Oral Deaf Culture ?

Well........it's not a specific culture, BUT it's more like the types of disabled people who whine and moan and groan about how horrible it is to be disabled. They aren't Disabilty Rights, b/c so many of them whine that its so HORRIBLE being "hearing impaired".........most disabilty rights folks consider their disabilty to be on the spectrum of normal. (ie they can function in society with accomondations, and they aren't any less for that)
 
Ariakkas said:
a person could...and has argued that deaf culture can be labelled as a sub-culture. simply having your own language does not make you a culture.....mexican-americans are a subculture that speaks spanish.



wether there is a "culture" or a "subculture" or not, oral deaf to have a strong affinity for one another, being both outcast in the hearing and deaf world has led them to bind together whenever they meet another oral deaf.
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The fields of sociology and anthropology have already identified the fact that Deaf culture is a true culture and does exist.
 
DD: not all oral deaf bemoan their deafness. It's not mutually exclusive with the spectrum view of disability.
 
lemontree said:
No, the deadline is Tuesday April 15.

Hey, thanks everyone for your responses! Lots of different opinions, but it looks like the consensus is there's really no "oral deaf culture." When I first read that question on the other listserv I was like I've never thought of an "oral deaf" culture. Is there such a thing?

I can tell you as someone that is totally deaf and has been since birth, was mainstreamed in the education system (never went to a school for the deaf), and communicates by speaking and lipreading I most certainly am not totally assimilated into "normal, typical society." I did not belong to any such community as I was the only person that was deaf all the way through K-12, and it was not until I got to college that I met fellow deaf students.

I think Kelly's mother is right that "oral deaf" do share a common experience. Who among us haven't immediately felt "at home" within a group of oral deaf people that we have never met before but all have lived the same sort of life experiences?

However, to call this shared experience a culture like in the Signing Deaf community that is ASL-centered is unknown to me. I remember when I found out I was not the only deaf person on campus. When I met the other deaf college students I really connected with them. It didn't matter whether we signed or not.

We all had the same life experiences being people with no hearing. What does that mean? Is that a culture or just simply "shared experiences?" I think it is the latter. Are oral deaf life experiences the same as those who call themselves signing deaf? I don't think so.
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Sharing a common experience does not constitute a culture. Having been raised orally, and within the hearing community with no exposure to other Deaf individuals, you share the values, norms, language, and way of life with the hearing. Therefore, you are culturally hearing, medically deaf.
 
jillio said:
Sharing a common experience does not constitute a culture. Having been raised orally, and within the hearing community with no exposure to other Deaf individuals, you share the values, norms, language, and way of life with the hearing. Therefore, you are culturally hearing, medically deaf.[/QUOTE]

That is a good one!
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shel90 said:
jillio said:
Sharing a common experience does not constitute a culture. Having been raised orally, and within the hearing community with no exposure to other Deaf individuals, you share the values, norms, language, and way of life with the hearing. Therefore, you are culturally hearing, medically deaf.[/QUOTE]

That is a good one!
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:ty: my dear!
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ismi said:
DD: not all oral deaf bemoan their deafness. It's not mutually exclusive with the spectrum view of disability.
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Indeed the case!

Can't do anything about being deaf but my glass is not half empty either.
 
Oral Deaf

Hi,I am new to this forum. I have a 7 month old that has profound hearing loss. When my husband and I first found out about her hearing loss, we were given several options for her communication.My first response was oral communication period! Now our views have changed.She has been amplified with hearing aids and will most likely need cochlear implants. Even though she is being taught oral communication,she is also learning ASL. My daughter is apart of the oral community and deaf community in my eyes.I want her to be able to communicate with other children that may only know ASL.I understand that she may feel isolated at times,but I want her to know she is not alone.I just feel so excited about learning ASL.I am starting nursing school this fall,and after I finish we are moving to a larger city that has more to offer my daughter and a larger deaf community.Where we are moving they have play groups for deaf and hard of hearing children.I just get excited for the future for her because I truly believe she can do anything she desires.She has family and friends that are learning ASL, oral communication techniques,and who just love her soo much.I am happy my daughter has a great support system.I hope she grows up being apart of both communities.If she feels more comfortable with one more than the other-that would be her decision.I believe there is a new generation coming and maybe one day there will be a oral deaf community and it will be a culture.
 
ange26s said:
I believe there is a new generation coming and maybe one day there will be a oral deaf community and it will be a culture.
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Welcome!

