Deaf Community & Social Media

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I am writing a research paper for my English class on the Deaf Community in Social Media. This is partly assigned, partly my choice. Social Media is an overall theme for the class, so for this assignment I was to choose a specific use of social media, or a specific group in relation to social media, thusly, I chose to research the Deaf Community within social media.

The thesis/theory I set out with is basically that social media would be a bigger deal in some ways to the Deaf community/culture, than to us hearing folks who have an easier time communicating 'in person'. In fact the first draft of my thesis stated that social media is revolutionary to the sense of culture within the Deaf community. I based this on nothing more than on an 'intuitive' assumption, and to make a stronger argument.

The problem I have come to is I am not finding this to be the case. Either, because it isn't the case, or because I am looking in the wrong place. This 'problem' is actually a good thing so long as I can find some sort of interpretation or explanation to shed light onto it. A criteria of my research paper is that I do present a counter-argument to my thesis. At this point I am wondering if I will in fact have to change my thesis upside down into it's opposite and present my original assumption as a counter-argument.

I have so far been looking at facebook, the most used social media platform, in fact the #1 most visited site on the web globally (google ranks second). I have found a few pages pertaining to the deaf community, but they are not particularly popular, therefore not supportive of my thesis.

So can anyone offer insight into my lack of findings? Why does it appear that Deaf people are not the social media junkies that humans with fully functioning auditory perception have become? What do you people do with your time if you aren't following the hearing majority down the path of evolution into technology zombies?
 
Because a lot of us belong to more private deaf groups that are closed, and also just have deaf friends.

It would be really annoying to have a Facebook presence where gawkers were mixed in with friends and family.
 
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i think you should take time out to talk to deaf person face to face.
maybe they dont feel the need to follow the herd or many deaf can feel isolated and have to make that extra effort to be with other people to make sure needs are met.
your last sentense going to piss people
 
thanks everyone for your feedback so far.
your right caz, I should and do want to talk with Deaf people. Thats kind of what i'm doing right now, but I would also like to do so in person at some point. As far as pissing people off, you can do that without even trying so I don't worry about it. People can choose to or not have a more constructive and mature reaction than being pissed off about any particular thing.
I am curious what part of what I said did you think could being upsetting, I apologize if I upset you, maybe I could clarify if you could also.

Not to appear to be acting coy, I am guessing it is that I said 'you people', however I think I offset that by implying it appeared Deaf people might not be following the herd, and since I referred to the herd as zombies, I think it's clear I was not putting the herd in a positive light.
 
Because a lot of us belong to more private deaf groups that are closed, and also just have deaf friends.

It would be really annoying to have a Facebook presense where gawkers were mixed in with friends and family.

Can you tell me anything more about these groups? or point me somewhere that has more information about this?

I hope I am not a gawker for being interested.
 
Can you tell me anything more about these groups? or point me somewhere that has more information about this?

I hope I am not a gawker for being interested.

That's my whole point. No.
 
, I apologize if I upset you, maybe I could clarify if you could also.

Not to appear to be acting coy, I am guessing it is that I said 'you people', however I think I offset that by implying it appeared Deaf people might not be following the herd, and since I referred to the herd as zombies, I think it's clear I was not putting the herd in a positive light.

You people isn't the problem. "So can anyone offer insight into my lack of findings? Why does it appear that Deaf people are not the social media junkies that humans with fully functioning auditory perception have become? What do you people do with your time if you aren't following the hearing majority down the path of evolution into technology zombies?"

The bolded part is where your problem is going to lie.
 
That's my whole point. No.

specificity por favor? What's your point? No I am not a gawker, or yes I am and therefore you will not speak to me? Are all non-deaf people who are interested in deaf people gawkers? Can a gawker become a non-gawker and how? I'm sorry I'm coming of hostile but I would gladly dispell such auras if you would also. I feel like you are lumping me into a group, which I by the way have never heard of, based on knowing absolutely nothing about me. Do deaf people not want interaction with hearing people, even in a forum that does not have any auditory component? Actually I need to stop referring to you as a spokesperson for Deaf people, I know you aren't, so all these questions are addressed merely to YOU. Could you tell me who you think I am, what you think I think and why you would reply to me at all but with no details, implying that you are deliberately indicating that I should GTFO. Maybe I am reading in between the lines too much, but there's not much else I can do when you only give me two lines at a time.
 
You people isn't the problem. "So can anyone offer insight into my lack of findings? Why does it appear that Deaf people are not the social media junkies that humans with fully functioning auditory perception have become? What do you people do with your time if you aren't following the hearing majority down the path of evolution into technology zombies?"

The bolded part is where your problem is going to lie.

that I used 'people' in one instance and 'humans' in the other? These words are synonymous. They indicate the same species with no additional connotations.
 
It's not that deaf people don't want to act with hearing people... First off, and it's definitely not that we're not into "social media" per se... Bottesini has it right, we just tend to socialize with more closed groups is all. This is a relatively public forum for deaf people to associate, but I will guarantee that 90% of the people here have "closed" groups as you would call them on Facebook that they affiliate with. ( I am included in this ) Every deaf person I know ( Not speaking for all deaf people of course ) Have a Facebook, the issue again that was brought up previously, is how do you know through the internet who is deaf and who isn't? It's not a physical deformity that you can see... So technically we could be everywhere with normal group names and settings and you just wouldn't know by looking or searching under the generalized term "deaf." Most of us don't go throwing it out there shouting to the world that we're deaf. We don't want special treatment, we don't want to be looked at as different or "disabled" we wan't to be talked to and treated as normal functioning humans as we are. The issue with this, is that a lot of hearing people do not treat us as normal, because they feel sorry for us, or they don't have the patience to communicate, or god knows what else but there are a million and one reasons. Sometimes, there are people who treat us normally who don't think twice about it, sometimes there aren't. The issue with the question you proposed was outlined in bold to you. I'm not easily offended. Normally I think everyone out there is a sensitive wuss and needs to get over most stuff. When I read how you asked that question, I had to take a step back and say "woah woah woah what?"

