The Deaf Community: A Common Differences Of The Deaf Community

hear a little or not at all. It is just not black and white. That seems to be a common misconception people have about the deaf community. The deaf community has always been thought of as being “incapable” in many ways. The hearing world believes that because someone is deaf he or

she cannot do things that “hearing” can. The deaf and “hard of hearing” are just as capable of living normal lives as we are. One of the few differences is that they cut off from the usual forms of communications. It leads them to feel isolated, and make it hard to get information or help in an emergency. That is why they have their own community to lean on. Aside from having a language barrier it is hard to be accepted by the hearing community much like it can be hard to be accepted by the deaf community.

After years of relying on someone else to wake them up on time we had finally created a vibrating clock. Heavy sleepers would put things under their pillows that would vibrate also. Some people put things under their bed to make it vibrate and wake them up when it was difficult to get up in the morning. Most deaf people today have alarm clocks that only vibrate, but flash bright lights. Cell phones have more of that now though, and tend be a second thing they put under a pillow to wake them up. Another difference would be smoke detectors and door bells. Flashing lights are now placed strategically throughout homes. They range in colors and intensity depending on the alert. They flash in certain directions or patterns based on what they are set for. The deaf also do not use telephones as we do. Before skype and other webcam programs out there they used TTY. It looked just like a typewriter that you hooked up to your landline. Over the years we have become more accommodating for the deaf. Our history has been very ugly though. We have come a very long way in a short amount of