down [or pushing them down while we climb upwards] and painting a bad picture of the community. These people are doing damage to the community's reputation without even realizing it. The term Deafhood and promoting awareness of the term 'crab theory', more of these people are starting to realize their errors. That's a great thing! Hopefully within time there will be less people who are like that.
I want to ask you, readers, to comment to my entry.
Do you wear aids or implants?
Are you accepting of others who wear aids and implants?
Do you think one can be culturally Deaf and yet wear aids or implants?
Do you think that Deaf culture promotes isolation and anti-hearing/aids/implants?
Do you think that the anti-hearing/aids/implants Deaf people outnumbers the accepting Deaf people in the community?
Please share your opinions. I will forward them to the people I have been talking to on this topic. Thank you!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
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17 rants:
No, I never have a hearing aid. My sister did. It was never the question whether I accepted her after all she's my sister. I could remember how jealous I got when she enjoyed 100% attention from our Deaf parents for putting her hearing aids on. However, we all know that her amplification benefit her virtually nothing at home as well as at school. Today she doesn't have a hearing aid. As for cochlear implants, our Dad once considered being implanted and underwent a lot of counseling and testing at a teaching hospital (NIH and Children Hospital in Washington, DC don't do cochlear implants...only teaching hospitals do because cochlear implants are full of probabilities.). He even practiced lipreading developed by some AGBAD groups on TV at home. I must admit that we did ridicule him for pursuing cochlear implants because he would receive no reinforcement at home, which is 100% DEAF. Although he was screened eligible, his health insurance company rejected his bid for cochlear implants.
Your title...what Deaf Culture has to offer...requires some thinking. There are many, many classics that are not translated into ASL or discussed in ASL. Why no translation? Are Deaf people semi-illiterate? We've got a lot of work to do, and it's what Deaf Culture can promote...100% literacy in ASL.
What about stem cells? Everyone is way too focused on CI's these days.
Stem cells have been able to restore lost hearing to servicemen from Iraq in as quickly as 45 days.
Hi I have been reading your blogs.. I grew up going to hearing school with deaf program that was in our 1969 to 1977. They didnt provided us any interpreters in a regular hearing class. I had IEP meeting showed that I was too smart for the deaf program so they placed me in hearing classes or math and English.I'm deaf with my hearing aids .I can hear some sounds but they are annoying ugly sounds which gave me headaches . I always turned off the hearing aids after the teachers checked on us to see if they were turned on or i chewed the wires and teachers took me to the speech class to get it fixed I found many
ways to rid of my hearing aids by throwing it in toilet or throw it away after i rolled down the window in the car . My parents often get mad at me . They keep buying me new one . and they demanded me wearing them all the time . I was too strong willed person. I refused wearing it at home .. It frustrated my parents .. They wanted working with me on my speech every day .. I gave them a hard time .. i rather playing outside with my hearing friends .. we use lots of gestures and made many home signs . we didnt have any problem communicated each other ..In 1975, The deaf programs decided to use the total communication method . I was learned signed in SEE. I was thrilled that I understand better with signs than oralism. Then I entered in MSSD and I was Shocked how different they use in sign lauguages ..They were making fun of me with my SEE and i was determined to change it to ASL and I loved it .. I can see ASL is the most beautiful lauguage and It shows more interesting than SEE in story telling. My english skills are not that great cz i spent all day praticed with my speech skills more important than focused in praticing in written English . It does not matter if anyone have coclear implants or hearing aids . I think we should be proud to be Deaf person ..I have some hearing friends but i rather spend my time with my Deaf friends .. It is in my comfortable zone to be with my Deaf friends ... Hearing people always welcomed to join with us if they want to learned in PSE or ASL .. I tend to use PSE with hearing people ... But after i have four hearing children , I realized i should use ASL with hearing peopole so they will understand why we use this than SEE or PSE ...
