Deaf Culture Questionnaire

The book “A Journey into the Deaf-World”, by Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister, and Ben Bahan, is about the different people who are considered deaf: hard-of-hearing, deaf, and CODA. People who are hard-of-hearing are people who don 't hear well; people who are deaf lack the power of hearing since birth; you can be born hearing and throughout time lose some or all of your hearing sense. People who are CODA (children of deaf adults) are often signing because their parents are deaf and CODA’s often are helpful by being interpreters. CODAs become a great link between their parents and the hearing world. This book explains about deaf culture and how sign is a visual and manual way of conversing. The benefits of sign language are many and the ASL “foreign language” is growing among hearing as well. About more than 500,000 people sign in America alone. ASL is dated from 1779, but probably even earlier. Sign language promotes cultural awareness; deaf culture uses sign language as their main form of communicating.

There are numerous facts concerning the Deaf culture that I am not aware of, and a few of those elements have been made known. One of the new facts that surprised me was that approximately 90 percent of Deaf people are married to other Deaf people. This goes along with them being a tight-knit community. Another interesting piece of information I have learned is that I am to focus on a signer’s face, instead of their hands, while they are signing. Once I began to consider the expressions he or she would be showing while signing, and how one should pay attention while talking to another, it made perfect sense.

The purpose of this research paper is to answer the major question, what is Deaf culture? There are three sub-questions that will assist in answering the major question: (1) What constitutes Deaf culture? (2) How has American Sign Language impacted the Deaf community? (3) What are the major issues that are being addressed in Deaf culture today? With these questions answer, it will give a better understanding as to what Deaf culture is and that it is indeed a culture.

The phrase "but you don't look deaf" was the impetus for this research project. The stereotype exists that if you are deaf or have another disability, you are easily distinguished by visual clues that the person is deaf. This research sought to discover if hearing people were correct in this assumption, and you could tell that someone was deaf because of a particular visual clues that would indicate they are deaf. In order to research this idea, I made a survey online using google forms using images of both hearing, hard of hearing and deaf people and asked respondents to choose one of the responses. The findings are being presented with google spreadsheets and google forms.

Two centuries ago, the Deaf community arose in American society as a linguistic minority. Members of this community share a particular human condition, hearing impairment. However, the use of American Sign Language, as their main means of communicating, and attendance to a residential school for people with deafness also determine their entry to this micro-culture. Despite the fact that Deaf activists argue that their community is essentially an ethnic group, Deaf culture is certainly different from any other cultures in the United States. Deaf-Americans cannot trace their ancestry back to a specific country, nor do Deaf neighborhoods exist predominantly throughout the nation. Additionally, more than ninety percent of deaf persons are born

The deaf subculture has always seemed so interesting, American Sign Language (ASL) is so intriguing, a personal friend is deaf and it is amazing, the fact that hearing and speaking could change a person’s culture so drastically. This essay will explain in broad terms what the deaf culture is like and how it is separate

Deaf people share certain behavioral norms such as eye contact, body language and gestures enable them to communicate effectively. They rely on body touch waving hands, using a third person, hugs and have open communication. They value the ASL, interpreters, devices that help them communicate effectively such as vibrating systems, and visual alerts. They have a tradition of sticking or forming their own groups where they champion for their rights and respect from others in the community. The Deaf subculture is referred to as a subcultural group mainly because the members have distinct behaviors, physical artifacts, traditions, values, history, and beliefs that distinguish them from the other people (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2013).

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

Not at all like racial minorities, most by far (at least 90%) of hard of hearing individuals are not naturally introduced to a Deaf minority amass (Mitchell and Karchmer, 2004; Schein and Delk, 1974); as it were, their family is hearing. Not having a Deaf foundation, the greater part of guardians of hard of hearing individuals don't mingle their youngsters about their identity as Deaf individuals or open them to Deaf culture. Inquire about recommends that hard of hearing individuals not naturally introduced to a Deaf family have a more drawn out time of character advancement, and that the vast majority don't turn into a piece of the Deaf people group until their high schooler years. This more drawn out time of personality advancement is likely

Deaf culture in is one of America’s many sub-cultures, which means that it is a culture imbedded into the overall culture of the nation. What is unique about the deaf culture is that at times it is a sub-culture of a sub-culture, of a culture, for example the deaf community in Colorado is a sub-culture of Colorado’s culture, and Colorado culture is a sub-culture of the American culture. It can get even more complicated than even that, because say there is an African American deaf culture in the deaf community that adds another deaf culture. It is also unique and set apart from other cultures because of the language barrier between the deaf community and the hearing community. Deaf culture has only recently been accepted by the general public, as well as they have not always had access to an interpreter. Deaf culture has changed drastically since before the 1960’s.

When I finished reading the book I realized that I had just learned way more than I had been expecting. Just reading the first chapter was enough for me to be awestruck by the intricacies of the Deaf culture, but as I continued reading I realized that the depth and many levels of social structure are so detailed that being able to fully understand them would be simply impossible. I was very impressed with the amount of respect that the word Deaf conveys among the Deaf community. The first chapter to me seemed to be the most interesting. The many stories about Deaf children meeting friends and interacting shed a new light on the way that Deaf people learn to communicate. The word Deaf itself is

In some western cultures such as America and Australia, not much education is put forward regarding the deaf community and those facing this communication problem. In an annual conference where an individual of the deaf community was asked to discuss her experience as a deaf person living in a hearing community, Heather Artinian described the communication barrier between the two communities (The Heather world: Heather Artinian at TEDxGeorgetown, 2013). Similarly, in sub-Saharan Africa, there is not much emphasis placed on deaf culture and those facing auditory impairment. To date, there is not sub-Saharan African country that has dependable data regarding its deaf population. Today, education for the Deaf in most sub-Saharan African countries is sub-par at best (The Borgen Project, 2013). Education for the Deaf in sub-Saharan Africa is severely deficient, and they are often deprived of the opportunity to successfully live their lives independently to the best of their abilities. These two cultures do not spend a substantial amount of time and give appropriate education on the emphasis of those who are deaf and living among the

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,

Bauman and Murray (2010) defines Deaf Studies as “interdisciplinary approaches to the exploration of Deaf individuals, communities, and cultures as they have evolved within a larger context of power and ideology” (p. 210). In other words, Deaf Studies refer to a specific academic field that studies deaf individuals and their unique communities and culture and may include constructs from anthropology, linguistics, bilingual education, disability, audiology, etc. Within the context of Deaf Studies, deaf individuals are no longer defined solely by their lack of hearing, but by their cultural, linguistic, and sensorial ways of being in the world (Bauman & Murray, 2010). That is why we hear people educated with Deaf Studies saying ASL kids to refer to deaf kids who use American Sign Language (ASL) system as their mode of communication or see them writing “Deaf” instead of “deaf” to give reference to the universally-recognized culture of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Within the introduction the author expresses the importance of educating deaf children threw education and special training that they require and have they had the right to have available to them. The author explains the high importance sign language plays and the advantages it gives them insight, intervention into the deaf community. ASL, or sign language is essential within in this deaf community. Sign language is a creation of the deaf community’s history and it allows them to fulfill their protentional intertwined with all different types of cultures that sign language is built on.