What does it mean to be “Deaf”?
Over the past week, I’ve noticed a theme running through several v/blogs. In their own ways, these different v/blogs are wrestling with the question of what it means to be “Deaf”. In some cases, even though the author may or may not identify as “Deaf”, they are showing they have elements of a Deaf identity or Deafhood. In this vlog, I use these examples, and use my own experience to show being Deaf is a negotiated concept.
V/Blogs referenced in the vlog:
cnkatz said,
June 23, 2008 @ 9:21 am
Don,
Very nice discussion on deafhood. To more people to see it!
I really want to see more (deaf) people with doctorate degree or works in any academic setting to blog like those on your blogroll. Let the list grow more!
Let us see more posts like this from you and others.
Thank you, I sign to you.
MM said,
June 23, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
I am not wrestling with that question, since the capital D is meaningless to me, I have wondered in the past where acquired deaf fit in, many others still do, now I don’t really care either way, I’ll take what I can use and ignore the rest, it’s mercenary, but what else is there to do ? you can’t be what you aren’t. While we are looking for a reason, we very often ignore the fact the answer is under our nose. It can’t be deafhood, because we don’t fit that profile either.. We are deaf so that is basically, we don’t hear, that all there is to it, there’s no great historical romance, blinding flash of realization, or ID to seek out… Reality is rather boring after all, deafhood just feeds insecurity..
Candy said,
June 23, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
I don’t subscribe to D/d either.
I think we all have our own meaning what it means to be deaf.
And it has a lot to do with our life experiences.
There’s no one right way to be deaf.
Just be yourself.
LaRonda said,
June 23, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
Hi Don.
Thank you for referencing my recent vlog post. I enjoy your discussions on your vlog.
I agree with most parts of your message, but there are still areas I respectfully question. From my observation in the workshop I just lead last weekend with a panel made up of deaf people with diverse backgrounds, I noticed this: That while those panelist who had CI’s valued their hearing, they equally valued ASL and signed fluently. They could “code-switch” easily and respectfully engage with both culturally Deaf, hearing folks and all those in between.
So, per your vlog here, you seem to suggest that when deaf people who talk about their ability to use their voice or listen to music with their CI’s, they will be perceived as being disrespectful to culturally Deaf individuals. Hmmm. This is where I question…. as this was not my experience watching these panelists.
They did speak of their ability to use their voice, and of their refound ability to hear with their CI’s. They did place value on this. But, they were not doing so in a bragging way. They were not being disrespectful either because they were also often using fluent ASL with ASL users, and code-switching with non ASL users. I found their ability to blend and respect quite inspiring.
I guess my point here is that i think we can coexist respectfully, but we, as deaf people are not all the same. Our experiences of being Deaf or deaf or late-deafened, etc., have become more and more individualized.
Does that mean D/deaf unity is not possible? No. I think we CAN unite and, as Charles katz mentioned in his comment on my vlog, D/deaf people have shown that when there is crisis in our communities (i.e.: Gallaudet protest), in our nation (9/11) or in our world (war), we do pull together and unite as ONE force.
But in my perception of reality, D/deaf people are such a mix and blend these days and our experiences of being D/deaf is as varied and different as the creatures in the sea.
Thank you for letting me toss my thoughts around. I have much respect for your thoughts and vlogs.
~ LaRonda
cnkatz said,
June 23, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
MM,
Your comment just highlights the fact that deafhood means various things to deaf people. Deafhood can be empowering for some while it can make you and some others insecure.
May your journey in your own deafhood be as what you want it to be.
ck
Shelley said,
June 23, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
I disagree that deafhood feeds insecurity. I feel secure in my own identity as a Deaf person. I KNOW who I am. There’s no fence sitting for me. I refuse to accept the medical/pathological perspective of the Deaf. Rather, I embrace the cultural view of what it is to be Deaf.
It is my position that the pathological perspective is what causes insecurity in deaf people. With this view, people are constantly looking at what they’re MISSING, instead of celebrating what they HAVE. They are constantly comparing themselves with the Hearing people. They value the ability to hear, even if there’s only a residue of it, and the ability to speak. This view is what enables the establish to pathologize us, and make money off us.
Shelley
Jean Boutcher said,
June 23, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
To some commenters:
There is an ancient saying by Julius Caesar: “When in Rome, do what Romans do.” The same is true that when they are in the USA they have to follow the rules of the English grammar. The rules of the grammar of any European language differ from those of the English language. You have to capitalise the first letter of any language, cultural, and ethnical, but you do not capitalise it in Europe — aside from Great Britain. Vide infra:
USA: I am American. I speak English. I am Deaf-Mute.