My mom alway wanted me to have Coclear Implants. I argued with her why i didnt want to have it done ... I see no point for me to have it done cuz It will bothers me with all the noises around me. I would rather to be peaceful in silence .. It is my choice not to have C.I. I asked my Children to see if they want me have C.I. and know what their respond are ??? They said, " No Way ! I accepted who u are ! No one can fix u and changes u . " I feel inspired about their thoughts . They use ASL with me ... It didnt bothered them.I dont depend on them for anything .. Nowdays, we have better techologies to service our needs .. Thank God for that !! Especially the Sidekick 3 and computer !!!
Do you wear aids or implants?
I wear a cochlear implant.
Are you accepting of others who wear aids and implants?
Totally.
Do you think one can be culturally Deaf and yet wear aids or implants?
Definitely. It's not what you wear or do not wear to help you hear, it's how involved you are with the deaf community.
Do you think that Deaf culture promotes isolation and anti-thinking of the hearing world?
Sometimes, yes (no offense)...but it's mostly some of those who chose NOT to try to interact with the hearing world at all and who chose NOT to be accepting of those who are HOH/wear hearing aids/wear CIs/don't sign/oral/etc. You get the idea.
Do you think that the anti-thinking Deaf people outnumbers the accepting Deaf people in the community?
No. Nowadays they are so much more accepting of those with CIs/HAs. When I recieved my first CI last October, I was amazed at how accepting the deaf community here have been of my choice. I was totally expecting to be raked over the coals for my decision, so it was a pleasant surprise. In high school in 1998, if I had chosen to get a CI then, I would be crucified for sure.
Do you wear aids or implants?
No.
Are you accepting of others who wear aids and implants?
Yes.
Do you think one can be culturally Deaf and yet wear aids or implants?
Yes, no question.
Do you think that Deaf culture promotes isolation and anti-thinking of the hearing world?
Some aspects of Deaf culture do; however, I would look to the individual first, rather than the culture, for causes of "anti-hearing" bias. Overall, really, Deaf culture does not promote it. It just makes it easier to practice isolationism and anti-hearing bias if the individual is so inclined.
Do you think that the anti-thinking Deaf people outnumbers the accepting Deaf people in the community?
(I assume you mean "anti-hearing," not "anti-thinking" Deaf? Freudian slip, perhaps? :) ) Definitely not. It may seem that way if you hang out with a certain group who shares the same bias. If you get around in the Deaf community, you will see that it is comprised of very diverse people in terms of beliefs and attitudes - just like other cultural or ethnic groups.
Belle
Belle, oh my gosh, yes i meant anti-hearing Deaf people. LOL!!!! I'll go change that now :) Thanks for answering my questions!
Also thank you to everybody else who has answered and i hope more people answers, it would be nice to get a lot of opinions on this subject :)
Anonymous number two:
I actually have not heard about that happening to iraq men and it being successful. I'll have to do research. As far as I knew, they were working on it with animals but i did not realize they were already doing that to humans. Obviously these Iraq men lost the hearing from war so they recover quickly as soon as their hearing is restored, it would be a completely different story for someone who was deaf his/her entire life. But that's quite a breakthrough!!!
Question #1: No, I do not wear aids or implants. I stopped wearing aids when I was a young teenager. It was more to image problem than the aids themselves that caused me to stop using the aids. I hated people staring at me when I wore aids and I hated to be different from others who didn't wear aids.
Question #2: Your question reminds me of the commandment to "love thy neighbor as thyself" and the proactive, positive golden rule to "do unto others what you want them to do to you". It is easier said than done. I try to live up to the commandment and rule but I fell from them sometimes. My answer to your question is that it is my goal to accept anyone regardless of who they are and what they are. In other words, my answer is more yes than no. Please don't flame me for saying no next to yes. I am merely human.
Question #3: Yes, the only common denominator among members of the Deaf culture is the use and acceptance of signed languages.
Question #4: No, the Deaf culture is supposed to co-exist with other cultures and worlds. However, there are always some people who prompt their personal agendas. That is the reality that we have to face every day and the antidote, I believe, is educating people about the danger of isolation.