I do not want to get bogged down in semantics as it takes away from the point that there already are many people who are oral and deaf and there are several organizations that they have formed. Most notable, is AG Bell. Visit thier website and they have nationwide conventions every other year. There are other gourps like the Minuteman cochlear Implant Club that used to be part of the old CICI organization that is holding a meeting, seminar or whatever they are calling it this summer in Sturbridge, MA that is usually attended by hundreds of ci adults and children. My point is, that you do not have to wait for that day to come for it is already here.

Good luck and best wishes to you and your family,
Rick
 
DD: not all oral deaf bemoan their deafness.
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Very true. I know several who are OK with their deafness. However, it does seem like a LOT of them prattle on and on about how oral skills make them 100% equal, and then they whine and moan about how being deaf is so limiting and horrible etc.
Actually Rick, you're WRONG. There is really NO oral deaf culture. Culture is a set of attitudes that prizes difference and diversty. Oral deafness is not based on difference. It basicly says that deaf kids should assimulate into the hearing world. Therefore they should be indistinct from the hearing world and not have need for "an oral deaf culture"
Besides, this has existed for years and years and years.......HELLO......there have ALWAYS been a significent number of hoh (functionally and audilogically) kids..............
 
deafdyke said:
Very true. I know several who are OK with their deafness. However, it does seem like a LOT of them prattle on and on about how oral skills make them 100% equal, and then they whine and moan about how being deaf is so limiting and horrible etc.
Actually Rick, you're WRONG. There is really NO oral deaf culture. Culture is a set of attitudes that prizes difference and diversty. Oral deafness is not based on difference. It basicly says that deaf kids should assimulate into the hearing world. Therefore they should be indistinct from the hearing world and not have need for "an oral deaf culture"
Besides, this has existed for years and years and years.......HELLO......there have ALWAYS been a significent number of hoh (functionally and audilogically) kids..............
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If it makes you feel better to persist in your semantical argument, then I am WRONG, but ange26s, these people meet at AGB and through other groups and organizations, such as schools, summer camps, etc. and if you are interested in meeting them, it will expand your child's experiences and horizons.
 
Is there such as thing as a "hearing culture" anyways? I think yep, deaf signing culture is very distinct but I would question as to whether there is a hearing culture. The only thing that hearies share is the fact that they can hear and communicate orally. Apart from that, they are quite different in terms of race, class, income etc. It's not as if they meet up in clubs, schools, universities that are specific to the fact that they can hear.

Oral deaf people for me usually inherit the culture that their parents passed on to them. It's not "hearing culture" per se but a culture that often expresses itself orally or using hearing. Oral deaf might differ from each other if they are black, Greek, low income, high income etc.
 
sr171soars said:
Indeed the case!

Can't do anything about being deaf but my glass is not half empty either.
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Same here. I see being deaf as part of me - it has shaped who I am and the positive qualities I have.
 
rick48 said:
If it makes you feel better to persist in your semantical argument, then I am WRONG, but ange26s, these people meet at AGB and through other groups and organizations, such as schools, summer camps, etc. and if you are interested in meeting them, it will expand your child's experiences and horizons.
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That's good for them. Wish I had been given the opportunity to do the same growing up. Oh well..
 
R2D2 said:
Is there such as thing as a "hearing culture" anyways? I think yep, deaf signing culture is very distinct but I would question as to whether there is a hearing culture. The only thing that hearies share is the fact that they can hear and communicate orally. Apart from that, they are quite different in terms of race, class, income etc. It's not as if they meet up in clubs, schools, universities that are specific to the fact that they can hear.

Oral deaf people for me usually inherit the culture that their parents passed on to them. It's not "hearing culture" per se but a culture that often expresses itself orally or using hearing. Oral deaf might differ from each other if they are black, Greek, low income, high income etc.
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"Is there such as thing as a "hearing culture" anyways?"


I like this question. I think it is the point of a disagreement I had with a hearing woman just a short time ago. She has a deaf neice and therefore considers herself an expert on "All things Deaf".

One of her contentions is that "Deaf people can not have their own culture because 'They are just like us'." Except of course deaf people cannot hear.

My question is "How can 'they' be like 'us' when 'we' are not alike in any manner, shape or form?". We do not share the same religious, secular, politcal, or sociological beliefs. The only thing we have in common is English and ASL. She signs much better than I do. Even the reasons we sign are different.

