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Deaf Culture in general
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^lol
got the paper done!!! now i just need it prof-read and a better title for it:
A somewhat average group of people walk down the street. Nothing appears unusual until a person walks up to them to ask for directions to get to a local restaurant. The group of people looks somewhat confused and begins signing to eachother. The person, realizing that these people are actually Deaf, apologizes and walks away. The Deaf group of people left behind is offended, realizing that the person needed directions but reacted to them as though they had the plague rather just being Deaf.
One of the greatest misunderstandings in civilization through time is between the Deaf and the hearing people. There are some hearing people who think that all Deaf have some kind of mental retardation while the Deaf are afraid, angry, and hurt by this common thought. This misunderstanding has yet to be resolved.
History of the Deaf
Before the 1500’s, most people believed that intelligence and speech were connected; therefore, if you couldn’t speak you were considered unintelligent. Even Aristotle believed that those who were born deaf were incapable of reason and completely senseless. Many believed that it was completely impossible to teach the deaf any knowledge whatsoever. In many cases, this also caused the Deaf to be considered not human, and was thus mistreated.
In a religious sense, Deaf were not allowed to take part in any temple rituals. However, there were also rules that protected the Deaf from being cursed. St. Augustine thought that the sins of the parents came down upon their children causing deafness. Deafness was considered a hindrance of faith, but the Deaf could learn and therefore receive salvation.
During the time of Emperor Justinian, a simple and clear code was written called “Corupus lurus Civilis” or the Justinian Code. This code denied all deaf people the right to own property, create contracts, or write a valid will. This, of course, was a result of the earlier belief that the Deaf were incapable of human thought.
Then, finally, Girolamo Cardan became the first to challenge Aristotle’s idea that Deaf could not reason. He discovered that the Deaf did not have to learn how to speak before they could learn. He also accepted a report written by Rudolph Agricola on a deaf-mute that had learned to write. Rudolf was a Dutch humanist who believed that the deaf could communicate through writing. He further wrote that speech was separate from intelligence. These kinds of breakthroughs began to grow more and more numerous as people realized that the Deaf did have intelligent thought.
Thomas Gallaudet wished to become a professional minister, but that wish was immediately put aside when he met Alice Cogswell. Alice was the nine-year-old daughter of Gallaudet’s neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. Gallaudet was asked by Dr. Cogswell to travel Europe to find a way to teach Alice. On these travels he heard that was another family, the Braidwoods, which were also involved in Deaf education using an oral method. Unfortunately, he found the Braidwoods unwilling to share their methods and he did not find good results with them. Gallaudet then came across a Deaf school in Paris, France. Abbé Sicard, head of the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris (National Institution of Deaf-mute in Paris), invited Gallaudet to come study their methods of education. Here, Gallaudet learned of sign language and was very impressed with the results. He was able to convince one of the graduates of the school, Laurent Clerk, to come and help Gallaudet with the Deaf education in America. The two were able to raise enough money from traveling around America to found the American School for the Deaf. Alice was then able to attend this school among six other Deaf students, even hearing students came eager to learn.
A Soundless Life
One of the things that really make the Deaf Culture a culture is how it came about. The other cultures in the world formed from being isolated with eachother for long periods of time eventually coming together to share beliefs, language, and behaviors. While these cultures have mostly come from different circumstance, such as geography or location, the Deaf Culture also has isolated roots. Being a Deaf person means that at a Hearing person’s social gathering they are the only one who is left out. When everyone is suddenly angry, upset, or bursts out in laughter the Deaf person will ask what had happened only to get either a shortened reply such as, “Oh, we were just talking about his truck” or “Oh, nothing, it’s not important.” In an emergency situation that a Deaf person has under control a hearing person will sometimes come and try to take over as though he/she is inadequate. The isolated feeling that the Deaf have would be the same as if a hearing person were to step into a foreign country without knowing the language or any of their cultural methods. As a result, the Deaf person would much rather be with other Deaf people with whom they are treated the same and can understand exactly what eachother is going through.
When a Deaf child is born to Hearing and Deaf parents, they tend to have three different reactions. A Hearing parent’s reaction is one more of grief cycles, going from stability to denial, to anger, depression, and eventually acceptance. A Deaf parent’s reaction can be that of gladness or that of sadness that the baby will also have to endure all the social difficulties such as they had when they were growing up.
When a Deaf child is born to Hearing parents the child is not usually found to have deafness until they are several months old, about the time when a child is supposed to be saying his/her first words. Typically, the mother will develop a closer relationship to the child and will be able to detect that something is wrong but is she usually considered to be paranoid. When speech is later delayed the father will begin to suspect something as well. The parents will then take the child to a pediatrician and from there to an audiologist (a physician who specializes in hearing) and an otolaryngologist (a physician who specializes in nose, throat and ear disorders). The physician will then approach the parents with a tone of sadness as though the baby has a terminal disease rather than deafness. The physicians will try to convince the parents that there would be no other way to go besides hearing aides and speech therapy to fix their “hearing-impaired” (the term “hearing impaired” is really no different than calling a black person a negro) child rather than just accepting that their child is Deaf.
