Students, Your questions answered here.

Faklyn,

Just a suggestion for you as a college student. It would behoove you to do a little research before plunging in with personal questions on a public forum. That is, spend some time reading thru the forum topics to get a feel for what is acceptable forum behavior and etiquette. Then, introduce yourself in the Introductions section so we know who you are.

Just because you do your "research" on-line doesn't mean you ignore the protocols that are normal for interviewing subjects. If you had decided to interview someone in person would you just brashly step up to the person on the street and start asking questions? Probably not. That's how it appears when someone's very first post here is a request for a long list of questions.

Perhaps some of the blame should be put on the instructor for not explaining to the students the proper way of conducting a research interview.
 
amylynne: No worries. There was misunderstanding from both sides. :) Thank you for your response. And for your sensitivity to and respect for the culture! I'm DEFINITELY learning what that means, haha.

Mewtilation: First of all, you complain about generalized questions, but they were specifically geared to be so in order to not pry into personal matters. That was done intentionally in order to show respect for individuals. In regard to your answers, please allow me to address the nature of some of my questions:
Question 2 - actually not irrelevant. The length of time you have spent in a deaf community (note - not asking how long you have been deaf, just in the community) determines how immersed you are in the culture. Some people have been deaf since birth, but only enter a deaf community once they hit college.
Question 4 - Actually, it doesn't sound stupid to me at all. I would respond to you that something that makes hearing culture unique is that music is an inextricable part of our culture. Everywhere you go - grocery store, theater, friend's houses - wherever, there is always music playing in the background. And growing up in a hearing family, one of our family habits was to listen to certain radio programs every morning. Concerts are a big part of hearing culture too; even if you never personally go to a concert, you will hear all about them from your friends or the popular media. It's part of that music-everywhere thing. Besides, the question was merely to ascertain, again, what your level of involvement in the deaf community is.
Question 5 - yes, I do realize that we are basically the same. However, there are some cultural differences. Again, this is not designed to only address the deaf community as a whole - it is meant to address YOUR deaf community. Individual groups/clubs have various cultures, and I would like to learn more about them. It's like asking a bike club what their ideals and habits are - yes, they are individual people, but there are cultural norms that differ. As you mentioned, there are deaf expos... I would love to hear more about that! What does a deaf expo look like? I have heard from previous searches that it is rude to turn your back on someone due to the visual nature of your language. I have seen many people get angry at being viewed as disabled by some (stupid) members of the hearing community, so viewing your deafness as a norm or an advantage and having others do the same - that's a cultural value. I realize that I am primarily highlighting differences here, but again, this is part of an assignment for a culture class. That's why I asked what makes deaf culture unique... to understand what those differences are.
Question 6 - this was more for people living in other countries. For example, in Mexico, sign language was only officially recognized by their government four years ago, and the general attitude toward the deaf is that they are mentally incompetent or socially unfit. The question is far less relevant in the states, so I can understand your frustration with this one.
Question 8 - Actually, that's the term I would use when addressing any culture. For example, it is culturally sensitive in some parts of Africa to only wave with your right hand, never your left. It is culturally sensitive in most part of the United States to not stare at people, while is some other cultures, staring is a norm. I realize that being deaf is not a handicap.
As for the rest of your answers, thank you so much! That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to answer me, regardless of the sarcasm attached. I really do appreciate your insights and opinions. And I'm sorry that you took offense to my wording or which questions were asked or anything else. I didn't intend my questions to be culturally insensitive (AGAIN, referring to cultural differences, not levels of competence), and I am very sorry that they were.

