About this Deaf Culture thing...

[BecLak]

I would like to say something Jillio about this 'Deaf Culture thing'. I have experience with interacting with many different cultures, I even married inter-culturally. I am a teacher of Cross-Cultural relations, in fact.

In regards to Deaf Culture. I would like to share my thoughts but before I do, I would also like to say I have very high respect for Deaf who come from several generations Deaf families, who are the founders of Deaf culture. I want to learn as much as I can from them.

With all the diversity of opinions here on AD, some see a clear dividing line between oral deaf and Deaf, some call oral-deaf who are new arrivals to the Deaf community - 'wannabes' but not really Deaf.

As I see 'culture'. It is a mindset, a set way of thinking that determines your thoughts and actions and how you interact with society around you. Some people are born into a culture, others adopt it from the outside, and then there are ones, like me, who discover their identity and come into it later in life. There is a clear-cut distinction between those who are not deaf, or late-deafened and adopt the Deaf culture and those (like me) who were born deaf, and for whatever reason, come into Deaf culture later in life.

The difference here is that since being born severely-deaf, and even raised orally and in a hearing environment, unbeknown to me until discovering Deaf culture, despite my not knowing sign language as my first language - visual communication was and is still very much a part of me, therefore I had the culture in me right from the start. Since discovering my true identity and making the decision to join AD to get to know the Deaf community, Deaf Culture has become alive in me, where before it had been laying dormant. Yes, I have to 'catch up' with sign language, but the mindset, knowledge and passion for Deaf Culture is already there. I take every opportunity I have to interact with other Deaf, I seek out other Deaf, wherever I am. I fit in culturally in whichever capacity even with my limited ability in sign language to date, learning new signs everyday and I am not shy to use it. I have found my identity: I am Deaf.

 

[Berry]

That is because everything he comes up with is very low context logic oriented. It is a way of thinking many hearing people pride themselves on, and believe it is a very intelligent thing to do -- But it is a learned way of thinking, few people think that way naturally and Deaf Culture and ASL uses high context thinking.

The best way I know to explain the idiotcy of low context thinking is to take something I learned when I was first learning how to write fiction.

A reasonable person using high context thinking knows that when you look up you tilt your head back and roll your eyes upward so you can see the top of a building.

Thus to a high context person the sentence, "He raised his eyes to the roof of the building." makes perfect sense. A high context thinking person may even reply, "How else is he going to see what is on the roof of the building?"

However a low context thinker is horrified by the sentence. Why? To them you "raise" something by picking it up with your hands. You raise something to the roof by placing it on the roof with your hands. To a low context thinker logic dictates no other way of interpreting the sentence -- Thus a writer for the general public should NEVER use it. This type of thinking works because of the way the spoken word works and how words are defined.

ASL on the other hand allows you to take your two "F" handshapes, use them as your eyes looking all around the street -- Allows you to raise your hands that are established as your eyeballs up to the roof of the building that has already been placed there, and suddenly explode in surprise.

Totally appalling the low context, logic oriented, hearing person who does not see the same image we do.

Hopefully this will help you, maybe even him. Even though we are all writing English, drphil is using a different language than we are.

In practice, high context thinking demonstrates intelligence as it involves fluid intelligence and application. Low context thinking is generally believed to be limited, lacking in creativity, and closed minded.

Which goes right back to the anatomical differences in the brain, and differences in processing stimuli.

While I would like to agree with you -- As a person who values high context thinking I would find this VERY flattering, and believe me I would like to think of myself as intelligent, but alas, in all honesty I cannot claim that. The results of my IQ test proved that I fall a bit short of normal.

I used to argue with a professor who taught logic who maintained that we "high context thinkers" were simply lazy people using that label as an excuse to avoid disciplining our minds to the rigors of logic.

I simply believe that full context thinking is more human, more natural, fits the mind and reality better, and leads to better thinking with less effort.

 

[Berry]

Absolutely. Which is why English is taught showing the difference between dictionary definitions and contextual definitions. It is why reading comprehension levels are assessed using ability to determine contextual definitions. Content is not the end all and be all. If one ignores contextual meaning, one consistently misunderstands that which one is reading.

I wish English had been taught to me like that in the schools -- Then perhaps I would have more respect for schools and the teaching profession.

It was my mother who drilled it into my head, "Read between the lines; listen between the words; look beyond the face."