When a Deaf child is born to Deaf parents the reactions are very different. Often times, a Deaf parent will hope the child is Deaf, not because they are horrible parents but because the Deaf child will be more like an extention of their parents, which is what most parents would want for their children. The parents might also react with a bit of sadness already knowing what kind of educational, social, and economic challenges the child will face. Here, the physicians will try to convince the parents that it would be best to teach the child to speak first rather than sign first, that if the parent taught sign it would delay speech. However, this is not true and both ways show the same results. It is also nearly impossible for Deaf parents to teach their children speech first while the main language used in the household is signed language.
When a Deaf child reaches school age is usually when he/she first realizes that hearing people even exist, that is, if they grew up with Deaf parents. The child will first notice that the other children seem to have a habit of moving their lips and have a lack of hand gestures. The hearing kids, in turn, will notice this and will most likely avoid the “different” child causing the child to have his/her first taste of rejection. The Deaf child will also have trouble in school due to not being able to hear what the teacher has to say and may end up going through extensive speech therapy. About this time the child will start to feel that his deafness causes him to be inferior and low-self esteem can result.
The Deaf child will eventually graduate and become a Deaf adult until recently his/her dreams would be ignored and would be placed in a blue-collar job, such as a post office. These jobs were opened up to the Deaf people by the government, forcing employees to accept people with disabilities. Though this was a huge step, the Deaf were still miserable from having to work for people who would rather just get rid of him/her. At the meetings there would be no interpreters to help the Deaf person to know what was going on, so they would either have to just deal with it and try to lipread or have one of their hearing children come in to interpret. The person may work up to forty years without a raise or being promoted so that they can retire and live in somewhat peace.
A Somewhat Better Future
Today there are more interpreters/interpreting agencies, even though there’s still a huge shortage and better jobs for the Deaf people. Even the households has become a lot better, equiped with flashing lights to represent the doorbell, a phone ringing, and various other sounds that hearing people would use on a regular basis. Long distance communications have even gotten easier as face to face video communications, such as video phones (VP), increase. We have come a long way from Aristotle’s belief, but we still have a long way to go before we truly make this world a better place for our permanent neighbors.
got the paper done!!! now i just need it prof-read and a better title for it:
A somewhat average group of people walk down the street. Nothing appears unusual until a person walks up to them to ask for directions to get to a local restaurant. The group of people looks somewhat confused and begins signing to eachother. The person, realizing that these people are actually Deaf, apologizes and walks away. The Deaf group of people left behind is offended, realizing that the person needed directions but reacted to them as though they had the plague rather just being Deaf.
One of the greatest misunderstandings in civilization through time is between the Deaf and the hearing people. There are some hearing people who think that all Deaf have some kind of mental retardation while the Deaf are afraid, angry, and hurt by this common thought. This misunderstanding has yet to be resolved.
History of the Deaf
Before the 1500’s, most people believed that intelligence and speech were connected; therefore, if you couldn’t speak you were considered unintelligent. Even Aristotle believed that those who were born deaf were incapable of reason and completely senseless. Many believed that it was completely impossible to teach the deaf any knowledge whatsoever. In many cases, this also caused the Deaf to be considered not human, and was thus mistreated.
In a religious sense, Deaf were not allowed to take part in any temple rituals. However, there were also rules that protected the Deaf from being cursed. St. Augustine thought that the sins of the parents came down upon their children causing deafness. Deafness was considered a hindrance of faith, but the Deaf could learn and therefore receive salvation.
During the time of Emperor Justinian, a simple and clear code was written called “Corupus lurus Civilis” or the Justinian Code. This code denied all deaf people the right to own property, create contracts, or write a valid will. This, of course, was a result of the earlier belief that the Deaf were incapable of human thought.
Then, finally, Girolamo Cardan became the first to challenge Aristotle’s idea that Deaf could not reason. He discovered that the Deaf did not have to learn how to speak before they could learn. He also accepted a report written by Rudolph Agricola on a deaf-mute that had learned to write. Rudolf was a Dutch humanist who believed that the deaf could communicate through writing. He further wrote that speech was separate from intelligence. These kinds of breakthroughs began to grow more and more numerous as people realized that the Deaf did have intelligent thought.
