Deaf People

In chapter 4, it explains how Deaf people live in a hearing world. Some people who have grown up with Deaf people really don't see Deaf people as any different than themselves. Verditz had an idea that sign language comes from spoken languages, English and ASL are similar and different from each other having English as my first language has helped me learn ASL but the sentence structures are very different from English. Sign language is a visual language.

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.

People used to think that being Deaf was a sin and a major disability. I don’t really understand this view, as being Deaf is not a choice because a majority of the time, most people are born Deaf. Just because a person can’t hear, doesn’t mean there is something wrong with them. Deaf culture is so mesmerizing as their is such a deep connection within the community and they even have their own language. What people need to do is put themselves in the shoes of a Deaf person and imagine how difficult it must be being the “odd one out” all the time.

This topic is very important to me because I was raised in the Deaf culture. My entire family is Deaf and have faced many of these questions that hearing people are unaware about. I feel that it is my job to educate when I have the chance to do so. By being able to educate at least one person, I have done my job. I do not think there is enough information out there to reach everyone’s awareness of Deaf culture.

In mainstream American society, we tend to approach deafness as a defect. Helen Keller is alleged to have said, "Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people." (rnib.org) This seems a very accurate description of what Keller's world must have been. We as hearing people tend to pity deaf people, or, if they succeed in the hearing world, admire them for overcoming a severe handicap. We tend to look at signing as an inferior substitute for "real" communication. We assume that all deaf people will try to lip-read and we applaud deaf people who use their voices to show us how far they have come from the grips of their disability. Given this climate, many hearing people are surprised, as I was at

Previous researches on Deaf cultures were mostly on superficial issues such as the typical cultural differences between the deaf and the hearing communities, the history of Deaf education, the distinctions of the deaf from the Deaf, and the critical points in the fight against discrimination. Sociolinguistics of sign languages also has its typical subjects such as Martha’s Vineyard, justification that American Sign Language is a true language, and the spectrum from Signed Exact English to American Sign Language. The study seeks to add knowledge to the developing area of ethnic minority studies in the Deaf community particularly the Black Deaf. In this paper, a brief description of the Black Deaf community, their history, signs and identity has been given. The study also seeks to find out more about the issues of the Black Deaf community by engaging them through interviews.

1. What do you think of speech reading or lip reading? What are your thoughts on this topic? Do all deaf people know how?I think that speech or lip reading is something that should never be expected out of anyone, deaf or hearing. I do not think that a person’s mouth can be understood without sound coming out of it. There are too many different ways of saying things; lip shapes are different; lip movements are different; people enunciate words differently therefore causing different facial movements. I would personally never approach someone with the question of “Can you read my lips?” Deaf people are not lip readers but some could be considered as speech readers, that of which they are looking at all facial expressions and body movements

Most of the resources I used were found on Galluadet’s website, so there are no stereotypes on there that aren’t accurate. The difference between the stereotype of a disability and an actual disability is that the stereotypes of a disability are what people believe to be true. Actual disabilities are observable facts, and what some would call ‘not politically correct’ (compared to the stereotypes) that are not based on the media. Some common stereotypes of people who are deaf include: they’re not as intelligent, all deaf people communicate by signing, their lives are completely different than those of hearing people’s, they all lip read, and all of them want to be part of the hearing culture. In actuality, hearing doesn’t correlate with intelligence, not every deaf person uses sign language, their lives are just like those of hearing people just slightly more limited, a lot of deaf people can’t lip read, and not all deaf people want to be part of the hearing culture.

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

The first lense or category in the “Deaf Studies Template” that is talked about is Only in the Deaf World. This category is about the unique events and experiences associated with life in the Deaf World. Deaf children are mostly born to hearing parents, which is similar how wizard parents have muggle children and muggle parents have wizard children in the world of Harry Potter. DCHP may not know anything about the Deaf World once they grow up due to parental ignorance or other reasons. Harry Potter also experiences this with the Wizard World as his aunt and uncle keep it a secret from him. They were ashamed of him and want to make him “normal”. Hearing parents of deaf children also commonly do this as they give

Deaf and hard of hearing people are just like us. They are not any different, but hears like us. There is some common misunderstanding, that is really annoying for Deaf and hard of hearing people. Those misunderstanding are can you understands us? Are you able to drive? Do you need a wheelchair? Can you read and write? Do deaf people have sex? Etc.…These kinds of questions annoyed deaf people the most. People do not realize that deaf people do not have as much as difficulty as normal folks thinks that they have. They can do almost everything and just as much no less. Sometime, they begged to be considered the same as hearing folks. They want to be equals, respected, and value just as much as hearing people. Sometime, we forgot to ask ourselves.

I strongly agree with all of the statements that I stated above. If the surveys had only been composed of those questions, the results have been the same to me. Honestly I don't know why but these statement seems like common sense to me to strongly

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,

Altogether, deaf people see the world differently than other people due to not being exposed to the stimuli

282). As a result, those who actively embrace Deaf culture, the community, the use of sign language, and those who protest the disability label, have made the distinction between the “physiological condition of not hearing” (Holcomb, 2013, p. 38), i.e. those who identify as deaf, and “those who embrace Deaf culture” (Holcomb, 2013, p. 38), i.e. those who identify as Deaf. By capitalizing the “D” in “Deaf”, people have taken back the word “Deaf” and shows an acceptance and a pride in their