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- Aug 7, 2008
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I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It’s been discussed many times in AD why hearing parents have chosen certain paths (oralism, CI, TC, SEE, etc.) for their deaf children. Audism, selfishness, laziness, importance of English, better opportunities, enhancement of spoken skills, and “ASL is a crutch” are all examples of named reasons during these discussions. (Just naming some reasons from both sides of the coin). By the way, no need to debate on the reasons I stated above, just trying to give an intro to this post.
I’d like to explore the idea of another reason. Now, let’s put hearing parents, doctors, audiologist aside for a second. How do hearing people in general view deaf people? Not very favorably. All you have to do is look at that “Annoying ignorant hearing people stories” thread along with other similar threads. Deaf people often encounter people who are shocked that they can function like a regular human being. Those who speak often encounter those who are surprised that they can even speak and call them “intelligent”. It tells me that many people do not expect much from deaf people.
Now take a person who has little to no experience with deaf people and s/he has a deaf child. I’d like to say (maybe naively?) that most parents do try to make their child the best they can be. One of the “stigmas” of deaf schools is that they are “dumping grounds” for those who have parents who don’t know what to do with their deaf child. Hearing parents mostly likely would not admit this on AD because, quite frankly, it is an insult to those who did go to deaf schools, right? (There would be the predictable backlash of “I went to a deaf school and my parents did love me!”). People (even doctors) have told my mom to just send me to a deaf school because “I wouldn’t do better, anyway” since I am profoundly deaf. As a parent who knows nothing about Deaf culture, it would be hard to choose the path that hearing people perceive as “your child won’t go far anyway, so might as well put him along with others like him” path. Now, this is when doctors, audiologists, etc. comes in and says “If you work hard with your child, your child may become mainstreamed and function like a hearing person.” This sounds like the “more difficult” path than simply learning ASL and sending the child to the closest deaf school. From the parent’s POV, choosing the perceived “harder path” raises the expectations of their deaf child, not automatically assuming that their child can’t go far in life, which is the perception of many hearing people.
Sorry this is a long post! I will wrap it up. Do you believe that there is a stigma that deaf schools are just dumping grounds for parents who don’t know what to do with them or don’t think the child can do better? If so, do you think that hearing parents choose other paths so that they are not associated with those types of parents (the ones who don’t expect much of their child)?
Disclaimer: I am not saying that some parents simply dump their child in deaf schools because they don’t care or whatever. I am talking about attached stigmas of deaf schools, not the actual actions.
I’d like to explore the idea of another reason. Now, let’s put hearing parents, doctors, audiologist aside for a second. How do hearing people in general view deaf people? Not very favorably. All you have to do is look at that “Annoying ignorant hearing people stories” thread along with other similar threads. Deaf people often encounter people who are shocked that they can function like a regular human being. Those who speak often encounter those who are surprised that they can even speak and call them “intelligent”. It tells me that many people do not expect much from deaf people.
Now take a person who has little to no experience with deaf people and s/he has a deaf child. I’d like to say (maybe naively?) that most parents do try to make their child the best they can be. One of the “stigmas” of deaf schools is that they are “dumping grounds” for those who have parents who don’t know what to do with their deaf child. Hearing parents mostly likely would not admit this on AD because, quite frankly, it is an insult to those who did go to deaf schools, right? (There would be the predictable backlash of “I went to a deaf school and my parents did love me!”). People (even doctors) have told my mom to just send me to a deaf school because “I wouldn’t do better, anyway” since I am profoundly deaf. As a parent who knows nothing about Deaf culture, it would be hard to choose the path that hearing people perceive as “your child won’t go far anyway, so might as well put him along with others like him” path. Now, this is when doctors, audiologists, etc. comes in and says “If you work hard with your child, your child may become mainstreamed and function like a hearing person.” This sounds like the “more difficult” path than simply learning ASL and sending the child to the closest deaf school. From the parent’s POV, choosing the perceived “harder path” raises the expectations of their deaf child, not automatically assuming that their child can’t go far in life, which is the perception of many hearing people.
Sorry this is a long post! I will wrap it up. Do you believe that there is a stigma that deaf schools are just dumping grounds for parents who don’t know what to do with them or don’t think the child can do better? If so, do you think that hearing parents choose other paths so that they are not associated with those types of parents (the ones who don’t expect much of their child)?
Disclaimer: I am not saying that some parents simply dump their child in deaf schools because they don’t care or whatever. I am talking about attached stigmas of deaf schools, not the actual actions.
Too many totally false preconceived notions.
They are having problems identifying their own emotions, let alone being empathetic enough to understand someone else's. Go figure.