Broken down: Deaf people are not the social media junkies that humans with fully functioning auditory perception have become. In saying this, you are implying that 'Why aren't deaf people in the main stream like everyone else?" We are and some of us aren't just like hearing people. The way this question is written, it seems you are assuming that we are socially inept, or that we close ourselves off... that we're different. "What do you people do with your time." Us... people...? You're segregating us immediately and proposing a question that is ultimately posed as us being a completely different life form. Us people? What do we do to pass our time? What do YOU do to pass your time when you're not on Facebook? I know my friends and I like to read, watch TV, go shopping, go to a bar, hang out or whatever... The things that I see a bagillion hearing people while I'm doing it... ya know?

All I'm pointing out is how your phrased your question. Again, I'm not easily offended, but even I was more =O about it...

Simply put:
A) Most of us ( Not all ) are into most everything hearing people are into.
B) Your question was poorly worded at best.

A lot of the deaf community IS closed off. We can relate to one another. It is no different than you affiliating with other college students because you're in college. Or no different than affiliating with other people who drink, because you yourself are a drinker. People "herd up" so to speak, with people with similar interests, life styles and comforts. This goes for hearing and the deaf... We're not any different, just because we can't hear.

Again, this is just my perspective... I'm not speaking for the hundreds of thousands of deaf people out there... Some might relate, some might not. We're all different, hearing or not, yet... we're all the same.
 
my statement may be OFF the point. I want you to be aware that Deaf Culture is fadingn now Lots of young babies, kids and teenagers now are more of focusing on learning how to speak and listen, and their ASL become less. Everything is SO different with those young kids to compare with older people.

So Deaf culture is now smaller and smaller, due to the fact that hearing people expect to see big improvion in deaf peoples lives. Sad for me, not for others. :aw:

otherwise, yea lots of deaf people do have closed groups.

your thesis may be worthless. i think.
 
I'm on couple of social medias. . . All I basically can tell you is too frequently now "new" friends or random strangers asking to VP almost right away.. It's still common that they'd prefer face to face talking on VP or whatever video app of their choice.

There's plenty of FB groups that are popular where they post random stuff and share events quickly with friends. Or just randomly make a post either about themselves or whatever.

Although ASL is a preferred language for most of Deaf community.. They'd rather sign it and use V-logs than type things out. So possibly you'd have to check out their personal blogs or any of the short video apps like I'm quickly hearing about Vine & some others I cant think of at the moment.

But popularly yes it is FB.. Unless they have settings done a certain way that it's invisible to keep away the trouble makers...
 
I didn't know social media existed!!!! How does one use social media? How do you think people in the ancient times of 1970s and 1980s got to learn about Deaf World? Try to think about it.
 
I want to say that I have been put up with oral-only method in both elementary and high schools for years until I graduated from high school. Both of those schools don't have ASL and I was protesting to my principal (in high school) to have ASL instead of oral-only method. The principal refused to listen to my needs and to other deaf classmates, too. It does make me feel isolated with hearing students and also to my deaf classmates, too. I was not happy and upset with the way communication was not working for me. It is the same with my family who were not signing ASL, too. It is no sense to try to tell them why it is important for us, d/Deafies, to use ASL so that it is clear for us to understand when visually we can understand what every Deaf person said.

Hearing people don't understand how we had suffered so much when the mainstream schools pushed us to do their level. They expected us to be like them as hearing people. Ha! What a laugh. We are never going to be like them, ever. They have to accept us being deaf or hard of hearing, no matter what.

Going the oral way is not what we want and it is not working for us at all, either. If you keep bugging us about what you want, we would turn you off quickly. You can not expect us to do what you want from us, just because you think we are standoff when we are not communicating on Facebook. I have been on some closed groups and I love them.

Deaf Culture will always be with us, even if our Deaf Culture become smaller. I pray that our Deaf Culture is not going to go away. :(
 
Bebonang, I'm with you - hope that Deaf culture does not go away!
 
references

Here are some references I used on a paper:
Batten-Mickens, M. (2007). A phenomenological exploration of deaf and hard-of-hearing technicians’ perceptions of communication technologies. ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Ann Arbor, MI. As retrieved from http://media.proquest.com.ezproxy.s...08-1681537%7D&_s=XcW0Hb/O/yw8aSrkI6/boCdnOTY=
Cardozo, B (2012). Ending the Dissconect for the Deaf Community: How Amendments to the Federal Regulations can Realign the ADA With it’s Purpose. Yoshiva University
Franklin, H. (2011). Thoughts on Media and “Common Sense”. As retrieved from Deaf Echo » Writing for and by Deaf people » Thoughts on Social Media and
Hogg, N. M., Lomicky, C. S., & Weiner, S. F. (2008). COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION AND THE GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY: A PRELIMINARY REPORT. American Annals of the Deaf, 153(1), 89-96. Retrieved from Log In - ProQuest
Leeper, B. (2013). Letter to ESPN RE:Accessibility. As retrieved from http://**********media.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/letter-to-espn-re-accessibility/
[FONT=&quot]Thurber, J. (2012). The #CaptionTHIS Social Media Movement. Deaf Politics. As retrieved from Deaf Politics: The #CaptionTHIS Social Media Movement[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Wann, K. (2010). Alan Champion – “He’s not dead yet!” retrieved from Alan Champion - "He is not Dead yet!" on Vimeo[/FONT]
 
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