breelligerent

Hey all! I've seen some people around these parts spell the word "deaf" with all uppercase letters. I know the difference between "deaf" and "Deaf", but what does "DEAF" mean? Is there a cultural meaning to it?

(I'm sorry if this has been asked before. I tried to search the forum and Google, but it just kept giving me the plain-old "deaf".)

Deafness

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Smithtr

Many people most search find hard deaf dont know , we are help you tell you,,Would be tell you I am experience less, user than more tell you can help , I know deaf cultures, I am pretty different deaf and hearing preceptive


Most deaf or Deaf notice spelling to look likes proper uppercase! I cause on look likes most to google on Deaf or deaf, I research google! I am not sure about to find exactly on difference deaf or deaf compare, no worry we are help you!!
I am deaf,

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dereksbicycles

I'm deaf myself and am not sure of the difference.

I would suppose this is to make point to some people who don't get it. Person would say hey, look, I'm DEAF!!! Don't be rude!! Look at me when you talk, ya know.

Frisky Feline

I only know that drphil uses DEAF to his comfort words.

I am culturally Deaf. I am very involved with Deaf world or Deaf community. I tend to say, I am Deaf.

breelligerent

That's definitely possible. If that turns out to be the case I'll feel very stupid! Dumb hearing person questions, huh?

breelligerent

Thank you for the assurances of help! deaf vs Deaf makes sense, but I had never seen it look like DEAF. Hopefully someone will know!

Jane B.

DEAF is one coined by the fellow that uses drphill as his screen name. Seems to indicate not hearing anything when not wearing his CI.

breelligerent

Oh I see, I didn't know if it was only drphil that used DEAF or if it was common.

The terms can be sort of confusing for me at times. I've heard that even for deaf people, you aren't considered Deaf until other people in the Deaf world say you are culturally involved enough. I thought that you were Deaf if you feel most comfortable using ASL and are known to the Deaf community in your area. So confusing!

breelligerent

So it's a "more deaf than other Deaf people" thing?

Frisky Feline

Any deaf people who don't use ASL then they are just deaf. If any deaf uses ASL, and involved with Deaf community and feel comfortable using ASL then they are Deaf.

That's all I can think of.

breelligerent

I appreciate your information! That's what I thought, but other people have different definitions

GrendelQ

I think the poster mentioned is also using it to differentiate his current state from where he had been for many years prior (he had been what we tend to consider deaf at a lesser degree but not fully DEAF), as well as from that of many people who identify as culturally Deaf, yet are physiologically hearing or mild/moderate/severe, HOH, etc. There was one point where several posters, one was fully hearing and used ASL, one was moderate/severe and just learning ASL, told him that while they were Deaf, he was not and would never be Deaf. I think that marked his shift to using DEAF, but that's just what I saw from a distance and you could go to the source for the true answer.

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drphil

I have mentioned before my utilization of the word- DEAF. A paradigm change to my actual condition of deafness-silence- rather than "cultural vs oral". I don't use ASL/ BSL et al.

I have been bilateral DEAF since December 20, 2006.

The observations of GrendelQ are somewhat correct from my posts over-almost the last 2 years that I have been a member.

Reading the book in the Toronto library- A Journey into the DEAFWORLD- Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister & Ben Bahan 1996 Dawn Sign Press San Diego. Ostensibly DEAF persons are/have "oppressed by the Hearing community". Really? They claimed that Cochlear Implants are instruments of genocide towards the Deaf community. ENT doctors are at the forefront of all this. Aside: none of this is my actual experience.

It is safe to say that Cochlear Implants have had " an effect" on DEAF community over the last 25 years. What next?

Ongoing discussions in Sociology- "culture"

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Bebonang

Bold statement, that is exactly what DEAF might indicate as using a loud comment. Most capitals when printed like DEAF meant to say that the person is speaking out loud and exclaiming the point of shouting at hearing people or Ignorant hearing people not understanding why Deaf or deaf people can not understand hearing people. The Deaf person is trying to tell them that they are DEAF, not hearing or that hearing people think that hearing aids or CIs can make a deaf person understand by listening or picking up words. The hearing ignorant people can frustrate us so much that we get upset or angry over it. Of course, most deaf people can not pick up or can not listen to what the hearing people said. Most hearing people have thick heads when they don't see it that way or refuse to accept us as deaf or Deaf.

This is the way I say the words. I was born deaf. I did not learn to sign until I was out of the mainstream high school which does not allow me to learn ASL. It is all oral only. I had struggled trying to understand what the teachers and students talk about in the classrooms. After I graduated from high school, I went into the Deaf Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ASL opened the door for me to understand ASL plus to be able to express in ASL. So now I am Deaf instead of deaf. Deaf is who you are when you sign the American Sign Language. Small uppercase like deaf is just a medical term for us who happen to not be able to hear sounds whether severe to profound deafness. Hard of Hearing is still deaf, too.

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I HAVE BEEN DEAF SINCE BIRTH, AND IT IS STILL AWESOME TO BE . (thumb up) (very happy)

breelligerent

I appreciate you weighing in on this! I'm afraid I still don't understand the distinction you make. You're not Deaf because you don't use sign, so your use of DEAF is to describe your medical state, correct? I'm not sure why the term "deaf" doesn't apply to your identity. Is it because your experience of deafness is completely silent? From what I understand, some d/Deaf have a bit of hearing, but not at any level to make a difference in communication or lifestyle. Is that the distinction you're trying to get across?

Feel free to not answer these questions if you're frustrated with them. I'm just curious and hoping to understand where you are coming from.

breelligerent

Thank you for taking the time to explain! I like the usage of DEAF the way you described it. drphil chimed in on what it means to him (since he's one of the few that I've seen who uses it), but your view is really interesting.

