Topic: Audism
Specific Purpose: To help people to understand what Audism is and that the lack of an ability to hear does not mean they are incapable of performing tasks.
Central idea: I’m going to talk about Audism and what it is, were it happens and why it needs to stop, it happens in Schools, The workplace and right in your community.
Introduction:
Attention Getter: Everyone has felt Different at some point in our lives, in school or out with our friends at the mall. However, for some people it is not only a feeling of being different but of being perceived as different.
Today, I am going to be talking about Audism. For most people, I’m will to bet this is a word you have never heard of. Partly because it is a concept that most people
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Maybe you were labeled a jock, or a mean girl, a goth or a geek. Each of these labels lead to bring treated differently somehow, however for many of us this was just a faze, something we grew out of after high school. However, Deafness is not something that you grow out of, anymore then you can grow out of your skin.
Today I’m going to tell you stories of prejudice, discrimination and hate and when you leave here not only will you know the meaning of Audism but also what to look for and hopefully one person at a time how to stop
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They have a different culture, a different language and a different set of values for those of them that are engulfed in the deaf community. This is not something that they should be punished for any more than someone from Mexico who celebrates the day of the dead. It is a difference, and to expect students to breed the lips of their teachers in a language they will never truly understand, or expect them to get cochlear implants even if they don’t want them simply because then they could maybe here. This is unfair and it means that these students, are not getting the same education as they are hearing counterparts, simply because they speak a different language, the language of the deaf, sign
The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well, then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in with everyone and eventually does find himself and realizes that being Deaf is not a disease, but just a part of who he is. About the time Mark was in kindergarten, he thought he was a normal child just like everyone else, but he started to distort things he heard in class and was wondering why everyone would be laughing and why he would be getting corrected.
In the following chapters, there is an extensive amount of knowledge to learn about how Deaf culture is involved in our modern world. The pages assigned give us an outlook of how Deaf people are treated in our daily life, and how we should learn from it. Its gives a clear line between what are myths and what are facts, to those who are curious about the Deaf community or have specific questions. This book has definitely taught me new things that I could put to good use in the near future. In specific chapters, my mind really opened up to new ideas and made me think hard about questions, like “why don’t some Deaf people trust hearing people,” or “do we need another ‘Deaf president now’ revolution?” I realized many new things in the course of reading this book, and have recommended this to my family.
I choose Marika Kovac-Houlihan’s TED Talk “Deaf Ideology” at University Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kovac-Houlihan recounts several tales from her life while criticizing society’s interaction with Deaf people. I had no idea the stigma a Deaf person faces. I read about the hardships and difficulty, but I never understood what that meant to Deaf people. I have never understood the thinking that a Deaf person is disabled, I don’t even know how to react or change that kind of thinking because it never occurred to me. My biggest concern with Deaf people, as it is with anyone who speaks a different language than me, is communication. I strongly dislike not being able to communicate with people, Deaf people included because I do not see them as disabled or needing to orally speak.
Lane, Harlan (1992). “Cochlear Implants are Wrong for Young Deaf Children.” Viewpoints on Deafness. Ed. Mervin D. Garretson. National Association of the Deaf, Silver Spring, MD. 89-92.
My response to this question is two-fold. Firstly, I believe that (for the most part), Deaf people actually like being deaf. While observing my neighbor (who happens to be deaf), I realize, he is never unpleasant, he keeps an unceasing smile on his face, is eager to help us hearing neighbors whenever applicable, and in general, he always looks for the silver lining in the clouds. I don’t think that I could ever work up the nerve to ask him if he’d desired the ability to hear. I’ve never seen him preoccupied with his inability to hear, so why should I. His deafness is a part of who he is. In our book, it mentions that being Deaf is a part of the individuals’ personality, an attribute just as important to a person that is right or left-handed. Why would Deaf people want to be hearing? If a person is born deaf, such as my neighbor, they don’t find themselves missing what they never experienced. Our book lends to us the illustration of someone who is
Deaf Again is another eye opening book about what it is like to grow up deaf in a hearing-dominant world. It showcases the struggles experienced by the Deaf, and shows the reader that the Deaf cannot be made to fit into their hearing world. The Deaf, once they find their identity as Deaf with a capital D, don’t want to fit into the hearing world. Being Deaf isn’t a bad thing. Deaf again has further shown me just how difficult life can be when you are deaf.