Reba: You make a very good point, and I am sorry for just barging into this forum and asking questions willy-nilly without taking the time to introduce myself or get to know the forum better. My apologies. Thank you for your insight. :)
 
Btdubs Mewtilation, congrats on med school! That's awesome! And I'm not saying that because you are deaf. I'm saying that because I barely got through my general ed biology class, haha, so I have mad respect for people who go as far as you have! Way to go!
 
shimo said:
I'm not a student, but I've been thinking about this and trying to find an un-offending way to ask about it: How can hearing person experience/simulate deafness?
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Shimo, your ears give you the capacity (or not) to hear, but listening is a purely cognitive thing. The full experience of being HoH (physiologically) and/or Deaf (culturally) cannot be emulated any more than the experience of being blind or mute. You can physiologically deactivate the mechanisms that allow you to do these things, but the experience of interacting with the world in an immutable (can't take the plugs out or the blindfold off) state, and the tremendous(!) amount of learning the brain does in this situation is profound and not something that could quickly or easily be simulated.

Having said that, every type of hearing loss is different, and the way an individual mind processes the auditory stimulus it receives is different. Theoretically, for a non-tissue related binaural hearing loss, you could possibly where headphones with stereo microphones placed the same distance apart as your ears, and run the signal through a series of bandpass filters (at least 3, but preferably 5 or more) configured to the audiogram of the hearing loss you want to emulate. It would only give you an approximation, and it would only apply to a limited type of hearing loss.

If you want to go totally low-tech, and emulate just a high-pitch hearing loss, then place moist cotton balls in your ears. As long as you can't hear any consonants, and everything else is muffled.. that will be it from a sensory standpoint. You shouldn't be able tell mud thud tub bug <-- all sound the same. dog fog bog log <-- all sound the same. pot cop top stop lop <-- all sound the same. tea pee fee bee <-- all sound the same. But you can hear the vowels.
 
Wirelessly posted

Pretty sure you can't simulate deafness. Friends have told me even ear plugs allow some noise through. Though my mother shoots at a range and uses those "sound-proof" ear protectors... maybe those would work? I have no clue, I have no hearing to compare this to, and I'm pretty sure I've never heard of anyone wanting to simulate being deaf. Sit in a super quiet room with CC on your TV? :doh:
 
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question. I am looking at colleges and narrowed it down to McDaniel College and Saint Francis University in Loreto PA. Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with these schools and their deaf education programs?

How respected are these schools?

Thank you so much for your input. Again sorry if this is in the wrong place! :-(
 
MandyQueue said:
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question. I am looking at colleges and narrowed it down to McDaniel College and Saint Francis University in Loreto PA. Does anyone have any knowledge/experience with these schools and their deaf education programs?

How respected are these schools?

Thank you so much for your input. Again sorry if this is in the wrong place! :-(
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That's fine. Unfortunately, I don't know.

Hopefully someone will see this and be able to give you feedback.
 
To the Students who want to ask questions for schools. Would it be better if you all need to go to the library or go into the Deaf events? If you are going to make excuses saying that the library don't have Deaf Culture book or information or saying there is no Deaf community in your area, then you have to go through Wiki (online) for information on this.

Otherwise, you might as well look into the d/Deaf and Hard Of Hearing (HOH) comments about our deafness and Deaf Culture in our Forum. If you really are interest in our Deaf Culture, then go browse through the Forum. Never ask us for questions what would make us upset and angry of the questions that is not appropriate. Respect us as a human beings that happen to be deaf or could not hear. We can never be like them for listening and getting a CIs (this CIs are wrong for surgery). Hearing people expected us to be like hearing people. It is not going to work to expect us to be like every hearing person. That would make us angry and frustrated over what hearing people and hearing teachers expected us to listen and hear words. Not true at all. It is totally different thing. We are visual people, not have to listen or hear words, even if we can use our hearing aids for environment sounds. So find a books about Deaf Culture and also about deafness.

I would rather have ASL better than Oral methods that I had suffered so much in the past when I was in mainstream schools (ASL was not allowed back in the 50s and the 60s). That is all I have to say here. :(
 
Writing a Paper

Hi, I am writing a paper on the deaf community. Part of the assignment is to interview someone within the deaf community. My paper is on communication within the deaf community.
1. How does someone giving a speech in the deaf community establish credibility with the people they are speaking to?

