You ask a very good question here.
My father is a retired M.D. so he clearly sees it from a pathological view. He's a firm believer in doing what most people do... Since most people speak and most don't sign, the logical conclusion for him was to get me to confirm to the norm as much as possible. He's like that with
everything not just deafness but I won't go into details here as they aren't revelant to this thread. My least favorite phrase is "Most people blah blah blah". :roll: I'm not "most people". Many hearing have that attitude if not to the same extent as my father.
From what I see with hearing parents of deaf children want their children to be part of the hearing world. To many of them -if not all, a child who is unable to speak is somehow less human and more like a brute. I remember a book that had a title that states it all: "The deaf mute howls" by Albert Balin which pretty much sums up the hearing parents' worst fears. It's a pro sign book btw. I don't know if it's just my imagination but I'd think a lot of deaf blacks bear the brunt of hearing fears.
Most of them tend not to question other people especially when they're dealing with matters that they've never had to deal with before. So they turn to those they deem to be the supreme authorities. Enter the doctors and audiologists who inform the parents that if they allow the child to sign, it will hurt their chances to function in society and that they must not be allowed to sign or it'll hurt their ability to speak well.
It's a vicious cycle that feeds on both the medical view of deafness and the bias toward speech. Just my