The documentary of “Through Deaf Eyes” has open my eyes to the deaf culture. The movie has made it “click” that deaf people are just that people and individuals like me. Deaf community has its struggles just like everyone else. They struggle with growing into who they are as a person, harmful situations, and feeling a sense of belonging. They just speak a different language like Italians and Hispanics. Communicating with a different language does not make them lesser than a hearing person. When able to learn to communicate, the deaf are able to learn and gain knowledge just like a hearing person. The only difference is they have to learn more and work harder to achieve their goals and gain knowledge, which a hearing person learns just by hearing their surroundings.
A hearing loss can present many obstacles in one's life. I have faced many issues throughout my life, many of which affected me deeply. When I first realized that I was hearing-impaired, I didn't know what it meant. As I grew older, I came to understand why I was different from everyone. It was hard to like myself or feel good about myself because I was often teased. However, I started to change my attitude and see that wearing hearing aids was no different than people wearing glasses to see.
Many deaf or hard of hearing people may feel as if audists are trying to destroy and lessen their culture. For example, some hearing people want the Deaf community to act like the hearing does. Some hearing people believe that the Deaf community should conform and adopt English, lip reading, and speech. This is known as audism as well.
Prejudice is everywhere, including against the *Deaf culture. Deaf people, as a linguistic minority – they use sign language to communicate – have a common experience of life, including beliefs, attitudes, history, norms, values and even literary tradition. This culture it is not universal, that is, every country have its own sign language and different norms, as any other. In a Deaf community, they identify themselves as members of a cultural and linguistic group, being an individual choice to be part of it – independent of the individual’s hearing status. Unfortunately, some hearing people really believe they are superior to Deaf people. Sometimes, even Deaf people believe that they are inferior to them.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (November 2002). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp
In the United States today, approximately 4500 children are born deaf each year, and numerous other individuals suffer injuries or illnesses that can cause partial or total loss of hearing, making them the largest “disability” segment in the country. Although, those in the medical field focus solely on the medical aspects of hearing loss and deafness, members of the deaf community find this unwarranted focus limiting and restrictive; because of its failure to adequately delineate the sociological aspects and implications of the deaf and their culture. Present day members of deaf culture reject classifications such as “deaf mute” or “deaf and dumb”, as marginalizing them because of their allusions to a presumed disability. (Edwards, 2012, p. 26-30)
From a deafness-as-defect mindset, many well-meaning hearing doctors, audiologists, and teachers work passionately to make deaf children speak; to make these children "un-deaf." They try hearing aids, lip-reading, speech coaches, and surgical implants. In the meantime, many deaf children grow out of the crucial language acquisition phase. They become disabled by people who are anxious to make them "normal." Their lack of language, not of hearing, becomes their most severe handicap. While I support any method that works to give a child a richer life, I think a system which focuses on abilities rather than deficiencies is far more valuable. Deaf people have taught me that a lack of hearing need not be disabling. In fact, it shouldn?t be considered a lack at all. As a h...
Going into the tour, I was not entirely sure what to expect, but I was looking forward to it. Thursday started in a rush, with the opening ceremonies. There the ASHA president talked about her experience as a speech pathologist, as well as touching on her own brother as a source of inspiration—one that had died recently, but had had Down Syndrome. That alone was enough to pique my interest, and her entire story seemed in tune with my own for why speech pathology is important. From the opening session, many people went after the ice cream, but I instead found a quiet place to look through the book of presentations and posters. I have known from other conferences that I have been to that there are usually far too many sessions to go to in one day—because all the good ones seem to happen at the same time—but here there were even more than I had ever expected. Dozens upon dozens all occurring at the same time, and all ones that I wished to attend. Thankfully, the poster session happened all day long, so I could at least stop by the posters that I really wanted to see.
So today, I have shared with you my journey in deafness. Being deaf can be hard, but it is not the end of the world. I can do what anyone else can do such as talk, play sports and hang out with friends. Every person’s journey is different. For me the key to success is perseverance.