2. Are there forums for deaf people to give speeches?

If someone could help me out with these questions, I would be very thankful.
 
writer said:
Hi, I am writing a paper on the deaf community. Part of the assignment is to interview someone within the deaf community. My paper is on communication within the deaf community.
1. How does someone giving a speech in the deaf community establish credibility with the people they are speaking to?

2. Are there forums for deaf people to give speeches?

If someone could help me out with these questions, I would be very thankful.
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1. Same way anyone giving a speech to hearing people would establish credibility. Become recognized as an expert on your topic.

2. What? Are there forums for hearing people to give speeches? Where are they, and what are they?
 
Hello everyone!

My teacher asked for me to talk to a deaf person, and ask for their opinion on how they think English should be thought.
Thank you guys so much.
 
maribel said:
Hello everyone!

My teacher asked for me to talk to a deaf person, and ask for their opinion on how they think English should be thought.
Thank you guys so much.
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Thought? Maybe and English course is in order, as it seems you may not have absorbed it yourself yet.

Additionally, talking to a deaf person is really the point of this exercise.

That doesn't mean ask anonymous strangers on a forum.

It is meant to get you out and interacting with real people.

Look for a local deaf meet up.
 
Deaf/HOH thinking styles

I was reading about Albert Einstein and read that he thought like a deaf person. I thought that was very interesting, because I didn't think visual thinking would be good for math. Although, giving it some thought, math seems to be much more visual than I thought it to be.

Questions:
Do you think completely visually or a mix between visual and verbal?
Could you give an example of your thinking process?
Does your thinking style give you advantages in any subject?
Does it give you any disadvantages?
 
Hello AD! I'm a hearing student (hence the name) currently studying ASL and Deaf culture. I've been perusing AD and found some really incredible information, as well as some really incredible people. No, I don't have a survey-esque list of questions for you to fill out in triplicate and mail back to me.

I do have a question however. I've been reading around, and I'm sure the answer is already out there, but I feel like I'm missing the background necessary to understand. What are your personal feelings about Cochlear implants or other "cures"? Is there a general negative or positive consensus within the Deaf community? Is it different for people who were born Deaf than for people who lost their hearing later in life?

Sorry, I realize that I'm getting dangerously close to the "interview" type questionnaire I promised to avoid. If I've offended anyone, or if I'm asking too much, I apologize. I just want to learn more about Deaf culture, and I know this is a sensitive subject, which is why I want to know more about it.

Thank you for your time and patience. Love!
 
Hearingstudent93 said:
Hello AD! I'm a hearing student (hence the name) currently studying ASL and Deaf culture. I've been perusing AD and found some really incredible information, as well as some really incredible people. No, I don't have a survey-esque list of questions for you to fill out in triplicate and mail back to me.

I do have a question however. I've been reading around, and I'm sure the answer is already out there, but I feel like I'm missing the background necessary to understand. What are your personal feelings about Cochlear implants or other "cures"? Is there a general negative or positive consensus within the Deaf community? Is it different for people who were born Deaf than for people who lost their hearing later in life?

Sorry, I realize that I'm getting dangerously close to the "interview" type questionnaire I promised to avoid. If I've offended anyone, or if I'm asking too much, I apologize. I just want to learn more about Deaf culture, and I know this is a sensitive subject, which is why I want to know more about it.

Thank you for your time and patience. Love!
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It have already mentioned about CI and etc. try around back in time, 2005 to 2009. Good luck. :)
 
Thank you Frisky Feline. I'll be sure to check it out. Is there a particular forum that would be best? I'm most interested in the controversy, or in opinions from both sides of the argument. Is there somewhere I could find that?
 
My take on it is that CIs are not a cure. They are another type of hearing aid and they don't automatically turn you into a hearing person. They also turn off, just like hearing aids. Some people are able to hear well enough to function as a hearing person and they also choose that identity, just like people who hear well enough with a hearing aid do. Others can hear well with the CI but still identify as HOH or deaf/Deaf. Some people's CIs just don't work for them, just like some people's hearing aids are worthless to them. I don't think that the controversy about CIs is like it was when they first came out.
 
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