Hearing Ignorance of Deaf Culture

donotfeedbsugar said:
JOLIE!!!! YOU GET THAT TOO@READING LIPS *rolls eyes* annoying ain't it...I had another incident in college where my hearing aid had died and one of my friends (before I took the aid out) asked me could I hear without it. I said somewhat but not fully....so I took it out and exchanged the hearing aid battery and put it back in. She started to mouth to me (talking with no voice) and I'm like um....you didn't put your tv on mute...I can hear it....
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Yeah, It's always annoying. It's just something that I've shrugged over through the time. I swear, I could write a book about so many incidents that are common to us all, :lol:


whatdidyousay! said:
"exaggerate their mouth movement -- more like, making their mouth "bigger" as they speak. That isn't going to help any."

I hate when people do this!
One stupid woman was exaggerating with her mouth and writing the words in the air while she spoke as if the words were going float around for me to read! I hate when people speak in a monotone voice to me , one guy did when he notice I wore a HA , when the jerk saw that I was wearing a HA in my left ear , he looked horrorific and thought OMG her is retarded! When the jerk saw that I was wearing two HA he really looked worried that I was a total retarded that just moved into the condo! He then talkedto me in his monotone voice , and ask me very slowly voice if I understood him! I wanted to answer with a sign language that I am sure the jerk would had understand!
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Ha, I know what you mean. I've often got weird looks from others, especially when I'm signing with group of my friends at restaurants or in any other public places. Sometime, it just makes me feel like I want to say "What, lady, do you have a problem?" Although, I'm not the kind of person to be brass about it. Normally, I'd just wave back at them with a smile and speak "Hello, How can I help you?" That usually throws them off for a loop.
 
Jolie77 said:
Yeah, It's always annoying. It's just something that I've shrugged over through the time. I swear, I could write a book about so many incidents that are common to us all, :lol:




Ha, I know what you mean. I've often got weird looks from others, especially when I'm signing with group of my friends at restaurants or in any other public places. Sometime, it just makes me feel like I want to say "What, lady, do you have a problem?" Although, I'm not the kind of person to be brass about it. Normally, I'd just wave back at them with a smile and speak "Hello, How can I help you?" That usually throws them off for a loop.
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You should do it, Jolie@book....heck....I plan to make an attempt to try to do that one day myself!
 
The posters above me have already said about what I was planning on to add about the ignorance by the hearing people on Deaf people and the Deaf culture but I want to add something. Thanks for making my day easier :)

Anyway, I believe the more educated hearing people are on deafness and everything Deaf, the more we Deaf people get a positive outlook and appreciation from the hearing people, however that is not always the case. I can tell that from my experience, I probably taught a thing or two to each individual that I encountered that deaf people can do anything except hear. They can drive, they can take care of themselves and such.

I don't feel that the Deaf people and the Deaf culture are well known by the rest of the world. It could be because we don't educate people enough or people just are thinking that our deafness is just another disability and they will never consider our culture as an unique culture. The rest are plain ignorant. Yes, some of them are ignorant, hence we have this term "Deaf Hate Crime". There are more reasons to why the rest of world are "ignorant" as I can't find the proper usage of the word to describe how limited their knowledge about the Deaf people as well as the Deaf Culture.

I got to share my 2 cents, Deaf people and their culture don't get much recognition via mass media How often do I get to see deaf people and deaf issues on TV, internet, newspaper, on the news? Not every day. Not every month. Maybe once or twice a year. That's the truth in my life. It's partly because we always feel inferior to the hearing people and those who consider themselves Oralists. Again, that's just my opinion. Hope this helps.
 
Quote:
1)Why are most hearing people unaware of this?
We need to tell them that they are being ignorant. It has to be brought up in the first place by the people who are offended. I'd rather have someone tell me directly and inform me why it's not funny or I may have something important that makes my logic all screwed-up. I want to understand and I don't want to offend. <Sorry, I couldn't control the genetic parts that made up my face ;)>

2)How can more awareness happen- or does it need to happen?
It needs to happen because there people who don't quite get it. Or not at all. More awareness is usually dependent on how open-minded people are who want to learn about deaf culture.

3) Should we include American Deaf history in our public school textbooks?
Yes. Disabilities in general aren't highlighted to a degree that makes it "worthwhile". When I was growing up, usually my classmates got a small "refresher" on the hearing aid stuff. "Don't touch it, otherwise I'll bite your hand off!!!" or "tap me on the shoulder" or my favorite, "he doesn't understand what you're saying to him"...right in front of me as I can hear it. As far as I'm concerned, Deaf people (disabilities in general) do make a substantial part of a classifiable minority. There's a history hearing people are generally unaware of.

