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Deaf Culture

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Deaf Culture

I may not be considered part of the hearing culture due to my severe to profound hearing loss, but some people might be surprised to hear that I am not considered a part of the Deaf culture. A majority of the Deaf culture is very critical of those who assimilate with hearing people and accept hearing culture as their majority culture. I believe that every hearing impaired and deaf person is an individual and needs to do what is best for them instead of being worried about following the rules of the Deaf culture.

The members of Deaf culture have many different levels of hearing that range from profoundly deaf to slightly hard of hearing (Halpern). However, none of the members of the Deaf culture consider themselves hearing-impaired. Deaf culture has its own jokes, language and theatre. People who can suddenly hear find that they are the one with the handicap when they walk into the Deaf culture. The Deaf community takes pride in their identity and does not have any desire to become part of the hearing culture. This community also displays its pride by capitalizing their culture with a capital D (Halpern). "Thou shalt honor thy mother and father, diverse Deaf role models and hearing allies" (Weinstock), is one of the Ten Commandments of the culturally Deaf . This gives an idea of how Deaf culture considers hearing people as allies and not necessary as a part of their culture.

The Deaf community's all or nothing philosophy can be shown in the Deaf culture's many jokes and narratives. There are the Ten Commandments of the culturally Deaf which state some rules and beliefs that the Deaf culture hold. Pride is shown in this statement, "I am a proud Deaf Being who brought you out of pure oralism, out of oppressi...

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...eturn, I should get some respect for the lifestyle that I have chosen.

Feel free to email me with your imput and comments!

Works Cited

Halpern, Carla. "Listening in on Deaf Culture." 1996: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://stripe.colorado.edu/~standard/V5N2/AWARD/halpern.html.

Matlin, Marlee. Letter. TIME Domestic 24 October 1994: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://pathfinder.com.

Van Biema, David. "Beyond the Sound Barrier Deaf Americans are proud that one of their own is Miss America. But can her example apply to them?" TIME Domestic 3 October 1994: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://pathfinder.com.

Weinstock, Janet. "The Ten Commandments of the Culturally Deaf." May 1993: n pag. Online. Internet. 20 April 1998. Available: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/deaf-info/commandments.html.
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