Thomas Gallaudet wished to become a professional minister, but that wish was immediately put aside when he met Alice Cogswell. Alice was the nine-year-old daughter of Gallaudet’s neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. Gallaudet was asked by Dr. Cogswell to travel Europe to find a way to teach Alice. On these travels he heard that was another family, the Braidwoods, which were also involved in Deaf education using an oral method. Unfortunately, he found the Braidwoods unwilling to share their methods and he did not find good results with them. Gallaudet then came across a Deaf school in Paris, France. Abbé Sicard, head of the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris (National Institution of Deaf-mute in Paris), invited Gallaudet to come study their methods of education. Here, Gallaudet learned of sign language and was very impressed with the results. He was able to convince one of the graduates of the school, Laurent Clerk, to come and help Gallaudet with the Deaf education in America. The two were able to raise enough money from traveling around America to found the American School for the Deaf. Alice was then able to attend this school among six other Deaf students, even hearing students came eager to learn.
A Soundless Life
One of the things that really make the Deaf Culture a culture is how it came about. The other cultures in the world formed from being isolated with eachother for long periods of time eventually coming together to share beliefs, language, and behaviors. While these cultures have mostly come from different circumstance, such as geography or location, the Deaf Culture also has isolated roots. Being a Deaf person means that at a Hearing person’s social gathering they are the only one who is left out. When everyone is suddenly angry, upset, or bursts out in laughter the Deaf person will ask what had happened only to get either a shortened reply such as, “Oh, we were just talking about his truck” or “Oh, nothing, it’s not important.” In an emergency situation that a Deaf person has under control a hearing person will sometimes come and try to take over as though he/she is inadequate. The isolated feeling that the Deaf have would be the same as if a hearing person were to step into a foreign country without knowing the language or any of their cultural methods. As a result, the Deaf person would much rather be with other Deaf people with whom they are treated the same and can understand exactly what eachother is going through.
When a Deaf child is born to Hearing and Deaf parents, they tend to have three different reactions. A Hearing parent’s reaction is one more of grief cycles, going from stability to denial, to anger, depression, and eventually acceptance. A Deaf parent’s reaction can be that of gladness or that of sadness that the baby will also have to endure all the social difficulties such as they had when they were growing up.
When a Deaf child is born to Hearing parents the child is not usually found to have deafness until they are several months old, about the time when a child is supposed to be saying his/her first words. Typically, the mother will develop a closer relationship to the child and will be able to detect that something is wrong but is she usually considered to be paranoid. When speech is later delayed the father will begin to suspect something as well. The parents will then take the child to a pediatrician and from there to an audiologist (a physician who specializes in hearing) and an otolaryngologist (a physician who specializes in nose, throat and ear disorders). The physician will then approach the parents with a tone of sadness as though the baby has a terminal disease rather than deafness. The physicians will try to convince the parents that there would be no other way to go besides hearing aides and speech therapy to fix their “hearing-impaired” (the term “hearing impaired” is really no different than calling a black person a negro) child rather than just accepting that their child is Deaf.
When a Deaf child is born to Deaf parents the reactions are very different. Often times, a Deaf parent will hope the child is Deaf, not because they are horrible parents but because the Deaf child will be more like an extention of their parents, which is what most parents would want for their children. The parents might also react with a bit of sadness already knowing what kind of educational, social, and economic challenges the child will face. Here, the physicians will try to convince the parents that it would be best to teach the child to speak first rather than sign first, that if the parent taught sign it would delay speech. However, this is not true and both ways show the same results. It is also nearly impossible for Deaf parents to teach their children speech first while the main language used in the household is signed language.
When a Deaf child reaches school age is usually when he/she first realizes that hearing people even exist, that is, if they grew up with Deaf parents. The child will first notice that the other children seem to have a habit of moving their lips and have a lack of hand gestures. The hearing kids, in turn, will notice this and will most likely avoid the “different” child causing the child to have his/her first taste of rejection. The Deaf child will also have trouble in school due to not being able to hear what the teacher has to say and may end up going through extensive speech therapy. About this time the child will start to feel that his deafness causes him to be inferior and low-self esteem can result.
The Deaf child will eventually graduate and become a Deaf adult until recently his/her dreams would be ignored and would be placed in a blue-collar job, such as a post office. These jobs were opened up to the Deaf people by the government, forcing employees to accept people with disabilities. Though this was a huge step, the Deaf were still miserable from having to work for people who would rather just get rid of him/her. At the meetings there would be no interpreters to help the Deaf person to know what was going on, so they would either have to just deal with it and try to lipread or have one of their hearing children come in to interpret. The person may work up to forty years without a raise or being promoted so that they can retire and live in somewhat peace.
A Somewhat Better Future
Today there are more interpreters/interpreting agencies, even though there’s still a huge shortage and better jobs for the Deaf people. Even the households has become a lot better, equiped with flashing lights to represent the doorbell, a phone ringing, and various other sounds that hearing people would use on a regular basis. Long distance communications have even gotten easier as face to face video communications, such as video phones (VP), increase. We have come a long way from Aristotle’s belief, but we still have a long way to go before we truly make this world a better place for our permanent neighbors.
faire_jour
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Actually most hearing loss is discovered by the manditory newborn hearing screens performed in hospital. I believe it is close to 90%.