Have I encountered ignorance by people who assume that wearing a hearing aid = stupid. Ohhhh yeah. Definitely. The people who I inform them of my background are stunned. And the arguments I present to them floor them as well, simply because they know they're on the losing side of a lawsuit. Apologies work and lesson application to others around me (I did this once at work. Totally uncalled for situation (see "he doesn't understand" remark), got a written apology and did a presentation on hard of hearing/deafness plus some other disabilities).
 
rockin'robin said:
I'm sure deafies go through a zillion things everyday dealing with hearies....and vise versa!
Hearies not knowing sign language, and deafies not knowing speech. I do lipread, and appreciate any hearie that takes the time to talk slowly and clearly, as I do the same when talking to hearies. Always had my paper & pen ready also....if necessary.
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Some deafies do know about speech. Sometimes, they know too much about it.
 
donotfeedbsugar said:
Wow....rocking robin is so right that we do go through a lot of ignorance in our lives. A funny yet not so funny ignorance that I encountered was recently for me in my "So you want to be an Interpreter" class. People were just asking questions about syntax and parameters of signs and just a whole lot of questionsl.......well this one was just out of the ordinary...a lady....well...rather than asked she stated as a fact that deaf or hoh people do not drive because basically...what they are...deaf...they can't hear..... SURE ENOUGH, I turned around and faced her and said...wait...I DRIVE...she was like...*chuckles* I said DEAF OR HOH people don't drive.....So...I repeated it yet again and turned all the way around to face so she can see that I was wearing a hearing aid...and I told her....I'm going to say this one more time...I DRIVE....You need to be careful what you say because that is a sign of audism against me that you just spewed out......The whole classroom was in total silence and you can see her face reddening...... After class, people apologized for me about that....but I told them it's not your place but thank you....so yeah....that was my experience. *smh* argh
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Wow some woman said deaf and hoh people do not drive!! what a fool!
 
Wow some woman said deaf and hoh people do not drive!! what a fool! <----I never could figure out how they think that way.
 
A said:
Wow some woman said deaf and hoh people do not drive!! what a fool! <----I never could figure out how they think that way.
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Same mentality that makes them ask if you want a braille menu! :lol:
 
missaustin said:
Hi guys,

I am an audiology grad student currently enrolled in a Deaf culture/history/community/etc awareness type class. I was hoping to find a deaf community discussion forum. I am writing a paper for this class and was hoping to get lots of input from Deaf individuals. In class whenever we would do research/have discussion about topics (like audism, education- oralism vs tc vs bi-bi, language, etc) it seemed that we always came back to the same issue- much of the hearing world in America is very ignorant of what Deaf is. Deaf language, community, history, etc. I wanted to explore this further in my paper. Why are most hearing people unaware of this? How can more awareness happen- or does it need to happen? Should we include American Deaf history in our public school textbooks? That sort of thing.

What are your thoughts on this? What type of encounters have you had with ignorance? (For example, I'm a waitress as well as a student and I know enough sign to greet my tables, take their orders, etc. but none of the other servers do. We are near a residential Deaf school and have many deaf customers. I asked another server how he interacts with his deaf customers and he said "As long as you look them in the face and talk slowly they will understand, because they can all lipread". How idiotic! I was inclined to flare up at him but realized he was just displaying his ignorance. That type of thing....)

I would love to hear from yall! Also, can anyone recommend other forums/blogs I could try to get a discussion going on? Thanks very much for any input!
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I have only read a couple of the responses here but I wanted to add that hearing folks' ignorance of deaf culture is pretty wide-spread and we can deal with that in our own way as individuals but almost nowhere is this ignorance more glaringly obvious than in your chosen field. Study what's currently going on in California with AB2072.......nefarious, to say the least and certainly not so "ignorant" in the way we are meaning it here.....
 
Ignorance = Misinformation and Stereotypes

Correcting the information and the stereotypes promoted and the light turns on :)
 
A said:
Wow some woman said deaf and hoh people do not drive!! what a fool! <----I never could figure out how they think that way.
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YOU???? I don't wonder about it but I still try to figure it out to this day...I should have instead asked her why does she think that.
 
ASLGAL said:
Ignorance = Misinformation and Stereotypes

Correcting the information and the stereotypes promoted and the light turns on :)
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I don't see any lights being turned on in the California State Senate yet as time is running out for the final vote on AB2072.
 
ASLGAL said:
Ignorance = Misinformation and Stereotypes

Correcting the information and the stereotypes promoted and the light turns on :)
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Thus why we need to be adapt to constructive criticism, rather than turning the lights off. :)
 
I don't see any lights being turned on in the California State Senate yet as time is running out for the final vote on AB2072.
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point taken. naturally, those receiving correct information have to be open to receiving it
 
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