D/deaf

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Lissa

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What makes you D/deaf? I know a lot of people say Deaf people are more involved in Deaf culture etc. Is being D/deaf a personal choice or is it also about how Deaf people see you as?
 
Both. I've been labeled oralist by the Deaf even through I know sign language, and continuing using sign language. Oh well.

People from the Deaf Culture shares the same methods of communication, language (ASL) expressions, thoughts, beliefs, etc. Truth to be told not everybody shares the same, because I don't. I'm my own person and have my own thoughts.
 
DeafLissa90 said:
What makes you D/deaf? I know a lot of people say Deaf people are more involved in Deaf culture etc. Is being D/deaf a personal choice or is it also about how Deaf people see you as?
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deaf = physically deaf

Deaf = fluent in ASL, does not have to be deaf
 
kyleb said:
deaf = physically deaf

Deaf = fluent in ASL, does not have to be deaf
Click to expand...

I concur here. I don't really use "D/deaf," because the two are different. The one thing most people have in common is the state of being called "deaf," however being "Deaf" on the other hand is merely a cultural thing.

How other people choose to define "Deaf" past ASL is merely their own standards that other people may or may not agree with.
 
souggy said:
I concur here. I don't really use "D/deaf," because the two are different. The one thing most people have in common is the state of being called "deaf," however being "Deaf" on the other hand is merely a cultural thing.

How other people choose to define "Deaf" past ASL is merely their own standards that other people may or may not agree with.
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I don't define "Deaf" past ASL because to do so would be exclusionary - extremely hypocritical. Deaf culture has a lot to give the world, such as a different way of communicating (visual) and a different way of expression (taking things as they are).
 
Seems to me like Deaf goes beyond knowing ASL. Deaf culture has its own cultural norms and history and folklore, etc.
 
I never know which to define myself as. I usually use deaf. I know my name is DeafLissa90, but that's because caps looked better
 
CJB said:
Seems to me like Deaf goes beyond knowing ASL. Deaf culture has its own cultural norms and history and folklore, etc.
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However Deaf culture is EMBEDDED in the sign language itself. You can FEEL it when you use ASL/BSL/whatever natural sign languages out there. It just fits. You can visually see the dynamics of Deaf culture and history right in the signs themselves. So you may not know anything about Deaf history, folklores or social norms-- however you can feel it. The most successful signers I have taught, I just tell them-- "trust your guts, despite your mind fighting against it" and they immerse themselves Deaf culture better than those that read up about it.

There is "deaf" history, and there is "Deaf" history-- the latter didn't really take form until the Renaissance when religious orders begun taking on deaf pupils and it solidified around the Enlightenment-- close to the timeline of revolutionary France. To me, "deaf history" concerns how people treat the deaf overall for example: Israelites allowing deaf people to work, but not to own property and were protected by their higher being, Plato believing that deaf people could not be educated, the early doctrines of Church viewing deaf people as damned souls and so on. "Deaf history" would be with the introduction of sign languages, the artworks, the doctrines and so on that stem from being given a language. I suppose it would be better to call pre-lingual component "pre-Deaf history," not "deaf history" so there would be no confusion.

So, due to that reasoning, it is safe to draw conclusion that "Deaf" is attached to the languages themselves. And one don't have to know the history, the norms and everything that scholars argue to be "Deaf culture" to be Deaf if they just trust that guts feeling. However you can't gain that guts feeling without understanding ASL.
 
souggy said:
However Deaf culture is EMBEDDED in the sign language itself. You can FEEL it when you use ASL/BSL/whatever natural sign languages out there. It just fits. You can visually see the dynamics of Deaf culture and history right in the signs themselves. So you may not know anything about Deaf history, folklores or social norms-- however you can feel it. The most successful signers I have taught, I just tell them-- "trust your guts, despite your mind fighting against it" and they immerse themselves Deaf culture better than those that read up about it. [...] [So] one don't have to know the history, the norms and everything that scholars argue to be "Deaf culture" to be Deaf if they just trust that guts feeling. However you can't gain that guts feeling without understanding ASL.
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I agree with this!
 
souggy said:
However Deaf culture is EMBEDDED in the sign language itself. You can FEEL it when you use ASL/BSL/whatever natural sign languages out there. It just fits. You can visually see the dynamics of Deaf culture and history right in the signs themselves. So you may not know anything about Deaf history, folklores or social norms-- however you can feel it. The most successful signers I have taught, I just tell them-- "trust your guts, despite your mind fighting against it" and they immerse themselves Deaf culture better than those that read up about it.