Question #5: This is hard to answer. I will give myself as a real example. Personally, I have my own philosophy against cochlear implant (but not hearing aids or stem cell). However, I do not let it interfere the commandment and rule mentioned above. If there are two deaf people trapped in a building that is on fire and I can only carry one person at a time, I am not going to choose a person without cochlear implant over the other person who wears cochlear implant. I will carry out whatever person that I encounter first. I think that in term of deeds themselves, I believe that very large percentage of members of Deaf culture will put their opinions aside and accept anyone. On the opinions alone, I believe that there is a lot of variety among them. For example, some believe that children should not be given cochlear implants until they are old enough to decide for themselves. On the other hand, some believe that parents have their own right to decide the upbringing of their children. It is like a diamond that has many facets and when it is placed over the question, you see different answers (facets) to the question.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
Do you wear aids or implants?
Yes, hearing aids in each ear.
Are you accepting of others who wear aids and implants?
Of course.
Do you think one can be culturally Deaf and yet wear aids or implants?
I'll preface my remark with the note that I know very few deaf people -- I was isolated in the school system and continued that pattern for much of my life until now. But from what I have seen online, I see no reason why someone could not be Deaf and also wear aids or use CI.
Do you think that Deaf culture promotes isolation and anti-hearing/aids/implants?
In general, no. Although as with anything, there will be a small group of people who take things to the extreme.
Do you think that the anti-hearing/aids/implants Deaf people outnumbers the accepting Deaf people in the community?
In the main, no. I do think the distribution of such people can make sompe places tilt more one way or another, but overall in the aggregate, I see far more positive commentary than negative. They can definitely be noisy though, and sometimes one has to step back to get a sense of the larger picture. But here's a good example, the fellow who posted his "Deaf, Interrupted" post in the last few days got a lot of commentary. The second comment was extremely negative, talking about "false deafs" etc., and I cringed on seeing that...but if you read on, every single response rebuked the guy for that post. Which was really nice to see, and I think a good representation of the overall range of opinions within the deaf world.
The 'ghettoization' of the Deaf community is a response to the oppression (usually in form of benevolant ignorance) from the hearing world. It is the hearing world who attempts to force their pathological definitation of deafness on the Deaf community despite its effort to explain to the hearing world what being Deaf is really all about.
It is only natural that the Deaf will seek to find fellow Deaf and interact with them... people who do relate and understand them.
It's perfectly normal - you see it in the hearing world all the time. Hearing friends stay together because of shared common interest or belief or whatever.
History has shown that as communities come to understand each other and respect each other's differences, the "us vs them" mentality will slowly go away. It is the same with the Deaf community. For instance with true Deaf bicultural-bilingual persons, they often have easier time interact with hearing people regardless of their speaking/hearing abilities.
"Us vs Them" mentality is very powerful here in USA due to general inconsideration, ignorance, and lack of sensitivation on the hearing world's part. In Sweden where it is legally required for parents of a deaf child to learn Swedish Sign Language and where there is a true bilingual education for the Deaf (sorry, there is nearly no true bilingual education for the Deaf in US no matter what schools may tell you), I have noticed that Deaf Swedes have less of "Us vs Them" mentality. It is because they do not feel as oppressed as Deaf Americans do.
The solution? Hearing people need to be educated and keep an open mind regarding the Deaf world. In time, the Deaf culture will become less militantic and isolated.
One other example: Japanese-Americans. When Japanese Americans first came to America, like the Chinese they had Japantowns and Little Tokyos because they felt more comfortable living among each other who can speak their language and understand their culture. As generations came and went, less and less Japanese moved here from Japan resulting in reduced culture maintenance. Children became more bicultural and their children even more so.
The result? Japantowns and Little Tokyos are fading away slowly and even disappeared in some places. There is simply no need for the need to be ghettoized anymore for Japanese-Americans.
Two more comments I thought I'd make. First, I'd like to say I've been rather bemused by the constant accusation that deaf folk want to isolate themselves.