I know that some here on AllDeaf have disliked the ASL "fad" among hearing people. Do you think that the large number of people learning about Deaf culture and ASL will reduce the ignorance among hearing people? Or do you think it causes more misunderstanding of the d/Deaf experience?

drphil

breelligerent: The paradigm change -using actual deafness-rather than a "cultural configuration" to describe "silence" seems to me-to make sense.

I know from AllDeaf.com hearing people can be "cultural Deaf" which doesn't describe my actual condition-which is permanent.

That is why i requested the determination of whether I fit the criteria for a Cochlear Implant. Fortunately, I did. Five years ago the costs was $55,000 CDN Also recovered from the operation fairly quickly.

MY identity as such didn't change on December 20, 2006-the day I became bilateral DEAF. Aside: I have been involved with Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto Classes: Dealing/Coping with your Hearing Loss since 1992. I was also part of York University study on persons use the CHS material in their life.

I am aware that I couldn't hear anything at 105 Db which is usually defined as deafness-though some persons claim to "hear"- how much?

Interesting intermural exercise: what does deafness mean?

Again: Sociology-culture isn't boring-to say the least.

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Smithtr

He is misunderstand, confused no worry, It is okay! it is no worry sound look likes images on thinks he pretend on think so images I know him! no harm Don't be hurtingI I can help him tell you bit he troubleshooting, It is pretty well!

no worry no harm people!

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drphil

If I wasn't clear- all Hearing comes from my Cochlear Implant. Of course, I am still DEAF.
I have mentioned before- I do deaf swimming, even a couple of laps for my friend Bottesini.
Right now silence- my battery is being recharged. I don't keep my implant on while sleeping
Off to "sleep land" ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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Bottesini

Goodnight drphil.

(Now of course, with your implant off, you join us in being Deaf. )

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GrendelQ

I hadn't realized it until drphil clarified here, but it looks like his use of DEAF is distinguished from the commonly used deaf vs. Deaf as an indicator of what side of the cultural line one is on. Maybe he's defining himself not as an ASL-using Deaf person, and not as an 'oral-thinking' deaf person who uses residual hearing or speechreading, but as something outside that sociological construct. It's actually a pretty interesting shift in thinking about what deafness means (or what DEAFness is) to an individual.

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MissLady

I understand the distinction DrPhil is trying to make, and I think everyone raises good points in the difference between deaf and Deaf.

I do see some Deaf (culturally Deaf) individuals around here use DEAF to mean strong-Deaf or super-Deaf. As in, supporting Deaf residential schooling, supporting Deaf colleges (Gally, NTID), and voice-off. Just my thoughts.

Jiro

none.

it's deaf or Deaf... not DEAF.

deaf = hearing loss
Deaf = culturally deaf
DEAF = lol wut?

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Frisky Feline

But DEAF is drphil's comforting identity.

Jiro

to each his own.....

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soutthpaw

DEAF is DrPhill's own self identifier. It has not accepted use in Deaf Culture. I view it as SHOUTING deaf on the Internet. The only 2 accepted uses are with or without an uppercase "D" to indicate Culturally Deaf.

WTF is DEAF swimming? I swim and so do lots of other people who are Deaf and deaf. I didn't know we swim any different from hearing people. In fact I swim the same as when I could hear. Maybe its DrPhills new DEAFstroke technique. if anything, you do "deaf"swim, whatever that maybe
Just because you do an activity with one or more other people with hearing loss, does no make one culturally Deaf. To be Deaf you have to use and consider ASL as your primary language among other things.

Bottesini

I think deaf swimming is because he swims with no implant and actually hears nothing at that time.

So thinking of definition drphil style, at bedtime his is really only deaf...

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drphil

Whether I should classify swimming/sleeping as "deaf/ Deaf"activity-not exactly a major concern of mine. My identity doesn't change in the slightness.

To make it clear- I have never claim to be CULTURAL deaf. DEAF is fine.

As for deaf swimming/bowling or any other activity interesting that the "deaf community" promotes such presumably as part of "deaf values"! Unexplained how such is different than"hearing" swimming etc?

To be DEAF is condition of silence-doesn't hearing anything. Using ASL et al is a consequence of how one's deal with this physical fact. As well as using a Cochlear Implant. To me being DEAF is beyond the use of any Hearing Aid. This is my very direct experience.

I understand one's primary/original language is what one's parents taught. It can be altered later.

Another interlude in Sociology which should make rei's "study" realistic.

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Bebonang

I don't understand why you have keep on repeating the same sentences over and over. We have read that many times over. Can you say something new without talking about DEAF thingy? I don't think you don't know nothing about sociology on deafness and Deaf Culture.

As for swimming and bowling, a lot of deaf and Deaf people love to do this like being in a Deaf club. They are at peace with each other relating to swimming and bowling. Why don't you read a book so that you can understand what the story is telling you in a different light instead of repeating. Eh?

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I HAVE BEEN DEAF SINCE BIRTH, AND IT IS STILL AWESOME TO BE . (thumb up) (very happy)

drphil

I suppose most/many persons here in Alldeaf.com have "repeated" various aspects of their life re: their perception on the "deaf condition" many times.

I have mentioned many times Harlan Lane et al book: A Journey into the DEAF-WORLD. Whether it still "represents-accurately- some Deaf persons" views-unknown. It was in the Toronto Public Library.What happened to the "Deaf militants"?

I know-advised- unable to read comments here in the past. Ironic-supposedly!

More interludes in Sociology- culture/ideology

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Get Real:Implanted Sunnybrook/Toronto -Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07