The Hearing community thinks that being Deaf limits you to jobs, career success, skills, driving abilities, and much more. The Deaf culture can still be successful in life, regardless of their hearing status. Some examples of how the hearing community sees being Deaf is: “I cannot imagine what it is like being Deaf. It must be so hard, not being able to hear. I feel bad for them.
I’m glad that my parents are deaf because it shows me a different side of the world that no one really knows about. I hope that with the information I presented people might be able to have a better understanding to the difficulties deaf people face every day but also that deafness doesn’t always mean that something is wrong with them, it just means they live a little differently than you but ultimately we are all the
With the deaf community having a signed language that is natural and practical to them, they were able to learn and communicate with others. So it boggles my mind to have someone like Alexander Graham Bell, who had a deaf mother and wife, and a Scottish immigrant would want to stifle and change the deaf community to fit in with everyone and not have the tools to make them who they are. I see it as Bell saying that you cannot get anywhere in life by being different yet Bell was different himself. Having them
Should deaf people have the freedom to make money however they want? This is one of the controversial issues in the deaf community; if the deaf peddlers should be allowed to peddle ABC cards in public areas or not. The reason it is so controversial is because it’s set up to stereotype deaf people as being unable to work and that they are not educated enough to get a real job. The stereotype is also the very reason that deaf people are unable to get a job because of the discrimination that deaf people are facing. Hearing people can also take advantage of this since it is easy to pretend as a deaf person, making it difficult for the public to trust deaf people and see them in such a negative way.
As a student originally from Fremont, I believed that I had a good understanding of Deaf people and their community. Unfortunately, my earlier living situation would never be enough for me to truly understand their lifestyles and differences from hearing people. Deaf like Me not only shows me that sign language should never be seen as a disadvantage, but also proves that any Deaf child can make it in this supposed “hearing” world. Spradley thoroughly guides readers through the entire process of doing what’s best for Lynn in communication, and I feel that more people should not focus on talking and hearing as the only form of communication available or acceptable in our society. There were many questions I had of my Deaf friends and started thinking on their terms and perspectives, imagining if this is a similar situation they grew up with.
This issue is important because if you try to force the Deaf to hear they might not grow because they will have no form of communication to use with other people. Even though the doctors might say to not use ASL, this will greatly hinder your child's well being in the long run. I learned a lot about Deaf people, ASL, and/or Deaf Culture after reading this book. Deaf people are normal just like anybody else and they should not be treated any differently. Some people treat Deafness as a disease that needs to be cured, but it's not.
Even though the continuing of this culture relies on what cochlear implants seek to end, it does not give them the right to completely oppose this procedure for anyone who pursues it. The preservation of deaf culture is particularly problematic because the majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents. Most hearing parents are not familiar with American Sign Language, but many learn and
We have to show our kids that being different is not a weakness but a strength. In my opinion, Mr. Kennish failed in one of the benefits people with a hearing disability need and that is social support. The show made social support into a major discussion, which should not be ignored. Due to lack of social support, it is hard for deaf kids to be matriculated in mainstreaming. By having a lack of social support we are allowing future generations to not be accepting of people with hearing disabilities.
Though I knew these facts, and a few traits about Deaf culture that I had experienced firsthand, there was so much that I had not considered before the readings and journals for this course opened my eyes. The Deaf community is a group that is made up of many different people, who all have different backgrounds both culturally and linguistically. Every single person in the Deaf community is unique, yet they share a common quality that brings them together. These people understand what it feels like to be labeled differently from the “norm” of society, to be discriminated against or misunderstood, sometimes even by their own families. Deaf people share a pride in the culture they share.
The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis states that language is significantly related to how people perceive and interact with the world around them (Otto). This hypothesis demonstrates the importance of language in cultural identity and suggests that lack of a shared language is a barrier to communication. When considering language, people often fail to include non-verbal language in the definition, in particular American Sign Language used by those who are deaf. Many believe that people who are deaf share the same culture as those who can hear, as the difference between hearing and non-hearing individuals raised in the same society is believed to be only sensory oriented. Yet deaf individual have been shown to have their own culture and many choose to use ASL exclusively, teaching it to their children, as the view it to be a critical aspect of maintaining deaf culture (Gallaudet).