FR: Je suis français. Je parle le français. Je suis sourd-muet.
SP: Soy espanola. Hablo espanol. Soy sordomudo.
IT: Sono italiano. Parlo l’italiano. Sono il sordomuto.
Postscriptum:
Culture varies from Deaf individual to Deaf Individual. For example, the culture of a Deaf person using ASL all his life is not the same as that of a Deaf person using cochlear implant and AVT.
Ann_C said,
June 23, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
I appreciate the captioning, although after many months of reading signs on vlogs, I’m starting to catch on to some of the ASL signs. Thank you for making the effort.
You know, I don’t think it has to take a philosophy such as Deafhood to help some of us d/Deaf realize how far we’ve come and to appreciate the different outcomes. I have a respect for those who wish to use ASL and be a part of Deaf culture, just as I have a respect for those deaf who choose to speak and listen to music.
No one can alter another’s lifetime experiences, only the person himself can change if he wants to. I hope this laissez-faire manner can be adopted by many in the d/Deaf community and by those who v/blog online in the deaf blogosphere. We can be a far better d/Deaf community for it.
Candy said,
June 23, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
I’d like to bring up one thing you said about music and speaking, shows disrespect to deaf. I really don’t agree with that. First off, in schools for the deaf, many have teen center where many deaf people do enjoy music. For those that do not hear, they still enjoy the beat. Many love to dance to the vibration of music. And then, you have Rockfest at Gallaudet. Many enjoy that. Many deaf I know attend concerts. Even my family who is all deaf and very much part of deaf culture, do host parties where we have music blaring in the background. And, if there were no music, we’d be getting “hey, where’s the music?” from many of our deaf friends.
Deaf club where I grew up in, always have music during most weekends from a Juke Box that is in the club. We also had bands that showed up for some events. We even had a D.J. at some events too.
Disrespectful? I don’t think so. Unless one is trying to start a campaign to encourage that thinking.
Music has been and always will be part of deaf people’s life. I know of many deaf who consider themselves big D to be into music as well.
I don’t think it shows disrespect at all. Maybe for a small percentage of the deaf, it irritates them.
Speaking should not be considered “disrespectful” at all either. It’s silly, when people start talking about things like that.
In order for us to accept each of us as who we are, we need to listen to what we are and not worry about “how to behave as a deaf person.” There is no, one way to be deaf. Why should I give up my true identity (who I am) for some group think that says we should act this way because deaf people act this way?
DrDonG said,
June 23, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
LaRonda,
It is one thing for people on a panel to be talking about being able to hear, talk, or appreciate music to educate uninformed or curious people, but another in a more informal setting among peers such as a Deaf event or on DeafRead to be “preaching” the virtues of these abilities, and I think this is what people are reacting to on DeafRead to see all the blogs about CI, etc.
Candy,
Yes, Deaf people do enjoy music, but it is not an integral part of the Deaf culture. Like I said, it is more of an individual thing than a cultural thing. At Deaf parties, there is music, but most of us that I have seen are more into the beat than knowing the words or signing the song or whatever. As for speaking, we all acknowledge that some of us can speak, but there are certain cultural rules about when and how you display this ability. When you violate the rules or make it seem like you hold speech to be more “special” than signing, that is where Deaf culture views it as a deviation from the cultural norm.
Jean,
Thank you for pointing out about capitalization or not of languages or groups. I have come to believe that the d/D distinction is too divisive, that we are all Deaf, whether we were born into the Deaf culture or not, or whether we practice Deaf ways or not. Just as a Jewish person who practices absolutely nothing of the religion is still Jewish, or a Black person who was raised by a White family is still Black, Deaf people are all Deaf.
Ann C.,
You’re right, we don’t need a philosophy such as Deafhood, but the concept provides us a good framework for seeing how we are all united by the Deaf bond and how we may be different with different backgrounds, but still share that commonality of being Deaf and to understand where we have been and where we can go.
Kim said,
June 23, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
Thanks so much for captioning! It was exciting to see how much I understood without! Then I went back and read the words.
The only problem I had was my Quick Time kept freezing for some reason. . .Anyway, I wanted to comment to MM and Shelley. I think what feeds the insecurity MM mentioned is NOT deafhood per se, but actually (for me anyway, as I can’t speak for MM) it’s lack of identity with the new self. When people tell the late-deafened that happiness will come from acceptance of Deafhood, they’re discounting our experiences as hearing people. I was able to find a musical outlet through my drum - yes– and I’m done pining away for my piano– but I’m not MM. It’s important to validate HIS feelings, HIS journey. There’s nothing wrong with him. It’s normal to feel deafness as a loss when you’ve lost your hearing identity.
