codyjohnle
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- Jan 11, 2017
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hi. i'm 43 and I'm currently in ASL 2 and a deaf culture class. i'm a hearing person. i'm enjoying my time learning asl and enjoying the deaf socials that i attend. i'm leaving open the possibility of furthering my aslieducation, thinking i'll take the finger spelling class as well as asl 3 soon.
but i have questions regarding deaf culture. specifically stuff we're learning in class.
i'm looking for deaf people who are open to discuss issues such as cochlear implants, audism, upper case D Deaf vs lower case D deaf. i know there are threads dedicated to some of these issues but my questions are a little broader in scope.
to get it started i'm curious about the following and whether it's a stance held mostly by younger generations. there is much talk in our deaf culture class about viewing deaf people as 'broken' or 'disabled' and how deaf people don't view themselves that way. but deaf people see hearing people as viewing them that way. it seems to be about the label and not about what it means. for example, anyone who doesn't have an ability that the vast majority have are, by definition, disabled. now, if someone looks down upon another because of their disability then that person is just a jerk. they aren't being a jerk because of a label one chooses to accept or refuses to accept. i would add that if accommodations are asked for or needed, then that implies a disability. the only reason that this particular issue is at the forefront of my mind is that it's the most talked about topic in my deaf culture class. there is a whole lot of "how dare you view a deaf person as disabled." then a minute later there is talk of how it's society's and the school's responsibility to provide interpreters and other things for deaf children. it seems like such a fine line, and as a hearing person, and in a class where we talk about these issues i feel as if i'm being forced to tap dance on this tightrope. i'm not asking to be able to walk around and point at deaf people and shout "HEY LOOK A DISABLED PERSON!" what i am trying to do is further dialogue and gain perspective into the deaf culture.
cochlear implants are another hot topic. our class seems to take our professor's (who is deaf) opinion that they're not good. their arguments are basically 2 things. 1. it's a denial of who you really are. to which my counter-argument would be 'would you tell a crippled person to not use crutches or a wheel chair, lest they deny who they really are?" and 2. what happens if the battery dies, then you're back to being a plain ol' deaf person. to which my reply would be "why use a car to get to work, since if it breaks you're just gonna be walkin?"
but i have questions regarding deaf culture. specifically stuff we're learning in class.
i'm looking for deaf people who are open to discuss issues such as cochlear implants, audism, upper case D Deaf vs lower case D deaf. i know there are threads dedicated to some of these issues but my questions are a little broader in scope.
to get it started i'm curious about the following and whether it's a stance held mostly by younger generations. there is much talk in our deaf culture class about viewing deaf people as 'broken' or 'disabled' and how deaf people don't view themselves that way. but deaf people see hearing people as viewing them that way. it seems to be about the label and not about what it means. for example, anyone who doesn't have an ability that the vast majority have are, by definition, disabled. now, if someone looks down upon another because of their disability then that person is just a jerk. they aren't being a jerk because of a label one chooses to accept or refuses to accept. i would add that if accommodations are asked for or needed, then that implies a disability. the only reason that this particular issue is at the forefront of my mind is that it's the most talked about topic in my deaf culture class. there is a whole lot of "how dare you view a deaf person as disabled." then a minute later there is talk of how it's society's and the school's responsibility to provide interpreters and other things for deaf children. it seems like such a fine line, and as a hearing person, and in a class where we talk about these issues i feel as if i'm being forced to tap dance on this tightrope. i'm not asking to be able to walk around and point at deaf people and shout "HEY LOOK A DISABLED PERSON!" what i am trying to do is further dialogue and gain perspective into the deaf culture.
cochlear implants are another hot topic. our class seems to take our professor's (who is deaf) opinion that they're not good. their arguments are basically 2 things. 1. it's a denial of who you really are. to which my counter-argument would be 'would you tell a crippled person to not use crutches or a wheel chair, lest they deny who they really are?" and 2. what happens if the battery dies, then you're back to being a plain ol' deaf person. to which my reply would be "why use a car to get to work, since if it breaks you're just gonna be walkin?"
But of the point is that there is somehow a priority on hearing, somehow an assumption that a whole person hears and anyone who doesn't is somehow not whole ('broken', 'sick', etc), which is the idea behind Audism, that is when understandably it becomes insulting to some people. I respect you bringing up the topic, and it can be a lose-lose conversation in or out of class to have. Arguments about Deaf access (interpreters, ADA rights, etc) really aren't about Deaf people embracing disability when it suits them, it is more of a sense of demand for equality that is already being overlooked and withheld by the mainstream. I think if "accommodation" as a word was changed to "equal access" it sometimes puts a better perspective on it.