Most people, when they see a Deaf person, right away see them as disabled and unable to function properly within society like a hearing person. This way of thinking has subjected the Deaf community to discrimination on a daily basis at school, work, and even in their own households. Hearing people make decisions for the Deaf in regards to how they should be educated, what kinds of jobs they can and can and cannot do, and how they should be prepared for those jobs. In this paper we will be examining various scholars who conducted studies within the Deaf community in order to understand their needs and the discrimination they face. I will be going over the discrimination faced by the Deaf community, explaining what Audism is as discussed by Eckert and Rowley (2013) and why it affects the Deaf community. One thing all scholars agree is that Deaf people face many disadvantages when compared to hearing people and each make suggestions to help stop these disadvantages. Therefore, I will then discuss the policy suggestions made by each scholar. Each scholar used different research methods to conduct their studies, because of this they each found different types of discrimination faced by the Deaf community which I will be discussing after the policy suggestions. Finally, I will conclude this paper by discussing the gap in literature, my own implication for future research that I would like to see done, and my own experience.
Discrimination
Eckert and Rowley’s (20131) wrote their
In the movie, “Audism Unveiled” we learn that audism is a negative or oppressive attitude towards deaf people by either deaf or hearing people and organizations, and the failure to accommodate them. The documentary opened my eyes as to what the deaf community and what deaf people really go through, in the world. People who don't fully understand the deaf community and what being deaf is really like catoregize them as something less than human making false accusations as well as “walking on eggshells” thinking that they can’t do anything for themselves. We learn that the term audism is in the same discriminative category just like racism, and [ …]
Annotated Bibliography: The ADA and Deaf Culture:Contrasting Precepts, Conflicting Results In her essay, “The ADA and Deaf Culture: Contrasting Precepts, Conflicting Results”, Bonnie Tucker, Describes the conflictions in the belief that Deaf people are not disabled. Tucker examines the ramification of the Deaf people who support the ADA but do not identify as disabled. Tucker implies that Deafness must be considered a disabling condition because society must provide assistance to people who can not hear. Tucker attempts to explain how Deaf people feel when they say deafness is nothing to be fixed.
deaf: working for the rights of all deaf people in this country, including education of deaf children.
In this book, Deaf in America, by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, the two authors wrote stories, jokes, performances, and experiences of Deaf people. They also wrote Deaf culture and Deaf people’s lives from various angles. This book is great navigator of Deaf world for hearing people and even Deaf people as me. There are several factors attracting reader. To begin with, I could learn about backgrounds of deaf people and hearing people. Authors wrote about a Deaf boy who was born into a deaf family. Until he discovered that a girl playmate in neighborhood was “hearing”, he didn’t notice about “Others”. Authors
accept the diagnosis that their child is Deaf. They are in denial that may last
First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term
In the novel “Deaf Again” by Mark Drolsbaugh, the reader is taken on a journey through the life of the author himself, from birth all the way to present day. Drolsbaugh, a once hearing child but now Deaf adult, takes readers through the struggles and situations he faced as a child born into the Deaf culture, yet still forced to try and suppress his deafness when his ability to hear started to decline. The author shares his experiences of becoming “deaf again”, and how he had to learn for himself what being Deaf really meant in regards to not just in his own life but the people in it. Drolsbaugh’s novel explores many of the issues and debates surrounding Deaf culture, while still giving his personal views and understandings on what it really means to be Deaf.
This documentary does an excellent job of advocating for the acknowledgment of people who are deaf within society. This is shown through not only the brilliantly written and performed poems of the students but also in the basic, everyday struggles each of them face, such as the desire to fit in or be valued by those around them. Deafness is not a specific to any gender, race, culture, or religion. The struggles many people who are deaf go through are relatable to all and
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
While reading " Deaf in America: Voices From A Culture " I notice the purpose of this book was to wrote about Deaf people in a new and different way. The book main focus is that Deaf people have a condition that they can't hear. The culture of Deaf people is what both authors want to begin yo betray. What I found interesting while reading is that the majority of indidivauls within the community of Deaf people do not join it at birth. While reading these chapters I've seen both auhtors try to present the culture from the inside to discover how Deaf people describe themselves and how they think about their lives.
The rich history of American Deaf culture in conjunction withlanguage displays the determination along with the brilliance of these people. Though the hearing world had called them sin, denounced them as dumb, these people rose up against their oppressors, making a new world for themselves.
I am writing to bring attention to a possible area of improvement that will allow us to reduce a health disparity discovered in our clinic. We recently had several Deaf members requesting our Adult Intensive Outpatient Program for severe depression and anxiety. We have been unable to locate an onsite ASL translator resulting in these members having to wait an extended amount of time for services. Although we have adequately provided translation services for those with limited English proficiency, we have not addressed mental health care disparities for our Deaf community members. Improving access to and quality of our mental health care for vulnerable populations is a challenge, but solving these types of challenges are at the core of our institutional values.
Among their interest in the education of ethnic-minority Deaf college students, they are best known for their notable achievements in addressing various aspects in education of the Deaf. For example, Dr. Ila Parasnis has not only published and presented her works at different conferences but she has also edited several books on cultural identity and diversity in Deaf Education. As for Dr. Susan D. Fischer’s accomplishments, it mainly lies in the publication of 28 different citations in several journals as well as chapters in books that relate to the cultural diversity for deaf education (Author Detail). With all this in mind, it is clear that these professors have studied and gained in-depth knowledge for many years about the field of Deaf Education that they are able to speak about issues relating to the field as authoritative and credible figures.
In learning about the deaf culture I have taken on a new understanding about the people it includes. Through readings and the lessons, I have learned that being deaf has both its hardships and its blessings. The beauty of the language alone makes one want to learn all that he or she can about it. In this paper I will discuss the beauty of the language and the misconceptions the hearing world has about deafness.
Audism is something the deaf community has dealt with for decades. It is a form of oppression meaning it is the unjust or cruel use of power (Oppression, n.d.). There have been several types of oppression experienced in the world throughout history, and are still being exercised today, such as racism and sexism. Audism specifically, however, is the belief that a person is superior based on their ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears (Oberholtzer, 2002). This can be done by deaf or hearing people. This can be things such as thinking the person is not able do something simply because they are deaf, such as speak well, or things such as not employing a deaf person due to the thought they are inferior and will have to be accommodated.