When I think about it, really think about it, it becomes an ironic accusation. What of all the deaf isolated in oral mainstream programs? Even the most successful children (and I would be counted among thouse) experience profound isolation from their peers with this (favored by the hearing) method of education.
If the hearing are not trying to isolate us, why is the FCC backpedaling on closed captioning? Why do we have to fight for every scrap of inclusion: for the right to talk to our doctors, our childrens teachers, and so on?
Seems we're not doing the isolating. A touch of projection here, perhaps?
The other comment I had was after reading the previous comment about the "ghettos" fading away as succeeding generations became assimilated into the main culture.
Don't see that happening. It's not like people become less deaf over time. CI's and HA are all well and good but don't work for everyone. All medical technology aside I rather think that deafness will be with us for a rather long time.
Thanks for a really interesting post! I just thought I'd take the opportunity to bring up some ideas and raise some questions that came to mind from reading your post, as well Adam's most recent post over at DeafDC.
I suppose I should start by introducing myself. I'm hearing, Swedish and in my late twenties. I initially became interested in sign language as a young child, but it wasn't until my late teens, when I started reading a lot of books on linguistics, that my interest in signed languages (with an initial focus on ASL) really took hold. I started devouring every book I could find on ASL and Deaf culture. During my year as an exchange student at the University of Rochester six years ago, I took ASL101 and 102, and I'm currently studying Swedish Sign Language at the local Deaf club in Stockholm.
From the time I first became aware of it, I really loved the idea of a deaf culture. It seemed perfectly logical that there would be such cultures just on the basis of language alone, and I was really intrigued by the whole concept and it's implications for what it means to be a community and for the diversity of the human experience. By extension, the idea that D/deaf people didn't want to be "fixed" or cured also appealed to me since it reinforced my own philosophies of the flexibility of the human mind.
When I first started learning about Deaf culture more than ten years ago, CIs were undeniably more controversial than today, and the shift in opinions that has taken place since then is interesting. It also begs the question of whether many, or even most, D/deaf people really would prefer to hear (which is not necessarliy the same as saying that they'd prefer to be hearing). This was, incidentally, one of the points that Adam raised in his blog.
Many people seem to be pretty confident that Deaf culture won't disappear and that signed languages will be around forever. I would be curious to know what that assessment is based on. While I agree that is would seem unlikely for signing communities to vanish any time soon, it seems inevitable that some future medical advancement will eradicate most causes of deafness altoghether (at least in richer countries), or at least render them inconsequential.
As a hearing person, I can certainly see why gaining access to the world of sounds would be appealing and I fully support people making whatever choice is right for them. I would, however, be very sad to see signed languages disappear. I find them (at least the two I'm familiar with) to be beautiful, expressive and utterly intriguing (and, yes, quite sexy too...). With an increasing number of hearing people wanting to learn sign language while deaf people, over time, are becoming "less deaf" do you see a possibility of future signing communities that straddle the deaf-hearing divide? I know that some deaf clubs in Sweden have already started calling themselves "signing clubs" with the purpose of putting the language choice, and not the hearing status, of its members in focus. It is also common for the Swedish Deaf* to label themselves as "signing" rather than deaf. Will interested people of all backgrounds congregate in the future to sign with each other the way people who know esperanto share their language interests today? Will signed languages be shared by many, of which only a few use them full-time? These questions are really aimed at anyone reading this, and I'd be really curious to hear what people think.
*I'm not an expert, but I would claim that the Deaf community in Sweden is much more homogenous with regard to langauge choice than its American counterpart. Due to Sweden being a small country with a strong centralized government, and an influential deaf community, there is a near one to one correspondence between being prelingually deaf and knowing Swedish Sign Language. I would be willing to bet that there are no Swedish-born deaf people alive today who didn't learn sign language while growing up. Hence, labeling the prelingually deaf in Sweden as "signing" people makes a lot of sense.