To put it another way. How would you feel if you could suddenly hear, but no longer sign? What if you lost your job because you couldn’t sign anymore? What if your wife left? What if most of the world signed and you were suddenly left out of the loop? AND to make it worse, what if those who could hear rejected your feelings of loss because they LOVED hearing? This is what we’re dealing with.
LaRonda said,
June 23, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
Don,
Regarding your response to me, thank you. Point well taken.
Peace.
~ LaRonda
MM said,
June 24, 2008 @ 6:13 am
‘Deafhood’ is intrinsically aligned to deaf culture and sign language and the lifestyle. Anyone who believes it covers everyone equally obviously has n’;t read the book, or knows where the author is coming from at all…. Having had the book sent to me, I struggled then gave up trying to find any relevance to people like me, who were pretty much dismissed as oralists, CI wearers, their groups anti-’Deaf’ etc, or just plain second-rated ‘deaf’ with a small ‘d’.
Having lost the hearing ID, I found no deaf one either. Obviously from that perspective you could be fogiven in feeling not particiualrly wanted unless you conform to that ‘image’ I can’t do it, I doubt any of us can, with comfort I don’t know why, but the fact someone mentioned I wsa on my own ‘deafhood’ journey irritated no end too, I apprecited it meant well. I just do not see how anything it stands for relates to me at all, and I’ve learnt basic sign language, am profoundly deaf in both ears, am 4th generation deaf in my family, married a cultural deaf woman as well, but still am not remotely a part of this ‘Deaf’ thing, it demands something I cannot give.
I don’t know what is missing, ir even if there is.
The Gulf seems huge, and it’s NOT communication, something else.
Candy said,
June 24, 2008 @ 6:48 am
DonG, I can’t help but wonder where you are going with all that.
I wouldn’t equate deaf culture with others such as Japan, where we should abide by their culture as far as pomp and stuffs goes. Other enthicity’s culture is much more deeper than it is for deaf culture. We don’t have a rule where if it was broken, that one person would be forever banned from deaf culture. I’m starting to laugh here. I think it is all funny. Actually, I think I’m going to be discussing this with all my Deaf friends and friends of the family and see what they think. I know my DEAF brother will be laughing his butt off. OH heck….where are you going with this Dong? Seriously. I mean, It does appear for a moment that you are trying to tell people that if they want to be a part of a deaf culture, that they NEED to know this. Times are a-changin DonG. More and more deaf people are doing their own thing…being who they are and not conforming to the wishes of some deafhood ideology.
mcconnell said,
June 24, 2008 @ 10:08 am
You know there is something wrong with this picture once somebody attempts to assign so-called “cutlural rules” to “deafhood.” Or that talking about the enjoyment of listening to music or talk about the joys of hearing, ability to talk, sing and whatnot becomes “verbotten” in world of “deafhood.” Doing so certainly “screams” political correctness rather than simply honoring and respecting each individual’s uniqueness in who they are…and not about what they are (or what they are not).
Not cool.
Drawing a line in the sand in the name of “deafhood” makes this whole thing very, very suspicious on the kind of agenda people are trying assert or push here. Last I heard, “deafhood” isn’t supposed to be about politics or political correctness (well, “deafhood” is political correctness run amok anyway).
Music is very much an intergral part of many, many deaf and hard of hearing people’s live. Technology makes this possible. Nothing wrong on talking about the joys of music that many of us enjoy so much that we learn not to take it for granted. If you disagree, then please do not discuss the visual beauty of ASL, or the visual beauty of the mountains, the green grass, etc..because you might offend the blind.
Speech in it’s own right is special. Just as signing is. For those who can hear and listen to the thundering and moving operatic voice of Pavarotti can understand just how powerful vocie and music can be in their own right.
People need to understand that there is no clear “black and white” grounds here when dealing with 30 million people with hearing loss. Drawing a line in the sand won’t help anybody in this situation.
DrDonG said,
June 24, 2008 @ 12:38 pm
Candy,
Just because there are rules to a culture does not mean one would be banned from the group for breaking a rule (unless it was a very major rule). Cultural rules are unwritten. All cultures have their rules. There are rules for how far you stand in line behind someone at the ATM machine, or how you address people more senior or junior than you, or whatever. People can violate those rules and not be banned from the culture. But people will think you are rude or inconsiderate or whatever because you violated those “unwritten rules”.
AlexM said,
August 17, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!