Hey all,
So I'm finding myself in a bit of a problem; I've decided I want to be a teacher for Deaf kids (I absolutely ADORE both English and ASL, so teaching literature in Sign Language [and essentially hopefully inspire more people to go all Writing-Nerd-style--oh, I'm devious] sounds like heaven to me), and when I tell people this in response to the super-common "what are you in school for?" the typical response I get to that, quite frankly, irritates me to no end. They act like I'm martyring myself, like it's an act of charity or whatever. It's the "poor little deaf kids" mentality, and it makes me want to smack people.
Honestly, I don't know how my Deaf friends put up with that attitude; they have infinitely more patience than I do!
So, I'm finding myself in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand, I'm just educated enough to realize how ignorant, offensive and/or condescending hearing people can be in regard to Deaf people. On the other, I'm hearing myself and realize that, hey, I'm super clueless without even meaning to be much of the time, so I'm not one to talk, and don't want to mis-speak.
Due to the latter statement, the following has potential to be offensive, but NONE of it is intentional in case it is.
I want to help these people understand how deeply offensive it is to me (and probably to Deaf people, but I can only genuinely speak for myself) that they hold this attitude, maybe liken it to an attitude they can more easily understand. I realize that probably very little can compare, considering the Deaf status is so unique, but I want to make people understand, maybe even a little more, why it bothers me.
So.. is pitying someone because they're Deaf kind of, sort of, potentially, maybe
-x If I'm totally wrong, I'm sorry!) offensive on the level of pitying someone because of their skin color, like pitying someone for being black?
Obviously it's nowhere near the same thing, but my reasoning is that, yeah, having been born black would make life in a predominantly white society more difficult; I've observed racism in school places, work places, social settings, TV, media, etc.
I'm trying to decide if this parallels Deafness; if someone's language is ASL in a predominantly oral/spoken word society, yeah, it's probably more difficult. And there's probably no argument that audism runs rampant in schools, work places, social settings, TV, media, etc.
Black people weren't considered people because they were black; Deaf people weren't considered people because they were deaf. All bs, of course. I see some parallels, but being neither black nor Deaf, I worry about stepping on people's toes.
I do know, however, that because black culture is more mainstream than deaf culture (from my perspective, at least), that more people would be appalled with themselves for looking at someone differently for their skin color. If they connected that feeling with how they were thinking about Deaf, I think it might be easier to understand. Maybe. Possibly. Potentially. I'm not sure, but this is my theory.
Is this parallel at all accurate, or am I completely, totally off base?
I apologize if this is at all offensive, again, it's not my intent I'm just trying to find something that might help hearies relate better and faster--I try to explain to them what I've gleaned from months and months of learning from my Deaf professors, but I lack credibility/ethos due to being hearing, not to mention it was a slow process for me, and I'm still unsure of myself. =/
Any insight would be awesome, and thank you!
So I'm finding myself in a bit of a problem; I've decided I want to be a teacher for Deaf kids (I absolutely ADORE both English and ASL, so teaching literature in Sign Language [and essentially hopefully inspire more people to go all Writing-Nerd-style--oh, I'm devious] sounds like heaven to me), and when I tell people this in response to the super-common "what are you in school for?" the typical response I get to that, quite frankly, irritates me to no end. They act like I'm martyring myself, like it's an act of charity or whatever. It's the "poor little deaf kids" mentality, and it makes me want to smack people.
Honestly, I don't know how my Deaf friends put up with that attitude; they have infinitely more patience than I do!
So, I'm finding myself in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand, I'm just educated enough to realize how ignorant, offensive and/or condescending hearing people can be in regard to Deaf people. On the other, I'm hearing myself and realize that, hey, I'm super clueless without even meaning to be much of the time, so I'm not one to talk, and don't want to mis-speak.
Due to the latter statement, the following has potential to be offensive, but NONE of it is intentional in case it is.
I want to help these people understand how deeply offensive it is to me (and probably to Deaf people, but I can only genuinely speak for myself) that they hold this attitude, maybe liken it to an attitude they can more easily understand. I realize that probably very little can compare, considering the Deaf status is so unique, but I want to make people understand, maybe even a little more, why it bothers me.
So.. is pitying someone because they're Deaf kind of, sort of, potentially, maybe
-x If I'm totally wrong, I'm sorry!) offensive on the level of pitying someone because of their skin color, like pitying someone for being black? Obviously it's nowhere near the same thing, but my reasoning is that, yeah, having been born black would make life in a predominantly white society more difficult; I've observed racism in school places, work places, social settings, TV, media, etc.
I'm trying to decide if this parallels Deafness; if someone's language is ASL in a predominantly oral/spoken word society, yeah, it's probably more difficult. And there's probably no argument that audism runs rampant in schools, work places, social settings, TV, media, etc.
Black people weren't considered people because they were black; Deaf people weren't considered people because they were deaf. All bs, of course. I see some parallels, but being neither black nor Deaf, I worry about stepping on people's toes.
I do know, however, that because black culture is more mainstream than deaf culture (from my perspective, at least), that more people would be appalled with themselves for looking at someone differently for their skin color. If they connected that feeling with how they were thinking about Deaf, I think it might be easier to understand. Maybe. Possibly. Potentially. I'm not sure, but this is my theory.
Is this parallel at all accurate, or am I completely, totally off base?
I apologize if this is at all offensive, again, it's not my intent I'm just trying to find something that might help hearies relate better and faster--I try to explain to them what I've gleaned from months and months of learning from my Deaf professors, but I lack credibility/ethos due to being hearing, not to mention it was a slow process for me, and I'm still unsure of myself. =/
Any insight would be awesome, and thank you!