 

[KristinaB]

My father was the one who believed that you should always have a dictionary with you every time you had any other book open. He was very big on making sure you knew everything about each individual word and to make sure you used them correctly. I can remember for my 8th birthday, I was given a set that had a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. I still have it today, but I have more up to date versions as well. I taught my son almost the same way and he has already read 3 different dictionaries as well as the encyclopedia. Make that the complete encyclopedia A to Z.

 

[StSapphire]

My father was the one who believed that you should always have a dictionary with you every time you had any other book open. He was very big on making sure you knew everything about each individual word and to make sure you used them correctly. I can remember for my 8th birthday, I was given a set that had a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. I still have it today, but I have more up to date versions as well. I taught my son almost the same way and he has already read 3 different dictionaries as well as the encyclopedia. Make that the complete encyclopedia A to Z.

Sounds like he needed a Kindle. Built-in dictionary while you're reading.

 

[KristinaB]

Sounds like he needed a Kindle. Built-in dictionary while you're reading.

He has 3 large dictionaries of his own. He's also read the King James Version of the Bible cover to cover 2-3 times. The fist when he was 6. He started reading at age 2 and now reads close to 20 books a week. He has put the Pastor to shame with his knowledge and also put other adults to shame without intending to. - He's also got a moderate to severe hearing loss.

 

[Berry]

My father was the one who believed that you should always have a dictionary with you every time you had any other book open. He was very big on making sure you knew everything about each individual word and to make sure you used them correctly. I can remember for my 8th birthday, I was given a set that had a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. I still have it today, but I have more up to date versions as well. I taught my son almost the same way and he has already read 3 different dictionaries as well as the encyclopedia. Make that the complete encyclopedia A to Z.

I often tell people learning ASL that dictionaries are a must but your best friend is a thesaurus.

 

[Beowulf]

I often tell people learning ASL that dictionaries are a must but your best friend is a thesaurus.

Gosh, I never thought of it that way. A dictionary is mandatory, obligatory, necessary and required while a thesaurus is a good friend...

 

[jillio]

I would like to say something Jillio about this 'Deaf Culture thing'. I have experience with interacting with many different cultures, I even married inter-culturally. I am a teacher of Cross-Cultural relations, in fact.

In regards to Deaf Culture. I would like to share my thoughts but before I do, I would also like to say I have very high respect for Deaf who come from several generations Deaf families, who are the founders of Deaf culture. I want to learn as much as I can from them.

With all the diversity of opinions here on AD, some see a clear dividing line between oral deaf and Deaf, some call oral-deaf who are new arrivals to the Deaf community - 'wannabes' but not really Deaf.

As I see 'culture'. It is a mindset, a set way of thinking that determines your thoughts and actions and how you interact with society around you. Some people are born into a culture, others adopt it from the outside, and then there are ones, like me, who discover their identity and come into it later in life. There is a clear-cut distinction between those who are not deaf, or late-deafened and adopt the Deaf culture and those (like me) who were born deaf, and for whatever reason, come into Deaf culture later in life.

The difference here is that since being born severely-deaf, and even raised orally and in a hearing environment, unbeknown to me until discovering Deaf culture, despite my not knowing sign language as my first language - visual communication was and is still very much a part of me, therefore I had the culture in me right from the start. Since discovering my true identity and making the decision to join AD to get to know the Deaf community, Deaf Culture has become alive in me, where before it had been laying dormant. Yes, I have to 'catch up' with sign language, but the mindset, knowledge and passion for Deaf Culture is already there. I take every opportunity I have to interact with other Deaf, I seek out other Deaf, wherever I am. I fit in culturally in whichever capacity even with my limited ability in sign language to date, learning new signs everyday and I am not shy to use it. I have found my identity: I am Deaf.

Very well said. And with your experience in other cultures, it is obvious why the concept of Deaf Culture comes so naturally to you. Those of us that have multicultural existences find cross cultural application much easier.

 

[jillio]

While I would like to agree with you -- As a person who values high context thinking I would find this VERY flattering, and believe me I would like to think of myself as intelligent, but alas, in all honesty I cannot claim that. The results of my IQ test proved that I fall a bit short of normal.

I used to argue with a professor who taught logic who maintained that we "high context thinkers" were simply lazy people using that label as an excuse to avoid disciplining our minds to the rigors of logic.

