Deaf Americans: Community and Culture

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Recommended: Short introduction of deaf culture ideas

An average of 90% of all babies born deaf or with some type of hearing loss are born to hearing parents. Deafness can be caused by a variety of things both genetic and environmental. Upon learning their child is deaf, most hearing families try to find ways to fix what they feel is a defect. However, deaf families rejoice in their child's deafness because now they have another person to strengthen the deaf community and carry on the American Deaf culture.
There are approximately 35 million people in the United States who are considered deaf or hard of hearing (Culture and Empowerment in the Deaf Community). The majority of these deaf people struggle in the hearing world until they can find a connection to their deafness. They constantly hunger for language and a sense of truly belonging. Once they are exposed to the deaf community, American Sign Language (ASL) as the deaf language and the closeness of the American Deaf culture, most choose to immerse themselves into the deaf world rather than continuing to be an outsider in the hearing world.
The deaf community is made up of a combination of people.
Deaf of Deaf – deaf children born to deaf parents
Deaf or hard of hearing– people with audiological deficiencies
CODAs – hearing children of deaf adults
Laten deaf – people who lose their hearing later in life
Interpreters – people who facilitate language between deaf and hearing people
Hearing – people who can hear
Although these are all members within the deaf community, they are not all alloted a place within the American Deaf culture. Deaf of Deaf are at the center of the culture. They are the people who have benefited from having deaf parents, experiences from residential schools, and ASL as their native language. Hearing people ca...

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...n. "Culture and Empowerment in the Deaf Community: An Analysis of Internet Weblogs." Journal Of Community & Applied Social Psychology 21.5 (2011): 388-406. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
King, Bethany. Miles. 2010. Miles Maximilian, Falls Church, VA. www.flickr.com. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
Mindess, Anna. Reading between the Signs: Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters. Boston, MA: Intercultural, 2006. Print.
Padden, Carol, and Tom Humphries. Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1988. Print.
Stauffer, Nathan. Boundaries. 2010. N.Stauffer, Wheaton, ILL. www.flickr.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. un-owen. What do all these people have in common?. 2009. Toronto 2009, Toronto, Ontario. www.flickr.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Wilcox, Sherman, ed. American Deaf Culture: An Anthology. Burtonsville, MD: Linstok, 1989. Print.

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