Christine,
I have wondered the same thing and worried about the same thing. The idea of sign language fading away would be a very sad thing because it is such a beautiful way to communicate and so totally unique. I personally think that even though more deaf people are getting implanted or wearing aids, i think there will always be ones who refuse these things. ALSO even people who get implanted, the reality is that most of these people will keep using sign language or learn it later on once they get older. It is the appeal that sign language has for deaf people, there is no room for misunderstandings and feeling left out or constant struggling to catch every word that escapes from the mouth as we can see every sign and understand and be understood at such ease. Many oral people eventually pick up ASL and treasure it, even though they can speak and lipread quite well. What i would like to happen in the future is that it becomes law for every implanted baby to have access to ASL [or whatever sign language is used in the country the baby lives in], and that it is illegal to raise a baby without sign language. I would like it if it became so that an implanted baby has to learn both speech and sign. Many children from european countries learn several languages without their education suffering, so i fully believe that an implanted baby can learn both without his education suffering due to it. The only thing would be that i would want speech therapy to happen AFTER school, not during school as it is commonly done these days because children then miss out on what was being taught in class while they were doing speech therapy. I would have to leave my classroom weekly to work on speech, and would return and have no idea what i missed in class. That can be a dangerous thing, so i would prefer speech therapy to happen after school or on the weekends.
Anyway, i can't predict the future... I don't see sign language dying anytime soon that for sure and i definitely would prefer it that sign language does not die out. That would be really sad.
I have heard of deaf people starting to call themselves signing people, which makes sense to me. Because in many countries just because one is deaf does not mean that they even know how to sign in the first place. It would make things a bit more clear aka the speaking community and the signing community.
Thanks for replying to my comment, Zoée. I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that people can, and do, learn many languages without any ill effects. Most of the research over the last decades have shown conclusively that knowing more than one language is good for the intellect and improves learning, not the other way around. Being the product of a very multi-lingual school system in Sweden, I can certainly vouch for that.
It is strange that most of North America, despite being the largest melting-pot in the world, is still not comfortable with bilingual issues. The majority of the people in the world are more or less bilingual, making bilingualism, not monolingualism, the norm worldwide.
A quick comment -- I'm actually quite glad to see the diversity and complexity of opinion about cochlear implants, because I've been worried about how I'd be regarded as a hearing person who wants to learn ASL very much, but who also considers CIs to be a fantastic, useful, and fascinating technology. I haven't really known how (or whether) to acknowledge that fact that I've got a pretty fair collection of CI signal processing papers on my hard drive, that I spent two five-hour long transcontinental flights over the holidays reading and annotating them, and that I have a bunch of high-priced books on my Amazon.com wishlist about CIs, along with ASL books.
I feel a little more relaxed about that now.
Christine, I'd doubt that deafness would be entirely eradicated, only because Mother Nature is really good at staying one step ahead of us. Hearing aids were invented a while back, and Deaf culture still flourishes. CIs -- which still have a lot of limitations -- won't do it, either.
And for every problem that medical science eradicates, a dozen others pop up to take its place. This country eradicated rubella ... just in time for the overprescription of antibiotics to create some seriously carnivorous bacteria, and ear infections seem to be an almost constant theme for people with young kids, far more so than when I was a kid.
There may be no more rubella bulges, but I wager it'll be a matter of time before an outbreak of some nasty antibiotic-resistant superbug ensures that Gallaudet will be purchasing yet another temporary branch campus at some point in the future.
Hi Busy Hands, first time commenting on your blog, though I've linked your posts before on my deafness news site.
I'm deaf in both ears, grew up oral and learnt sign in my early 20s. I wear HAs.
OK, here goes.
Do you wear aids or implants? HAs
Are you accepting of others who wear aids and implants? YES!!
Do you think one can be culturally Deaf and yet wear aids or implants? OF COURSE!
Do you think that Deaf culture promotes isolation and anti-hearing/aids/implants? It depends on the individual. I am all for Deaf culture, of the inclusive, non-bigoted sort.
Do you think that the anti-hearing/aids/implants Deaf people outnumbers the accepting Deaf people in the community?
No idea, for my community. I hark from Singapore, by the way.
Cheers!
Le Petit Prince
http://icanhearyou.blogsome.com/
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