I simply believe that full context thinking is more human, more natural, fits the mind and reality better, and leads to better thinking with less effort.

I would like to have been a fly on the wall when you took that IQ test. I suspect that something rendered the results less than valid.

 

[LoveBlue]

Like an army planner?

No, I mean "by touch". Guess I used the wrong word, but can't think of the word I meant.

 

[Berry]

Very well said. And with your experience in other cultures, it is obvious why the concept of Deaf Culture comes so naturally to you. Those of us that have multicultural existences find cross cultural application much easier.

I like that "multicultural existences". I will use it. Thank you.

 

[Berry]

I would like to have been a fly on the wall when you took that IQ test. I suspect that something rendered the results less than valid.

Thank you. A lot of people think I am more intelligent than I actually am. It is interesting why I give this impression. "Intelligence" itself is an interesting concept.

My late wife was above average intelligent and far more intelligent than I -- But few people realized it because she was impatient. She could understand something in 2 minutes that would take me 20 -- But if it took her 3 minutes of thinking to understand she was not going to be bothered while I would dwell on it for 2 or 3 hours.

Intelligence is modified by the factors of time and effort.

My wife calls this my "Asparagus mode". She is convinced I have just enough of a touch of Asperger's syndrome to allow me to concentrate on a subject past what the normal person can tolerate. She is also more intelligent than I am but her area's of interest are different than mine. Thus people believe we are both intelligent but no one compares us.

I also attribute my appearance of intelligence to the way I think. I eschew logic in favor of semantics and systems approach thinking -- More or less simplified in the concept of High Context Reasoning -- Which was exemplified to me by: And explains my affinity for -- Deaf Culture.

 

[Bottesini]

No, I mean "by touch". Guess I used the wrong word, but can't think of the word I meant.

Tactile. But my dogs do plan, and Joey plotted a route across a footrest and several chairs to get on the table on the deck just to smell flowers we were about to plant.

That is the reason I wondered if you cat could plan ahead and plot.

 

[LoveBlue]

Tactile. But my dogs do plan, and Joey plotted a route across a footrest and several chairs to get on the table on the deck just to smell flowers we were about to plant.

That is the reason I wondered if you cat could plan ahead and plot.

I'm sure my cats plan their "attack" also. Especially if I don't respond to their first "request".

 

[AlleyCat]

I'm sure my cats plan their "attack" also. Especially if I don't respond to their first "request".

 

[LoveBlue]

Ok, I think we cat/dog lovers have hijacked this thread. Let's get back on topic. Now, what was the topic at hand?

 

[flip]

Imagination and humor have more to do with the individual although it is limited by what the language and the culture, subculture, will allow. If you say "That was the funnest time I ever had," someone in a group of hearing Americans will be sure to inform you, "Funnest is NOT a word."

In Spanish you say, "Todo el mundo" meaning "All the world" and you are only speaking about the three people sitting at the table everyone understands and agrees with what you just said. In English you can be speaking about 100 at a picnic and say, "Everyone had a great time," and have someone inform you, "I'm sure 'Everyone' wasn't at the picnic. There are a few billion people in China that weren't there, you know."




You can do it BETTER in ASL and it is more tolerated. Like the Navajos I knew when I was young, ASL'ers seem to enjoy playing with their language, whereas many English speaking Americans will tell you, "Puns are the lowest form of humor."




You definitely got my meaning wrong there, my friend.






Low context thinking often seems one dimensional to high context thinkers while high context thinkers seem obtuse and unable to get "the point" to low context thinkers.

And I am NOT saying low context thinking does not have its uses, it does. And I can do it. It is simply not my preferred form. And as far as reasoning goes I believe its uses are limited.

Ok, I am barely getting what you are saying, but would like to know more about this low and high context stuff. That's why I also added the "may be wrong".

Do you know of some good sources about this, books or/and internet, and also if it's scholary sources explaining this related to deafness?

 

[LoveBlue]

Do you know of some good sources about this, books or/and internet, and also if it's scholary sources explaining this related to deafness?

I don't think it's related to deafness. Just to a certain poster on AllDeaf.

 

[flip]

I don't think it's related to deafness. Just to a certain poster on AllDeaf.

Ok, that could explain. Hope Berry can clear this out.