Deaf People Research Paper

The book, Deaf Again, written by Mark Drolsbaugh, is an autobiography telling his life story which starts with a young boy growing up who goes through the process of losing his hearing and then, as he gets older, he struggles with trying to fit in as a normal child. When Mark was very young, he could hear fairly well then gradually he went hard of hearing until he eventually went completely deaf. Even though he had two deaf parents, the doctors advised speech therapy and hearing aids because they did not understand Deaf Culture and they thought that Mark would be a lot happier if he could hang on to his hearing persona. Throughout the rest of the book, Mark goes through a lot of stages of trying to fit in with everyone and eventually

The disappearance/declining of deaf clubs will probably signal for a different future. In the article, it talked about the new ways the deaf community communicates. Although it may be a drastic change from what it used to be, I believe that it will be positive. Part of the reason people aren't attending deaf clubs is because there is better technology that allows texting and instant messaging. With the some of the jobs that deaf people, there is no need for them to deaf clubs to socialize because they can do that at there work place. Because of the ever changing society, the need for Deaf clubs decreases. This is not a negative, because ways to communicate and interact are increasing so they don't need to go to socialize.

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.

After reading Deaf Again I learned a lot of new things about Deaf culture and was drawn in by the story of Mark Drolsbaugh. "The hardest fight a man has to fight is to live in a world where every single day someone is trying to make you someone you do not want to be" e.e cummings. I was brought into the book immediately from this quote and realized how difficult it must have been for Mark to find his identity. He was trying to hang on to his hearing in fear of going deaf as if there was something wrong or not proper with being deaf. It took him a long time, twenty-three years to realize that the Deaf culture is receiving and it was there for him to embrace the entire time. It would be difficult to be able to hear and then slowly

Society is better than it used to be at recognising the needs of deaf people; there are more public buildings such as cinemas, theatres and conference facilities that have loop systems so that people who can use hearing aids are able to listen to what is being said or performed. There some events that now have signers to translate speeches and performances. Many television programmes now have access to subtitles and some have signers, although these tend to be late at night. People with any kind of sensory loss can have difficulties in finding employment. Even though the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act mean that employers cannot discriminate, it is hard to convince an employer that a sensory loss does not necessarily mean that someone is unable to do a job.

Another example, people with hearing disability may use hearing aids. They are battery-powered electronic devices with small microphones to pick up and increase the volume of sound received by a person. Also, text phones, relay systems and minicoms may be used for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Aside from communication and language, there are also such things as beliefs and customs that have lent towards the deaf and deaf-blind cultures. A positive attitude toward being deaf is typical in Deaf cultural groups. Deafness is not generally considered a condition that needs to be fixed. Culturally Deaf people value the use of natural sign languages that exhibit their own grammatical conventions, such as American Sign Language and British Sign Language, over signed versions of English or other spoken languages. Deaf culture in the United States tends to be collectivist rather than individualist; culturally Deaf people value the group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaf_culture#Values_and_beliefs). Culturally Deaf people have rules of etiquette for such things as, getting attention, walking through signed conversations, and otherwise politely negotiating a signing environment. It is also commonplace for them to arrive early for certain events, to ensure an optimum

The book also describes how life has changed for deaf adults through the years. Previously, many deaf adults were not able to get jobs in many places, because there were not many places that were accepting to them. These days, however, almost every business or company is looking for those that are fluent in American Sign Language, due to the simple fact that they would be able to accommodate that many more people and earn more money for their business. Also, there were not many outlets for deaf adults to use in relation to entertainment or basic needs, because again, mostly everything was catered to hearing adults only. However, they have recently developed many different ways for the deaf to communicate with the hearing and with one another, including TTY, full-keyboard, and internet phones and closed-captions on television stations and movies.

We live in a world that is bounded by cultural norms and stereotypes that affect anyone who looks, acts, or is even born different. Our society narrowed scope views Deaf people as less, uneducated, and unworthy for the opportunities abled people are innately handed. There is a lack of opportunities that Deaf people received based on their disability in terms of jobs and acceptance. The feeling of acceptance is one thing the hearing community has felt at least once, if not their entire life, however it is a feeling that may be unknown to the Deaf community.

The American Disabilities Act requires employers to make reasonable accommodations that enable disabled employees the opportunity to work. According to Roberts, Betts, and Huzey (2014), Employers are responsible for, “Making the workplace easily accessible, Providing or modifying equipment and devices, Restructuring jobs, Changing work schedules, Reassigning staff to a vacant position, Providing readers or interpreters, Adjusting exams, training materials, and policies.” Employees have requirements too. Employees must identify themselves as disabled and request an accommodation (ADA, 2010). The employee and employer

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.

The first question that I would ask a Deaf person would be: “Do you limit yourself to certain facilities, restaurants, or stores because it is harder to communicate otherwise?” I would ask this question because I personally develop an anxiety around people when I feel like I cannot communicate efficiently with them. Since I am hearing and I still have a problem, I can imagine that it might be harder being Deaf and having this issue. Since most of the Deaf population has other people in their culture in which they communicate and I have my close family and friends, I would imagine that they might choose to go places where their culture is recognized, or in my case where I already know someone.

The languages used are, but not limited to, American Sign Language, Signed Exact English, Pidgin Sign Language, and Manually Coded English. Also, there are those who lipread and/or use

Many hearing people think that those who are deaf can’t drive (“Myths and Misconceptions”). Many deaf people do drive cars, however, and are fully capable of doing so. Studies have even shown that deaf people are better drivers than hearing people because their peripheral vision is more developed. Another misconception is that deaf people can’t go out by themselves (Lannih). This is entirely untrue, and deaf people are fully capable of being independent, going shopping, eating out, attending school and church, and anything else that hearing people can do. Deaf people do not bring an interpreter with them places, nor is it necessary in most situations. Many people also believe that those who are deaf or hard of hearing can’t use a telephone (“TTY and TTY Relay Services”). This is false, and many deaf and hard of hearing people use devices that vibrate when their phone is ringing and then are able to communicate using a videophone. Other technology is used for deaf phone calls such as voice-to-text and text-to-voice technology. Many of the myths about what deaf people can not do are incorrect, and deafness does not limit a person as much as many hearing people

Hearing loss is the most common physical disability in the whole wide world. In the United States alone, about 28 million people have some level of hearing impairment that interferes with their ability to understand normal speech and participate in conversations. Another 2 million cannot hear at all.