There is "deaf" history, and there is "Deaf" history-- the latter didn't really take form until the Renaissance when religious orders begun taking on deaf pupils and it solidified around the Enlightenment-- close to the timeline of revolutionary France. To me, "deaf history" concerns how people treat the deaf overall for example: Israelites allowing deaf people to work, but not to own property and were protected by their higher being, Plato believing that deaf people could not be educated, the early doctrines of Church viewing deaf people as damned souls and so on. "Deaf history" would be with the introduction of sign languages, the artworks, the doctrines and so on that stem from being given a language. I suppose it would be better to call pre-lingual component "pre-Deaf history," not "deaf history" so there would be no confusion.

So, due to that reasoning, it is safe to draw conclusion that "Deaf" is attached to the languages themselves. And one don't have to know the history, the norms and everything that scholars argue to be "Deaf culture" to be Deaf if they just trust that guts feeling. However you can't gain that guts feeling without understanding ASL.
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Yes, I agree which is why for one to be fully immersed in Deaf culture and be a part of it, they need to learn ASL.
 
I remember some ADers explained me the difference between "D"eaf and "d"eaf...

"D"eaf - Deaf Pride.
"d"deaf - simple deaf. (not deaf enough)...

Please correct if I am wrong.
 
Liebling:-))) said:
I remember some ADers explained me the difference between "D"eaf and "d"eaf...

"D"eaf - Deaf Pride.
"d"deaf - simple deaf. (not deaf enough)...

Please correct if I am wrong.
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I only disagree with that statement since there is no way to measure that. How does one define "deaf pride?" How does one even define as "not deaf enough?" They are too subjective.

One can define "too oral," but no one can honestly define "not deaf enough."
 
souggy said:
I only disagree with that statement since there is no way to measure that. How does one define "deaf pride?" How does one even define as "not deaf enough?" They are too subjective.

One can define "too oral," but no one can honestly define "not deaf enough."
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I agree with you.
 
Went to a Mainstream School.

I know ASL.

I speak orally out of necessity.

I am 100% Deaf, I hear nothing.

What does that make me?
 
Question.

If I'm not 100% ASL (maybe 60-70%) and I replied on PSE more than ASL, and I went to Deaf school for eight years. What make me a Deaf or deaf?

Is it not enough? I'm kinda of confused, maybe...
 
KarissaMann05 said:
Question.

If I'm not 100% ASL (maybe 60-70%) and I replied on PSE more than ASL, and I went to Deaf school for eight years. What make me a Deaf or deaf?

Is it not enough? I'm kinda of confused, maybe...
Click to expand...

My ASL is still heavily accented with English syntax (along with a few other languages), but because I don't use SEE signs-- people consider me as Deaf. That and I understand ASL as well.
 
Let me get my 2 cents in here....deaf at 14....only went to the deaf school 2 years (graduated)....I'm not fluent in ASL, but can communicate with deafies "OK". ....I still have my speech and use it 3 times more than ASL...

I'm totally deaf...deafies think I'm hearing...

So what am I ?..oral/deaf?
 
How about myself? Have no hearing without CI and HA,

I am mostly oral, I sign with friends.

Im guessing maybe deaf since I am not in the deaf world constantly?
 
rockin'robin said:
Let me get my 2 cents in here....deaf at 14....only went to the deaf school 2 years (graduated)....I'm not fluent in ASL, but can communicate with deafies "OK". ....I still have my speech and use it 3 times more than ASL...

I'm totally deaf...deafies think I'm hearing...

So what am I ?..oral/deaf?
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DeafLissa90 said:
How about myself? Have no hearing without CI and HA,

I am mostly oral, I sign with friends.

Im guessing maybe deaf since I am not in the deaf world constantly?
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Don't let other Deaf people define if you are Deaf or not. Seriously. If you think you are Deaf, you are Deaf. One doesn't have to be involved in the Deaf world all the time to be Deaf.

I am both oral and Deaf.
 
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