She finds Deaf culture, as defined to her, to be communist at worst and socialist at best. I admire the Deaf culture's ability to pool resources and cooperate as family without regard to bloodlines. She believes leadership should be achieved as it is in business management, I believe it should be conferrred as it is in Deaf culture. There are too many differences to list them all.

If we say liberals are one culture and conservatives are another where do people lke myself fit in who see them both as obnoxious pains in the social spectrum?

I am inclined to say there is a Deaf culture, and there are many cultures composed of hearing people, but no "hearing culture".
 
Berry said:
"Is there such as thing as a "hearing culture" anyways?"


I like this question. I think it is the point of a disagreement I had with a hearing woman just a short time ago. She has a deaf neice and therefore considers herself an expert on "All things Deaf".

One of her contentions is that "Deaf people can not have their own culture because 'They are just like us'." Except of course deaf people cannot hear.

My question is "How can 'they' be like 'us' when 'we' are not alike in any manner, shape or form". We do not share the same religious, secular, politcal, or sociological beliefs. The only thing we have in common is English and ASL. She signs much better than I do. Even the reasons we sign are different.

She finds Deaf culture, as defined to her, to be communist at worst and socialist at best. I admire the Deaf culture's ability to pool resources and cooperate as family without regard to bloodlines. She believes leadership should be achieved as it is in business management, I believe it should be conferrred as it is in Deaf culture. There are too many differences to list them all.

If we say liberals are one culture and conservatives are another where do people lke myself fit in who see them both as obnoxious pains in the social spectrum?

I am inclined to say there is a Deaf culture, and many cultures composed of hearing people, but no "hearing culture".
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Good question about "hearing" culture..I never really put much thought into it. I was called "Culturally Hearing" when I first got involved in the Deaf community and I started using that concept from then on out of habit.
 
I have to agree with the assertion that there is no such thing as a hearing culture. Human society is not organizied around hearing "per se" as it is an expectation that is universally shared amongst the hearing. In other words, it is assumed one is hearing and a given. The "cultural" aspect really comes down to shared language(s) and common shared traits or expectations of this common culture. Take the phrase "American as hot dogs, apple pie, and ice cream" is a generally understood cultural symbol of America.
 
rick, I think you're getting mixed up in the difference between community and culture. The difference between the Deaf Culture and Oral(I use the term to mean more auditory-verbal style "dhh kids should "assimulate" into the hearing world) deafness is like the difference between a neighborhood that's very suburban middle class generic whitebread, and a neighborhood like Chinatown or Brighton Beach.
Yes, there's no "one hearing culture, BUT
then again, hearing people's culture is VERY sound based.
 
sr171soars said:
I have to agree with the assertion that there is no such thing as a hearing culture.
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There actually is such a thing as American hearing culture, which can be contrasted with American Deaf culture on many points. For example, American culture is an individualist one (which is why, paradoxically, we tend to insist that there is no such thing as American culture!), whereas Deaf culture is collectivist. But by "American hearing culture," I don't mean a culture that is based around hearing status, I mean general American culture as compared with American Deaf culture. I would agree there is no such thing as "hearing culture."

For a fascinating discussion about this I highly recommend Anna Mindess' book "Reading Between the Signs: Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters." Despite the title I think it has very wide appeal to anyone with an interest in intercultural issues and/or American Deaf and hearing cultures. It completely opened my eyes to many aspects of my own culture as well as Deaf culture (and even more broadly, the definition of "culture" and problems inherent in intercultural communication) and it was invaluable to my development as an interpreter and a member of the deaf community.
 
deafdyke said:
rick, I think you're getting mixed up in the difference between community and culture. The difference between the Deaf Culture and Oral(I use the term to mean more auditory-verbal style "dhh kids should "assimulate" into the hearing world) deafness is like the difference between a neighborhood that's very suburban middle class generic whitebread, and a neighborhood like Chinatown or Brighton Beach.
Yes, there's no "one hearing culture, BUT
then again, hearing people's culture is VERY sound based.
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U have a very good point about hearing culture being sound based. So many deaf people and even hearing people who have been involved with the Deaf community first mistake me as a hearing person. It makes sense cuz I grew up in the hearing world. I still don't see what I do that makes them think that way of me because I grew up using my eyes to get information just like deaf signers. :dunno:
 
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