naisho
Forum Disorders M.D.,Ph.D
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2006
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To be honest, the majority of the following will entitle my personal opinion instead of what is an accepted norm out there in the current state of the social world.
I feel it's fine that you can attempt to break it down. The harder part is breaking down "Hearing culture", which in itself, is rather a misnomer of sorts.
There is no universal hearing culture everyone hearing participates in. Culture is broken down by distinctive parts identifiable such as language, ethnicity, heritage, and so on.
To further exemplify this mentality, here are some examples:
- In the US, we're still held back by racial boundaries. Even if one speaks perfectly fluent english, they can still be judged by their natural skin color and this happens frequently on an everyday basis. It also occurs on a subconscious basis, if there are no racial motives involved. This further segregates any form of official "hearing culture" labeling. Take for exaple you hear someone over the phone, then decide to meet them up. After you see them, you find out they were Asian. You might think in your head, "This guy was Asian! Their english was much better than other Asians I've experienced." When this type of thinking is done, you've already participated in a form of segregation of an unofficially accepted 'culture'.
- Real ethnic cultures have differences. An African-american manager at McDonald's might not entitle the same line of thinking held by a Hispanic, or Korean manager. They can be raised in totally opposing environments, thus the roots of their culture their parents (or guardians, whomever raised them) further solidify principles they adapt to their everyday lives that may differ from another person.
- Some individuals do not have any official form of genetically (or ethnically) tied culture at all. What would be the outcome of a child born to a Jewish and Moroccan mix, in which both parents disregarded principles of their past roots to the child and raise them in a different culture? (Ie, Asian Indian, or Italian).
- What type of culture might entail for an adopted kid/foster parents whom do not regard their ethnic origins? This is sort of in line with example 3, but differs in the terms of adopted ethnicity vs genetics of the child.
After you're able to wrap your head around and aggregate what the reality for "hearing culture" really consists of, maybe you can postulate a better background to start from. This is a really complicated issue as I have been trying to tell you, you cannot just lay out as A, B, C situations because the truth to this is if you wanted to attempt that, it'd be very likely your situations would end not only from A-Z (26 examples) but maybe hundreds more, you'd have to start a long list.
To answer your questions in my version of understanding how things really work. I see it in that they are broad questions, which you can only get generic answers. It's sort of like asking everyone "What's your favorite soda?" When you should have really asked "What's your favorite orange soda?".
Q: this group of the later-deafened... it would matter when they were deafened, wouldn't it?
A: Yes, although generally accepted term to late-deafened usually means someone who has a) reached adulthood, or b) exceeded the timeline of first language acquisition. Generally, I feel it's safe to accept that anyone legal years of age (18) turning deaf after then is considered late deafened. I'm sure you'll find debate if you try to identify an earlier age for the term.
Q: I mean if someone is deafened in their teens and makes the transition, where they ever really part of the adult hearing culture? So would it have to be an adult who has deafened?
A: Oh boy, a triple-double. Again, context is important. There is no one size fits all spandex around here. Did that teen initially contract deafness before 18? Do they have unilateral or bilateral deafness? What is the accepted 'adult hearing culture' term you are identifying, as in "White non-hispanic American hearing culture", or "Vietnamese hearing culture", or "Mexican hearing culture", or "Spain hearing culture", or "Colombian hearing culture", or "Cuban hearing culture" or ?
Do you start to see how culture can actually vary between these examples? We can go on for what seems like forever until we've listed all officially recognized cultures and identified their disparities.
Fortunately, it seems for the deaf world in itself, it's rather simple. There is no officially recognized ethnicity. If they are fluent in sign, and have became accepted by their community, they are nested under "Deaf culture".
Q: And then, do those people transition into the Deaf culture? Or do they stay deaf in the hearing culture?
A: I'd say people that are accepted by the local deaf community (ie, they get their first sign name for one hurdle) have begun the initial transition into Deaf Culture. Some folks are not deaf themselves, they can be ASL interpreters, or K/CODA (Kid/Child of Deaf Adults) and still accepted by the deaf community. They may choose to live their world in deafness, or both, it's up to that individual. Some might not fully transition into Deaf culture at all.
Q: How is the relationship between the people enrooted in the Deaf culture and those 'late arrivals?'
A: Again, it depends who [which deaf community?] and where [which location?]. For the most part people are welcomed of all backgrounds, but the catcher is they have to accept Deaf culture first. Making it past that hurdle is the brunk of the work.