Also, I have never had a professional use the term "hearing impaired". They always said "has a hearing loss".
Not all children with a hearing loss are Deaf. Many are deaf, and some are hard of hearing. Deaf (with a big d is a cultural affiliation) that has to do with the Deaf community and their beliefs so you can NOT assume all children with a hearing loss are "just Deaf" as you contend in your paper.
Also, you are making a lot of assumptions about the education process with deaf children....
My last point would be that not all children who grow up with a hearing loss end up joining the Deaf community. There are lots of oral deaf adults. You also make it sound like all people with a hearing loss end up bitter and angry and uneducated. I certainly hope that isn't true.
Also, I have never had a professional use the term "hearing impaired". They always said "has a hearing loss".
Not all children with a hearing loss are Deaf. Many are deaf, and some are hard of hearing. Deaf (with a big d is a cultural affiliation) that has to do with the Deaf community and their beliefs so you can NOT assume all children with a hearing loss are "just Deaf" as you contend in your paper.
Also, you are making a lot of assumptions about the education process with deaf children....
My last point would be that not all children who grow up with a hearing loss end up joining the Deaf community. There are lots of oral deaf adults. You also make it sound like all people with a hearing loss end up bitter and angry and uneducated. I certainly hope that isn't true.
Adamsmomma
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I have to agree- we discovered my son's loss when he was 3 days old, and it was confirmed by an ABR when he was 6 weeks old. Previously it wasn't a mandatory test, and many kids did go undiagnosed until something 'wasn't right'... but that's changed in recent years.
k, thank you soo much. Sorry about that, I was worried i would get something like that wrong, i'll change it right away.
Just keep in mind that i'm still learning about all this and just testing my knowledge about Deaf-world with the paper.
Just keep in mind that i'm still learning about all this and just testing my knowledge about Deaf-world with the paper.
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You have been given a glimpse into this world. The only way you could be offensive, at this point, would be to walk away. We have seen blatantly offensive hearies passing through. Just a thought.
naisho
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Do recall that some of us are no different than hearing people. Its not like we all share the same ideas, viewpoints, and way of things.
Some are two-faced.
Some are simple minded.
Some of us are extremely political.
Some of us are analysts and tend to assess a situation.
Some prefer or find pleasure to correct another over and over.
Some are as nice as Mrs. Nanny next door who bakes you free cookies.
We share the same things with normal people. We are really no different than a hearing culture as you have said, its just that general society prefers lumps deaf together as some kind specimen of a preliminary research experiment.
As I have said to few that have came on this board before, the best you could do is to not make this into some kind of documentary that you watch on the discovery channel, about a professional visiting natives in an African jungle and coming back to share his discoveries with the rest of the world, yet proceeds as nothing really changed.
Just observe, educate, correct others who seem in need of re-education out there, and live life on.
We are bitter because we have been burned so much. A typical hearing baddie would rather burn than get burned.
Some are two-faced.
Some are simple minded.
Some of us are extremely political.
Some of us are analysts and tend to assess a situation.
Some prefer or find pleasure to correct another over and over.
Some are as nice as Mrs. Nanny next door who bakes you free cookies.
We share the same things with normal people. We are really no different than a hearing culture as you have said, its just that general society prefers lumps deaf together as some kind specimen of a preliminary research experiment.
As I have said to few that have came on this board before, the best you could do is to not make this into some kind of documentary that you watch on the discovery channel, about a professional visiting natives in an African jungle and coming back to share his discoveries with the rest of the world, yet proceeds as nothing really changed.
Just observe, educate, correct others who seem in need of re-education out there, and live life on.
We are bitter because we have been burned so much. A typical hearing baddie would rather burn than get burned.
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good point.
::gasp:: i wouldn't dream of walking away, in fact, i'm working on getting into a college so that i can get a degree in asl interpreting.
sorry, i just based that on a deaf person that i met who had a terrible experience working at a post office, he worked for 40 yrs without a raise or a promotion and the people there kept telling him he was even lucky to have a job there, but then that was quite a while ago
See everyone after spring break!!!!
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Then that deaf person experienced blantant discrimination. How terrible is it to tell a deaf person after working at a place without getting promoted nor a raise for 40 years that he is lucky to have a job. How degrading!
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I would take that anecdote with a grain of salt.
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My nephew is also going to college to study ASL interpreting. Thank you for your career choice and dedication.
deaf mailman
My deaf mail man would take time to sign with me when he brought the mail to my mom's house. He was very nice.
My deaf mail man would take time to sign with me when he brought the mail to my mom's house. He was very nice.
deafbajagal
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AGREE! People sometimes generalize.
Adamsmomma
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